Part 31: Mission 9 (Earth Route) - Fighting Boys and Girls - Part 2 (Includes Boss Analysis #1 - "Evil Mercenary" Edition)
Now the real meat of the mission begins and we may be off to a rather rough start…Gauron is the first true boss in this game and he’s dangerously close to a weakened Mike.
Hopefully, everything will work out for me without having to rely on save scumming…
Enemy Phase!
All mooks draw closer but none are in range of attack. Gauron, however, makes a beeline for Sousuke (who can only dodge at that range).
: You're quite cheerful, Gauron.
: Thanks! You've missed a lot!: Heh heh... I've got so much to ask you and so little time.: I'm supposed to wipe you all out and go scramble the girl's brains. It's a treasure hunt!: What was that? What do you plan to do with Chidori?: She's a Whispered. Yeah, that one's definitely a Whispered.: A Whispered... that's what Heero said...: She's got black technology locked away in her pretty little head. Say, a method for using the Lambda Driver.: Whoever has the girl gets to knock the balance of military power right over.: Wha...
: That girl had such power hidden away...
: It's true. We know of several Whispered...: Mithril has taken on the task of keeping them safe.: And that's enough exposition for now. My sponsors are an impatient bunch.
No surprise there but Gauron’s only joking around. The plot continues right after.
Gauron taunts Sousuke/Kashim as they fight, knowing that he’s capable of fighting better than this (unless his time with Mithril has left him this pathetic).
Kurz is starting to get worried at what he sees: the M9, far superior to anything the regular army has, can't even hit Gauron's mech.
Gauron wouldn’t want this fight to be over so soon but figures the sponsors would get annoyed if he didn’t end things fast…
Sousuke then tries to use Gauron's overly talkative nature against him…(Click the image below to watch Sousuke’s attack)
Sousuke doesn’t understand what happened, as his M9 blows up.
Kurz gets pissed at Sousuke failing to attack properly but Mao says his attack was perfectly timed.
She also doesn’t understand how it didn’t do any damage to Gauron and how he managed to destroy an M9 in a single hit.
Heero then gets the uncomfortable warning from the Zero System that your people can't beat that AS.
Kaname somehow knows that the Lambda Driver is a system capable of converting offensive or defensive willpower into pseudo-matter that makes those wishes come true.
Kurz tries calling out to her but she doesn’t seem to hear him.
Since it seems Sousuke is now dead, Gauron calls in his sponsors, the people behind Relena's kidnapping.
They've got mobile suits of a type no one's seen before.
Gauro has heard of the new Serpent module and is surprised they brought so many – still, he’s interested in seeing what they can do.
Mao asks Heero to use his flying mech to take the two girls out of here, but…
…Wufei, among the enemy, isn't planning on letting Heero leave that easily.
Trowa tells Wufei not to forget that their mission is bringing Relena back alive.
Wufei orders Heero to drop the woman and fight him, which he refuses, making Wufei decide to fight him regardless.
Fortunately, help is at hand.
I’m gonna split our team up a wee bit. From Duo to Big Volfogg, that group will deal with the Mobile Suits below (Bless will be going with this group); the group from Enryu to Noin, will deal with the Eurasian terrorists.
Mamoru quickly introduces Mike to the rest of the team and Heero relates how Relena is safe with him, while also mentioning how Zero said they’ll be unable to beat the terrorists.[/b]
Wufei mentions…and Heero warns both his friends that he’s with the enemy – they also quickly notice Trowa.
Kazuma asks who are these two and Duo says they’re the old allies that neither him nor Quatre knew the location, though they didn’t expect they would be working with terrorists.
Mao and Kurz also introduce themselves and requests our assistance in keeping Kaname safe – they are sure that Sousuke is still alive and will need our help to rescue him.
Gauron loves seeing all these powerful Mithril, GGG and Preventer units before him and prepares to have a major banquet.
Both Carret and Mihiro feel the power emanating from Gauron’s mech but Kazuma wants to get right in the guy’s face and make him pay for his hijack.
Heero cautions him and everyone else not to underestimate the silver mech, though.
Gauron is getting serious now. His morale is raised to 150 and will now auto-cast Focus and Zeal every turn.
What’s Zeal, you ask? It’s a high-level, high-price spirit that allows the user to move twice for the turn…and Gauron will get unlimited use of it - for free! LAMBDA DRIVER SCIENCE!
He goes straight for Mike which is bad enough but he also set himself squarely inside the goddamn positive terrain…I’ll need to get him out of there but first, Mike needs to survive.
: You're an annoying little thing. Go on mute or something!
: In your dreams! You can't turn down the soul of rock 'n' roll!There we go.
Wufei comes after Heero but let’s see if I can take him down a notch with Twin Buster Rifle.
: Heero! Humanity has a moment of peace! What do you have?: ...: You don't have an answer? That's right, soldiers have gained nothing! That's why I must fight! 
Lucky crits are always appreciated.
Player Phase!
Let’s take a look at our opposition. Alongside the Savages and Mistrals up top, we’ve the new mooks down below:
Trowa Barton and all other mooks use these Serpent Mobile Suits. It’s really telling when the enemy faction has a mass produced unit that’s better than your unique mech (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, NOIN!); these things have good HP and Armor so you’re unlikely to oneshot them (save from a lucky crit of a final weapon) and they are decently dodgy at 115 mobility.
Their strongest attack has 3-7 range and consumes 20 EN a pop but their EN pool is decent enough that they can fire it very oftenly (thankfully, it’s not very accurate).
Get in close to these things and take them down before they can snipe at you and it’ll be fine (mind you, Trowa will never move close to you so it’s best to ignore him).
Next up is Chang Wu-fei and his Altron Gundam:
Wu-fei is considered by many to be the worst of the main gundam wing pilots which is good but he’s still the 2nd biggest threat in the field. His Altron gundam is all about close-combat with his strongest attack being 1-3 (and second strongest being 1-4)
He has Prevail L2, Assist Attack, Counter, Sword Cut and Shoot Down (he also has high Skill stat which allows him to make good use of these). His defenses are decent, for a mobile suit, but it’s not enough.
Go near him with accurate, sniping units and get rid of him from outside of his range (avoid missiles or sword attack that he might parry).
Finally, the real problem on this stage: Gauron and his Plan-1056 “Codarl”. This guy is, to say the least, a prick. Let me tell you why with our first Boss Analysis:
This thing is VERY powerful. On its own, it’d be annoying due to its powerful and long range weapons (strongest one is 3-7 range, 3400 power with 8 shots) but it wouldn’t be a huge issue since it has low-ish HP, armor and mobility.
The problem, however, comes in the form of Gauron and the Lambda Driver. Not only is Gauron a great pilot on his own, when the Lambda Driver activates, it boosts all damage the user deals and gives him a barrier that reduces incoming damage (the power of the Driver increases along with the pilot’s morale).
Also due to his “cutscene power” he gets the unlimited focus/zeal usage that I mentioned above.
Also, as a “fuck you” from his unit, he also has an ECS and his Skill stat is the highest on the field so it’ll activate often; unless you use Strike, be ready to round your hit% down by half.
Gauron isn’t finished, though. Not by a long shot – take a look at his Pilot Skills:
- Counter
- Sword Cut
- Hit & Away
- Break Morale Limit
- Prevail L4
- Support Attack L1
- Commander L1
Conclusion: seriously, fuck this guy. He’s one of the more annoying bosses in the game, in my opinion.
Get everyone with the highest possible morale, enough SP to use Strike (and possibly a defensive measure), have Volfogg get rid of that damn barrier (you’ll be hard-pressed to break that Lambda Barrier with his prevail activated) and throw everything on him.
Don’t let him sit on a positive terrain or it’ll make things all the more difficult; take him down quickly because you don’t want him to get 2 turns while on Prevail’d state, either.
Now, first order of business is to build morale but we also want to position people in such a way that it’ll lure Gauron off that positive terrain.
Mao won’t be able to get out of his attack range, though. So let’s position her inside a building and hope she dodges Gauron if he comes after.
Now, we pray.
Mike should be able to oneshot this Savage.
Good man/robot.
Time for Gai to start building up enough morale to Hell and Heaven Gauron.
Hell, yeah!
Holy crap, Noin is going to do something!
Any port in a storm, I guess.
She gets a pity-level out of the game and learns Support Request (I’ll go over it when I get the chance).
Let’s check in with our MS strike team. Kazuma gets first dibs but I need to remember to keep our guys out of Gauron’s range.
Not bad.
Duo can go in to slice another one. All these weakened mooks will be killed when they attack.
That’s fine.
Quatre and Volfogg weaken another pair.
Now, on our Wufei front. Let’s have Kurz take a potshot at him from outside his attack range while Heero sticks with his rifles.
Don’t think I’ll be able to kill him next turn but maybe…
Enemy Phase!
This Mistral comes after Gai even though he just saw him oneshot his Savage friend.
Son of a bitch…that was only 99 points above the threshold of Protect Shade.
Right after this, a weakened Savage attacks Gai and gets wrecked.
Four mooks gun for Mao but she has no problems dodging and takes two of them down.
Also, the eastern Serpent group goes after her and she takes 70% of their health.
The Serpents of the center group come to our side group which is perfect. Volfogg is their first target.
That’s as smart as going after Gai.
Coming after Big Daddy, eh?
You’re grounded.
Another pair of weakened Serpents also kamikazes at the Valstork.
Yup, I knew this asshole wasn’t going to move before attacking - still, he uses his hit & away to move closer for his second attack.
Hrrrm…I didn’t expect his close-range attack to be this accurate but at least he’s out of positive grounds.
Do check how his morale is up to 170 since he gets points for every ally shot down; Gauron will probably oneshot anything that isn’t Valstork or Gaogaigar now.
Wufei goes after Heero, who counters nicely.
…Wait a second.
THIS MOTHERFUCKER USED HIT AND AWAY TO MOVE INTO ANOTHER POSITIVE TERRAIN! FUCK YOU, GAURON!
Player Phase!
As the battle wears on, Kaname seems to have lost hope of victory.,
Kurz tries to get in touch with him via radio but there’s no answer; he decides he's got to take Kaname close enough to get visual confirmation.
Heero figures he's got the only mech capable of taking her there in one piece.
Wufei yells that he won’t allow it but Kurz' sniper skills keep him from interfering.
When Kurz asks why he’s being so helpful, Heero says that he has decided that Kaname is the only unknown around here - the only chance to exceed the Zero's predictions for the future.
He trades Relena for Kaname and zooms off, and Relena is such a noble, eloquent presence that Kurz realizes he can't even try to hit on her, even a little.
He’s satisfied with gracefully introducing himself and promising to keep her safe.
Kaname yells at Sousuke to get up, that she had started believing in him even a little, that it wouldn't be fair for him, her "guard" to die now and leave the saving to Heero.
Roger!
As Sousuke complies, a new AS no one's seen before rushes onto the scene.
Sousuke, the specialist, is able to board and boot it without incident - it turns out to have been sent by Kalinin by special permission of Tessa given the dire circumstances.
It is known as the ARX-7 Arbalest.
Kalinin's recording informs Sousuke that he'd better bring this expensive prototype back in one piece, and wishes him good luck.
Gauron likes that Kashim’s still alive and has new toy - he rushes out to fight it. Click the image below to see it:
This new AS has the armor to withstand Gauron's renewed attack, and a Lambda Driver too, though the AI can't tell Sousuke precisely what it is.
Heero says that victory still isn’t theirs, even with that new unit; Kaname asks what he’s mumbling about and Heero says that Zero can show him the future and it hasn’t changed.
Well, Kaname isn’t about to believe in fortune-tellers in this situation; she says the future isn’t out of our hands and is sure Sousuke will think of something.
Gauron tells Kashim that he better figure out how to use his shiny new AS quick or it’ll be a shiny pile of scrap soon.
Hmm, this actually worked out rather well. Gauron’s attack moved him out of the positive terrain!
Heero left Kurz to handle Wufei but he’ll be fine.
Mind you, Kurz still cannot move from that spot.
Mao can start cleaning up her buddies.
Gai also joins in as he’s almost ready to use Hell and Heaven.
Chouryujin continues up top, while my attempts at giving Noin some screentime go unrewarded.
Mike shows how it’s done.
Heero is way too far from Wufei now so let’s have him soften up one of the mooks.
That works.
Let’s move Kazuma up closer to Sousuke as a safety net in case Gauron manages to tag him:
He’s still good to hit that Serpent Heero just weakened, too.Click the image below to see it.
Attaboy.
Duo can soften another one up.
Volfogg steps up to nab another kill.
Don’t mess with GGG.
Quatre will not be left behind.
Yes, sir.
Now, for Sousuke. Let’s move him over Mao so he can benefit from the Command Aura, positive terrain AND friendship bonus. Not even Mr. Overpowered there can compensate against all those bonuses.
: Don't you remember, Kashim? How we met in the Middle East?: You attacked the guerilla camp Major Kalinin and I were in...: And slaughtered everyone, even the civilians.: You two were the only targets, but the rest were a bonus.: And when you guys fought back, you showed me the gate to Hell.: If we had killed you then, Relena Dorian's guards would still be alive.: Yeah, yeah, still taking responsibility for everything.: Gauron. If I let you live, many more lives will be lost... this ends now. Click the image below to see the attack.
Take that as my welcoming card, asshole. Next turn, you’re going down.
Enemy Phase!
I’m watching you…
Now for someone that’s constantly competent.
Thank you, Duo.
Clever chap…*grumble*
Come on, now.
Nothing new here.
I’ll leave Mao there as a support defend but I don’t think it’ll be necessary.
No problem at all.
Hmm. Round 2 is a wee bit riskier.
Ah, well…
Mind you, Trowa and Wufei moved in closer but didn’t do anything important.
Player Phase!
Gauron is having a blast toying with Sousuke, who’s still having issues controlling Arbalest.
Kaname isn’t feeling very well but knows that Sousuke doesn’t understand how to control the Lambda Driver.
As she struggles to hold onto herself, she wants to get Sousuke a hint of how to properly use the thing as thanks for saving her so often.
As Kaname finally gets a hold of herself, Zero changes its mind.
She gets on the radio and tells Sousuke about how the Lambda Driver converts its users fighting and defensive willpower into force.
The reason why Gauron’s attack didn’t hurt before was because of his self-preservation instinct that, momentarily, activated the Driver – a strong mental image will be made reality.
Sousuke doesn’t believe such machines could exist but Gai assures Sousuke that such power IS possible, and urges him to use it to fight.
Sousuke tries but nothing seems to happen.
Gauron derides him for being unworthy of the Lambda Driver as, even with it, he’s an amateur in its use – that is the difference between them.
Kaname insists that what matters is instantaneous concentration, to pour his spirit into his weapons each time he takes a breath.
Sousuke thinks it’s easy for her to say that…
: Then imagine it! If you lose, think of what will happen once they capture me again!: !: Long ago, I went to Siberia and saw a young girl just like this woman…: Her sense of self had been driven to the brink of collapse due to the use of drugs.
: When that child was captured, they would abuse her mentally and physically. As they traded her around, she began to change even more…
: What does any of that have to do with this…?!: Perhaps you can already picture what we’ve described.: Well…no way…! Argh, it's horrible!!
: …Hey, what are they talking about?
: …I…don’t know…
: Your face is getting red, Akane. What’s wrong?: S-shut up!
: Picture that image! Kaname will be that child!: Hold on, that’s no good at all! …Urgh! That’s too awful – you can’t allow that to happen! Think about it, Sousuke!: …: He’s going to do these things to me, you know? Are you just going to let him?! : I won’t.: Playtime is over! Time to finish this, Kashim! : Gauron!: GO, SOUSUKE!: Hrm!!
: Tch…! Seems like he got the hang of it!: This is the Lambda Driver…: Yes…hang in there…Sousu…ke…: You’ve done well… Sagara will handle things from here. You should rest.: Hm…: Let’s settle this, Gauron…!
Before going for Gauron, let’s finish off Wufei.
Piss off, punk.
Wufei tells Heero that their fight isn't over yet, and that he'll keep fighting for the sake of warriors everywhere.
If you cared to move Duo or Quatre all the way over, they do have a bone to pick with Wufei:
: Duo! Quatre! What are you fighting for?: What do you mean, what? I mean...
: To keep the peace so many people gave their lives for!: Please stop, Wufei! Why are you with these terrorists, anyway?: Shut up, Quatre! I'll do whatever it takes... I'm not done fighting yet!Now, that bastard Gauron moved into another positive terrain but I’m done trying to bait him off.
Volfogg goes in to break his Lambda Barrier and then it’ll be game over (might as well get an assist from Kazuma for good measure).
Bah.
Kiddie gloves are coming off.
That’s one.
This is two.
There’s still more for ya.
I’m gonna count on a little help from the RNG gods for this. Mihiro just used all her remaining SP casting Gain.
Thank you.
Gauron’s level 4 Prevail is shifted into high gear with his HP in the red.
Let’s have Mao weaken him some more because no one’s gonna make that much damage on him.
There. That’s perfect.
Now, before we wrap this up, let’s take Trowa down quickly. He’s right there and Quatre/Duo are close enough to intercept.
: Trowa! Why are you with these terrorists?
: ...: Quiet as always, huh? This is our big reunion! You could be a little friendly!: There is nothing for us to say. Come...
Close but no cigar.
This’ll do.
Bye, Trowa.
He retreats without nary a word; as Wufei, Trowa had lines in case you got Heero over there:
: Here we go, Heero...: I understand your goal. Come...
[i]Chouryujin takes down one of the two remaining mooks.
Level up and Hero L2.
Mike tries to down the last Serpent but leaves it barely hanging – I don’t care, then.
Normally, I’d kill Gauron with Sousuke’s strongest attack “57mm Shotgun “Boxer”” but, for me, his 2nd strongest attack “Monomolecular Cutter” is much cooler.
He has Bless and Gain on him to maximize our winnings.Click the image below to see the attack.
This is the first video-animation of an attack in its full glory! All attacks will be shown in this format from now on.
Fuck. You. Gauron.
Sousuke grabs a level and gains Prevail L2.
Heero focused too much attention on Wufei and never got to tangle with Gauron – they did have lines, though:
: Well well, the Preventer's angel of death! Not a fan of that nickname...: Gauron... in Chinese, "Nine Dragons." Responsible for several assassinations and at least two plane bombings.: You Preventers really do your research, huh?: Then you know you don't stand a chance against my Codarl!: All I know is that there is no future for you.
Gauron explodes, saying that it was fun and, with all adversaries defeated and the hostages recovered, our people escape towards the Danaan.
Nearby, Trowa watches everyone leave.
Inside the Valstork, Kurz tries to give props to Heero, thinking him Sousuke.
He says they both look too much alike; as for Kaname, she’s been taken to GGG's base for safekeeping, and Sousuke will probably no longer have to guard her incognito now that Gauron is finally dead.
Heero tells Sousuke that he'd better be able to choose between life as a student and as a Mithril agent if he's to have a future at all very definitive but not equal to the reputation for violence that a certain pony-tailed Preventer seems to have spread.
Sousuke is gonna have to dump his Sodium Thiopental stash away.
Sally, of the Preventers, calls us over and orders the G-boys and the rest of the crew to rendezvous at G-Island City next.
Quatre wants to speak about Trowa and Wufei and Sally mentions that their change-of-sides is one of the reasons for this – also important is this new model of Mobile Suit that the terrorists were deploying.
Both Duo and Quatre consider that it's got something to do with Treize's daughter who’s just recently surfaced?
Relena laments to Heero that peace on Earth hasn't lasted long, between the alien invaders and the human infighting.
She's been talking to some military folk from Orb during the Okinawa conference.
She's been given a lot of food for thought, and Heero tells her to concentrate on fighting her battle while he contributes to Project W.
Kazuma protests that they’re members of the Preventers and don’t need to join that project either but Duo tells him that they're all doing this of their own volition, not because some organization told them to.
Heero says that anyone who can't choose their own battles will never be done fighting...just like Wufei.
Sousuke might be another such person, since by his own admission he knows nothing but warfare...
Back aboard the Tuatha De Danaa, Kalinin explains briefly to Sousuke that the Lambda Driver he briefly contacted is no different the G-Stones, Getter Rays or Photon Power Energy.
In fact, all of it is crazy: technology that was still science fiction ten years ago is now becoming commonplace on the battlefield.
The question is: who has been unleashing all this Black Technology that shouldn't exist but does?
Sure, some of it comes from mankind's ancestors, and some from the aliens, but not all.
Kalinin can't say precisely where it comes from, but when Sousuke mentions the Whispered he tells Sousuke to keep that thought in mind.
In any case, the Uruz squad is being reassigned and Sousuke is to keep using his new mech to participate in Project W, as well as...
Kaname's been asleep for two whole days after being rescued, and when she awakes Mao explains that she's responsible for saving Sousuke's life with her words.
She may in fact be his Angel after all.
Kaname can't recall clearly what she said to help Sousuke, and Mao tells her that that's how she should answer all questions about everything she's experienced.
Mamoru then asks her to become a GGG agent, and help him keep his own secret safe.
She can't refuse a request from the boy, and Mao thanks Mamoru for making her own job a lot easier.
Sousuke has also chosen to continue guarding Kaname but the conversation is interrupted by visitors: mainly, the kidnapped people who were worried sick about Kaname and Mamoru (though Mamoru’s father will have words with him for running off like that).
Sousuke is also there, and silently tells her that he’s been reassigned to G-Island, meaning they’ll continue to be classmates for a long while.