Part 102: Mission 30 - Dream of the Goddess, Ambition of the War God - Part 2

Well, we have a slight situation in our hands. Since I had to get most of our team up top to deal with the Zaft folks before they ran, that left only the Nadesico, Ryouko, Akito and Lapis to deal with the Successors (you can’t control Akito and Lapis, mind).



I’ll start moving people over but it’ll take a while for them to get into position, meanwhile the Nadesico will take shelter in Artemis’ positive terrain and Ruri will cast Iron Wall.


The Successor Rokurens are rather weak but the real problem comes in the form of Hokuten’s Posse and their Sekishikis:



These fuckers make for some of the more annoying mooks in the game. They have decent accuracy and evasion, are rather strong and resilient (combine that high HP with the Distortion field and they can handle a pummeling from our current group of real robots).

Worst, this is the point of the game where some mooks will start bringing in Pilot Skills and they have all they need to be even more annoying: Sword Cut (paired with a good Skill Stat), Support Attack L2(don’t let these guys to get the +30% accuracy bonus from a support attack – it’ll hurt on a Real Robot) and Multicombo L1.

Right now, they are as annoying as can be but they won’t prove to be as powerful when we get our real powerhouses back – mind you, use extra caution during the remainder of this mission if you’ve wasted all your SP on Zaft (like I did).



Enemy Phase!



With Ruri alone at the front of our group, this phase will be an exercise in repetition. As such, let me sum it for you:












Iron Wall assures that all damage will be blocked by the Distortion Field and Ruri’s friendship bonus with Ryouko will let her hit all the Rokurens that come for her (and they all do).
Mind you, to avoid going empty of EN, I had to simply defend on a couple of attacks.



Lapis and her Eucharis prove to be quite powerful (sadly, its accuracy leaves something to be desired on its stronger attacks).



Akito takes down one of Ruri’s attackers.

All Sekishikis stay put.



Player Phase!



Time for Ryouko to move in, she won’t be able to oneshot a guy but it’ll get him low enough to be killed on a counter-attack.



: DAMN IT! What have you done to Akito and the Captain?!
: I'm gonna smash your faces in, you bastards!








Aye, that works.



Sadly, taking Ryouko away removes the Accuracy bonus from Ruri.
Still, she manages to make the hit count.

Everyone else is still coming over, taking a ride on the Valguard.



Enemy Phase!



The Sekishiki’s start coming over but Ryouko is upgraded enough that she can dodge and hit him back for decent damage.



That is, she could, but her EN is running rather low. Three other Sekishiki’s go for her and it all ends like this.










I really wish I had my Supers over here…Valguard is still so far away.












Lapis gets picked on by the remaining two Sekishikis. The first one is able to dodge her hit.



However, the second one isn’t so lucky. Mind you, it’s not “Game Over” if either Lapis or Akito die.




The Nadesico is still the target of choice for the Rokurens. Still, it recovered enough EN to blast one of them.



I have it defend against all remaining three Rokurens lest it run out of EN and take a clean hit.














Lapis takes this time to try and kill a weakened one but her Quad Gravity Blast is quite inaccurate.



As for Akito, he’s refusing to use his Distortion attack.
So, here’s a simple chain-attack to satiate your Black Selena needs (I’m sure there’s someone out there who cares about this series…)



Player Phase!



Saburouta finally reaches the main group. Sadly, he doesn’t have Multicombo so he’ll have to make do with a regular Distortion Attack against a Sekishiki.



: Jeez, you guys…you could afford to be a little more flexible, you know?








My kingdom for a Super Robot…



Let’s go to the next best thing: Gai (Daigouji) with an assist from Ryouko.



: Army of darkness reborn, I will return you to the Hell from which you came!
: Such is the mission of Gai Daigouji!










Seriously, fuck these things.




Jumping off the Valguard, Lowe sets out to kill one of the remaining Rokurens and slightly damaging a Sekishiki.



I have Kisato toss a Trust on Lapis just in case.



Ryouko starts slowly working on the next target…



And Ruri fails to finish the job on the last Rokuren.



Enemy Phase!





After a while, the Successors quickly vanish without a trace.
They were, after all, only interested in keeping from pursuing the fake Nadesico (bah, I had forgotten that they did that. Had I remembered, I would’ve just sat back instead of stressing over it).
Elijah still wonders about who are these two new units that helped us…





Ryouko recognized Akito when he called her name and asks him to wait; Gai Daigouji also calls out to him both both he and Lapis also vanish without a further word.

Kazuma did have lines for the Successors but, sadly, Valguard fell just short of being in attack range:


: We sunk that thing into Jupiter just so it wouldn't be used for war!
: Screw you guys! I won't let you waste Dad's or Akito's sacrifice!




The news of Kusakabe's treachery is grim for Misumaru and Forreston.
Apparently Genpachirou's "Hot-Blooded Coup d'Etat" wasn't quite thorough enough.
Corbett's attempts to assign blame to the Wärter don’t fly, since that unit no longer exists; still, he tries to use this as an opportunity to recommend expunging all former Jovian Union personnel from the army.



Genpachirou wonders if Corbett thinks he can somehow control the rioting that would occur if the newly assimilated Jovians were suddenly disenfranchised.
That momentarily shuts him up, but he then wonders anew what these Martian Successors could want.
Clearly, Genpachirou says, to take over all the relics from the ancient culture that used to occupy the Solar System; even if their numbers are few, these relics could allow them to level the playing field.
And the fact that they've revealed themselves suggests that the balance of power may have already tipped the other way, seeing how they already have both a list of A-Class Jumpers and the Boson Jump targeting unit – Forreston fears that, if they’ve figured a way to fish the Y-Unit out of Jupiter, they may yet find a way to draw out THE POWER.



It's no real surprise that Kusakabe's people (versed in Jupiter) and the Eurasians (versed in Boson Jump research) should be in on this, though the official word from Eurasia is that only a few dissidents are responsible.
Genpachirou figures that Kusakabe, formidable though he is, is actually being manipulated by whoever is really pulling the strings.
Of his former commander, Genpachirou says that Kusakabe is a man of blazing heart and unshakable principle, willing to die for his ideals.
His failing is that he believes his ideals are shared by everyone.
With the battle against the Zaft, not to mention Eviluders and Radam, in full swing, the only real choice is to send the new Nadesico after the fake old one.



That means Ruri, who’s welcoming all her old friends aboard the Nadesico; Mihiro is especially impressed at her, only slightly older and a ship Captain already.
Akane is a bit curious, though, as Ruri seems to have done a LOT of growing-up in these six months – puberty, Ruri says..
Both Gai Daigouji and Ryouko admit that the Nadesico crew has changed a lot but Gai is having a hard time placing Saburouta – Kazuma still hasn’t remembered where he’s seen him before, either.
That’s answered when Harry pulls Saburouta’s old picture, refreshing everyone’s memory and raising questions as to how different he looks from six months ago; Gai takes his change in appearance and attitude to be a sign that Saburouta has forgotten his Gekigan soul!



It falls on Kazuma has to explain to him that different people have their "Gekigan souls" manifest in different ways.
Gai is a bit surprised at Kazuma’s wise words.
Regardless, Ruri won't force the Trailers to join her – she’s happy enough to know everyone’s safe - but she asks them to keep her posted if they hear anything useful.
Kazuma will be happy to do so, for free, and everyone agrees that he's grown up quite a bit in the past six months.



He smiles and complements Ryouko on her new hairstyle in return, which makes her blush considerably.
Kazuma then adds that Akito and Yurika are his friends too, and he intends no mercy to those who robbed them of their happiness.
Neither does Ruri, who Mihiro knows had been living with Akito and Yurika as family since the breakup of your old team.



Aboard Home, Shihomi has just filled The Professor in on their meeting and she’s willing to help in the hunt for the Successors however she can, and in return she's got a job for you, on behalf of an old friend.
She would’ve asked the Serpent’s Tail mercs to do it but she'd be more at ease if it were people that she knows to be trustworthy; the job is a "simple" delivery run...to the Archangel...