Part 176: Mission 48 - The Emperor's Counterattack - Part 2
We may be reeling from that massive Galra assault but this will be simpler as we have fewer mooks (with less HP) and can quickly dispatch them in order to focus on the bosses.
While Valguard draws the southern group, Gaofighgar will take the north.
The better part of not having weakened Dai Bazarl’s attacks is that Gai is already getting some boosts out of his Prevail.
Yumi charges the middle pack but falls short out of a one-hit kill.
We’ll let Blade deal with that, also setting up a future Double Reactor Voltekka.
Good man.
Lowe doesn’t get a critical hit and leaves the Opus barely hanging.
To allow the Re-Home to do something, I have it heal Tetsuya a bit.
And it actually pays off as everyone levels up and Kisato learns Love!
Enemy Phase!
Two Reus decide to blast Valguard – good thing I had cast Iron Wall beforehand!
This here was the first.
The second…managed to hit and reduced Valguard’s range to shit.
Mind you, one Opus decided to get in close and was in range to get shot.
The Stomas decide to pick on the Tekkaman ladies but Aki is more than capable of holding on by herself.
While Yumi is getting her numbers boosted by Blade’s presence.
Good show.
Gai was attacked by three Opuses and the last Reus.
He dodged the Reus, Rocket Punch’d the first Opus and killed the two that got in melee range.
Of course, Applicant decides to spend both his moves sniping at him.
PROTECTO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL! x2!
Aria is more pro-active and runs right after Valguard.
: Outta my way, girl! I don't have time to do this with you right now!
: How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that, Stupid Kazuma!: I hope Applicant blows you into space dust!
We can only shoot her due to the range debuff but it still works nicely.
Urgh, Palparepa is using his Poison Aura.
: 11 Sol Lords! Why did you kill Mamoru?: You knew he was the son of Cain of the Trinary System's Green Planet!
: Latio and Galeon were our greatest obstructions. We merely eliminated them.: And now we will eliminate you, Hero of the Blue Planet.: My courage is unbreakable! I will destroy all of you!
Thank god.
Player Phase!
Alright, I believe it’s time we open up a path.
Aside from two Reus and a Stoma, everything dies.
We’ll deal with that Stoma first.
Get it done, Volfogg.
Good man.
He gets rewarded with a level and Hero L8.
Since she bothered coming down here, we’ll work on Aria first – starting with a Valored Getter Beam.
Don’t need to use Valor for this.
Perfect.
Considering that Kazuma has already killed Aria a billion times, I believe it’d work better to let Kouji use this to catch up on levels.
That’s that.
Aria has Kaname's Paper Fan (Critical Ratio +30%
), plus a BP+2 and an Infight+1. 
She doesn’t understand why she still can't beat Kazuma.
He yells at her not to make him fight her any more.
Aria furiously asks if he's trying to shame her by having her owe him or something.
Applicant orders her to withdraw and leave Kazuma’s elimination to him.
With her gone, the way to Applicant is open – Akane wonders if it’s really him…
This is our first fight against a Sol Lord, so let’s take a look at Palparepa:
Pilot-wise, Palparepa is a slightly better pilot than Dai Bazarl on nearly all stats but his unit, Palparepa Plus, fares worse than the Mega Black Beastman Galra.
It’s got less HP and Armor, while sporting slightly higher Mobility and Movement range.
Mind you, while Palparepa has a shitload of Skill stat, he does not have Shield Block and his mech can’t parry.
Of course, what Palparepa loses in defensive capabilities, he more than makes up for it with raw attack power.
The attack you’ll see the most is his Sword, which is the only attack that he can chain-attack with, you should also keep an eye on both his Poison Aura for its debuff (Morale -10, SP -30); mind you, if you attack him at range 3 or less, you’ll eat his strongest attack, God and Devil, which has the massive power of 4500.
Palparepa’s Skills are the standard:
- Sword Cut
- Counter
- Break Morale Limit
- Prevail L9
- Support Attack L4
- Multicombo L2
Conclusion: Palparepa will give you significantly less trouble than Dai Bazarl simply due to the fact that we have a whole lot more morale, he can’t shield block and his mooks are much easier to dispatch than the Galra.
If you can’t attack him from outside of range 3 (keep an eye on that Poison Aura), set up some defensive spirit commands or that God and Devil will HURT.
Apply Armor debuffs and take him out quickly.
Foraging ahead, Golion and Aki take down nearby targets.
Seeing how Palparepa doesn’t regenerate, there’s no harm in starting to whittle him down.
Good, good.
As everyone moves in closer, Lowe takes down the last mook.
Enemy Phase!
Hrrrrmmm…I knew this was coming.
Applicant uses his two moves to MAP our people and deals some decent damage to a bunch of Supers.
While Palparepa takes a more hands-on approach and chains Kouji, Shin Getter and Gai Murakumo.
Ryouma and Gai dodge, while Kouji’s Prevailed defenses minimize his damage.
Player Phase!
Golion is dangerously weakened and I’d rather keep Valguard at full health – as such, each unit casts Guts to fully recover.
Seeing how Palparepa moved for his attack, I’ll need to change my plans – as such, I’ll have Kazuma attack Applicant now.
: I don't care what's behind that mask anymore...: You're our enemy, and that's all I need to know to take you down!
: ...: And then you're gonna get off that bridge and we're gonna have a nice long talk!
Following that, Hiver is in position to blast him apart with a Double Reactor Voltekka.
Very good.
I gave Cagalli a lift with the Archangel, so she can help with the effort.
Alright, that’s perfect.
Now for Palparepa: we’ll open up with a Disc X.
Shouldn’t be long now.
Following that, let’s give him a taste of Shin Shine Spark!
Boom.
As much as I wanted to give this victory to Gai, we’ll have to cut our losses to maximize cash!
Perfect.
The reason why I’ve decided to do this is that, like in a previous mission, you can only kill one boss before the plot kicks in.
As such, the only way for you to keep all the goodies and cash is to MAP both bosses in oblivion!
Making use of Blade’s Zeal, I could set him up properly (Valguard will take a hit but I had cast Iron Wall in anticipation of this).
Applicant and Palparepa together are worth a Laminate Armor, Max SP+10 and Gunfight +1.
: Urk!
: Alright! Now, all that’s left is to yank him outta the bridge!
: Kazuma! You can’t just go in like that!
: I’ve got you…!: What?!
*Valguard splits apart.*
: Urgh!
: AAAAAAAAAAAH!!: Th-that’s one of the Captain’s 2000 techniques: “Playing Dead”!: DAMN IT! It’s just like him, making use of the same cheap tricks like that!: You’re powerless. Now, I’ll renew your knowledge of the terror of space and the weakness of the individual…: Horis! Get in front of the Valhawk!: I can’t! Valstork’s main systems are gone!
: Kazuma! Mihiro! Get outta there!!: Ah…aaah…!: Disappear.: DAMN IIIIIIIIIIIT!!*Beep, beep, boop, boop…*
: The Arm Storer’s systems are powering down…!: Regulate, is this your doing?!
: Applicant, I cannot allow you to kill him.*Incoming Transmission.*
: What are you doing, Regulate…This is the biggest unknown variable…thus, we’ve decided for its elimination.: You have deviated from your duty…Correction, this is an act deserving of deletion.: …
: Hold on. I also have an interest in that person. : Change of decision. Capture both him and the mech.: Inference!: The proposal has been approved.: By two votes for and one vote against, we’ve decided to capture the Valhawk.: …I’ll comply with the decision.
: They took the Valhawk!
: Kazuma! Mihiro!: Retreating.
: Kazuma! MIHIROOO!: Please, Valstork! Lend us your strength one more time!!
: I’ll go! I’ll get them back!!*Palparepa moves in front of him.*
: Move! Don’t get in my way!!: Hero of the Blue Planet, I’ll be your opponent. 
: Palparepa!: …It is also your fate to end here!: In that case…!
: They’re evenly matched…!: However, I have a power the exceeds his!
: It’s useless, Gai Shishioh. Your courage is misplaced.: You’re…!: …: You…you’re denying my courage…?!: Your hesitation exposes you…! : If both sides don’t deny each other, neither could exist. The victor becomes God, while the defeated becomes the Devil.: That’s the law of the material world.: UUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
: GAI!
: The hero...lost...
: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!: With this, only the five lions remain. I will eventually eliminate you as well.
: What?!: It’ll all begin very soon. You are far too late.
: All enemy units have retreated!
: The Valstork is immobilized!: Gaofighgar is destroyed, all other units have suffered considerable damage. 
: …Recover all units. We must retreat and reorganize. 
: Roger. Unfortunately, we don’t have any other option.: Kazuma, Mihiro…: I knew it, that guy’s not our father! There’s no way that bastard is our father!: One of the three ancient civilizations, the Primeval Culture Es…The Database, it’s legacy…: And, also, the Valstork…
Applicant’s attack has hit the Valstork really hard: the main systems are still offline and the ship is remaining barely operational with its subsystems.
Horis and the other scientists and mechanics are taking an extensive look but there doesn’t seem to be much hope; as for Mikoto, she fainted right away from the shock of seeing Gai getting destroyed before her eyes.
Leo points out that we've got no time to be shocked: if we want to save the lives of everything in the Solar System, we still have to stop the Sol Lords before they start the restoration of the Trinary System.
Aki is quite impressed at Leo’s determination, overcoming his fatherly grief and Kogane knows that Gai would be proud, that his father has such courage.
The enemy's course suggests that their base is on Ganymede, a former Jupiter Union stronghold.
Ruri quickly decides that a small force of our people will invade the base while the rest run interference; the team's objective will be information gathering and the liberation of the Whispered and the Valhawk.
On the infiltration team will be the Mithril squad, Aki, Tomoru, Renée and Kaidou.
Michi considers that the trained Mithril soldiers, Orgun and Tekkamen are our smallest and speediest forces – they can all get inside and act before they set many alarms.
D-Boy enters and politely but firmly insists that he, not the commander Aki, go on the mission.
He understands her worry but promises that he’ll make sure that both himself and everyone else will return alive; Michi knows that this also gives D-Boy a chance to contact The Database and gather more information about his father.
George and the Re-Home will take the infiltration team, drawing on his former piloting experience around Jupiter.
Leo also wants to go along, not just to get revenge for his son's killing, but also to check out something that's been bothering him about recent data collected from THE POWER.
The discussion is interrupted by a new arrival: Mikoto, whose Semi-Evoluder abilities are telling her that Gai is still alive and is somewhere nearby - probably in enemy hands!
Ruri agrees to add him to the list of people we’ll rescue inside the base and Mikoto will be tagging along to guide us to him; inwardly, she tells Gai to wait for her – she’ll also fight for what she believes in.
Inside the Valstork’s main systems’ room, Carret is handing over some very negative data about many core functions of the ship.
All our mechanics don’t even know where to begin to fix this: the Valstork is made of several pieces of technology that they’ve never seen before.
Aside from the most basic mechanical tasks, there is no way for them to repair this level of damage; the ship can still move but it surely can’t take part in any combat.
Horis says that he’s not so sure the ship’s technology really is "unknown" – he is sure both it and Valhawk come from the technology of this "Es" culture that Dai Bazarl mentioned.
Uribatake asks if Horis means that they were made by the same people that created the Database units?
Sadly, Horis says that we don’t have nearly enough data or samples to do come to any definitive conclusion on either its origins or its inner workings – much less to gain enough of a technical understanding to fix the Valstork.
Regardless, from what’s been gathered already, Horis says that although the Valstork and Valhawk's design "sensibilities" differ, their systems and capabilities are much like some of the Database's units.
And since they’re obviously set up for a human crew like us, it's not too much to assume that some Earthlings built them according to Database design spec; Levin asks if Horis is suggesting that The Dabase is made up of Earthlings and Horis entertains that it is possible that they include at least one among their number to influence their designs in such fashion.
Akane protests that she remembers Bless telling her that the Valstork has been around at least as far back as her grandfather's days.
There is no way for it to be a ship based on the designs of an ancient civilization!
Horis points to the numerous traces the Es Civilization has left on Earth and Mars; even the Great General of Darkness obliquely referred to them in his dying moments – it’s clear that the legacy of that civilization still exists in our Solar System.
At this point, Levin wonders how the hell Horis knows of all this and Professor asks: just who really is "Horis Horion"?
He announces himself as Specialist First Class of the former OZ's special investigations bureau, in charge of investigating ancient civilizations.
Elsewhere, Gai is face to face with Abel, former leader of the Red Planet and now a commander of the Sol Lords.
Palparepa and the other Sol Lords are on the scene too and he introduces the other Lords present: Percurio, Puranus, Polturn, Ptulone, P-Vater, Pilnus and Pia Decem.
Kazuma doesn’t care about their names and asks what they plan on doing with our Solar System; Abel says that Arma must’ve told us: they simply want the revival of the Trinary System and nothing more.
However, Abel has some surprising news: They've found a better way to revive the Trinary System that doesn’t involve absorbing the galaxy's dark matter.
That's the good news; the bad news is that the Solar System is still in the way, so they plan to suck up just its dark matter and make it locally collapse.
When Gai asks how Abel can sacrifice all of us for that plan, he says they have every bit as much right to exist as Gai's people do.
Gai protests that co-existence should be possible, but Abel says the Sol Lords can't turn back; once the plan is in action, it’s much like Mechanization and cannot be stopped.
It was for this reason that they eliminated Mamoru and Galeon – they also questioned their right to execute the plan.
Kazuma's tries yelling at Abel but is stopped with a quick "shut up" from Inference, who introduces himself as one of the leaders of The Database.
He says that he only agreed to leave Kazuma alive out of curiosity for what could be disrupting Applicant's thought processes; Inference, however, rapidly changes his tone as he “realizes” that Kazuma wasn’t hardly worth saving
Inference gets pissed that someone like him had the gall to get in their way: he will vaporize Kazuma and there won’t be a single damn cell left!
: Stop, Inference! By my authority, I restrain you.: You're... : ...: Mom? No... you look like her, but you're younger.: Regulate, It is you whose function will now be terminated.: That's illogical, Critic!: I am Regulate! My function is to analyze our records and adjust Inference's hypotheses.: And I am Critic. My function is to provide review and feedback to your analysis.: But our council seems to be in a state of some incompatibility.: Critic, you...: We have decided that, from now on, this recording plant will be controlled by Critic and myself!: And you, who have developed these bugs of "emotion", will be terminated.: Applicant! Will you allow this?: Now is the time for you to pass judgment as overseer!: Regulate...your function will be terminated.: Applicant!*Bzzzzt.*
: That woman disappeared!: Regulate is a program. She lacks a physical body.: That’s right! She’s like me and Critic! : Thus, the deactivation of her function is the same as a human’s death. With that, Regulate is dead.: You bastard! Take that mask off right now!!*Punch! Break!*
: Hm…you stepped two centimeters farther than I had expected. 
: Captain Bless…!: Father…! You’re really our father?!: Dad! What the hell are you doing helping people like them?! Answer me, damn it!!: You’re annoying me.*Punch!
: Urgh!: Brother!! : Aria, take Kazuma Ardygun and his sister away.: Understood! …Well, let’s go, Mihiro. : NO! Let me go, let me go! I hate you!!: M-Mihiro…!: I hate you too, father! Why…why are you doing something so horrible?!: …: ANSWER ME, FATHER!!: Take her away.: Understood…: FATHER, YOU IDIOT!!
With dissenting opinions gone, Inference re-raises the prospect of having Applicant's "doll" destroyed.
Applicant asks for Critic’s opinion and he coldly replies that he already voiced his support for Inference: all decision-making rests with him from now on; Inference will leave the method to Applicant, but orders him to destroy that annoying doll one way or the other.
If need be, Inference would rather make a new forward command doll from scratch.
Applicant is silent, and Inference recommends he make the next doll without emotions – he doesn’t want any more complications like this; Applicant agrees to see to her destruction and walks out...
: Now, Hero of the Blue Planet. It’s your turn next.: I don’t know what’s right anymore…: But, for what I have to protect…for what I believe in and for my oath sworn through courage!: I will fight you!!: What can you do with such a battered body?: Well then, Hero… we will have your courage disappear. : Chemical Bolts…inserted.
: GUUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!: Now, your courage is dead…