Part 81: Mission 22 (Moon Route) – “Comrade” From Afar - Part 1
Mission 22 (Moon Route) – “Comrade” From Afar
Today’s mission is sponsored by the Crossbone Vanguard. Yo-ho-ho!
Back at base, Lowe and Kisato are helping Akito, Uribatake and crew reconfigure Akito's mech.
Kisato mentions how she was especially surprised that Akito is a member of Wärter but Akito says the same: he didn’t think Lowe and Kisato were friends with Mihiro and the others.
It’s good luck that the “Junkmen” made a pitstop at the Moon and were free to help, to which Uribatake is very grateful.
He quickly warns Akito that Erina was mighty mad that he boycotted her tests, though.
As for Yurika, she has decided to do whatever Akito does about helping or not helping fight wars, leaving the whole crew to help realize the "Uribatake Original Version" Aestivalis: the "Xtivalis".
The new generator he's designed and Tessa refined gives it fully five times the power of its predecessor.
Mao is impressed at Uribatake's enthusiasm for working with her commander (using Sousuke as the intermediary); of course, though this is an unauthorized use of Nergal gear, surely the brass won't complain when it results in more powerful kit for them.
Mao finds it interesting that Akito won't fight, but is willing to help develop tools for fighting.
When he asks what she's getting at, she tells him that she's lived with warfare so long that she's stopped deliberating whether it's right or wrong.
Akito on the other hand is a newcomer, giving him a potentially fresher perspective...Kazuma then bursts in, managing to convey the news about the terrorists.
Lowe quickly orders Kazuma back to the Valstork while he tries to do something about the bomb.
He grins and says that while junkmen love putting broken things back together, he sure doesn't like to watch the breaking process with his own eyes.
Things get more complicated when Uribatake notices enemy units approaching.
As the terrorists burst out onto the scene, Gort and Jun try ushering everyone to safety.
The classmates that Kaname got lost and separated from are wondering why every field trip they go on seems to be dogged by danger.
The Nadesico cannot deploy, which means it’ll be up to the Valstork and the rest of our crew to hold our ground until the explosives are be found.
The bad guys look like they're from the Marimea army and it seems their bomb was merely a feint, with their real target being Nergal’s HQ.
Akito hasn’t launched and Ryouko wonders what he’ll do from here on out.
I don’t know about him but we don’t have much to do right now.
The whole group steps forward and that’ll be all.
Enemy Phase!
As the battle wears on, one of Wufei's fellows asks why he's not helping to blow up the city.
Wufei replies that wiping out any single opponent, no matter who, won't win a war.
He freely admits that he's not interested in the objective of the fighting - for him, the fighting itself is its own objective.
Even the Marimea army's goals don't seem to align with his own, and he tells his companion that our people have some justification in their fight too.
Therefore, all he'll do is damage them a little - as she watches.
Oi…doesn’t anyone ever stay dead in these games?
Nevertheless, I might have moved Mao a bit too close as all the mooks start homing in on her (thankfully, I had cast Focus on the frontrunners).
Eh, that isn’t bad.
All mooks gun on her side attack Mao but, since they were all with full HP, everyone survives (Mao does take some damage, too).
On the other side, Hikaru is being the chosen target of the snipers.
Thankfully, she’s getting extra evasion from Ryouko’s Command aura and friendship bonuses.
It’s really telling when a mook is able to pull 32% hit rate against a battleship (though, I guess the broken size modifiers are to blame).
Eh, I was hoping that it’d be a miss to conserve Invincible; either way, Bless kills this and a Mistral, too.
Player Phase!
How long has it been since I used Quatre for anything other than a Spirit Battery? Let’s remedy that.
Quatre don’t fuck around, bitch.
To further point out how much Bushnells suck, Trowa gets rid of one with his Vulcans.
Let’s see how YOU like being sniped, asshole!
There’s a full health Delphinium but let’s see how Kazuma can deal with it.
Overkill is a necessity in these games, ya know?
Yay, Noin can be useful again!
In hindsight, maybe I should’ve had Kazuma take this birdman out because Zechs obviously can’t with his crappy Heat Rod.
Bah. Let’s move along and have Akatsuki kill something for a change.
Enjoy these moments because I don’t think there’ll ever be another route split where I’ll be forced to deploy these peons.
Hikaru gets working on the other Taurus (which I’ll leave alone since it’ll probably die to a counterattack).
Next in line is that annoying Serpent, though there’s a decent chance he’ll attack someone from outside their range.
I dare you to try attacking Bless.
Finally Ryouko neeeeearly kills the Birdman. Sadly, without the Nadesico here, I’m being forced to conserve their EN (remember that Distortion Field Attacks are 50 EN a pop).
Before ending the turn, Mao takes down that annoying birdman.
Enemy Phase!
Hey, hey! Guess who gets to step into the spotlight again?
You go, girlfriend.
The Serpent called my bluff and proceeded to whiff against the BATTLESHIP.
Another would-be sniper goes after Big Daddy.
Sadly, Kouji’s hogging most of the RNG Gods’ attention and Akatsuki ends up support defending (that’s what I get for thinking it’d be another dodge…).
This shithead Delphinium decides to snipe at Ryouko and will prevent me from clearing up the whole damn group during this turn.
I’ll vent me frustrations on the last birdman.
That’s a little better.
Player Phase!
While the fight goes on, we’re still awaiting word from Sousuke and the others.
Though we haven’t heard anything, all that can be done is hold on and trust that they’ll get to the bomb in time.
Inside the city, Tsukumo is fuming over the unfairness of indiscriminate terrorism when he runs into his sister, who wasn't supposed to have followed him on his expedition to check out the Earthlings.
Yukina calling us earthlings raises a red flag with Minato andTsukumo confesses straight away that he was the pilot of the "Tetsujin" in the previous battle - adding an apology for not saying so right away.
Meanwhile, Sousuke finds Kaname, who forces an apology out of him for going up to space for two weeks without telling her first.
She announces that she'll help out, reminding him of her exploits during the previous bomb scare.
Heero is working hard as usual, having localized the explosives to somewhere within the public park.
Kisato demands to know how he can be so calm at a time like this, but Duo tells her that he's special and tells them all to step on it.
But the old lady with them tells them all to shut up; she enlists Tsukumo's help sweeping for bombs along one of the nearby blocks, saying that this has nothing to do with Earth versus Jupiter (plus, if that bomb blows up the colony, his sister would go too).
Yukina protests, but Tsukumo tells her that his illusion that all humans are bloodless, tearless monsters has been broken.
He tells Minato that he's off to protect everyone, as the lady briskly orders the lost high-schooler (Kaname) to take “Silent #1” (Sousuke) and check near the playground equipment.
She gives orders to “Silent #2” (Heero) where to search next, enlists Meg as the communications intermediary, and has Minato look after the childlike Yukina.
Yukina doesn't want any filthy human to touch her, upset about what their ancestors did a century ago, but Minato points out that now the two sides seem to be working together quite well.
When Minato tells her that Tsukumo would be saddened by her attitude, she quiets down.
Tsukumo finds the bomb, but Kaname can't defuse it - the auto-timer has already been started.
With no other options open, the brave Tsukumo grabs the bomb and plans to take it as far away as he can.
He tells Minato that he came here to spy on the Earthlings - and that in the process he's realized that the Earthlings are in fact comrades, every bit as sensitive to justice and courage as his own kin.
He's especially happy he met her, and the prospect of losing him so suddenly makes Minato and Yukina cry out...
But Akito arrives in the just-completed Xtivalis, offering to throw the bomb with his mech's strength instead of letting Tsukumo just run with it.
Besides, this way Akito doesn't have to watch anybody die.
Tsukumo agrees and quickly introduces himself before requesting to know Akito’s name.
Akito nearly dies himself when the bomb goes off, but is able to Boson Jump out of its blast radius.
With the explosives dealt with, it's time for everyone to retreat, and Heero takes special care of protecting the old lady, also known as Rose Abrovall, the Secretary-General of the UN!
Kaname is astounded to realize who she's been hobnobbing with, and Rose sniffs that high school girls these days don't read the papers nearly enough.
That said, Rose won't forget the kindness Kaname showed her.
She then tells Tsukumo that she won't ask for forgiveness for the past - but as for the future, the Earth and Jupiter must join hands.
For her part, she hopes to make up for the mistakes of the Earthlings' past, and says she wouldn't lie to a man who just risked his life for a loved one.
He blushes at this, and with a smirk Rose observes that he might be just the man to literally join the Earth and Jupiter together.
Akito meanwhile has made up his mind - he's not going to put up with people just indiscriminately attacking others, and ending their lives.
They won’t be a problem any longer.
All enemy units have been cleared but one quickly enters the area: Wufei, who tells our people he's got nothing to do with these terrorists who seem to have gotten why people fight all wrong.
Instead, he's come to give us a warning: now that the Jovians are acting, the "Endless Waltz" will be starting any minute now.
He figures he needn't remind us how futile your fighting would be amidst that; as he leaves, Noin figures the Marimea army is about to execute their plan which means Dekim will also act.
Soon enough, Carret detects a large group of units approaching: Jupiter Union forces, under the command of Genichirou.
As before, Bless tries to match Genichirou's verbosity level during the greeting; Kurz and Hikaru quickly notice how the Jovians have brought several units with similar designs to the various Gekiganger forms – with the introductions over, Genichirou quickly challenges us to battle.
Akito yells at him to shut up, remembering how it was his people that razed the Utopia Colony, killing Ai-chan in the process, as well as Admiral Fukube and Gai Daigouji – he won’t stand for people like them to imitate his beloved Gekiganger!
Genichirou says that they're imitating nothing: Geki Ganger is their Bible – the proof of their SOUL!
By this point, Kazuma demands to know what the hell is going on; what are a bunch of Jovian mecha fanatics doing attacking the Earth Sphere anyhow?!
Akito doesn't even care - if fighting is the only way to end this war sooner, he's now all for it.
Tsukumo agrees, emerging and admitting to his commander that he had no other cure for the worries in his heart but to study the Earthlings.
Akito's not backing down, even if Tsukumo isn’t a bad person, and Genichirou certainly isn't willing to forget what he calls Earth's unpardonable sins.
Tsukumo is sorry that he and Akito were born on different planets - if not, perhaps they could have been friends.
This line comes straight out of Geki Ganger, and more than anything it enrages Akito to hear his favorite anime used by the forces of evil. He vows to defeat the Jovians with his own hands.
Erina and Ines are watching from the sidelines, unsure if Akito's conversion of hatred for battle to hatred for the enemy causing the battle is an indication of a delicate spirit, or a stupid one.
Ya’ll didn’t think this mission would’ve been so simple, right?
Nah, it’s just going to get more complicated as the Jovians start throwing their Elite Mooks at us – one of each: Denjin, Tetsujin, Daitetsujin, Majin, Daimajin and, I believe, nearly all (or maybe all of them) have a MAP Gravity Blaster attack.
Fun times!
