Part 79: Mission 33 (Arkham City Route) - The Crow - Part 1
We’re starting off in the Arkham Route, where Joe and Joey are deploying as event units. Kurou’s still unavailable, so here’s how we’re going:
Arnie/Saya (I got him pretty set up to work well solo in the Odyssea)
Sun Quan/Shangxiang
Kazuki/Canon
Damian/Guan Yu
Cao Cao/Zhang Fei
Liu Bei/Rennie
Mamoru/Sakura
Burn/Tsubasa
Mike/Kenji
Shou/Marvel
Maya/Michio
Mazinkaiser/Shouko
Tactician: Ruri (if you’re still en route for the Demonbane secret)
Off we go.
: Hey, guys. Sorry I had you all worried.
: Kurou!
: Looks like you’ve cooled your head some, eh?: Not some – a lot. But, yeah, I’m fine.
: I’m glad to hear that, Kurou…: So, how’re things going with the Black Lodge?
: Still camping out above the city. Thankfully, they’ve been keeping to themselves for now. 
: Which strikes me as odd. They have revived that Cthulhu creature, so one would expect seizing control of Arkham to be a simple task…
: Maybe they’re overconfident that they can destroy us at any moment, or, perhaps, there’s another reason…
: Whatever the case, we cannot afford to presume anything in the situation we’re in.: Hmm…*Beep, beep.*
: Commander, we’ve got a message coming in from the Union’s California Base.
: From the Union…? Put it through.
: My apologies for not keeping in touch, Cmdr. Hadou.: Heey, is that you, Ronin…?!: Why, it’s been ages, Joe. I’m glad to see you’re doing okay.
: (Maj. Ronin Sanada, vice-commander of the Federation’s California Base…): (But Ensign Berge probably looks at him and thinks…)
: …: Maj. Ronin, to what do we owe this call…?: Ah, yes… There’s something I’d inform you about…
: What is it?: Not long ago, a certain Union scientist went missing…: And we’ve just received word that he’s reached out to the Black Lodge.
: Say what?!: His name’s Dr. Minami and he used to be head of the Union Army’s weapon R&D projects. 
: But then… doesn’t that mean he knows everything about your country’s new weapons?! Someone like him has run off to join the Black Lodge?!
: Do you have any idea what he’s after?: Unfortunately, no. The President has dispatched an agent to look into it, though.: And it’s someone you know – Axel Hughes. He’ll let you know if anything turns up.: Thanks for telling us, Ronin.: Oh, I haven’t done anything worth thanking. In truth, none of this would’ve happened if we’d done more than the bare minimum.: …: Maj. Ronin… I…: Say no more, Ensign Berge. : Huh…?: Agnés Berge, the Ensign of the Federation Army is listed as MIA.: The man I’m speaking to is simply Ensign Berge of the UX, yes?: …: Maj. Ronin… Thank you, sir…: Hmhmm, he’s a pretty shrewd man.: The giant fortress that’s appeared above Arkham City’s left the entire planet in an uproar. : So now we’re forced to once again rely on your group. You’re all but everyone’s ray of hope – the people who once saved our world…
: Everyone’s counting on us…*Alarm!*
: We’re under attack?!
: Makoto, report!
: A lone Destroyer Robo’s launched from the flying fortress! It’s descending towards the Hadou Building!
: Just one? What’s going on…?*Boop.*
: Darling! You’re in there, right-robo?!: Elsa…?!: The Black Lodge’s android?! Why is she…?: Please help-robo! You… you have to save the Doctor-robo!
: O-Oooh…: Dr. West…?!
: …
: There, that should take care of it.: But, I have to say, I’m impressed by how tough he is. All those wounds and his life wasn’t even in particular danger…
: That’s not really a surprise, I think. He shook off a ton of punishment like it was nothing the last time we fought!
: Why did you save this man? He’s our enemy, no?: Sure, but… I guess I’d just feel bad leaving someone hung out to dry – even him.: Besides, from what Elsa’s told us, they’ve cut ties with the Anticross. : Oh, brother… You are far too kind for your own good. : But, all right. If Mr. Daijuuji’s fine with this, then I suppose I won’t complain…
: Thank you so much for saving the Doctor, Darling-robo!: Owowowowow! Gimme a heads up if you’re coming for a hug, Elsa!: Hrm…! Unhand him this instant, you animatronic!: But more important is the other bit of news she’s brought: the Anticross have taken over the Black Lodge…
: It appears the upheaval in the previous battle was, indeed, an insurrection.
: On the other hand, from what they’ve told us, the Destroyer Robo’s control system is inoperable right now…: Right-robo! I made sure to break everything when we escaped-robo!
: Ya don’t say? Doesn’t that make this like the perfect chance to go and pop that Big C Ball up top?: No, it’s not that simple.: Why not?!
: While Master Therion has perished, the remaining six Anticross are still well.
: And we have no idea how mighty that evil God, Cthulhu, is…
: Gaah, y’all are driving me up the wall! We’re gonna have to fight them one way or another, right?! Staying in here thinking’s just wasting time!: …: (I’m not a Magius anymore. I’ve no more power to fight the Black Lodge with…): (But, still, I…)
: (Kurou…): …
Over by the Illusory Heart Mother, the Anticross are assessing the damage made by Elsa – Claudius vows to turn her into as many pieces of junk as she’s left the control system. But, of course, they’ve Dr. Minami around and his mighty intellect can easily figure out and fix up whatever tech an imbecile like West put together.
Indeed, he promises Augustus to take care of everything, though Stallion and Amanorich don’t share in his excitement. Should Minami really be making promises to big evil folks like the Anticross?! “Quiet, you! My rosy future’s fallen to pieces thanks to those UX beating me to the punch and stopping the Skrugg invasion!” Minami yells/whispers to them. “Now I want REVENGE and I’ll even sell my soul to the devil to make it happen!”
Mind, as Veronica points out, he should consider himself lucky if these guys simply don’t eat his soul and leave it at that (gulp). Caligula spots them whispering but it’s n-n-nothing at all! As Titus warns, untoward ambition will find their lives forfeit in short order (Eeeeek!).
“Oh, but don’t you worry. Even if you do wind up dead, I’ll take care to… recycle you,” Tiberius quips and Minami’s already starting to have second thoughts. “Hrrmmgh… I’m in too deep to turn back now! You better watch your back, UX, because DR. MINAMI’s coming for you…!” he swears inwardly.
: (I’m not holding my breath, but all these magic armaments should at least let me fight with the Black Lodge for a bit…): (Now I just have to find the Destroyer Robo Elsa came in with and break into the Illusory Heart Mother.): Okay… let’s get going… #1: Go where, exactly? #2: And what’s with that weird get-up?: ?!: You were going after the Black Lodge by yourself, weren’t you…?: Guess you didn’t actually cool off.: Joey… Joe…: Are you going to avenge Al?: No, that’s not what this is about.: What for, then?: The only reason I kept on fighting is because I had people I cared about nearby.: And I believe the same applied to Al.: …: So I’m going to carry on that fight…!: I’ll watch over everything she wanted to protect in her stead…!: Really… Well, if you’re saying that much, I ain’t stopping you…: Better yet, we’re gonna tag along with ya.: ?!: I told you before: you haven’t been fighting this alone.: We’re all friends here, and we feel the same way you do.: You…: And, by the looks of things, that doesn’t apply to just us.: Huh…?*Supportive Guitar Solo!*
: Are you lonesome toniiiiight? Do you miss me toniiiiight? Are you sorry we drifted apaaaaaaart?: Dr. West…?! You’re better already?!
: Mwahahahahaha! Fool! Did you think me only as stubborn, full-bodied and annoying as a sweet cup of coffee?! : If you like it that sweet, then go eat a bunch of saccharine! Feast until you can feast no more!: We’ve been waiting here for a while, darling-robo! Everything is set up and ready to go-robo!: “Set up”…?*Boom! Alarm!*
: Psh… Looks like it’s a legit attack this time!
: But they shouldn’t have repaired the control system this quickly-robo!: Whatever, we’ve no time to worry about that!: Dr. West, I’m taking out that Destroyer Robo of yours!: Oh, you little buffoon, you! It takes a genius to handle my super ultimate Destroyer Robo and that’s certainly not you!: I’m really not in the mood to enable your nonsense…: Easy, Kurou Daijuuji! I’ve seen fit to prepare a mech that’d suit you far better!: Yes, that hateful, despicable, oh-so-annoying machine which I can’t help but also admire a bit! : A mech that’d suit me…?: Wait, you don’t mean…!
Mission 33 (Arkham Route) – The Crow
: …
: Hoho… Very impressive, Doctor. Very impressive, indeed.
: Hmhmhm… You honor me with your kind words.
: Hmph… idiocy. There is no thrill whatsoever to be had in stomping ants underfoot.
: (And with Kurou Daijuuji and the Demonbane gone, the only one who could rouse my spirit is…): That’s far enough, Black Lodge!
: Whuh?! That voice…!
SRW UX - Deus Machina
: Ｉｔ ｃａｎ‘ｔ ｂｅ．．．！: Kurou Daijuuji and the Demonbane are here to put an end to your mess…!
: The Demonbane?! It managed to escape our attack?!: But something is odd… the grimoire Necronomicon should be the source of its powers, yet I feel none of its presence…
: Wow… the Demonbane’s really moving…!*Beep.*
: Yeah, you see that! The Demonbane’s been transformed by my brilliant intellect! It’s stupendously invincible!: Darling, my proxy-grimoire system’s running smoothly-robo!: Still, it’s just that – a proxy-robo. With Al Azif gone, you…: It’s alright, Elsa!: I may not be able to use the power of her fragments, but I’m more than happy just being able to fight with it!
: Dr. West, you piece of… you’re still alive…?!
: (Rrrrgh! You’re thwarting my plans again, West?!)
: We’ve got a few more enemies than expected, but that’s just perfect for us…!: Now go, Kurou Daijuuji! Show me the perfect union between you, my brain and the Demonbane!: Aye, aye! I’m on it!: This blade might get broken to pieces, but I’ll keep on fighting to my last breath even if I have to glue it back together!
As Kurou said, the Demonbane’s back to its base form. It’s lost all of its special abilities, and the only attacks available are the Vulcans, the melee attack and Atlantis Strike. Worse yet, it’s not regenerating MP anymore since Kurou lost the grimoire skill. You can refill its stocks via the Resupply command, but Kurou’ll need to be a lot more careful with his attacks now.
Elsa’s replaced Al as the subpilot now, with her spirits being Accelerate, Alert, Iron Wall and Assail.
SRW UX - Deus Machina: Are you ready to go, Darling-robo?: Yeah, I’m all good!: Come on, Demonbane… we’ll make sure everything stays in one piece! This is for Al too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZryeF5NUic0
I just realized we never saw this attack from Tobikage.
And once you kill 4 enemies…
: More meat for the grinder! Those bundles of garbage won’t take long to deal with!: Um, didn’t you make those robots? You’re being awful dismissive of them now…: You think those are my robots?! Ridiculosity! Look at them! There isn’t a shred of elegance in how they move!: Yes, I’m sure some nobody must’ve tinkered with them! Hah!: We’ll see how long your sass lasts, Dr. West!: ?!
: Urgh…! What the…?!: The Demonbane… it won’t move…!
Heroman OST - MADNESS
FUNKY! : Mwahahahahahaa! How do you like my EM Pulse Blaster?!: Your machines are special, but they’re still machines! You won’t be going anywhere inside my EMP!: Who is that…?!: Open your ears and listen up! I am the genius Dr. Minami!: And this machine of mine is poetry in motion! It’s art! It’s the ultimate weapon in all the universe! The MR-1!: It’s the guy Ronin warned us about!: What the hell are you thinking teaming up with the Black Lodge…?!: All to enact my vengeance on you, see!: The hell…?!: You… If the UX hadn’t stuck their noses where it didn’t belong, I would’ve beat the Skrugg! I would’ve been the hero! You stole my gloryyyyy!: Oh, cry me a river! We didn’t do anything wrong!: Silence! And regardless of you, I won’t know peace until I’ve had my revenge on him!: That’s right! I’m talking to you, Dr. West!: Huh… Dr. West…?: Do you know him, Doctor?: Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.: You… does your disrespect for other people know no bounds…?!: I said I don’t know, so I what do you want from me? Besides, I really don’t think I’d be familiar with a buffoon like you. : Rrrrr… If you’re going to feign ignorance, then fine! Be that way!: But don’t forget the quagmire you’re in! This is the end of the road for all of you!: Hrm… Elsa, isn’t there anything we can do?!: N-Nothing works-robo… His EMP has left us completely immobile-robo…: Of all the dirty…!: I make it a point to never start a fight before my victory’s well secured! Now behold the power of the MR-1!: …: Heromaaan… BLAST!
SRW UX - Roulette: I-Inconceivable! How can you move?!: Heroman runs on electricity, you know. : As powerful as your attack might be, if it’s made of electricity, then you’re not beating him!: N-Not bad… I suppose that’s to be expected from the Ghost. You’re special, even among the UX bots…: But I wonder… How, exactly, are you going to handle all these enemies by your lonesome?: Damn it… Joey, you can’t pull this off alone! Forget about us and get outta here!: I’ll be fine. I’m not fighting alone…
: …: I’ve my friends here with me! And your presence makes me stronger!: Joey, you…: Here we go, Heroman! We’ll keep everyone safe!And now Tobikage and the Demonbane can’t do anything. That can be a bit problematic on a fresh game, since your Demonbane’s might not have its Barrier yet and there are a ton of Destroyer Robos gunning for him. And you can’t even cast spirits!
Best you can do is send Heroman up ahead to try and divert as much attention as possible and hold the line (which might cause Evasion Decay to bite you).
SRW UX - Roulette
And on the second player phase after the new enemy wave…
: Haah… haah… I have to… keep them safe…: I’ll admit that you’re very resilient, kid, but you seem to be on your last legs!
: Joey, Heroman, are you two alright?!: Hrrrmmmm…: W-We can keep going… right, Heroman…?: Psh… It’s still hanging in there? That’s quite the curious specimen, especially with it being able to move inside my EMP field.: Okay, then I’ll give you a little reward for your trouble! I’m taking in your Ghost as a research subject!: Where do you get off…?!: Sorry, but I don’t speak loser! Here goes! Time to seal the deal!
: Waaaaaah!: Wh-Who…?!
SRW UX - Rebellion Against Fate: Now, what’s going on here? You guys got a big party rolling and don’t even invite us? That ain’t cool!: G-Guys…!
: What were you thinking, setting off to fight the enemy just the three of you?!: Forget them. All troops are to spread out and rout the enemy forces!: Take back our city from their evil clutches!: Thanks, princess…!
: Boss! That attack just now did some major damage to the EM Pulse Blaster…!
: It cannot irradiate high-frequency blasts anymore – we can’t immobilize the enemy.: Th-that’s pretty bad, isn’t it, boss?!: Hardly, I always have a backup plan! Switch the Blaster to Mode 2! Rain thunderbolt and lighting on top of them!: And besides, they simply cannot hurt my MR-1. Ever…!: That geek’s way too cocky for someone who just got the rug pulled from under him!: And with good reason. From the readings we’re getting…: That robot’s completely covered in a barrier!: W-We’ve been made!: Hmph, so they noticed the MR-1’s barrier.: But it doesn’t matter – I’ve analyzed data from all their units! It’ll be impossible for any of them to break through it!: Maybe, but it falls on science to make the impossible possible!: Give me a while and I’ll figure out how that barrier works!: (They’ve really covered their bases… Could it be that…?): A Hadou could never turn a blind eye to villains hurting the city or its populace!: Everyone set forward and engage! Crush that fool of a man!
Kill everything, don’t lose any of the event deployments or a ship. Minami’s still covered by his barrier (had we attacked him before, we’d have gotten a scene that said exactly that), so focus on dealing with the Destroyer Robos.
MR-1 (Dr. Minami)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L4
Support Attack L2
All-Attack L2
Minami’s voice actor: Yasunori Matsumoto (other roles: Stoner in Eureka 7, Alejandro in 00 Gundam, Folka in SRW OGs, and many more).
Minami doesn’t really bring anything new to the table – in truth, he and his MR-1 are standard fare as far as midbosses go. Hell, they’re not even immune to debuffs. On the other hand, the thing has plenty of range, with his Darts Spear and EM Pulse Cannon carrying the Armor Down and Mobility Down, respectively. Keep an eye out for that, and you’ll be fine.
SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit: Ensign, I’ll assume control of both our units’ engines once we’re combined. I’ll try and make sure it all operates as best as can be…
: Don’t worry about it, and don’t hold anything back! It’s your being here that brings our units’ full power to light! Here we go, Orphes/Odyssea!
SRW UX - Shangri-La
And the next turn over…
*Beep, beep.*
: Aha… Eureka! It’s the Destroyer Robos!: All the robots set about this area are providing energy for the barrier!: Which means if we take them all out…: Exactly! You’ll be able to damage his unit!: Dr. Minami, it seems they’ve figured everything out.: So, what?! My MR-1 is absolutely invincible! SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend
And the next enemy phase…
Heroman OST - MADNESS: Get a load of this! EEEEE! EMMMM! PIIIIIIIIIIII!
Everyone loses 10% max HP! Heroman gets a full EN restore!
: Aaargh…: You feel that?! That’s the sting of my technology!
: I got some bad news for you, though!*Zhang Fei also gets a full EN restore.*
: Whaaaaaaaa?!: Lightning doesn’t do jack to me! Actually, it just powers me up…!: Gaaaah… It’s not just the Ghost that’s like that?!: We cannot allow this opportunity to pass us by! Form up around Heroman and Zhang Fei and split the enemy formation!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdgaoyJalTg
“EEEEE! EMMMM! PIIIIIIIIIIII!”
And, soon enough, all Destroyer Robos are down.
: We’ve confirmation that the EM Barrier is gone! He can’t block our attacks anymore!: You better start clenching, old man, because we’re repaying you in spades for the mess you pulled!: Our primary defense is gone. What should we do, Dr. Minami?: Hrrmmm…
: Rrgh, it’s them…!
: Getting beat already, Doc? You gotta put your back into this!: Please, I might not have my barrier but no one pushes me around!: Ｙｏｕ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｇｅｔ ｔｏ ｗｏｒｋ， ｔｈｅｎ．: You finally show your faces, Anticross…!: Aw, look at how hard you’re trying, Kurou! And you don’t even have Al Azif there to help you anymore!: Ｂｕｔ ｎｏ ｍｉｒａｃｌｅ‘ｌｌ ｓａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｏｄａｙ． Ｔｈｉｓ ｔｉｍｅ Ｉ‘ｌｌ ｂａｓｈ ｙｏｕ ｔｏ ｄｕｓｔ！: You’re right. Al’s gone, and it was my weakness that killed her…: Which is why I’ll make sure we win this today! I won’t let you kill anyone else!