Part 120: Mission 34 (Earth Route) - Wavering Feelings and Small Resolves - Part 2

Alright, we’re off to work. We’re stuck between 4 Radam Tekkamen and a pack of Eviluders led by Detonator Leave. Seeing how the Eviluders are VERY far away, we’ll focus on the Tekkamen.



Aki, as a pilot, is quite powerful (her base stats are on par with Blade); her attacks, though, can be more on the average-side.










Mind you, since she took Blade’s upgrades, she’s able to hold her own well enough.



Enemy Phase!



This alien Tekkaman goes for Saburouta but he’s covered by Ryouko’s Command Aura and a friendship bonus.

Also, see that thing he’s riding on? I’ll get to that soon.



This here alien picks the single worst target he could’ve picked.














Still, he’s resilient enough to barely survive though a Melee crit.



Aki’s target has regenerated a bit but Saburouta makes up for the difference.



All the Eviluders start coming across the map. Oddly enough, Sword just stands there and does nothing.



Player Phase!



Time to kill Alien-Skater Dude here.














Blindside me on the space-sidewalk, will ya?!



Taking him down yields a Flight Unit and a Support Attack+1.



What sorcery is this?! I killed you!

Nah, not really. We only killed his Manta-Ray thing, as this is the point where the game starts sending mooks with “Ablative Armor”.
The first time you kill these folks, they’ll lose a piece of equipment and get fully restored: in the case of the Alien Tekkamen, they get off their Faux-Pegas.



We’ll handle the weak ones, first. Volfogg finishes off the smashed remains of Gaofighgar’s attacker.



This one drops an Aqua Module and Support Defend+1.





The recovered Tekkaman is easily cut down to size by Ryouko and Yumi.



Leaving the way open for me to show off Aki’s Tek-Lancer and its dynamic finish!




This guy is a bit stingy with his items, dropping only a Support Attack+1.



Tenryuujin needs some more morale, so she takes the last Alien Tekkaman.



This gives the dragon siblings a level. The Tekkaman also drops a Hovercraft and Support Request+1.



Now, it’s time to deal with Sword. We plonk Kazuma in the Valguard and get to work.

Let’s do this!















The attack was enough to bump Kazuma and Mihiro up a level. They learn Prevail L7 and Faith (60 SP – fully restores target’s HP), respectively.

: Talk about bad luck. I wish I ran into you while you were a human.
: Maybe you would’ve fallen for me!
: Are you joking? All that I am is for Lord Omega!











: A woman…?! What an ugly imitation!
: If beauty is strength, I’ll give you proof of mine once I’ve beaten you!











: Even if you were originally a human, I still cannot forgive you!
: Such an ugly doll! Don’t think you can win against us just because you defeated the Zondar!
: …Ugly…? Before I shoot you down, I should give you some medicine for that lousy eyesight!











: I am a Tekkaman! So, I cannot lose!
: What can a cheap imitation like you do?! The Tekkamen are instruments of the Radam!
: You’re wrong! I know for sure that a Tekkaman is someone strong and kind – just like Blade!











: You…you’re that woman that’s always close to Blade! What’s your name?!
: Aki Kisaragi! Tekkaman Aki!
: I’ll remember you, Aki! And ,at least, I’ll defeat you! As a symbol of my love for Lord Omega!











: RAAAAAAARGH! You won’t get away today!!
: You’ve not even a shred of grace. And you still call yourself a woman?
: Shut up! During a fight, it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman!
















That never stops being awesome.



With Cheer and Bless, Gai profits nicely with 3 levels. Also, Sword drops a Booster and Multicombo+1.



She is forced to escape to tell Lord Omega about this turn of events.
Still, she makes sure to say that she’ll be the one to kill every single human Tekkamen; Aki says she’s free to try as none of us will be defeated before the Radam.

Only a handful of units can move so I set them up to intercept the Eviluders.



Enemy Phase!



They keep coming but are still out of attacking range.



Player Phase!



Time to bring the fight to them. I moved Gaofighgar there just in case I need to pull a MAP.



Sticking with his best bud, Volfogg will help clean the western wing of the formation.












Leave has placed herself in a precarious position. She likes to Support Defend but Aki can just set her up in the chain-attack and negate the Skill’s activation.












Aki really wants to show us that she’s fit to be a front-liner.



The eastern wing of the formation will be handled with the three Tekkamen. David gets the ball going…



And Natasha moves to finish the job.














You go, girlfriend.







Yumi and Tenryuujin get to work on the center group, killing one mook and leaving the others at critical.



This opens up the chance to Kazuma to cut a literal line through them.



: Brother! That Eviluder is the same one we fought the other day!
: That design…is it a woman? Then, it seems the Eviluders also have different genders…
: (I fought these people in space…and there’s also that man who made me have those strange feelings…)










Attaboy.



The Valstork moves closer but, sadly, I overestimated the power of the torpedoes.



Enemy Phase!



Three of the four nearby Eidos attack Gaofighgar at close range. How do you think it ends?








Yeah, it’s not pretty for them.



The only survivor is this clever chap who is juuust outside of Broken Phantom range.



Cue the less-invincible, western side. The first Eidos guns for Aki.










Aw, where did your crits go?
Another couple of Eidos attack from afar and manage to survive.



Maybe David will have better luck? I’ll even use Beta Formation, his best, non-Voltekka, attack.














Blah…




Leave chains the Valstork, Valhawk and Tenryuujin but only tags the ship.



Player Phase!



The Nadesico team can handle stragglers while our main force focuses on Leave.








Easy enough, even for them.





Gai and Saburouta take two more.





Finally, Vesna and Volfogg finish the redshirts.



I use Kazuma to weaken Leave, because there’s something I want to show off…


…and it promptly hits me that Tenryuujin can’t use it when Leave is at point-blank range, so I move her down to the Nadesico.



Enemy Phase!







Player Phase!



Leave has that annoying 30% HP Regen, so Gaofighgar needs to weaken her again.












That’s more than enough.



Valor, Cheer, Bless…the works. Time to show off Tenryuujin’s strongest attack: Dance of Light and Darkness.





Couple more levels for the sisters but Leave doesn’t leave (pun not intended) any goodies behind.



As Leave lies defeated, she finally figures out what it was that Orgun saw in this planet through all his journeys through space.
She quickly withdraws, and Michi thinks that the message "he" left mankind is about to become clear.



After hostilities cease, Aki explains to our stunned crew that she had to ensure that the Tekkaman project succeeded, lest the Radam have free reign over the Earth.
She figured the people already converted into proto-Tekkamen were too valuable to experiment with, so she did the one thing she could do and transformed herself - and she has no regrets.
Thanks to her, Yumi was able to conquer some of her own demons, and thanks to THAT, the dragon sisters finally got Symmetrical Docking right.



Kazuma muses that Tekkaman "Hiver", "winter" in French, should make a good teammate for a Chasseur agent, but Renée finally breaks down and tells Kazuma to cut out the mature act.
See the other path for his image change breakdown.



Renée presumes that Kazuma's dad must have been one hell of a guy for Kazuma to try to emulate him that much, but Kazuma dispels that notion quickly.
For all his father's foibles, though, he still was "dad" to Kazuma, and that pride was more than enough to motivate him to be a worthy son to "Hawkeye".
Renée half-smirks, having something revelatory to ponder regarding her own family now.



Renée then warns that Bionet is likely to attack Paris during the special meeting of the Federation government, and Ruri mobilizes our forces to stop them.
The Successors will probably show up too, and the Space Knights get deployed to help in the ensuing carnage.



Galent then radios in to talk about what happened on the other path (the Successors, the Lacus “abduction”, the events at Graveyard and the Archangel and Junkmen’s fall into Earth).
Ruri decides to head to the Sahara on the way to Paris to pick up the Archangel, Lowe, and the Preventers hanging out with them.



Omega doesn't sound very happy at the report of human-controlled Tekkanizing.
That said, he sounds pretty sure that the resulting abomination won't stand up to his forces.
Omega's also gotten proof that "he" made it back to Earth, and has already sent Lance to try to wipe him out before Evil reawakens.
Blade's final struggle is about to begin!



Meanwhile, everyone is suffering in the desert heat except for Trowa, who never really reacts to anything.
Duo's radioed in for help, but he's not sure any can be counted on given the messed up state of the world.
About the best he or Trowa can say about Heero and Wufei is that they likely didn't attack the Red and Blue Frames for money.
At this rate, they'll have no choice but to cross the desert in our mecha.





That is, until the Nadesico and friends show up.



We get more details about Lowe's adventures at Graveyard (What with the Gold Frame, Un Nou and, specially, the GG Unit), and Lowe agrees to help out with the Neo-Wärter in return for being fished out of the desert.
With everyone back together, it's time to cross the desert while avoiding the man responsible for Zaft’s conquests across Africa: the Desert Tiger, Andrew Waltfeld.



Luckily, Duo has put in a call to the "Desert Prince", who specializes in tiger hunting...