Part 88: Mission 24 - Various "Like Yourselves" - Part 2(includes Boss Analysis #9 - "Giant Evil Fortress" Edition)
Enemy Phase!
Kusakabe fires off his MAP and manages to miss even the Mazinkaiser.
Genichirou tags Getter (who had Invincible) and Gaogaigar (who is Invincible).
Finally, Saburouta hits the Valstork and I still have no fucks to give.
Player Phase!
Genichirou’s Daimajin is rather weak on defenses, so I’ll use Melting Siren on Saburouta.
Good but there’s still more.
Dodging those MAPs pushed Mike over the 130 morale mark before anything else had to die!
Ohohoho.
Bless makes use of his unit-friendly MAP to tag all three bosses at once.
I’ll split up the Chinese brothers to make use of their combination attack.
And now they combine back because I’m in the mood to abuse GGG units.
Chouryuujin calls for an assist from Gekiryuujin but Saburouta manages to Boson Jump out of the 2nd hit.
I’ll finish him off in a jiffy. Right now, let’s see how Daimajin likes to meet with MAJINKAISER.
As I thought.
Saburouta is quickly dispatched with some Hikaru/Ryouko teamwork.
He is worth two levels, a Servo Motor and a BP+1.
Hikaru learns Multicombo L1 and Tetsuya gets his Mazin Power going.
Also, both Saburouta and Genichirou have Cutscene Power and will regen to full when killed.
Per what we learned from Mission 22, the best way to beat a
Very nice.
Gai and Kazuma take Genichirou down to a sliver of health.
Enough for Ryouko to move in for the coup de grâce.
Boom.
Genichirou is worth a couple of levels, a Booster and an Infight +1.
These levels also give Ryouko Valor and, as before, Genichirou gets a full heal.
Only Izumi can move now so she takes a small chip of damage off the Kagurazuki.
Enemy Phase!
More MAPs; Kusakabe hits Tetsuya.
Genichirou hits Mazinkaiser.
Finally, Saburouta hits the Valstork (again).
Player Phase!
Let’s see how tough you are after this.
Yup, not so much.
Seeing how Gekiryuujin is just a few points shy of being able to use the combined attack, they team up to wreck the Kagurazuki’s weapons with a Double Gun + Wanrei combo.
Calling for a Support from Golion, Gekiryuujin’s Melee attack yields a respectable damage (yow, they weren’t kidding when they said giving the Brothers’ Pilot Skills broke the game).
Math Time! Mazinkaiser + Mazin Power + Disc X + Valor + Double Burning Fire = ???.
Kusakabe’s Prevail is in effect so we shouldn’t see so many fireworks from Getter’s valored Stoner Sunshine.
Hey, that works for me!
Also, yes. I did cast Iron Wall with Benkei.
With Lucky and Cheer on, it’s time for Akito and Ryouko to team up and bring an end to Kusakabe’s tyranny!
Kusakabe is worth 2 levels, an Apogee Motor and a Max SP +5.
Akito also gets Prevail L2 from it.
Capitalizing on the Kagurazuki’s near-death state, Yurika moves in position to fire at the Ruins.
Ruri quickly shoots at them with the Phase Transition Cannon.
However, we soon find that it’s surrounded by a very tough barrier.
Ines has a plan B and summons Akito back to the Nadesico; his Aestivalis quickly reemerges and, while Kusakabe doesn’t know what they’re planning, he still won’t allow it.
He orders the deployment of something called the Yatenko.
It is unlike any other machine we’ve seen and Mao sees parts which indicate a union of Jovian and Earth tech.
Whatever it is, quickly Boson Jumps over to Akito and attacks.
Hokuten is at the controls, and is actually quite impressed when Akito partially deflects his first shot.
As it turns out, Yurika and Ines are inside Akito’s Aestivalis but Akito has no idea why – he asks Ines what is this plan of her.
She says they all needed to be in one place to allow them to jump to the very heart of the Ruins; if they succeed in capturing it, the Jovians will give up...she hopes.
Ines knows where they're going and to leave the image projection and field controls to her, and directs Akito and Yurika to simply kiss each other.
Yurika outright refuses, saying that this isn’t the proper time for that but Akito tells her it can’t be helped as this is an emergency.
Yurika doesn’t want their kiss to be something that they’re doing because it “can’t be helped”, though!
Hokuten moves in for the next attack, promising that he won’t survive this time.
Akito quickly grabs Yurika and they Boson Jump right out of Hokuten’s sigh.
Kusakabe tries to turn this around, ordering his troops to take out the remaining Wärter troops and to make their justice a reality.
Kouji cuts in, telling him to stop thinking that his is the only justice that’s right and refusing to listen to anything else; Ryouma adds that we didn’t come here to fight, we wanted to reach an understanding with them as we did with the Jovians that went to Earth.
Gai says that, in the name of his Justice, Kusakabe is merely trying to impose his way of thinking upon everyone; Kusakabe tells them all to shut up the Jovians are one with Justice!
However, a hidden voice adds, every person has a different idea of justice in their hearts.
It is Tsukumo, who introduces himself once again to Minato and Genichirou!
The Jovians do not believe their eyes but they can’t deny Tsukumo’s presence; he asks them to listen to him, remembering that his “assassination” at the hands of the humans was used as pretext for continuing this war, but he tells them that it was not the truth and came here to shed light on it all.
Kusakabe doesn’t understand how he got here in the first place…
That would be Genpachirou’s doing, who steps up and, for the sake of the Jovian’s future, relieves Kusakabe of his command.
Kusakabe is surprised at this coup, accusing Genpachirou of being a traitor and working with the Earthlings but Genpachirou knows everything about Kusakabe’s warmongering plans and promises to reveal it all.
He orders Saburouta and the others to listen to Tsukumo’s words and, in turn, Tsukumo asks them all to lay down their arms so they can work towards peace with the Earth Sphere.
When Saburouta asks, Tsukumo relates the events of the fake peace treaty leading up to his felling by bullet.
Genichirou owns up to being the shooter, repenting himself of his mistaken application of "hot-blood".
Tsukumo points out that while there may be Justice on Jupiter, there is also Justice on Earth.
This wins the troops over, leaving Kusakabe with no choice but to flee, apparently on his own now that the common people have also gotten an earful of his misdeeds.
Unfortunately, the Galra quickly enter the battlefield.
Their presence is obviously more than just poor timing and Kogane figures they were simply waiting until both them and the Jovians became exhausted from the battle.
Sinclyne confirms, thinking that this is the perfect opportunity to eliminate both obstacles to their invasion in one move; Shihomi detects the Galra battleships above us taking aim on this area, making Bless impressed that Sinclyne planned such a precise attack despite his youth.
: Fufufu…Princess Fahra, if you can hear me, how about I propose a deal?
: A deal…?!: That’s right, princess. If you agree to submit yourself to me, I could overlook this place for the time being.: However, should you refuse, my Galra Battleships will massacre everyone in here!
: Hey, Sinclyne! Do you really think the princess would surrender to someone like you?: Shut up, brat! The Princess and I are talking!: …
: Princess…
: That’s the Commander of the Space Invaders…what a shameless man!
: Not only that, he’s also very unjust! He’s forcing that woman to decide between her companion’s lives and submitting herself to him!
: That’s right, guys! He’s the true bad guy!: He’s a really evil alien with unmatched cruelty, whose heinous acts cannot even be described!
: Captain Misumaru! You’re safe!: Jovians! Now is the time for us to face against the greatest of evils – together!: I ask of everyone! Lend your power so we may defeat the Evil Galran Empire! : The Galran Empire! Surely, they ARE an Evil Empire!
: And that beautiful woman…she is a princess from a faraway planet, the daughter of the king of a ruined country!: If we were to ignore the request of such a pure princess, we’d be dishonoring the Jovian name!
: Right! Now is the time for us to step up and leave our history of unhappiness behind!
: Music start.
: T-that’s…the theme of Geki Ganger 3…!
: Let’s go Gekiganger 3!
: UUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! IT’S HEEEEREEEEEE! I CAN FEEL THE FIRE OF MY SOUL GROWIIIIIIIIINNNG!*Saburouta casts Valor.*
: Target the Galra battleships! Show them the Jovian spirit!: GEKIGAN!: SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!
: I-impossible! Until a while ago, these guys were at each other’s throats!
: Galra…you will regret ever being born.: Guys…GUUUUUUYYYYYYYSSSSSS!: RAAAAAAAAAARGH! I’M ALL FIRED UUUUUUUUP!!
: I bear no grudge towards that man but our lives are connected… I must be certain that he’s different…!
: Watch out, Akito! That red unit is coming!: !: Disappear into the everlasting darkness…!
: I won’t let you!
: Tch…he got in my way!: Y-you’re…?!
: Ha…sorry, Akito. I’m a little late.: Gai…it's you! You’re alive?!: Huh?! Gai and Tenkawa are friends?
: We thought he had died when he didn’t come back after another battle…
: Then, it wasn’t “game over” for Gai Daigouji!: Hey…we can greet each other later. Until we’ve dealt with these Galra ahead…: The flames of our wrath will keep burning!!: Yeah!
: Regardless of the Galra, what about…: It seems like this is enough for now. However…I never abandon a mission once I’ve started it.: I WILL have your head…!*Hokuten leaves*
: It’s true that Geki Ganger’s may be a fictional story about rewarding good and punishing evil…: However, no matter how complex the world gets, the truth at its core doesn’t change…: That is what it taught us!: People of Wärter, we shall deal with the other Galra Battleships in this area!: We thank you for your cooperation!: No need to thank us! We’ll certainly become good friends from this day onwards!*Jovians leave to intercept Galra ships.*
: Damn you, earthlings! Still you insist on resisting?!: That’s right, Sinclyne! We’ve decided not to surrender to you!: The fire of hope of the Leo Union will never be extinguished!: Akito, Gai! Lend us your strength!: Leave it to me! I’ll show them the power that brought me back from the afterlife!Holy Crap! Gai Daigouji lives and “Let’s Go Gekiganger” has infused our guys with so much HOT BLOODEDNESS that they’ve fully recovered their SP and raised our morale to 150!
While the song only lasts one turn, I’ll just play it for the rest of the damn mission.
Mind you, the rest of the turn AND the enemy turn was comprised of my guys and the Galra moving towards each other, so let’s just skip ahead.
Player Phase!
Well, these are guys are just sitting there so I’ll let them take this as Bless’ greetings.
Yeah, I used Fighting Spirit but we all have full SP!
Bad things happen when you make Gai even more HOT BLOODED.
: RAAAAAAAARGH! W-what…is this feeling?! : It’s different from Courage…is this what they call “hot blood”?!
One lived but that’s fine.
After this, Blade’ll be good to toss out some Voltekkas.
Kazuma jumps right into the fray.
: UOOOOOOOOOOOH!! OOOORYAAAAAAAA!! RAAAAAAAAAARGH!! HIIIIIIYAAAAAAAAAA! UUUWAAAAAAAAAARGH!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
: B-brother…calm down!: UUUOOOOOOOH! MIHIROOOOOOOOO! MY HEART FEELS LIKE A BILLION VOLTS! I CAN’T STOOOOOOOOOP!!: My…my brother is broken from too much HOT BLOOOOOOODD!!
Volfogg is too chill to get hotblooded, though (also, none of the other GGG units have any special lines).
However, if you want Hot Blooded, Ryouma is always available.
: LET’S GO, GALRAAAAAAAAAAAAA! FEEL SHIN-GETTER’S POWEEEEEEERRRRRR!
: Ha…that Ryouma, he seems even more fired up than usual.
: Of course! If this doesn’t get you pumped, THEN YOU’RE NOT A MAN!!
Hell, yeah.
All three pilots level up and Benkei, finally, learns Multicombo L1.
Ryouko takes a jab at the nearby Death Hell beastman.
And Tetsuya comes over to work on the Garushia (sadly, he’s too collected to even let himself be hotblooded).
You gotta yell a bit sometime, Tetsuya!
Hikaru takes a shot at the weakened Death Hell.
Welcome back, Gai!
: ALRIGHT! GET FIRED UP! Yesterday’s enemy becomes today’s ally in order to fight against evil!: UUUWAAAAAAAAARGH! I’M THE MANLY GAI DAIGOUJI AND IT’S GREAT TO BE ALIVE!!Enemy Phase!
This moron Beastman goes for Kouji and gets quickly bitch-slapped away.
A Garushia approaches someone named Gai. This is always a mistake.
“Finishing Move! Gekigan Blaaaade!”
One of the Galra Battleships takes a shot at Tetsuya but he has Iron Wall on.
Ew, a Galra Fighter. Get it away!
That’s how you swat flies.
Tetsuya gains a level and learns Multicombo L1.
Sinclyne also snipes at Tetsuya and manages to take off a slightly bigger chip of Great’s paintjob.
Let’s get Mike into position to Disc X Sinclyne. We might as well attack that other ship to make the most of this move.
I have mental picture of Mike doing the guitar riff of the Gekiganger theme and it’s awesome.
Moving closer, Gai throws some punches at the ship, blocking the counter attack!
Finally, time to show off DOUBLE GEKIGAN FLARE in its true glory!
: UWAAAAAAAAARGH! I HAVEN’T YELLED LIKE THIS IN A LONG TIME!: COME OOOOOOOON! LET’S! GEKIGAN IIIIIIIINN!!
On the other side, Gekiryuujin is just about done with that Death Hell.
Yup, yup.
Following it up, Chouryuujin shoots the last Fighter out of the sky.
This teaches Valor to ALL FOUR BROTHERS!
Moving on, Tetsuya just removed a large chunk of a ship’s HP.
Followed by Hikaru and Ryouko.
While that one is nearly dead, our stronger guys will move on to deal with Sinclyne.
MANLINESS! HOT BLOODED! STONAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNSHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!
That third ship is too far away for most of our guys but, still, Kazuma can fly over and take a shot at it.
Also, if this were voiced, a Hot Blooded High Coat Voltekka would’ve made your DS explode.
: UOOOOOOOOOOOH! ALL OF HUMANITY FIGHTS AS ONE…THERE’S NO WAY WE’RE GONNA LOSE!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
For now, it’ll just make the ships explode.
Enemy Phase!
The bottom ship goes for Bless which is actually perfect since he has Iron Wall on and can actually counterattack.
I am also incredibly disappointed that Bless did not get Hot Blooded with the song…
Sinclyne goes for Yurika who has Alert and can also hit him with a Phase Transition Cannon.
Sure, I’ll take it.
Player Phase!
Uh, oh. It seems I may have been too gung-ho and forgot to not put people in Disc X’s path…oh, well! Tetsuya can cast Invincible!
Very nice.
Chouryuujin is just in range to blast that weakened ship with a dose of Valor’d Chouryuujin/Gekiryuujin Assault.
Moving along, let’s keep pounding on Sinclyne with a Valor’d Double Mazinger Blade.
: ALRIIIIIIIGHT! I like the way this is headed!: It's been a while since I've got to really yell!! MAJIIIIIIIIIN, GOOOOOOOOO!!
Hell, yeah!
I could finish it with Gai right now but he’ll be getting a shitload of levels soon.
There, that’s just right.
Let’s give Kazuma’s Jet Flowsion some screentime. How long has it was last used?
Sinclyne’s worth 3 levels, a Large Generator, a Propellant Tank and a Gunfight +1.
Golion, Sousuke and Heero didn’t make the cut for this match but they still had stuff to say:
-Sousuke Vs. Galra-
: Our morale is at an all-time high! We can outdo our benchmarks! LET’S GO!!: Wh... why am I, of all people, yelling in the middle of a fight…?-Heero Vs. Galra-
: The Jovian soldiers are fighting of their own will. ...or are they?: ...: The reason is irrelevant. We must defeat the Galra.-Golion Vs. Galra-
: W-what…is this feeling that’s growing inside my body?!: Princess! That burning feeling – it is HOT BLOOD! : RAAAAAAAAAARGH! LET’S GO, GALRAAAAAA!!-Golion Vs. Sinclyne-
: Sinclyne! This Solar System is our birthplace! We won’t hand it over to you!: Ha…you’ve a big mouth for a coward that ran out on Altea! : I am the son of the Emperor Dai Bazaal, the Crown Prince Sinclyne! Neither I nor the Galra can be defeated!: Sinclyne! Earth and Golion will not lose to the Galra – and we’ll surely reclaim Altea with our own hands one day!
Sinclyne can't figure out why he and his forces lost.
He yells that this was just a mere greeting, and adds that his main fleet is stationed at this star system's largest planet – Jupiter, adding another reason why we must go there.
Megumi receives info from the Jovians that all other Galra battleships have either been shot down or fled; Taiga compliments Yurika on her superb battle plan, one that largely avoided battle (uh, sure…).
Even Gort finds it within himself to congratulate Minato that Tsukumo is still alive.
Akito tries to quiz Gai on why he's alive, but the question has to wait until the unconscious Gai can be carted back to sick bay.
It seems Gai and Fukube got hauled off to a Jovian prison after the Nadesico's departure, where the jailers were all quite reasonable chaps.
In fact, Gai's exhaustive knowledge of Geki Ganger made him something of a legend among his captors.
Akito tells him to save the chatter and get well, since they've got a long fight ahead of them.
Gai, getting serious for a moment, solemnly tells Akito that he's got a man's face now.
In fact, it was none other than Gai who took the bullet meant for Tsukumo, apparently mistaken for him by an assassin with doubts in his heart.
Speaking of doubts, Tsukumo is shocked when he learns that Gai's real name is the very vanilla Yamada Jirou.
Gai, ever the anime fanatic, insists that he had no other choice when faced with all the cool Jovian names; besides, Gai Daigouji is his soul name!
More important to Minato is question Akito about his kiss with Yurika, though Tsukumo warns him that he'd better be prepared to follow through if he doesn't want Geki Ganger to laugh at him.
Taiga gravely greets Admiral Fukube, who seems to have rejuvenated his good humor during his time among the Jovians.
Only fitting, muses Fukube, since the Earth-Jupiter axis is about to change too.
For instance, the Jovian soldiers are overcome with Fahra's noble beauty, so admirably displayed when she bravely fought against the evil Prince Sinclyne.
In their eyes, her battle spirit contrasts perfectly with "Princess" Relena's ideals of peace.
Yurika pouts that the real heroine was her, but Kurz tells Yurika that there's no way she could compete with an alien princess out of some anime (as it were) for the menfolk's heart.
This comes in handy as a bit of camouflage for Ines, while the command staff and scientists return to the heart of the Ruins.
There it is, the object of such lust from the Earth and Jupiter.
Ines is still busily researching what it's for, but she's already decided it's the targeting unit for Boson Jumping.
This is based on nothing more certain than "inspiration" - a very rare admission for the inveterate scientist.
Akatsuki (present for no apparent reason) isn't the only skeptic, and Akito has a very good follow-on question.
Given that you have to imagine where you're going in order to Boson Jump, how was Ines able to imagine this place, where presumably she'd never been.
Even Ines isn't sure about that, though she takes a hint from the fact that she can remember nothing in her life before age 7.
That was the time a Nergal employee found her wandering the Martian desert; could her imagining of this place be related to her missing memories?
In any case, it's clear to Leo that the only known Boson Jumpers were born on Mars.
He theorizes that the Ruins must have somehow interacted with the nanomachines used in Mars' terraforming, resulting in the early colonists' DNA being rewritten for compatibility.
That tallies with Genpachirou's recollection that the Jovian Jumpers have undergone genetic engineering.
Assuming Ines is right and this is the core of the Boson Jump system, what should be done with it?
Wreck it, and risk Boson Jump becoming unusable ever again? Move it to Earth and risk another war? Leave it here and risk another war?
Ines has a better idea: abandon the thing; after all, since it's a trans-dimensional system, its location is irrelevant to the ability to Jump.
Yurika likes it, and wants to toss the thing somewhere where no one can get at it.
Akatsuki supposes that that's a lesser evil than having someone monopolize it, and Genpachirou can't think of any fairer way to settle things.
Since our crew are slated to pursue the Galra to Jupiter anyway, Taiga recommends submerging the gadget into the Jovian ocean.
That's fine with Genpachirou, who feels partially responsible for allowing the Galra incursion.
For now, he's loaning you Tsukumo (which will make Minato and Yukina happy), and promises to give you a tour of the Jovian residential areas once the Galra are taken care of.
After the others fall silent, Yurika asks Akito if the only reason he kissed her was to make the Boson Jump work.
Akito blusters and avoids the question, saying instead that he learned something crucial during the battle: he really, truly loves… Geki Ganger.
And that love, that hot-blooded passion, is something he wants to depend on once more.
That's what Yurika loves about him and Akito gaps, as it’s the first time Yurika ever said those words – she insists it’s not and he insists it is.
Taiga smoothly cuts in and recommends that Yurika start loading the cube onto the Nadesico.
The urgency gets ratcheted up when Ruri relays word that the Jovians have recovered the J-Ark near Jupiter, badly damaged and unmanned.
Its trajectory suggests that it came from Jupiter itself, but there's little clue what did the damage. The Galra? Or them?