Part 160: Mission 45 (Moon Route) - Malice Born - Part 1
Mission 45 (Moon Route) - Malice Born
We reach L4 and meet with the Archangel: Murrue relates how Athrun stayed behind to deal with a few things but he’ll be here within a few minutes.
This somewhat eases Kira's nerves, though Cagalli tells him that he's worrying too much.
Muu jokes that he can't tell Kira and Cagalli apart when he's like that – though, he guesses it makes sense considering the circumstances; our people ask about it and Muu reveals that, while they were in Orb, they learned from Uzumi that Kira and Cagalli are twins.
This is all according to a photo Cagalli was given by Uzumi.
The picture also means that Cagalli isn't Uzumi's blood relation, though D-Boy is quick to point out that their familial bond was perfectly strong nonetheless.
Yumi wonders if it’s alright for him to be walking around like this but he's unwilling to go back to resting - frustrated that we couldn't locate the Radam base on the moon; he's sure the Radam will spring into action soon though, at the moment the Radam trees bloom.
Despite Mike's best efforts, some of the trees have survived, and the only remaining option is destroying the master system that controls them (as well as the person controlling said master system).
The real shame is that we'll have to take on the various enemy forces all at once and the Eviluders are only a month and a half away - around the time D-Boy's life will end.
He matter-of-factly reassures Yumi that there's no way he'll let himself die until his work is done and she promises to keep helping him until everything’s settled.
The convo is interrupted as Muu gets a “Newtype Flash” and yells at everyone to prepare for battle and, soon after, Zaft shows up.
Just like Muu, Creuset could sense his presence from afar and managed to find us.
Creuset rapidly guesses that the Eternal will be joining our people any moment (while also marveling at the fate that seems to be drawing him towards Muu and this place).
He tells his men to attack, saying that despite our troops not being affiliated to the Feds, all Naturals are the enemies of the Coordinators; he wants to wipe us out before dealing with Lacus.
As our forces line up for battle, Dearka asks how Muu knew that Creuset’s forces were coming before they were even detected.
Muu doesn’t know why but he has a connection to the guy and whenever they get close enough, he can sense his presence; Dearka remembers his old captain mentioning something similar once.
As usual, Ruri orders are to avoid shooting the enemy's cockpits as much as possible; Ryouko tells Cagalli to give it her all, she can’t die when Athrun is so close to returning (even though I didn’t care to deploy her
)!Cagalli says this has nothing to do with the guy – she’ll fight as another member of Neo-Wärter.
Secret Alert! Believe it or not, there’s yet another SEED secret: during this mission, Dearka needs to attack and then use the Convince command on Yzak.
Most Zaft troops are too far away but Kira can get close enough to blast a CGUE.
There are some newer Zaft toys but we’ll get there in a bit.
Everyone else moves closer.
Enemy Phase!
Kazuma is acting as the mook-magnet now. He draws seven different units to attack – Kira’s weakened CGUE, included.
Besides this one, four GINNs got killed in one shot and the other two GuAIZ get weakened.
What’s a GuAIZ? In a second.
Last move goes to Rau, who’s using a customized GuAIZ and tries (and fails) to chain-attack Kazuma, Kira, and Muu.
Dearka notes that Yzak is part of this battle.
Our people don’t have time to think about that, though, as Harry detects a battleship approaching from our flank and it’s transmitting a Zaft ID.
It’s the Eternal and Athrun quickly gets on the comm to identify themselves as friendlies.
Lacus is on the scene, and ready to fight for peace with her trusty lieutenant Waltfeld by her side; Athrun has Waltfeld move closer to the Archangel so he can pick up the Justice.
Athrun tells Kira that there’s nothing he can do but to keep moving forward – he must, if he's going to have any hope of stopping his father's plans.
Creuset thinks that it's fine that Lacus has arrived earlier than expected, as it makes it easier to eliminate all his problems at once.
Player Phase!
Here’s a quick look at a Mass Produced GuAIZ: Zaft’s response to the Federation’s Strike Daggers.
They sport decent HP, a good amount of mobility, movement and attack range (their best attack being 1-7, pre-movement).
The high Mobility and three different safeguards (Shoot Down, Sword Cut and Anti-Beam Shield) paired with their Coordinator skills can give these things surprising survivability if you let the pilot’s morale get high enough – take them down quickly, before they become an annoyance.
Dealing with Rau will have to wait until we take care of Yzak but we can still take this chance to down a GuAIZ behind him.
Rau, as always, has a sky-high Skill stat and will trigger his Anti-Beam Shield a LOT.
Hiver moves ahead, chaining a bunch of Zaft mooks beside Shiho.
We’ll have Vesna take at least one down.
Or not…
Sousuke finishes the job but a CGUE barely survives by using his Shield.
Sommer moves close to Vesna but takes his aim on that there GuAIZ.
These Earth Tekkamen are giving me sass today!
Dead wraps it up.
We might as well have Orgun keep the chain-attacks going on Yzak and Shiho.
Not ideal that Yzak triggered his shield but we’ll make do.
Kira quickly dispatches Sousuke’s last CGUE.
As for Aki, she calls for another chain-attack.
Damn it, Yzak, stop blocking my attacks!
At least that last kill got the Lamda Driver going.
Clouseau is too far to attack anything else, so he calls for Kazuma to assist as he goes for Creuset.
After that, Kazuma chains Shiho and Yzak.
Well, let’s get the secret going and have Dearka take a chain-attack on Yzak and Shiho.
: Fall, Buster! That machine is not yours to use!
: Tch! I knew it, it’s Yzak!
That’s fine…I merely wanted him to attack.
: Dearka! Is that really you?!: Yeah. I’m the real Dearka Elsman. : Why? Why are you helping the Naturals?!: I am not helping the Naturals and I also didn’t betray Plant.: SHUT UP!!: H-hey, Yzak…! Listen to me!: Shut up! If you’re helping the Naturals and have turned your gun on us, then you’re an enemy!: Even for you, there’s no forgiveness! For our…for the future of the Coordinators!: You’re as hot-headed as ever…I guess I’ll have to keep trying until he listens to me!
We’ll deal with that soon. For now, Horis uses Assail and the Valstork takes aim.
: The enemy’s the special forces of the UN’s secretariat…they’re different from the Feds.: Do we really have to fight?
Good, good.
Muu quickly finishes the job.
Unable to continue fighting, Shiho retreats to the Vesalius.
Enemy Phase!
I wonder if Lunamaria is aboard that CGUE…
Rau guns for Muu and he has the power to take him down in one shot, so it’s safer to just dodge.
Yzak decides to go after Sommer, Vesna and Dearka.
Nope.
Player Phase!
Now, let’s move Dearka over and see if he can’t talk sense into his friend.
: Listen, Yzak. I don’t remember ever becoming your enemy.: Get real! Lacus Klein, Commander Waltfeld, Athrun and even you…!: We just realized…how stupid it’d be to follow orders to fight a war just to kill off every Natural. : Dearka…!: Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on Athrun for you.: You…: You should know, that Freedom’s pilot…is the guy who used to pilot the Strike. : He’s also a Coordinator and was friends with Athrun since they were kids. : What are you saying...?: I’m not as devoted or resigned to this cause as those two but, ever since descending to Earth, I’ve seen many things…: After all that, there’s no way I could return to Zaft and battle however I’m ordered. : …: I’m not telling you to understand it all right away. But, if possible, I’d rather not have to fight you…: But, I…!: I know how you’re like. So, Yzak…don’t die!!
Ah, well. Let’s have Athrun finish the last CGUE before going after Yzak.
There we go.
Now, let’s quickly deal with Yzak.
: The enemy’s a Mobile Suit. Aside from the cockpit, if I want to stop its movement, I should attack--: Bastard! Are you also thinking of challenging me to a G Fight?!: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ll destroy the head…!
: That unit…is that the Freedom that Lacus helped steal?!
: This machine bears Lacus’ wishes. I will never let anyone have it!
: Answer me, Athrun! Why did you betray Plant?!
: That’s not what I did…! I just figured out who I really should be fighting!: Bullshit! No matter what excuses you give, you’re mine and Plant’s enemy!
Done and done.
Yzak is worth a Laminate Armor and a Multicombo +1.
No need to take Yzak down a second time, so let’s turn our attention to Creuset.
: Muu La Flaga! You’ve done well to survive this far!
: Shut up! It’s high time I put an end to our connection!: Hehehe…To think I’d fight you in this place…! I guess this is what they call “fate”!
: That unit…is Kira Yamato the pilot?!: This man…he knows something about me?: Yes, I do. Yours is a very special existence!
Creuset doesn’t drop anything but, with Cheer, he hands out five levels.
This teaches Vesna Multicombo L3 and Goliath learns Rouse.
Creuset taunts Muu, asking if he thinks he’s won; he calls Muu inside Mendel, saying that it’s an appropriate place for him to be defeated.
Kira rushes in to help, and an exasperated Athrun is about to follow when Kazuma tells him to stay here and look out for Cagalli instead.
She may be the strong princess type, but she's all soft where her feelings for him go.
Kazuma tells him to leave this to him and rushes inside; Horis wonders if Creuset really knows what happened inside that colony...
Muu and Creuset are engaged in a gunfight inside the colony, though Creuset figures that Muu's failure to dispatch him may be a manifestation of how a child couldn’t surpass his “parent”.
When Kira shows up, Creuset asks him what it feels like to return to the place he was born.
Over Muu's protests that he’s just trying to mess with his head, Creuset insists that Kira learn the truth - the truth about the fools who chased their forbidden dream in the name of "progress".
Kira is a child of those dreams, and when Muu moves to attack Creuset for messing with Kira like that, Creuset asks if he really could kill the one who’s the reincarnation of his own father!
Or, rather, Creuset says that he a failed clone of Muu's father, Al Da Flaga, who thought he could avert his own death with money; Muu isn't buying it, and Creuset yells that he sure as hell didn’t want to believe it either, but it's the truth.
As is Kira's identity as the ultimate result of mankind's general-purpose genetic engineering, the one successful product of Hibiki’s artificial womb: the strongest Coordinator - a Super Coordinator!
And to produce him, Hibiki sacrificed many, many of his children, Kira's siblings, making Kira a cursed existence fated to bear all the jealousy, enmity and hatred of mankind.
Elsewhere in the Colony…
: Damn…where the hell did Kira run off to…?
: B-brother…I’m a little scared…wh-what if there’s a ghost here…?: Then, go wait inside the Valhawk like I told you…: That would be even scarier!
: Mihiro…: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! IT’S HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!
: Aw, Mihiro! You don’t need to be so excited that I’m here!: You’re so cute, cute, cuuuute! Give me a hug!: A-Aria! Why are you here?!: I’m not talking to you, stupid Kazuma! : What did you come here for? Are you here to fight us?!: My job today was to collect data on research subject 4214482003160229…: I have to properly record all information that is left in this colony.: A-Aria, let me go…it hurts…: Ah! Sorry, Mihiro! Your big sister just got a bit too excited…: Shut up! Whose sister?! Mihiro is MY little sister!!: And that’s why you’re not needed!: If you didn’t exist, I would be able to live together with Papa, Mihiro and my sisters!: Who…the hell are you…?!: I am Aria Advance…: A doll Papa created based on your records…: Papa…is that Applicant?!: That’s why I’ll defeat you! So I can get my family!!: Wait, Aria!!*Boom!
: Urk! That explosion…what’s going on outside?!
Creuset cries out, asking just what mankind has grasped with its hands, at the end of that dream of genetic advancement.
All that curiosity, all that lust, until the very reason behind it has been forgotten in a sea of using and being used, killing and being killed.
All that knowledge, all those achievements, for NOTHING!!
A flicker of rationality returns to his voice, and he tells mankind to kill each other to their hearts' content, if that truly be its wish; Muu asks what makes Creuset any better than all that and he's says that he’s the one and only person in the universe qualified to pass judgment.
Muu says that despite all the awful things that happened to him, it still does not give him the fight to condemn humanity as a whole.
Creuset makes to run off, saying that the final curtain is about to rise - by his hand - and when it does, this world of boundless desire will end, just as all those conceited upstart bastards wanted!
The same explosion as before rocks the base and Creuset says that the other “guests” have arrived; he insists that no one, especially not Muu, can stop the tide of hatred sweeping throughout space!
Outside, our troops are being attacked from the other side: the Federation Army is inbound.
Creuset makes his way outside and Yzak tells him of the incoming enemies; Creuset orders all units to retreat aboard the Versalius.
It's time for his final bet, and it involves Flay; he tells her to deliver the key to the final door – if the Feds get this, the war will be over.
Muu and Kira emerge from the colony as well, and Muu has to yell at Kira to get him to snap out of his shock and focus on the battle.
The Feds arrive and among them is a black Archangel
Gai Daigouji figures that it’d be an Archdevil, then.
Regardless, Creuset hails the ship with the news that he wants to send them a prisoner before hostilities commence.
He launches an MS and before Ryouko can decide if she should attack, Flay gets on the mike saying that she’s inside the thing and begging the Archangel crew to help her.
Azrael doesn't care who it is, though, and orders Natarle to blow away our annoying troops – unless she’s hesitant to fight her former crewmates.
Natarle says that she'll suppress her feelings for her former comrades if ordered, but first requests an explanation of this mission's objective.
He tells her that she needs no other reason besides the fact that our people once opposed the Federation army back in Orb - making them "the enemy".
Natarle knows well that Azrael is merely using this as an excuse to eliminate Neo-Wärter (who would interfere with his plans), but is grappling with her soldier's obedience of orders.
Natarle opens communications with our team, identifying herself and her vessel; our group has been tagged as rebels and she orders our immediate and unconditional surrender.
Muu quickly explains how Natarle is the former executive officer of the Archangel, who got reassigned when they were in Alaska; Murrue protests that there’s no reason for them to fight but it does little good.
Creuset's plan is to see which side manages to fish Flay.
She screams, in panic, that she has a "key" to stop the fighting; this sounds fishy enough to Azrael that he orders Natarle not to let our people have her.
Morgan and troops will handle the recovery of Flay while the "biological CPUs" give it their all to kill every single one of us – they know they better bring a big victory, lest they get punished again.
Morgan sees these child-soldiers, all drugged up, and can only sigh, that the Federation Army would become so corrupt as to twist kids into mindless killers.
Muu is also worried about Flay's words, suspecting that there must be something behind them given Creuset’s timing; given that Flay's MS is preset to head to the Dominion, our only option is to sink the ship before she gets there.
Kira promises Flay that he will not abandon her to the Feds.