Part 93: Mission 26 - Brave Battle - Part 1 (includes Boss Analysis #10 - "Crazy Girl" Edition)
Mission 26 - Brave Battle
You know, we’ve dealt with a crapload of powerful shit thus far. We’ve killed crazy mercs, demons, EI-01, Dekim and his colony-bomb, Kusakabe with his gigantic fortress and even Arm plugged into giant asteroids.
However, you’ll find that our next costumer is on a whole other level. How much? Well…
: Wh…WHAT IS THAT?!
: A monster came out of Jupiter…!
: But how can it be this big? What the hell is that thing?!
: The combined form of all 31 Machine World Primevals…Z-Master!
: Z-Master…: The Primevals are usually split up into 31 bodies but, in reality, they are one. Each body is a part of Z-Master, whose goal is the mechanization of the entire universe.
: It can’t be…the Primeval Crystals have regenerated again…!
: It seems that the Primevals are also using The Power! 
: Then, just like we used The Power to perform our combination…
: Those bastards also used it to get powered up!
: Weak-hearted ones. The infinite power was used to drive the Master Program…: Now, behold our strength.
: Wh-what amazing power!
: As expected, he’s now able to use The Power himself!
: Study Subject 8986513287421057, the infinite energy The Power…initiate recording.: What the hell are you recording, girl?! Thanks to you, this bastard got to combine in the end!: Don’t talk to me like that! I told you my name is Aria! : And I warned you, didn’t I?! I told you to run away fast!
: W-well…then we’ll just take you up on your offer now!: I can’t allow that…!
: What are those mechs?!
: Searching data…no results found.
: Hm…it seems those are Aria’s companions.
: What are you all doing?! They’re coming after the Nadesico! : Study subject 4214482003160221, the legacy of the Ancient Solar Culture…: I must retrieve it.: The legacy of the Ancient Solar Culture…?
: I think she’s talking about our Targeting Unit; it seems the girl wants it.
: Don’t joke around! We decided to throw it into Jupiter and we’re not gonna hand it over!: You’re not allowed to decide anything! That object belongs to us! You…are you a human of the Ancient Solar Culture?!: Not “You”! Aria!: Scribe of Knowledge, you also intend to record our strength along with The Power…?!: Indeed. In that case, Z-Master…show us your power.: Very well. We will leave your destruction for after the legacies of the Green and Red Planets are eliminated.
: He spawned Zondar robots! 
: Tch…it looks like the Primeval’s boss and those unidentified enemies have joined forces!
: But that’s…Aria! Are you really not our friend?! : …Sorry, Mihiro. I didn’t want things to get violent between us and your sisters…: I AM sorry but I must obtain subject 4214482003160221!: That’s just fine! I have a whole lot of things I want to ask you about! Once we’ve beaten you at your own game, you’re gonna tell us what you’re up to!: Wh-what do we do, Chief Taiga?! 
: Do not lose your focus, my friends!
We’re still in awesome-town and this song plays throughout the entire stage, so get this shit running on your speakers and keep it looping until you feel BRAVE!
: We cannot allow neither the Primeval’s plan to mechanize the entire universe nor that girl’s wish to seize the Targeting Unit! : To fight anyone who would threaten peace…that is Wärter’s mission!: The chief is right! We cannot afford to lose!
: Yes! For the sake of everyone’s wish for peace!
: They believed in us and placed their lives and wishes on our hands! 
: Dad, Mom, Hana…we will fight!: So, you’re coming…weak-hearted ones. In that case, you will learn your own powerlessness.: Come on, Z-Master! Let’s put an end to all of this!!
While Z-Master is also taking THE POWER, we still have some of it. This results in everyone starting the mission at maximum morale (whilst GGG Units still have their invincibility-status).
Aria’s mob of Opuses (Opi?) aren’t threatening in the slightest. They all have mediocre stats all around.
See?
Volfogg takes a level and gets himself Multicombo L1.
Akito moves forward and softens the only Opus he can hit.
This should be no problem for Gai (Daigouji).
Yup, yup.
Kurz does his thing and moves forward.
Mao, as always, tags right along.
How many times has Mao taken the kill for Kurz’ work?
More times than she should’ve considering she’s now three levels ahead of him.
Still, she learns Valor which is always nice.
Mike doesn’t give a fuck about buddy systems when he has the power of ROCK!
That said, Gouryuujin can still tag along to benefit from a friendship bonus.
Don’t bring planes to a Super Robot fight, Aria. Crazy girl…
Blade can get close enough to Tek-Lancer but it falls just short of taking his Opus down.
Genryuujin, and his 250 morale, doesn’t even need a critical hit to kill.
Sousuke walks over to finish Blade’s job.
Easily dealt with.
We’ll be going after Aria now so here’s look at her and her Arm Arcus:
Being an original character, I’ll compare her more directly to Kazuma – she has an average of 10 points over him in all stats with the exception of Evasion (the only stat on which Kazuma is higher); with numbers like that, you’d do well to toss a Scan on her to minimize her chances because she will still be quite dodgy with Prevail on.
The stats of her Arm Arcus are pretty much unchanged from when she helped us (aside from the HP boost, of course). Its mobility and armor are kind of low but it’s probably meant to balance out Aria’s already high evasion stat.
Also, the Arm Arcus (and the Opuses) comes equipped with a 10% EN Regen and a Status Immunity ability (No Disc X for you!)
As before, the Arm Arcus’ real power comes from the myriad of status effects it can induce on you.
Her weakest attack, Lumen Circulus, will apply Mobility -50%; her 2nd attack, Lunar Gladius, will apply Accuracy-30% and her strongest, Totum Sclopetum, will give you a taste of Attack Power-50%.
Needless to say, if you’re going to attack with a super that can’t dodge, minimize your annoyance by hitting her from less than 3 spaces away.
Finally, Aria comes packed with an impressive list of Pilot Skills:
- Counter
- Break Morale Limit
- Prevail L5
- Support Attack L1
- Commander L2
- Multicombo L1
Her defenses are rather wimpy, so take her down quickly to minimize the number of people she hits; on her own turn, she seems to prioritize her Lunar Gladius so you shouldn’t have a huge headache from Totum Sclopetum (of course, she’ll jump at the chance to snipe at you if there’s no one in chaining position).
Of course, Aria has lines for pretty much all important characters, so I’ll have to apply some creative editing to make it all work.
Montage time!
: Stop, Aria! Who in the world are you? What is your connection to our family?!: …: If there’s something wrong, we can help you. Just the way you helped us so many times before! 
: That’s right, Aria. So, put down your weapons.
: We... don't think you're a stranger...: I’m sorry! But…I will be really scolded if I don’t carry out my mission! : So…I’m very sorry – I’ll try to be as gentle as possible with my attacks!!
: A Tekkaman that escaped the Radam’s control will yield some valuable data… Sorry but I’ll also be taking you!: I don’t know what you want but my body and my heart are my own! I won’t hand them over to anyone!
: Study subjects 42144820031602222 – I’ll be taking you all!: W-why we?!: 42144820031602221 refers to the legacy of the Ancient Solar Culture…that one is the targeting unit…: We could assume that the number of the next study subject would be related to it.: The people capable of using the targeting unit’s system…that would mean the Captain, Akito and I.: N-no way! Akito is the only person that I would allow to kidnap me!!
: Heh…I see that your machine is loaded with a very interesting system…
: Are you talking about the Lambda Driver…?!: As expected, this star system is fascinating! I get to report back that the trip was completely worth it!
: Our data on the Red Planet is…: I remember you: the beings known as the Scribes of Knowledge! : What does that matter now?! Like you, I am merely doing my mission!
: Strange…study on subject 281104 was already completed but…some of the data is inconsistent to this one. What’s going on?: That's what we want to know! What do you want?! Are you one of those people called “Scribes of Knowledge”?!: Researching is my job, not answering your stupid questions!: Fine! How about I capture you and take you in for investigation?
: Why did you do that, girl?! I thought you were on our side!: I didn't have a choice! I had my reasons!: …Still, your machine is very interesting. Can I borrow it? I’ll put it to good use!: Over my dead body! My grandpa entrusted me with Kaiser! : No matter who asks, I’m not handing it over! 
: Weren’t you fighting against the Primevals before?!: I’ve already completed the data on the Primevals but not on The Power! “Those people” may be eager to destroy the Primevals but this has nothing to do with me!
Enemy Phase!
: Entouji, Freeman! How’s the analysis of Z-Master coming along?!
: The aggregated energy is too different from before! As it is, we cannot attack it effectively!
: It’s like pouring water into the sea. It is entirely useless to fight against it if we don’t do anything about The Power.
: There’s got to be a weak-spot! Is there any place where we can damage it?!: Weak-hearted ones, you continue to struggle in vain…: We don’t know for sure if our struggle IS in vain!: We are still alive! Until that life ends, there’s still a chance for us to win!: In that case…I will sever your hope at its root.
: Wh-what was that?!: An attack originated from Z-Master: a high-density energy wave.
: Energy increase confirmed. Expect a widening area of attack.: You mean the next attack will target more of our units?!: Ms. Swan! Examine the energy flow before this battle becomes unwinnable! 
: Y-yes…!
: A…aah…!
: What’s wrong, Mikoto?! Get a hold of yourself!: Y-yes…! I’m sorry! : Fufufufu…AHAHAHAHAHA! I wonder, how long will you be able to endure?Welcome to yet another gimmick and if you’ve played Alpha Gaiden you already know the drill.
Lord Z will blast increasingly more units (3, then 4, then 5, etc.) for half their current HP at the start of his turn – if he hits Real Robots, like he just did, this is probably negligible as they shouldn’t be getting hit in the first place (and, hell, it’ll even trip those Prevails) but keep an eye when he hits a Super and be ready to toss a quick heal if needed.
Mind you, GGG units are a freebie as they heal completely at the start of player turns.
The Opus moves and decides to kamikaze against Genryuujin.
This pushes the brothers up a level and gives them Hero L4 and Prevail L4. Nice!
Shift to the other side, it’s Gouryuujin’s turn.
No problem at all.
Having evaded Aria’s attack via ES Window, J has saved the Alert he had.
He still dodges the attack with another window.
How about this one?
Nope, he still got an ES window going and it happened in such a split-second that my picture didn’t capture it…
Mind you, the Zondar’s are MUCH bulkier than usual.
Yeah…no.
Aria takes a swing at J and Sousuke but manages only to get laser’d away.
Player Phase!
No more playing around - time to take out this crazy girl (cheer and bless are cast, as always).
: Stop that machine right now! Mihiro’s coming with me!: A-Aria…?!: Like hell! You can't just claim other peoples' sisters! : I really, really hate you! I’m gonna be taking Mihiro and your sisters from you, no matter what!
She's worth 3 levels, a metric shitload of cash, an A-Adaptor and a BP+2.
The levels also increase Kazuma’s Prevail to L5.
: I-if I return like this, I’m going to be punished again…!
: Tch…stubborn girl!: Stop it, Aria! I…I don’t wanna fight against you!: She’s right! I can’t do this after all the times you helped us!: I’m sorry Mihiro…Akane…: But…I have to do this! It is my mission!
Well, nothing else we can do about her so let’s switch out attention to the Zondar.
Akito and Gai get started on an EI-15.
They are being surprisingly accurate now...
Nevertheless, Volfogg still dodges with his Holographic Camouflage.
Kurz moves over, while take a shot at Volfogg’s fishy.
Gaogaigar also moves up, hopefully setting up for a future MAP.
As for you…
Making use of Kouji’s position, Tetsuya calls for a Double Rocket Punch on the EI-02.
Being ever-so-bulky, I’ll have Sousuke weaken it down some more before going for the kil.
Aye, that works.
J easily takes down the last bunch of HP.
I’ll place Blade over here. Maybe I can pull a MAP if the Zondar stay together like that.
Mike will do the same for the other side.
Hayato and the others can move on ahead and get ready to deal with the side groups soon.
As for now, the center enemies are the easier prey.
Nothing else to do, so Boss heals Kurz up some.
Enemy Phase!
Here comes the blast and, like I said above, he’ll increase his targets by 1 for each turn.
Gai will heal up and but the other units may require a bit of attention.
EI-26 and 27 both try MAPing and fail to hit anything.
EI-28 decides to move in closer and attacking J.
Of course, J promptly Counters and evades his attack with an ES-Window.
EI-29 goes for Gouryuujin and gets a reminder of GGG invincibility (plus, I had the brothers cast Iron Wall).
Blade’s pre-fight numbers didn’t run as I had a momentary lapse of thought and hit the Fight button by accident. Whoops!
Either way, Blade might not have a chance to use his MAP as the western group starts moving in to attack J and Genryuujin.
Goddamn Uppo-Kun…Go away!
Genryuujin also dodges the attack with an Aurora Illusion.
J is still doing his thing and not getting hit.
Finally, something decides to be clever and avoid a GGG unit.
Though this is actually only slowing down my advance…
Back to J!
Finally, something that’ll die.
J gets another level and learns Fighting Spirit…after he already knows Valor.
The Eastern group all starts closing in on Mike. This is less than optimal because, unlike everyone else, Mike’s songs are ammo based and don’t get restored by THE POWER.
Still, a few go after Gouryuujin who is more than happy to oblige them.
Three other Zondar also do the same, getting weakened in the process.
Finally, Aria decides to chain the Nadesico and Valstork – the damage is less than worrisome but the Valstork WAS at half health so we may be cutting it dangerously close.
Player Phase!
Well, Mike is now surrounded so it’s better business to use a Disc M to pull heavy hits on everyone than to use Disc X on only three targets.
Mike only manages one critical hit, everything else takes around 6000 damage.
To keep the pain rolling, Kazuma flies over and chains the three units on the right side of the group.
Gouryuujin assists him to take the stronger EI-15 down some more.
Kurz and Mao tag team the nearby EI-13.
Following him, Mao moves in for the kill (again).
Teamwork!
: The Master Program has successfully combined…: As expected, Deputy-Commander Zoa was right when he said this star system was special.: Eviluders…! You bastards came over, huh?!: The pitiful drifters, Eviluders… the instinct of the organic life-forms seem to remain in you.: The instinct of the organic life-forms?! Then, there’s a living body beneath the Eviluders’ armor?!: Silence, Master Program! We, the Eviluders, are a life-form perfectly adapted to this universe! : As the rulers of the universe, we will not submit to you Primevals or the Radam!
: That’s not it, Rang…
: Orgun!: Rang…! We, the Eviluders, are not a perfect life-form…: We may have obtained power but, in the process, we’ve lost something important! That Primeval proved it!: Orgun! A traitor like you has no right to call yourself an Eviluder!: However, don’t forget, Orgun! Eliminating the Radam from the universe is the reason why we were born!: Such is the legacy of Aiba!
: Aiba?!: Aiba…Takaya Aiba…! Isn’t that D-Boy’s Family name?!: Head Detonator! Do you know a Kouzou Aiba?!: That name is carved at the center of the Eviluder’s history – it is our creator’s name! How do you know of it?!: What did he say?! D-Boy’s father is the creator of the Eviluders?!: Was this what my father said was his fault…?!: Weak-hearted ones…and, also, heartless ones! You may as well disappear together!
: Mechanization is the inevitable path of evolution. Life-forms that refuse to accept and continue to spread Minus thoughts…: …they are all weak-hearted people who have no right to exist in this Universe.: And those who have forsaken their hearts and became apostles of destruction will also be eliminated by our power.: Damn Master Program! The Eviluders do not accept your mechanization! This Universe belongs to us and us alone!: Orgun! What is he talking about?!: Your priority now should be to stop the Master Program. I will also fight.: Target both the humans of this star system and the Primevals! Begin! : Eviluders…! You’ll resist me to the last moment?!: Ah!: What is it, Ms. Utsugi?!: I…I understand it now! Z-Master’s energy flow!: What?!: Z-Master is absorbing The Power through the part of it connected to Jupiter!: Then, after absorbing The Power, it is transferred to Z-Master’s heart and then to the rest of his body! : What does that mean, then?!: It means that if you ride the flow of energy, you can get inside Z-Master’s body…!: J!: Heroes! I’ll go inside Z-Master’s body! Cover me!
: You…are you trying to die?!: I have already thrown this life away once! If I must sacrifice it to end this bastard, then I’ll do it with no regrets!: I feel the same way as J. To defeat him is our mission.: But…but!: All units, provide cover to Soldato J! We’re gonna bet everything on him!: What are you saying, dad?! You’re sending him off to die!: Shut up, Kazuma! …That man is putting his life on the line by his own will…! : What we can do is make his life into something that had meaning!: Dad…: This is…the place where he’ll risk his life…: Fellows of Wärter! We’re going to bet all life in the universe on Soltato J and his companions!: I will only give one order…WIN! That is all!
: Mission accepted…!: We’ll keep the Primevals, Eviluders and those Scribe people busy!: You can count on us, J!: Ha…Gai, I will tell you that I do not intend to die in there.: I promised that we’d finish our duel. I will return!: I will hold you to those words!
: Ramming point, confirmed.: Let’s go, J.: J-Ark, full speed ahead! Our target is The Power’s absorption point!Hrrrmmm, this fight just keeps getting better. We still have a long way to go so I think I’ll end this right here.
Next time, we keep dealing with the Zondar while waiting for the Eviluders to come over (and for J to get his ass over by Z-Master’s radical haircut).
See you all then!