Part 50: Mission 13 - 'The Secret Part-Time Job" Smells Like Danger - Part 2

Welcome back, folks. Last time, we were tricked by the criminal mastermind of Crimson Group’s Aqua (mostly because Kazuma and Boss have the combined IQ of a cantaloupe and Akito wanted to get into "his Aquamarine's" pants).

She used us to “hack” into the Nadesico’s mainframe and nearly crashes the ship; however, Ruri gets sick of all that nonsense and hacks her back with the help of Freeman and Entouji.







Akito may or may not believe in his role as Yurika's knight in shining armor, but Freeman took the hostilities seriously enough that he had created all these Wärter virtual-space units in advance, "just in case" (Uribatake is now hyper jealous).
Yurika won't forgive the Crimson Group for assailing her ship, whatever their reason might have been, which seems to push Aqua farther into her delusions first as wronged princess, and then, when that talk doesn’t fly with our guys…





…as a stereotypical villainess, deploying units made from data gathered by the Crimson Group and laughing at the Nadesico and Warter’s impending doom.
Sousuke drily congratulates Akito on getting his wish and battling against the evils of beautiful women (Akito isn't amused), and Kazuma vows to make Aqua and her goon programs pay with interest for her little trick.


Let’s get through this insanity of a stage quickly. Duo goes right into the middle of the bottom group and sets out to soften the Doublas.



: Wow, she managed to pull the wool over the Reaper's eyes. Well, at least it was fun!








Good, good. To add insult to injury, his Sword Cut triggered on the Doublas’ missiles.




…and I find myself with egg on my face.
I made a point to switch Akito’s frames before this stage’s Virtual-Space terrain but I forgot to do the same for the girls...



Never mind my forgetfulness, keeping the Three Angels near each other will have them benefit from the double friendship bonus (and Ryouko’s command aura) and help the accuracy/evasion numbers.









The damage doesn’t get a boost but this is an easy stage.



Akito is still capable of handling himself, so he jumps near Duo and tags the nearby Taurus.



Kurz also takes this chance to take a potshot at the northern Doublas before moving closer south.



Heero runs up to the Delphinum.











In hindsight, maybe it would’ve been better to use Heero’s Vulcans since his Shooting stat is so much higher than his melee.



Volfogg goes up close to the Mistral and slices him some with his Murasame Blade.





With Alert, Enryuu and Hyoryuu are able to weaken the Taurus and Garada with no problems.



Mike then prepares a rock concert for the Doublas that Kurz weakened.














With the path open, Gai is able to reach the Serpent that would’ve otherwise sniped at our guys.












Sadly, it’s no kill.




Shin Getter is close enough to kill it and to show off the Dynamic Kill of Getter Beam.




With nothing to do, Boss uses the opportunity to heal up Ryouko.



Enemy Phase!



The Mobius decides to snipe at Gaogaigar for all the good that does him.



This Savage has the better idea and sets out to stab Hyoryuu.












Impressive. I didn’t think he could oneshot it.



Hyoryuu gets rewarded with a level and learns Spirit.




Gai is attacked by both a Taurus (which actually manages to damage him!) and a Garada – both get easily beaten back.



Next, the Mistral decides to tangle with Getter.












Ouchies.
A Delphinium also goes after it and, while there’s no more Alert, it still does low damage before being destroyed.



The upper group has finished its business so the southern one opens with a Mobius going against Big Daddy.















Yurika’s defense was kind of overkill but it’s still fine.



Only Bless gets a level out of that minuscule kill but his Prevail raises to level 4.



A nearby Savage goes for Duo and 25% against a Focus’d target is rather impressive.
Nevertheless, Duo dodges and cuts him open.



The weakened Taurus goes for Yurika.












Sadly, Yurika’s such a good captain that she has no problems dodging with a capital ship (with a little side-help of Alert).
Another Garada, Doublas and Serpent go after the ship and do some middling damage – the Doublas was weakened enough that Yurika could kill it.





This here Mistral had a different idea and went after Bless.



Uh oh…the Birdman spotted Boss. I’m feeling ballsy, though, and I know that Boss will show us COURAGE!



: My jumbo pork ramen with everything... there it goes...
: Cheer up, Boss!
: Yeah! If we go broke again, we'll just go back to splitting a bowl three ways!
: You guys, you know just what to say. But I'm still getting that pork!
















BOSS BOROT FINISHING MOVE…HIP ATTACK!



Player Phase!



Everything’s weakened so it’s time for cleanup. Heero takes the Mobius.



Gets a level, learns Strike and gets Prevail L3.



Mike rocks the Birdman’s shit out.





Akito needs to vent some so let’s have him Gekigan Flare the Serpent.

: Damn you! You took something I've loved for years and spit all over it!
: Akito, the thing you loved for years...
: Uh, well... I... I used to be a game tester for a bit...
: But, Akito, you don't play video games at all.
: W-well, I'm still mad at them!
: He's not very good at this...





Finally, only one mook left.










Boom.

Sadly, most of the people that had dialogue against these enemies were too far away or had used their turn; so, here they are:

-Kazuma Vs. Anything-
: Damn it! I knew something was up!
: Really? I thought you were attacking the Nadesico for real.
: L-look, just keep this from dad, and Captain Misumaru, and Noin, and Mao, okay?

-Sousuke Vs. Anything-
: We're breaking our contract, but we'll keep the advance. You're not getting that back from a mercenary.

-Kurz Vs. Anything-
: Wow, I know every rose has its thorns, but these ones sting!
: Look, I'll take a girl lying to me, but making a fool out of me, that just hurts!

-Kouji Vs. Anything-
: Damn! And Sayaka said it was too good to be true!
: Fine, I'll just draw their attention by wrecking everything!

-Kogane Vs. Anything-
: How dare you attack the Nadesico with those dirty tricks after all they did for us!
: I can't believe you tempted us for money even for a moment!



Yurika isn't sorry at all to plunge Aqua's dreams into darkness, and is ready to stand up to her any time she wants.
There might not be a rematch, though, given that the police are currently breaking down her door for the serious crime she's committed.
As she gets cut off, Duo asks the age old question "with friends like this, who needs enemies?”



Of course, the rogue part-timers got a thorough tongue-lashing from Lady Une and Taiga, as well as a prohibition against any further part-time work for a long while.
In return, everyone has meal chits for the Nadesico's cafeteria, including agent-in-training Kaname.
As for Aqua, Volfogg has learned that she's the daughter of the Crimson Group's president; among her many misdeeds are mixing anaesthetics into food at parties she throws, kidnapping famous manga artists to write only for her, and the like.
The only difference between her and any other selfish, privileged brat is the amount of resources she can draw upon.



Her little fairy tale fixation on Akito has caused the Crimson Group more than a little grief.
And there's some grief in store for Kazuma too, since the kindly Mihiro told Noin and Mao where he's been.



As Mao drags him off for more hellish training, Sousuke notes that Mao is doing him a huge favor - untrained warriors make great cannon fodder.



To our people's dismay, Yurika and her "unique" sense of seasoning are holding court in the kitchen while Akito discusses something with Ruri (much to the team's despair and they immediately start wishing Akito came back).
Kurz warns her that if the way to a man's heart truly is through his stomach, Yurika may have a long ways to go yet.



What Akito is doing is apologizing to Ruri for harming Omoikane, which everyone knows is very precious to her.
He figures his own ignorance is no excuse, and Ruri notes that its memories of her past time on the Nadesico were indeed in jeopardy during the battle.
But she tells Akito it's okay. Precious memories live in everyone's hearts: things they couldn't forget even if they wanted to.
Such as Mars, and Akito's playmate Ai, for instance. In any case, even when people forget certain memories, they go on being people and making new ones, and that's precisely what Ruri and Omoikane plan to do.



She thanks Akito for protecting her and Omoikane, telling him that he's done more than he might realize.
He renews his promise to come to her aid any time she's in distress...



Whew, we’re finally done. Thankfully, Aqua’s going to spend the rest of the game in the Joint and we’ll never hear her craziness again.

Next update, I’ll do the quick post-mission upgrades and it’s straight into the Mission 14 Prologue.

See you all then!