Part 192: Mission 52 - Warped Sun - Part 1
Mission 52 - Warped Sun
Our little fleet has just finished our Boson Jump and find ourselves in the vicinity of Venus, along with us are the newly-made GGG Division Ships Tsukuyomi, Takehaya and Hirume.
Taiga brought them along to collect and analyze data from Venus and the nearby area in order to find Pisa Sol; once they’re done, we'll Boson Jump to its location by the Sun – that is, assuming the bad guys don’t spot us, Professor says.
George quickly detects that they did spot us and raises the alarm.
Liam sighs that nothing is ever simple and Kisato yells out that Professor jinxed us!
Regardless, Murrue gives the order to deploy.
It's the Sol Lords, and Abel is quite surprised that we had the knowledge to find Pisa Sol’s location.
Palparepa figures that the Five Lions must have tipped us to its location.
Kogane yells out that we’re gonna pass through – for the sake of our Solar System, we’ll put an end to them!
Abel certainly doesn't plan to be defeated right as their mission – the rebirth of the Trinary System - is about to be completed.
As such, he orders Percurio, P-Vater, Polturn, Puranus and Ptulone to remove these obstacles and perform Fusion!
Our people are a bit surprised that they had this trick up their sleeve.
Mao figures that it shows how serious they are but Kazuma says that is just fine because it means we’ll settle everything in this next battle!
The Sun will bear witness as we strike them down!
Gai calls to begin the fight, so that we can see, once and for all, whose mission will remain victorious (Palparepa silently says that it’s useless…).
Only a small group of enemies to fight (for now) but you’ll find that the named Sol Lords can be quite the nuisance.
Palparepa and Abel are the same as before but let’s have a look at the new ones:
Puranus is the jack-of-all-trades with average HP, Armor and Mobility; her stats are spread out evenly and her weapons are mostly long-range but her strongest one is post-movement – she is the counterpart of Tenryujin.
Her Pilot Skills are:
- Sword Cut
- Shield Block
- Prevail L8
- Support Attack L3
- Multicombo L2
Polturn is the counterpart of Volfogg and, as expected, he’s very dodgy; his HP and Armor are the lowest of the group but he makes up with high mobility and a Mirror Image effect.
His stats favor Evasion, Skill and Melee but he is the less physically powerful Sol Lord.
His Pilot Skills are:
- Sword Cut
- Counter
- Prevail L8
- Support Attack L3
- Multicombo L2
Ptulone is Gekiryujin’s counterpart and suffers a bit from their own weaknesses: mainly, the dragon brothers’ average armor and low mobility – he compensates it with a decent HP pool and Defense stat, of course.
Ptulone’s stats also favor long-range attacks but he only has two: his weaker attack is post-movement and his strongest has 2-8 range with a Mobility Down debuff.
His Pilot Skills are:
- Shield Block
- Prevail L8
- Support Attack L3
- Multicombo L2
Percurio is the counterpart to Mike and, sadly, there are no bridges in space – we’ll have to deal with this motherfucker legit.
Percurio is the bulkiest of the new Sol Lords (would’ve been more if that 2L size was working but…) and is also the strongest.
He is all about long-range attacks and his stats reflect that, also giving him the highest Defense stat – the most worrisome part of Percurio is the fact that his strongest attack is, essentially, Disc X and will apply the Armor Down debuff (it also has a 3-9 range).
His Pilot Skills are:
- Prevail L8
- Support Attack L3
- Multicombo L2
The last one is P-Vater, Chouryujin’s counterpart; he is the second bulkiest Sol Lord but has the highest amount of Armor.
His stats are spread out evenly like Puranus and he has both a long-range (that can also cause the Armor Down debuff and has a 3-8 range) and a post-movement attack.
Here are his Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L8
- Support Attack L3
- Multicombo L2
Conclusion: The new Sol Lords can be quite dangerous with their debuffs and high-power attacks (all of them have their strongest attacks at 4000+ power); you are advised to keep defensive measures constantly when near them – especially on your Supers and ships as they might have their armor reduced.
The fact that they all have Support Attack L3 means that they have a good chance of getting that extra 30% hit rate and could even tag your real robots (that is, if the AI is smart enough to make use of it); the silver-lining is that they tend to stick together, which opens them up for MAP attacks (and you do want to take them out quickly, especially Percurio and P-Vater).
Confuse can be invaluable during this particular fight; focus on them one at a time if you’re out of MAPs and try to eliminate the debuffers first.
One odd thing to note: aside from J and Gai having lines against Abel and Palparepa, none of the GGG units have anything to say to their evil alter-egos. Shame.
Also, the Sol Lords’ attacks are quite visually stunning and pictures wouldn’t really do them justice; as such, here’s a compilation of the strongest attacks:
With that out of the way, everyone moves forward.
Enemy Phase!
Ditto.
Player Phase!
Now, I could charge ahead with some of the speedier folks but I’m trying to draw the Sol Lords in (mainly Percurio and Ptulone; as such, I’ll move a few folk ahead but still keep out of their attack range.
Enemy Phase!
Indeed, everyone but Abel and Palparepa moves in.
This one cube snipes at J but he dodges it.
Player Phase!
NOW, we can move in – I will, however, be keeping a 9-square distance from Percurio to make sure that he will get closer.
Off to a good start.
Tetsuya kills another Cube with an assist from Kazuma, while Kouji and Hayato weaken another.
Heero can deal with that.
So there.
Gaogaigar charges ahead for a chain-attack.
Lowe should be able to get at least one kill.
Yup.
Golion and Hayato get working one another Cube.
And this one will go to Yumi.
Attagirl.
As the fight progresses, Carret announces that he detects incoming troops.
Akane asks if the Sol Lords have reinforcements but not quite…
It’s a platoon of Eviluders.
It seems like they’ve decided to attack the Sol Lords earlier than expected but Duo thinks this is actually good: they might distract or even destroy a few Sol Lords and make things easier on us.
However, Harry detects another group incoming from the other side.
As Aria feared, it’s Applicant and the Database.
Applicant curtly reminds her that “The Database” is an incorrect name given by the Earthlings – they have always been the Scribes of Knowledge, those tasked with the collection of knowledge throughout the universe.
Kazuma cuts him off, yelling at the guy to stop acting so high-and-mighty: The Database was created to preserve knowledge into the future but now they are nothing more than mere thieves!
Applicant doesn’t care what Kazuma thinks, saying that he will be destroyed along with his Solar System.
Shihomi asks if Applicant is saying The Database is here to help the Sol Lords?
Horis then figures this means that they’ve finished recording all data about our culture and have moved to eliminate it – Applicant concurs and shows, as proof of their success, beings called Deceivers.
Using Aria’s data as a basis and applying technology gathered from the Solar System (Mendel Colony and info given by Leonardo), they were able to perfect the ultimate warriors.
Prayer is baffled that even The Database creates beings solely for the purpose of battle and Gai Murakumo is very annoyed that everyone, even those that are not from Earth, seems to go that route; Applicant states that they have been given no emotions that could impede the performance of their duties – their only focus is the mission at hand.
This way, The Database is sure that there won’t be any more failures like Aria.
Kazuma, however, tells Aria not to listen to him; Applicant is simply applying tactics to lower her morale before battle!
Applicant notes that Kazuma seems have to have grown a bit since their last encounter.
However, Kazuma yells at him to shut up - there's no way he's losing again even if Applicant is a copy of his father; In the name of Bless’s pride, Kazuma promises to take him down!
Applicant claims that no matter how much Kazuma matures, he'll never be a match for him.
Lacus asks Ruri what they’ll do: The Database is helping the Sol Lords, and Eviluder reinforcements are surely on the way; Waltfeld suggests we avoid expending more warpower than needed and to focus on the Database and Sol Lord commanders - Ruri agrees.
The extra troops are actually helpful since our morale would be very low if we only had the Sol Lords to contend with.
Now, Gai Murakumo chains the survivors of Lowe’s attack.
Orgun will take care of the rest.
Good man.
Kazuma and Hayato chain a pair of cubes, killing one.
Enemy Phase!
Here comes Polturn.
: We're all the way out to Venus! I'm in Spaceman heaven!
: Kazuma! Will you be serious for one minute?
: She's right, stupid Kazuma. This isn't a game!: I am never not serious! But there are so many places in the solar system I still have to visit...: And I can't let these jerks destroy them all for their stupid mission!
Thankfully, Valzacard was ready with an Iron Wall.
Kazuma is also attacked by a couple of Opuses that he promptly blasts away.
A Cube tries attacking the Nadesico but Ruri hurts him back for way more than he did.
Hayato is attacked by four Opuses and cuts their health by around 60%.
Abel and Palparepa have decided to charge after the Eviluders and those crummy Eidos certainly can’t do anything against them.
Player Phase!
Since the Sol Lords are now right on our faces (along with the Database troops, who will certainly charge in next turn), I’ll have Newman cast Confuse.
I send my speedier folk up north to deal with the Eviluders.
Good man.
Lowe pops another chain attack, killing an Eido.
J will be running interception on Abel but, first, he needs some morale.
All three Eidos, dead.
Tetsuya starts a chain off the last Cube and gets a quick hit in on Percurio and Puranus.
Meanwhile, Orgun kills one of Hayato’s Opus.
This last kill gets Kouji’s Mazin Power running.
Seeing how Polturn is right there, we might as well take him out first.
: All right, 11 Sol Lords! If your mission is to regenerate your solar system...: Then ours is to protect our own solar system! So I hope you came prepared for a fight!
Being out of his attack range means he’ll defend but the important part is reducing his armor.
Golion casts Spirit, Strike and Alert before moving in.
: 11 Sol Lords! We'll put an end to your twisted mission!: The souls of the Leo Civilization sleeping inside Go-Lion are crying out for that!
That worked very nicely.
Take him out, Ryouma.
: I understand that you're trying to bring your own solar system back...: But trying to destroy another system to do so makes you our enemies! We'll destroy you before we let you get away with it!
Boosh.
Hiver takes this time to kill another of Hayato’s Opus.
Gai will join J in facing Abel and Palparepa; in the meantime, he’ll grab some extra morale.
Alright, alright.
With nothing better to do, Kazuma deals some extra damage on Puranus and Percurio.
Enemy Phase!
Puranus tries to pay him back but Kazuma gets a lucky dodge due to Confuse.
Ptulone has decided to go after the Nadesico, though.
Ow.
Urgh…this is going to hurt.
Fucking Eternal with its paper-maché armor…
P-Vater, for one, has his eyes on the big prize.
That’s better.
A couple of Deceivers go after Yumi but she’s more than capable of dodging; Ryouma also evades two Opuses before killing them.
These kills get Tetsuya’s Mazin Power active.
All three Stomas decide to go after Yumi.
This works out well enough.
Applicant also wastes both his moves trying to hit her with his Latum Radius.
Abel and Palparepa continue to harass the Eviluders.
This here Eido II is trying to be a hero.
Nope.
The other Eido II goes after Murrue, who’s protected by Professor.
Surprisingly, Abel and Palparepa fail to hit a single Eviluder via counterattacks.
Player Phase!
Another dose of Confuse, this one is from George.
Since Palps and Abel couldn’t be arsed to do it, Murrue and J steal their kills.
Might as well have Gai take this one out.
Nothing wrong with a bit of overkill.
As expected, Eviluder reinforcements quickly arrive on the scene.
Dead complains that these bastards are even more stubborn than the Radam and Aki says that, if this keeps up, our strength will be depleted.
Tetsuya says we can’t stop now; we need to keep pressing on and break through the enemy lines!
It is then that YURIKA gets on the comm and says to let her handle that!
The original Nadesico enters the battlefield, leaving even Prospector baffled.
Yurika then quickly orders Lapis to fire the Phase Transition Cannon on the Eviluders.
The attack devastates the newly-arrived reinforcements.
Ruri is very thankful but Yurika says there’s still more and orders everyone to deploy!
The first one is Blade, who is very relieved that we’re all safe.
Aki cannot believe her eyes but Blade says that he’s still alive and ready to keep fighting.
If you’ve completed the secret, Milly notices that Miyuki is also with him!
She is back and tells everyone that she also wants to help us in our fight for the future.
It seems Balzac had rescued Miyuki and delivered her, barely alive after Evil’s attack, back to Liger; after several months of research, he was finally able to restore her to health.
She is very grateful to them both, for giving her a chance to fight by her brother’s side once again.
Noal wants to know why Balzac didn’t tell them about Miyuki being alive but he says we can talk about it later.
As for how D-Boy survived the Genesis blast, Miyuki was responsible for that: she brought Shinya’s crystal to Blade and the life inside it restored him.
Miyuki heard Shinya’s last words of "I'm sorry" and, now, his crystal was at least able to save his beloved brother.
Blade is ever-thankful to Shinya, promising to him, Miyuki, Kengo and their father to use his newly restored life to defend their planet.
And he's not alone as Cagalli indicates to Athrun: the Freedom is also there!
Indeed, Kira is also alive and both Athrun and Cagalli are both relieved and confused as to how he survived taking the Genesis blast at point-blank.
As Lowe suspected, the Freedom managed to protect Kira from the blast but he would’ve been destroyed in the explosion if he hadn’t been rescued at the last moment by none other than Canard!
Canard told him not to die until they eventually finish their duel.
Lowe isn’t sure that’s a good reason to rescue someone but Prayer figures Canard actually got the message he was trying to convey; Prayer only hopes that he can meet Canard again while he still has time and, hopefully, he’ll call him a friend…
Akatsuki is just glad Erina got everyone here in time, which Erina admits was pretty tough due to the time required to combine the Eucharis into the rebuilt Nadesico.
Uribatake is quite impressed that they were able to use the Eucharis likes that and Yurika is very glad to have command of her old ship back, though she couldn’t do it without some extra help: Lapis.
Ruri is very glad to see both of them again.
Among the Nadesico crew are Papillon and Kumi.
Both seers acknowledge us as “the ones that will summon forth the dawn” and they’ve come here to lend us their power.
Yurika happily declares the 11 Sol Lords to be her main enemies and promises to deal with them thoroughly.
Here it is: if you’ve done the Tekkaman Blade secret, you’ll get Tekkaman Rapier back!
She is as powerful as Aki (though her stats aren’t as good), taking upgrades off Blade and, as a bonus, she has a Double Voltekka attack with Blade (as powerful as the Double Reactor Voltekka).
Mind, if you kept the Plant Route, you could’ve gotten Canard as your reinforcement (provided you did that secret, that is) but, while he does take upgrades off the Red Frame, I find that he is simply another “good” unit in the mix of a bunch of great ones.
I think this could have easily been remedied by giving Canard a combined attack with Prayer (which would increase the value of both units); as is, Rapier seems like the better choice.
Come next mission, we’ll continue pushing the Sol Lords back and see if we can’t find their hidden buddy.
See you all soon!