Part 122: Mission 35 - The Wind That Blows in the Desert Sands - Part 1
Of the three units we have, Sandrock is the only one that’s upgraded.
As such, we’ll stay put to avoid getting swarmed (for the time being, it’s game over if any unit is shot down).
Enemy Phase!
All units, except Zaied and his Shadow squad, move closer.
Player Phase!
Now, let’s get to work.
Hm. Slightly less damage than expected but this is actually good.
With such low HP, Cagalli can nab the kill.
That brings her total up to 2. Why should you care?
Secret Alert! Cagalli will only be with us during this one stage. During that time, her kill count needs get to 5 or higher(there’ll be a route split soon-ish and, depending on the route chosen, there’ll be another chance to get kills with her).
Enemy Phase!
Couple of Savages attack Quatre and get nearly killed.
Following that, a Birdman guns for Cagalli.
Sadly, the Skygrasper is kinda lacking in stopping power.
One more time!
Come on, now…I half expected the damage to suck (it WAS her weakest weapon) but for her to get hit with 12%?
Quatre gets attacked a couple more times from Taurus. Still no one-shot kills.
Player Phase!
Seina quickly realizes that the leader in the red mech is quite skilled - more so than any normal desert mercs should be.
Sousuke recognizes the fighting style of Zaied, who supposedly perished in battle long ago.
Still, they won't have to fight them alone, thanks to the arrival of the rest of our people.
The Uruz Squad’s Commander Gail McAllen (Uruz 1) orders Sousuke to escort the “Angel” aboard the ships.
Zaied recognizes both the Mithril squad and Neo Warter as targets and starts to sic his troops at us.
Before our guys move, let’s have Seina carefully damage this Taurus.
Thus, allowing Cagalli to nab all three mooks with a chain-attack! Secret get!
It also yields a level, teaching her Support Request L2 and Multicombo L3.
Time to really get this party going.
Good way to begin.
Volfogg moves by Gai, also pulling a crit-kill.
Lowe, however, makes use of his Accelerate to get just close enough to chain-attack three Serpents.
Gotta whittle them down before people come over.
Kazuma moves to intercept the southern mooks – along the way, his attack stops just short of killing the Taurus.
Damn it, I really need to stop trying to use Vulcans.
The rest of the group moves closer but no one else is in attacking range.
Enemy Phase!
All of Lowe’s Serpents go after Duo and miss horribly.
Zaied’s Shadows have the comparatively worse idea of attacking Lowe at point-blank range.
Sadly, they’re bulky enough that even a crit will not kill them.
This happens twice.
Down below, Quatre is getting harassed by several Mistrals.
While this Savage wants to help boost Gai’s kill count.
Thank you.
Zaied takes a few shots at Lowe but it’s no problem (for now).
Player Phase!
Sousuke soon deploys and joins his team; Zaid recognizes it as a “mysterious man” says that it’s his “honey”, Kashim.
The man tells Zaied that he hopes he isn't planning to somehow let Sousuke off the hook out of some kind of nostalgia; Zaied says he values his life far too much for that after seeing so many die dogs' deaths for the sake of their emotions.
Zaied lures Sousuke out for some 1:1 combat.
Kurz tells him to go kick his ass and McAllen will also leave things to him but makes sure to tell him to be careful – the enemy could have a trick up his sleeve.
As Sousuke approaches, the mystery man asks Zaied what's it's like to kill his old friend, though Zaied says there’s nothing to say – this is just another mission.
The man isn’t satisfied with that answer, though…
He therefore sends out two Behemoths to liven things up!
Saburouta and Yumi never saw that unit before and, when Harry tells them that it’s an AS, they can’t even believe there’s one that huge – as big as a Death Black Beastmen of the Galra, Gai Daigouji figures.
Furthermore, Ruri warns them that their real danger comes not from their size but from that Lambda Driver that’s loaded into them; Reneé realizes that the scariest thing about all this is that there's an organization that could mass produce and figure out how to pilot such a monstrosity.
Just the sight of it brings back some evil memory to Seina.
Kurz and Mao tell Sousuke to hurry up with the enemy Commander as we’ll need his help to take these things out but Zaied isn’t planning on being defeated.
Hrm, what a pain in the ass. We’ll deal with the Behemoths soon but, for now, let’s keep cleaning house.
Next, Sommer will continue Lowe’s work on the Serpents.
I was hoping for a critical hit but…
We’ll get rid of the Shadows and then finish those Serpents.
Might as well show off McAllen though his Gernsback is quite basic.
Still, it gets the job done.
Kurz moves right next to them, after sniping a Serpent down.
I try to have Aki finish off both Serpents but one manages to hang on.
Yumi will handle the last Shadow.
Boom.
Volfogg takes it upon himself to destroy the last serpent. Finally.
You’d think mass produced Behemoths would be less bulky but you would be WRONG (at least they don’t have cutscene power…).
Despite it being a “duel”, Sousuke is gonna get his ass handed to him without some intervention (specially once Zaied’s Prevail kicks in).
Accel, Assail and Strike on the Valstork and we’re good to lend a hand.
Not bad at all.
The game thinks so too, as it bumps the Valstork crew up a level (teaching Support Defend L3 to Shihomi).
Time for Sousuke to join in.
: You haven’t changed…even your footwork is the same. 
: Zaied…! Is that really you…?!: It’s been a while, Kashim.: On that day, as I escaped the camp with Lt. Commander Kalinin, I thought all my friends were killed by Gauron…: How did you survive, Zaied?!: …It was by mere chance that I avoided the raid.: Stop this, Zaied! I don’t want to fight you!: You were my only—: Enough, Kashim. Victory will be mine.
Hm, that’s not bad (it’s not great either…).
The real issue, though, is that Sousuke deployed way too late to get enough morale to power his Lambda Driver.
Better send Vesna over there to lend a hand.
As for the Behemoths, we’re throwing everything at them (making sure to save SP, of course).
Thankfully, they don’t have Prevail which makes things simpler.
Following up, Duo and Lowe pull some double Gundam action but it’s nowhere near dead (and everyone else was too far away to attack).
Enemy Phase!
Cagalli is working on clearing out the Mistrals.
Two of them were weakened and pulled a suicide run against her.
The third one, however, had a full tank and managed to scrape by.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum both go after Duo. That’s just fine.
The result is the same.
Zaied and Sousuke are still at it.
: You were a fine soldier, Kashim. But it’s useless – you cannot beat me.: I taught you everything you know about combat.: Zaied…!: This is no one’s fault; it’s just what happens on the battlefield. Don’t you understand, Kashim?: Still, I…! If you’re coming after Chidori, I have no choice but to beat you!
Slowly but surely.
Player Phase!
Cagalli moves up, clearing the Mistral group in the process.
With Zaied’s Prevail running, his numbers get a bit dangerous but Vesna pulls some Pro maneuvering and makes it work.
Hrm, is his HP low enough? I’ll just toss an assist from Trowa and it may be good!
Yeah, it may work if we get a crit-
Damn…Reload powers, GO!
I’ve had enough of your shenanigans, Zaied.
Sousuke and Trowa THEN manage to finish the job.
Mind you, see how Zaied survived Sousuke with fucking 10 HP? Thank god Trowa managed to hit.
Zaied is worth a level, a Cartridge, a Dustproof Module and a Gunfight +1.
Thanks for activating Lambda Driver NOW, Sousuke!
As Zaied lies defeated, he at least praises Sousuke for becoming such a fine soldier.
Sousuke tries to have him eject but it's no use – Zaied’s thrown everything he had in this battle and isn’t able to escape.
As his Shadow explodes, Sousuke can only cry in anguish.
Which, in turn, is lovely music to Gauron’s ears. Surprisingly to our people, he survived his defeat during the plane hijacking and Renée recognizes him as an international A-class terrorist .
Gauron hopes Sousuke enjoyed the “show” he set up for their meeting, gloating over all the strings he pulled to make Sousuke kill the unexpectedly-alive old friend.
Sousuke is obviously not amused but Gauron challenges him to keep his Lambda Driver going in his perturbed state.
He can’t and, while the Driver fails to run, Sousuke vows to kill his ass with or without the system.
That works for Gauron, who’s already enjoying this.
Gauron meets his challenge by activating his Asshole mode…auto-casting Focus and Zeal.
Before keep working on the Behemoths, it’ll make things simpler if we take one shot at Gauron – doesn’t matter that it’s a miss.
: AHAHAHA! Isn’t this fun, Kashim?! Let’s dance some more!
: Urgh…!
: That’s the power of a Lambda Driver…
: That’s crazy! This guy’s a monster!
: Damn it! Why do we have to fight a monster like this just as we got to Earth?!
: That technology is just like the G-Stone…!
: But how can this guy’s dark desires produce so much power?!
: What are you doing, Sousuke?! You gotta use your Lambda Driver!: I am trying but…!: (It’s no use… Zaied’s death has confused Sousuke’s mind…!): (He won’t be able to use the Lambda Driver like this!): What’s wrong, Kashim?! Come play some more…just like when you killed Zaied!
: That man…he’s horrible…
: Stop already! Just what is with that guy?!
: Th-the way this is going…this one man might destroy us all…!
: (This is bad…! Yumi and the others are too inexperienced to fight against someone like Gauron…!: (If things keep going like this, we’re really going to be destroyed!)
: Unknown units approaching the area! Identified as Radam! 
: Now, of all times?!
: Tekkaman Lance!: Eh? The Radam...: You guys are real dicks for disturbing my date like that!
: Heh…the imitations and their friends. Sword…how could you have lost to a group like this?: Yumi, Natasha, David! Change targets to Lance! Prepare to intercept!: Too slow! I’ll kill all of you! 
: Argh!: Shit! We don’t even know how we’re gonna deal with that crazy terrorist and now we have to handle the Radam as well?!: C-can we even win…?!: Not only we can but we MUST win! That is our mission!: Chief…: Yumi! Remember why you were chosen to become a Tekkaman!: The reason why I became a Tekkaman…that’s…!
: That’s right! Because you have a strong heart!: Is that…?!: Never forget your fighting spirit, for you are Tekkamen who kept their hearts.: Mr. D! Why are you here?!: !: So, you’re here!
: PEGAS! TEK-SETTEEEEEEEEER!!
: TEKKAMAN BLADE!
: D-Boy!: Blade…! Mr. D was Tekkaman Blade!: There you are, traitor! I came back to this planet just to find you!: Shut up, Lance! I’m here to fight and crush all of you!: Hmph…weren’t you the one running away from us during these past months?: …: D-Boy…: Yes, I was running. But it was not from you Radam…!: I was running from myself and my destiny as a Tekkaman! However, my weak heart has recovered!: I WILL fight! For the mission my Father gave to me and as my apology to Miyuki!: That’s Tekkaman Blade…: He’s only one man but he's still going to fight the Radam…!: Mr. D! I’ll also fight as a Tekkaman!: SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!! STOP MESSING UP MY DATE WITH KASHIM!!
: Let’s do this, Ruri! It’ll only get worse if we don’t stop that guy now!: Leave the Radam to me! Everyone else focus on taking out that red AS!
: Got it, D-Boy!: Show us your renewed fighting spirit!
: We’re counting on you. All units concentrate your fire on the red Arm Slave. : Gauron…!: That’s not nice, Kashim! You rely too much on those people!: Shut up! I can take you down on my own!!
: Sousuke…Uuuuurgh…I’ll need to have a sit down before I face Gauron again. He’s an even bigger tool than before and can set up some nasty chain-attacks with his Auto-Focus (needless to say, someone needs to get rid of Valor ASAP).
We’ll deal with his mess soon and, hopefully, I’ll get to keep most of my sanity (I COULD kill him in one turn but then I’d be missing out on the Radam experience and cash – Lance has no goodies to drop).
See you all then!