Part 71: Mission 39 - Spiral Staircase Towards the End
Mission 39 – Spiral Staircase Towards the End
Our people have arrived at the Spiral Castle’s sector and Linda reports that while the Federation’s having a bit of a hard time with the Gulfer forces, they’ve managed to draw quite a few away from here. That tells Bright that there’s little risk of us being caught in a pincer attack but, as Misato says, this is the enemy HQ and they still have plenty of troops left.
Regardless, we’re now starting phase three of Operation Screw Nail and as everyone deploys, Ruri asks Harry for a timer until the Spiral Castle is past the zero barrier, the point where we could stop its descent. That’s twenty eight minutes – any more than that and it’ll breach the atmosphere.
Still a decent amount of time but our battle with the Vegans lost us precious minutes already. Camille says it’s best we get ourselves in the mindset that we can’t afford to give this anything less than our best. And Judau agrees, knowing that something as big as the Spiral Castle crashing into Earth would be as destructive as a Colony Drop – if not more.
Worse, Amuro posits that the Spiral Castle is likely capable of somewhat altering its trajectory at will – we’ve no idea what would happen if he decided to crash anywhere near Tokyo Jupiter or NERV HQ.
Tap’s now wishing we had the Giganos’ Mass Driver still working – it’d probably make short work of this thing. Roux criticizes his thoughtless grumbling, reminding of the trouble everyone went through to destroy the thing. Sorry... But the thing was already destroyed when we got there, says Drill. That’s not the point! Sorry…
Time to get to work, then: Misato says we’re to break inside the Spiral Castle, find its main reactor and wreck the thing. Ginga and Hokuto are ready, working hard in Altair’s name as well – the Ogre and Dendoh, together with their friends, will bring down the Spiral Castle!
Inwardly, Vega asks her brother to watch: she, and the kids, will keep Earth safe from this thing. Kyral and Argo are hyped, getting a bit of déjà vu from the final battle against the Devil Gundam. Here we go!
Vega, Hokuto and Ginga have deployed as event units and I still can't bring the two kids back together. Losing either GEAR is a game over, so keep an especially close eye on Ginga since he doesn’t have the safety net of Hokuto’s Iron Wall.
First wave of enemies are still those baseline Gulfer, so we’ll quickly stomp them down.
As the Age of Fatso officially claims its first victim, Rom, Domon and Masato kill off all but one Gulfer.
This Gulfer.
First wave down.
Enemy Phase!
None of the Gulfer move!
Player Phase!
Now, there are two entry points into the Spiral Castle and they’re all guarded by four always-defending Faitas and a Knight Lock (used to call these Rock but Son Ryo pointed at the computer motif smacking me in the face
). The plot-important one is closest, but the one in the back has an isolated room with a Haro.We’ll be sending a couple folks up there.
The fact that these guys are hard-wired to defend makes things extra slow.
Still, you’re not on a timer so conserve your SP. At length, the Lock will go down and you’ll have your way in.
Enemy Phase!
The little Gulfers are waddling over but the RoBeasts can’t be arsed.
Player Phase!
Boss is leading the charge, of course.
No sooner does Megumi report our successful entry, six Knight Viruses emerge within. Still, it’s not like we weren’t expecting to get jumped. One thing that worries Masato is how few enemies there are – they likely have more stuff hidden. And, actually, Miku’s already pinging several energy blips on the other side of various walls.
When Puru Two asks, Hokuto and Ginga can’t really point out the way to the reactor – they weren’t exactly in a sightseeing mood last time they were here. Sai tells them not to sweat it, as we simply need to start knocking down those walls until we find our way to the castle’s center. That sounds right up our alley, Ryouko quips.
Vega does warn us to keep an eye out because there still are the other two Gulfer generals to be found. Ginga knows and is ready to kick the ass of whatever pops out of the woodwork.
Here starts the final phase of Operation Screw Nail.
Three of the Viruses are on the far side of the castle, so we’ll quickly get rid of these.
Since Quattro’s my best mook hunter and Masato’s my best nuclear weapon, I’ll assign them to Haro-collecting duty.
Back here.
Business as usual. Tetsuya wraps this one up.
Next.
Hugo kills it.
There’s the last one.
Enemy Phase!
Baby Gulfer on this side all go after Masato. You know how that goes.
Meanwhile, Quattro is perfectly in position to tear shit up.
That’s all Orbitons losing 70% of their health.
Player Phase!
Ruri takes out the last Faitas by the southern entrance and Harry learns Hope.
We’ll start making our way deeper.
: We’ve been expecting you, humans.
: It’s—!
: Bigwig nº3!: I will not allow any of you bacteria to be in my lord’s presence…! Let despair grip you as you plummet back to your planet!
: Quiet, you! That’s my line!
: Hey, think before you talk! We DON’T want the Spiral Castle falling on our world!
: Oh, r-right…!
: Bah, whatever – we don’t have time to waste here! Let’s take that thing out in a hurry!: Y-Yeah!!
And behind door number two…
: Hmph… You’ve done well making it this far, humans.: That’s—!: Bigwig nº 2!
: Wait, wasn’t that the one we destroy the other day?: Was it? Then this is bigwig nº 1!: You dare play games before me? The audacity! Our castle will serve as your communal gravestone!
: Um, don’t you think it’s a bit too big for us humans?
: Indeed, it’d be incredibly inconvenient.: Which means it’s up to us to break it down to a more manageable size – them included, of course.: Hmhmhm, you struggle in vain. We stand as guardians of our lord as so long as we’re functional, you will not halt the Spiral Castle.
: What?!
: Hah, that’s where you’re wrong! We only need to wreck your reactor, so we can just ignore you guys!: Fool. Such a task will be impossible without defeating us first.
: W-What’s that supposed to mean?!
: Do you think those two generals also act as some sort of safeguard for the reactor?
: Meaning we won’t be able to reach it until we deal with them?: I think so, yes…!
: Then our fists will rend that safeguard apart! The real fight begins now, Ginga, Hokuto!: Y-Yeah!
Machine General Giga Absolute
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L5
- Support Attack L2
Machine General Giga Witter
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L5
- Support Attack L2
Absolute and Witter are pretty much the same, only the latter has more HP and defense in exchange for a bit less attack power and accuracy. Nothing some simple defensive spirits won’t fix.
Do note that they’re both sitting atop 20% HP/EN regen tiles, so stray hits won’t do much for you.
And a quick warning: try to have as many people ready to move as possible when you get them both down.
I’ll split people up for speed’s sake but I reckon the safest choice would be to take one at a time.
This is about the moment I realized Shinji couldn’t stab anything.
Couldn’t even deploy Asuka since our ships are too big to go inside buildings, meaning she’d have to unplug the #02.
Kouji and Tetsuya weaken this Knight Bug, paving the way for Ryouma to kill it.
Enemy Phase!
Quattro kills everything up top.
Cool.
On the western side, Tetsuya gets harassed by the Bugs.
It’s fine.
On the eastern side…
Death.
Player Phase!
So now it’s just a matter of holding the course steady: this turn we’ll clear out the remaining Bugs, next turn we kill Witter and, after refreshing our moves, we’ll take out Absolute.
Here are the cliffs notes:
Tetsuya now has fifty kills, which’ll give us a nice prize later on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXU7qvJ0RLg
Witter’s weaker attack.
You can’t keep me away from treasure!
Only the Lock survives and Quattro cuts him in half.
Now, Giga Witter is up first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LNfo1YYpC4
And his strongest attack, after getting a hole punched right through him.
: If you wish to stop the Spiral Castle, you’ll have to go over me… That is, if you can!: We absolutely can and that’s what we’re here to do!: Damn straight! We believe in our own strength and know it’s not gonna let us down!
: Th-This cannot be! How could I have been beaten by these puny humans?!: GWAAAAAAAAAH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYN6h5zcl9U
Giga Absolute’s only attack. It looks pretty snazzy, though!
Meanwhile, Quattro nabs our prize.
With our new turn, we start opening the way up north. Start sending folks up there.
And get rid of the mooks, lest the block your path.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICkHL3M4z0g
And here’s Double Lightning Buster with two Greats, Boss showing that he’s done being the joke character.
: Blast you! How dare you worms do this to me! How dare you--! GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!
: That’s both enemy generals confirmed destroyed!
: The way the main reactor should be open now. How long do we have on our deadline?: About twenty—*Alarm!*
: ?!*RUUUUUUMBLE!*
: W-what’s going on?!: The Spiral Castle’s shaking!
: But we haven’t even destroyed the reactor yet!
: Hrm…! Absolute and Witter have fallen…!
: Ah! Guys, I’ve confirmed the location of the main reactor!
: You sure?!: Yeah, I think the safeguard fell through! I’ve no doubt that’s what these energy readings are! Here, I’m relaying you the coordinate!
: Th-That’s!*Ginga and Hokuto dash over to the main room.*
: This guy…!: He’s the bigwig boss!
: He’s… the lord of the Spiral Castle!
: You’re telling us that guy is the main reactor?!
: Then if we take him out…!: The Spiral Castle will stop in its tracks?!: Dendoh, Ogre…! If I’ll die, then I’ll be taking this planet with me…!!
: Huh?! The reactor’s readings are…!!*Alarm!*
: What is it?!
: The Spiral Castle’s gaining speed! At its current pace, it’ll reach the zero barrier in four minutes!: What--…!
: Did you say?!: I will not sit idle and simply let myself be destroyed…! I will not, humans…!!
: We-We have to take out something so huge in only four minutes?!
: That’s crazy! Just getting over there was a huge pain!
: Still, the lives of everyone on Earth are over the knife’s edge in these four minutes. We have to keep going.
: But how are we supposed to take on a guy like that?!
: …”Strength comes from the heart.” We just gotta keep that in mind and do it.
: Huh?!: My mom taught me that. At a time like this, we stay strong and find a way to pull through.
: I think I get it… we can’t let our spirits be broken, right?: Yeah. If you let that happen, any chance of winning goes up in smoke.
: (That’s right, Ginga… True strength is strength of heart.): …Humans, what are you fighting for?: What…?!: Even should you manage to defeat me today, I’m quite certain His Majesty the Emperor would quickly send new forces to attack Earth. The Gulfer’s assault will not cease, not until your kind lies defeated and annihilated…: The more you fight, the more you push on to the moment your hope fades – it is a spiraling staircase you descend, headed towards your inevitable end.: Yet, you will still fight. Why? What do you do this for?: Ain’t it obvious, big guy?! It’s ‘cause we got stuff we gotta protect!: What is this “something you must protect”?: This guy invaded us without understanding something as basic as that…?!
: He is just a machine – something given life to execute a given task… Human hearts are beyond his comprehension.: Tell me… What is it that you are protecting?: I’ll tell… after we’ve kicked your butt!!
That’s why I told you to have your guys ready to go after killing the other Gigas. Four turns is a decent number but the Spiral Castle is rather beefy and between the Virus running interference and you needing to make your way up the corridors, through walls and down to the Castle core, you might not pull through.
Lord of the Spiral Castle
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L5
Big huge strong blob of HP and defense. Good range and accuracy, too, pairing a big modifier with S ranks in Air and Space.
No special tricks, really. You just might get screwed by the timer if all your guys have spent their moves after dealing with the Gigas but if you can get to him in time, he’ll fall quickly under concentrated Valor fire.
So let’s skip a couple of turns while I get everyone in position and take it away.
: Do you understand now what drives us to oppose you, lord of the Spiral Castle?: Does not compute… why does this man oppose me…?: Then I’ll educate you! What dwells in and drives my fists… it is friendship, trust and hope for the future!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaQAaCUzFmM
: I don’t expect you to understand what it means to fight for what you wish to protect – for what you love!: “What you LO-VE?”: That’s right! My fists serve only to protect the woman I love and now you’ll feel the sting of the power that gives me!
: Surely you understand that even should I fall, that won’t mean anything. This battle will continue.
: And even if that does happen, none of us will give in…! I’ve faith that humans have that strength!
: We may all be mechanical life forms but there is a major difference between us…: And that is the “HE-ART” you all speak of…?
: Indeed! : Idiocy… what use does such a thing have in battle?: The truth still eludes you, Spiral Castle? The will to always remain steadfast and fight on… such is the strength given to us by our hearts! And it is the power born of said hearts that will be your end!
: Spiral Castle, Spiral Lord or whatever you are, taking you out’s gonna put an end to all this mess! Grit your teeth!: Such a reckless assault… why do humans fight with such little regard for themselves?: You wanna know? That’s what’s called courage!
: Why… why do humans fight when they know defeat is inevitable…?
: I’ll tell you why, Spiral-Head: it’s because of our pride! And one more thing: there isn’t a single cell in our bodies that thinks we’ll be defeated!
: You ask why we fight? I doubt a machine like you could eever wrap your head around our answer!: And that answer is…?: There are people on Earth waiting, rooting for us… and their trust is what gives us the power to keep fighting!
: You are unwise to challenge me, humans. Observe how powerless you truly are!
: This mechanical bigwig here thinks highly of himself, huh?
: Let’s show this guy where our strength comes from, Ryou, Hayato!
: Come on, machine! Open those eyes and see the power that’s born of the bonds people have with each other!
: You want to know why people fight, do you?: Do you have that answer, prince of Planet Fleed?: I do – it’s because of love! Though I don’t expect you to understand the hearts of those who fight out of love!
: Here we come, boss man!: We’re taking you out and hitting the brakes on your Spiral Castle!: I do not understand… Why won’t you stop fighting even when you know you will be defeated? Your extermination became a foregone conclusion the second the Gulfer arrived at this world—: That’s only what you think!: We won’t be beaten… We can’t!: We’re doing this for everyone that’s helped us fight you…: And for all the folks back on Earth who believe in our victory!
: Does… not compute… does not compute… what is it… that you must protect? What must… humans…protect?: That varies with each person but I can tell you mine and Hokuto’s answer. : What… must you… protect…?: …A promise.: Pro…mise…?: I promised my mom… that I’d come back to her.: And I promised my mom… that I’d keep Earth safe.
: Hokuto…Ginga…!: And it’s not just with our moms. We also made an important promise to everyone else on Earth.: And, so, we fight to protect and fulfill that promise! For everyone’s sake… and for our own, too!: Protecting… something intangible is… nonsensical… does not compute… does not compute…! Does not… compute…!
: Captain, we’ve confirmation that the target has been destroyed!
: OK! All unit, evacuate the Spiral Castle immediately!
: Quickly, everyone, or we’ll get caught in the explosion!: Full power to the Distortion Field. The Nadesico will act as a shield for the Nahel Argama and allied troops as we escape this sector. 
: Commander, there’s a message from the Magnate Ten! Operation Screw Nail was a success and the Spiral Castle has been destroyed!
: Aah…! They did it!
: Hokuto…Ginga… and all our allies of the Magnate Ten…!
: …: Sir…!: Hm. Earth has been saved… at least for the time being…Goodies earned were our secret Haro, a Martian Donburi and a Psycoframe.
Also, since I didn’t expect Boss to wreck Absolute, here’s the kids’ convo for it:
: You will not pass through me, humans!: What, you think saying stuff like that’s gonna make us turn around and go home? Get real!: If that’s how you want it, then we’ll just make our way through you by force!