Part 26: Mission 8 - The Hottest Day in Okinawa - Part 2

The bad guys showed up on their turn which is less than optimal.
Let’s hope Enryu can take the damage well enough because one of the K7 comes after him (could’ve sworn I took a picture of the pre-battle numbers but I guess not…).












That shield block was as lucky as they come.



The birdmen starts coming over after Mao. Thankfully, both her and Kurz were ready with Focus.



You all know what’s coming, yes?



: (I don't know how long my body can hold out. I have to finish this quickly!)


As usual.



Big Volfogg doesn’t have focus but he doesn’t really need it.
With that S rating on ground and Mao’s Command Aura, the Zondar troops will be hard pressed to get a decent Hit % on him.








Very nice.



Thank god Mao and Kurz have long range attacks. These sniping pricks could’ve been annoying.
As annoying as enemies surviving with crap for HP but…



Make me proud, Kurz.










I couldn’t take a picture of the damage but the birdman lived with around 150 HP. You Mithril folks are asking for it!
Kurz also leaves a Birdman barely hanging on.



Bah, those annoying Doublas. Still can’t oneshot them…








Counters aren’t worth much when they don’t result in a kill…also, is it me or do those Doublas have more HP than before?
Another one also goes for Mao and suffers similar results.



Now, the only unit that can provide a “slight” risk in this mission: Zondar Uppo-kun, a.k.a. EI-13. I’m gonna leave Mao there as a support defend but I’m confident that Volfogg can dodge it.












I like the way he trips when he misses his attack.

Once EI-13 gets in a fight, the plot kicks in.



More bad guys emerge, this time in Arm Slaves; Kaname figures Gaogaigar can handle these monsters but, no, they’re gunning straight for the schoolgirls.
Tessa and her men have eared this moment, and order their AS's to prioritize protecting Kaname, leaving the Zondar to the GGG.
Kurz recognizes the units as Savages and Mistral IIs of the Japan Self-Defense Corps; he figured these would’ve made for more appetizing targets to the Zondar.
Still, even if they aren’t Zondarized, they are targeting Kaname and their mission remains to protect her against any threat.
Mao informs Volfogg and others to leave the Terrosists to them and they agree.



Gai is still sounding off, and D-Boy wonders if it's more than just sound...



Son of a bitch…these guys get to keep the enemy turn going.












Good job, Mao – three Savages attack her and get pushed back.
I really wished Kurz and Sousuke would’ve moved in a bit closer, though, as she’s getting all the morale.



Player Phase!

Thank god. That was the longest enemy phase so far.

Now that I have the chance, let’s go quickly over the Tuatha De Danaan:



This is thing actually really good. It doesn’t have huge defenses but it makes up for it in HP and the fact that it’s underwater (also, I think they gave it 1200 defense because it has a 2L size which would mean it would inflict a heavy damage penalty on enemies if sizes worked).
Nearly all attacks against it will be gimped due to the terrain but that’s not the main strength of the sub.

Its main strength is its range and it’s HUGE. Its strongest attack is 3700 damage which is “meh” but its range is 5-15(!) this makes it much easier to attack things without being in their attack range. Nevertheless, this IS a sub so it needs that range to counter its movement limitations.



With that out of the way, let’s show it off. See how that far hits? Yeah, the Tuatha De Danaan can hit nearly the entire battle area and Tessa knows Hit and Away so she can constantly go into a better position. Click the image below to see the attack.




Ah, yes. It also has 8 nukes ready to be tossed around at Tessa’s will.



Now, let’s work the Zodar side first. Quatre can have a go at the weakened K7 with an assist from Duo.Click the image below to see it.




Good job.



Now, Duo can go after a K7 of his own.



Gai should be able to handle things from here.










See?



Blade goes right in the middle of the enemy troop with Accel and Focus.



Might as well have Volfogg finish off that weakened M2.








Good.



Oh, even better! He nabs a level and gets Hero boosted to level 2.

That’s all we can do upstairs (the brothers could only walk a wee bit and made it to land. Noal is going around the long way to avoid drawing enemy fire and Noin was sent to an island in the middle of nowhere). Let’s go check on our Mithril/Valstork team.



Sousuke’s M9 is pretty much identical to Mao’s in which it mixes range and melee attacks. The only difference is that it has a 57mm Shotgun as its most powerful weapon which hits harder but has less range than Mao’s grenade launcher.



Let’s show it off against this weakened mook. Click the image below to see it.



: It's been some time since I've been in an AS cockpit.
: Hey, Sousuke! If you love Arm Slaves so much, I'll switch assignments with you!
: No, no problem. My mission is quite suited for me.
: That's good to hear, Sousuke! Take point and we'll watch your back!
: Roger.


No problem at all.





Let’s bring all 3 Uruz units together and finish off the other weakened mooks before moving after the main group.



We could send Kazuma and Bless in to take out all the rest but we don’t want them to hog all kills, do we?



Enemy Phase!



Zondar crystals aren’t very smart – three weakened Birdmen rush Blade.











That’s gotta sting.



Oh. Hell. No. Click the image below to see if this mook manages to scratch Gai’s paint-job!




HA!



Goddamn Bushnells…



Volfogg’s got no problems dealing with anything.




Volfogg barely kills a Doublas in one go but, without a critical hit, falls just short.
Thankfully, the other weakened one also attacks him and gets wrecked.

Also, I think Zondar Uppo is getting scared…he just walked away and didn’t fight anything.
That’s the first time the game’s AI has shown some degree of self-preservation!



Down below, the mysterious attackers start homing in on Sousuke.










Sousuke’s stuck using his machine gun since his shotgun is out of range.
He also leaves a Mistral barely alive.



Mao gets attacked by a pair of weakened Savages and easily deals with them.



Player Phase!


Now, let’s show off how Chain Attacks work using Kazuma’s new Multicombo L1 skill.
For each skill level, you can chain off a chainable attack onto an adjacent enemy (mind you, the adjacent enemy does NOT need to be inside the attacks range - it needs only to be by your first target’s side).
We pick one target, that full health Mistral, and then pick our chain target, the weakened one.

As I said before, the Chain Attack suffers from the same Support penalty (it loses 40% damage after the first “jump”). That’s why I started with the full health one, so he takes the blunt of the attack.
Click the image below to see the fight.



: Whoa... these are some heavy Gs!
: Are you okay, Mr. Balzac? Sorry about my brother's rough piloting.
: Thanks, Mihiro. I'm getting some nice shots.
: (And some nice measurements of this machine's specs...)


Didn’t get a crit so the full health one lived and got a chance to counter (if it was the other way around and the chain’d target lived, he wouldn’t be able to counter). No problem, though.


They both get a level out of it and Mihiro learns Alert/Flash.



Let’s send Kurz a lil bit closer to finish off the mook Kazuma weakened.



Now, we’ll have Sousuke deal with the last full health guy. Let’s take this chance to show off the the Mithril folks’ combination attack: Uruz Strike! Click the image below to see it.




Nothing too flashy but it’s nice damage nonetheless.



Finally, because I feel like being a dick, let’s have Bless with finish off the last weak mook with a Dual Proton Cannon. Click the image below to see it.




Yes, he still shoots enemies into space and through a meteor field while fighting on the sea level. Bless is good like that.



Gauron is peeved that his men can't even manage a simple theft during a fire.
Still, he hadn’t expected Mithril to be in league with other organizations – he’ll have to adjust his plans.

With those losers out of the way, let’s turn our attention back to the Zondar.


First off, lemme feed Noal a free kill from that very weak mook.



Their prize is a level for both pilots and Noal learns Luck. Cool beans.

Now, those other Zondar aren’t really worth much so let’s focus on Uppo-kun. If we have spare units left, they can take down the rest.



Duo can go in first.








Bah, no crit.



Now, let’s see what an S rank underwater will do for Volfogg’s damage. Click the image below for more ninja awesomeness.




Good man.



Blade can soften him up some more with Pegas Formation.



Gai will finish the tenderizing process.








That’s perfect.

Now, you may be thinking: “who’s gonna go for the kill? You’ve already used your main attackers.”

Yes, I did. However, there’s someone that I’ve neglected heavily in the past missions and now it’s time for some compensation:




Quatre is WAY behind everyone else in level and he’s one of the better supports for a long time (You didn’t think I was talking about Noin, were you? God, no).



Before he goes in for the kill, let’s have Tessa fire a nuke over at that M2 for easy money.










You really need to appreciate the soothing music that plays as the nuclear mushroom forms over the highly populated area…



Quatre, my boy, go in there and show him what-for! Click the image below to see it.




Hm…didn’t Akane say something about not hurting Uppo-kun? Aah, I’m sure it wasn’t important!



Quatre’s prize for beating Zondar Uppo is a Thruster Module, a Cartridge, a Counter Skill Part and, finally, 2 levels.





As always, the Zondar regenerates.
It seems like the only real way to stop them is yank the core out and Duo tells the “King” to do his thing.



Gai is definitely flagging from the strain.
Our people notice it and ask him to say what’s wrong; Gai insists there’s no problem – fighting the Zondar is his mission and he still has his COURAGE to give him strength.
Click the image below to see the attack.







His attack gets Uppo-kun rescued and to say that Akane is happy would be an understatement.



All enemies are downed but the terrorists will surely strike again – and the Whispered must be protected from them at all costs.
Tessa orders all units withdrawn to her ship, and prepares to dive.



As Gai prepares to hand the core over to Mamoru for Purification, he claims that his greenness around the gills is nothing that a little adjusting his G-Stone won't fix.



After they go, Gauron ponders the stuffed animal show and enemy organization line dance he just witnessed.
The defeat has given him an interesting idea how to settle several of his outstanding contracts all at once.
He notes that this boiling-hot summer has but begun...



The Purification went without incident and the teams are returning via the Valstork or the Danaan.
Prof. Liger is around and asks what happened to Mike; Ms. Swan relates that he was plucked off the sea floor and is also aboard the Danaan.
Liger is quite relieved, seeing how Mike's his crowning masterpiece and all.



Leo figures that Liger has finally gone senile, but Liger turns to Lady Une for proof that he's not.
Leo orders his brother to stop hitting on her, asking why he does that to all women, considering how well he behaves when near his daughter.
Before Liger can get in Leo’s face, Taiga interrupts their argument.



Swan too is a bit worried about Mike, but her brother Stallion assures her that once Mike has a little time to mature, he'll be another fine warrior in the service of Earth.
It's a bit puzzling why an awesome dude like him is in the service of the volatile Liger, but he says that, except for a few quirks, Liger is every bit as great a scientist as Leo.
Liger promises that, soon, he’ll show Mike’s true power and make his brother eat his words.





When Mamoru Purifies Uppo-kun, he also gives him a word of encouragement for his tough job – despite the incident with Bonta-kun, Mamoru hope he’ll carry on.
In gratitude, Uppo-kun gives Mamoru an autograph to give to his friend Akane – her encouragement meant a lot to him and he thinks this is the least he can do to pay her back.



Meanwhile, Sousuke plans to go back to the class trip, returning to his Trash Officer duties and everything.
He does ask Kurz to see to the maintenance of his Bonta-kun suit, and gives him the blueprints for the improved version to get mass-produced.
Mao wishes him a safe trip back, and then exchanges looks with Kurz: all their lingering doubts about Kaname being a target are now gone.
They don't know who, and they don't know why, but it's clear that protecting her has top priority.



Sousuke looks pretty disheveled when he rejoins the class party.
He won't say where he's been, but indicates that it wasn't the park guards that roughed him up - not after he escaped using a flash grenade anyway.
He claims that his injuries came from simply tripping and falling; nothing to do with the robot assault the other day.
His disappearance and reappearance all tattered and torn reminds Kyouko of a transforming hero - and Kaname tries very hard not to entertain the possibility that it really was Sousuke back there.



Kagurazaka then announces to the class that they're to return home in the company of Relena Dorian, whose private plane is having engine troubles.
She tells everyone, especially Sousuke, to behave themselves; also along for the ride Mamoru’s family, plus Hana.
Mamoru looks a bit down, having gotten a lot of flak from his father for disappearing like that, but Kaname assures him that she and Sousuke are always on his side.
This perks him up, and makes Kyouko wonder when it became "Sousuke and Kaname".



Sousuke stays behind while Kaname takes her seat, having spotted a suspicious young man on the plane...



Hmm. I wonder…