Part 53: Mission 14 - For Whose Sake Do You Live? - Part 2

Welcome back, folks. Last time, Sayaka ran off after an agent of Dr. Hell and found herself in the middle of a joint assault by Ashura’s troops with Galra support.

While she held the line with Tessa’s help, Honerva snuck into GGG’s base to try for a sneak-attack on Fahra, who only avoided damage thanks to Shirogane shielding her.

As that happens our team sorties to defend the island…





Sousuke thanks Colonel Tessa for buying time, and Tessa, in rather non-formal terms, tells Sousuke that she's just doing her job.
As she tells him to give it his all, Mao realizes that Tessa may just be falling for Sousuke; our people quickly explain why Golion didn't sortie, which Ashura seems to have figured out too.



In that case, he/she hopes to finish you off in one fell stroke.



First things first, Sayaka is very weak so we might as well have her spend some SP to Trust herself and run away afterwards (she’s seen enough action for this mission).



No other enemy is in range so everyone spends the turn getting closer (Mike repairs Sayaka a lil bit more).



Tessa is still good to go, though.
Using Iron Wall with Mardukas, she should be able to keep everything at bay.



Enemy Phase!



Frickin’ water effects…The Garushia tries his hand at the Danaan.











You do not attack anything as resilient as the Danaan when it has Iron Wall on, fool.
Another five mooks try their hand at it and get blown back – the weakened Doublas gets dropped.



Finally using a small bit of their braincells, they decide to switch targets…to the Valstork.










Shame on you.



Everyone gets a level and Shihomi learns Iron Wall.













Finally, a Doublas splits from the main group and comes our way, taking a swing at Getter (thankfully, I had used Alert).



Player Phase!



Honerva joins back with Ashura at his sub and assures him that Golion will never rise again.
Ashura then dispatches his new mechabeast to wipe out your base.







The Mystical Mecha-Beast Drago Turn-Omega 1!!!





As Ashura revels in the awesome power of the new mechabeast..
Honerva, for one, can only shake her head and wonder why Ashura didn't just sortie the damn thing in the first place.
Not entirely surprising that the man-woman isn't the most definitive person in the world.







Just then, the five Lions sortie after all, seemingly putting the lie to the notion that Shirogane's been offed.







Shirogane tells Kogane to hurry, and as Drago menaces the base, the Golion team combines.
Kogane tells Ashura and Honerva that our people will never succumb to their underhanded tactics.
He vows to kick the Galra off this planet, and to one day restore peace on Altea.



Fahra despairs for Shirogane, but Raibul warns her not to avert her gaze.
She must burn this, Shirogane's final battle, into her eyes.



Here’s a quick look at the Drago.
It’s got a decent bunch of HP but its defense is less than impressive, pair that with the fact that it’s AI controlled (meaning no Pilot Skills) and it’ll be going down quickly.
His range is rather long, with his 2nd strongest attack being the longest, at 1-7.



Mardukas can still get one more Iron Wall going but, just to be on the safe side, Shihomi casts Trust on the Danaan.



Mike gets to work and starts singing to Gai.



Closest to our group is this Garada that came after Sayaka. Volfogg will have words with him.









Good, good.



Duo’s Deathscythe, as well as his Beam Scissors, has a natural rating of A on water, so he’s more than capable of going in after a weakened Garada.



Gai will finish Volfogg’s target.








No problem.



Kurz’s sniper rifle will be penalized against underwater targets (it has a B rating) but it’s still free damage.



This stage right here is as tailored as they come for Shin Getter 3.
Benkei is going to be our MVP alongside Tessa.












That was his 2nd weakest attack so you know that he’s gonna deliver the goods.



All Getter pilots get a level and Ryouma’s Prevail grows to L3.



Blade is not that good against underwater mooks but there are still plenty of Death Hell beastmen around for him to attack.











Crits are always appreciated.



Now, Kazuma is gonna take the chance to capitalize on poor enemy positioning.
Mind you, that Doublas is gonna take piddly damage due to being underwater and the attack being a Beam (which are HORRIBLE in water, unless you equip an adaptor); nevertheless, it’s gonna be decent damage against the flying Beastmen.














Not bad.



Let’s have Tessa follow-up on that (Mardukas uses his last bit of SP for a 2nd Iron Wall).
She uses Hit & Away to move further inland, getting into Ashura’s range.


Golion moves away from the Drago. Hopefully, that’ll convince it to move closer to land.



Enemy Phase!



Three beastmen gun for the Danaan - they all hit for around 400 damage before getting countered.



Thankfully,the Danaan’s less attractive with some squishy Gundams nearby.













Good man, Duo.



The Garushia goes for Blade.
Might as well weaken it as much as possible.



This Death Hell decides to go for Kazuma. I think you know what’s coming:







Yup.
A Garushia also attacks but, being underwater, doesn’t take huge damage.



Blade is also attacked and also effortlessly shows the beastman the error of his ways with a swift slice across its face.



Another Death Hell comes over. Hopefully, we’ll get a lucky crit…?









Nope…



Oh? I didn’t see this coming. This Galra Fighter came all the way over to Mazinkaiser – he’ll be thanked with a crotch missile.







T-that had a 91% chance to hit…





I expect this uncharacteristic dodging from Gai but I won’t complain since it’s a free kill!



Uh, oh. Ashura indeed saw Tessa and decided to come over to compare his Bood to our Danaan.



: H-how could any but Dr. Hell have the resources to build such a ship?
: I designed the Tuatha de Danaan myself.
: A little girl like you? Are... are you one of those Whispered?
: The Danaan achieves its full potential at my command. All hands, fire at will!
: Aye, ma'am!














Her skills and Mardukas’ Iron Wall, that is.



The Drago takes the bait and gets closer to shore, aiming at the Valstork who’s protected by the Nadesico.
















Haw haw.



Player Phase!



It’ll be one more turn before we go for Ashura, so let’s switch back to Ryouma and have him take out a Death Hell.



Kurz also takes the chance to snipe at a Garushia…also, I die a little inside whenever an enemy survives with so little HP (this is especially worse today since I’m playing Z2 Hakai-hen with my lil’ brother and 5(!) enemies took the effort to survive with under 10 HP in today’s mission).



Let’s begin the clean-up with Quatre.











Good, good.




Kouji takes an assist from Duo to take one Death Hell out.





Duo heads over to weaken another Death Hell, leaving it barely alive (again…) and Kazuma is more than capable of dealing with this little HP..



Blade, get rid of that Death Hell so I don’t need to stare at his HP anymore.













Thank you.



Mao also cleans up a weakened mook.



Tessa takes yet another kill and that leaves only Ashura and a Garushia on the north side.



We now turn our attention south-ward, Volfogg is gonna open against the Drago to get his accuracy down.











Very good.



With that piddly accuracy, even Chouryuujin has a good chance to dodge (and he does).



To add insult to injury, let’s have Mike rock away a bit of his Mobility with an assist from Big Daddy.














Hee, hee, hee.




Gai slaps the Drago around a bit and takes a hit. (Kouji, did you take Gai’s Robo-Rabbit’s Foot?)





In honor of Team Golion, they get to finish off the damn thing (Kurogane casts Lucky and Yurika Cheers them).

: Shirogane...
: Don't worry about me, chief. Just deal with the enemy...
: Okay! Your life is in my hands!






Everyone nabs a level along with a Chobham Armor and a Gunfight +1. Seidou learns Iron Wall.



Though the Drago ended up scrap like the other mecha-beasts, its level of ferocity leads Ryouma and Kouji to suspect (correctly) that Dr. Hell has added some new and terrible knowledge to his arsenal.



Enemy Phase!



Of course the Garushia comes after Shin Getter…



Oooh, boy. It should be noted that the Submarine has killer accuracy due to its S rating in water.



OW!



Player Phase!


I’m not about to take any chances so Shihomi casts Trust on Duo.



Here’s a quick look on Ashura’s Bood Submarine. It’s got less defense than the Drago but it makes up being underwater; Ashura’s still a good pilot and, as said above, the Sub has ridiculous accuracy with an S rating in water and +20, +30, +40 Accuracy respectively in its attacks (from weakest to strongest).

It’s a bit annoying to kill this guy in one turn as the terrain doesn’t help, along with the fact that you’ve probably spread out your group to deal with the Drago.
As such, be careful when leaving him in Prevail’d status as he might oneshot a real (the broken size ratings don’t help our case as he would, normally, be penalized for its 2L size).



Sousuke is close enough to Shotgun the Garushia.











There we go.



Tessa will begin our opening salvo.














Seeing the nuclear submarine pull an evasive move like that never gets old.



Blade’s Voltekka will do jack to an underwater target so he uses Pegas Formation to weaken Ashura a bit.



With Accelerate and Snipe, Golion is capable of getting just close to enough to Ashura.










Close enough to punt him.

Now, there are a couple of units that could still attack but that won’t result in a kill and would leave us at risk with his Prevail active; might as well stand by for another round.



Enemy Phase!



Yesss, he went for Getter 3.







Yow. I think that just might be the very first time I’ve seen Open Get in any SRW games (not that it was needed as I had Hayato use Alert before but…).









Benkei’s Missile Storm is as amusing as ever.



Player Phase!



Seeing as how Ashura is cheating, what with the broken size ratings, we need to even the field with Volfogg’s Ninja Awesomeness.


It just hit me that I’ve never shown Kazuma’s strongest attack properly.




Finally, Quatre gets Bless on Benkei and Ryouma casts Gain. Let’s do it!




The Getter Team nabs 2 levels and an Aqua Module , a Propellant Tank, and a BP+1.

Kouji never got a chance to take a swing at Ashura, what with his bad water ratings, but he does have something to say:

: You're in a Bood now, Ashura? Then I'll just sink it into the ocean!
: Silence, Kouji Kabuto! Today we fight to the death! I stake my life on it!
: Don't make me laugh! We'll see just how far you're willing to go!



Ashura is broken at the sight of another defeat and is more than prepared to go down with the ship.
Of course, that would mean Honerva would go with him and she won’t have it – with promise to intercede with on his/her behalf, they both abandon the submarine and flee.
Tessa just hopes he's learned better than to try for world domination...



Before the team starts to celebrate victory, Fahra tells them that Shirogane has been fighting injured all this time, and is fading fast.
He knows, however, that his time is up and manages to thank all of his friends before fading away...





All his teammates can do amidst their sorrow is wish him godspeed and vow to keep fighting until the Galra are destroyed.



Meanwhile, Ashura cowers in fear as Dr. Hell prepares to take his life as promised.
Ashura pleads with Honerva to keep her promise, but Honerva smirks and says that when people like her get old, they tend to start forgetting things.
Dr. Hell wants Ashura out of his sight, and has him thrown into the underground dungeons, with Ashura protesting all the while that the Galra aren't to be trusted...



As for Honerva, Dr. Hell inquires what he should make of her failed assassination of Fahra and the supposedly dead Shirogane's sortie.
She tells him not to worry, that Shirogane's willpower of his failing body might have been enough to sortie once, but surely never again.
All this means that Golion can never combine again, which already satisfies half of the reason the Galra came to Earth.
All that remains is bumping Fahra off and bearing news of the victory to Dai Bazaal.



Honerva has not forgotten her promise that once all that's done, the Galra will help make Dr. Hell's dreams of world domination come true.
What Dr. Hell doesn't know is the interesting shred of archaeology Honerva found while digging up the Drago.
Definitely something worth looking into once their other objectives are met...





Shirogane knew quite well that he was about to die, yet went to great effort not only to sortie, but to show Honerva how healthy he still was: no fear had he of the death that awaited him.
Our people don't get to see one of their own die very often, and emotions are running high; Akito is feeling the same powerlessness he felt after Mars and Ryouko can only call him stupid for dying like this.
Still, the whole Golion team understands that, just like they’ve lost someone important today, others will die as long as this war goes on – they promise Shirogane that they will put an end to the Galra.



Despite his wounds, Shirogane fought until his whole life was gone and was nothing if not a true Hero.
He gave his life for the mission of Fahra and Golion and Raibul promises to honor him.



There is the little problem of how to work Golion without a fifth pilot…





However, Fahra steps up to the plate and asks the other teammates to allow her to fill the position.