Part 94: Mission 26 - Brave Battle - Part 2 (a.k.a. HOLY SHIT, THIS IS AWESOME!) (includes Boss Analysis #11 - "A Small Purple Man and a Big Orange Abomination walk into Jupiter..." Edition)
Back to our current predicament: Z-Master is up north, Rang and the Eviluders are south; first order of business is to get J into Z’s hair so he can pull the plug on THE POWER.
The Eviluders are quite far away, so we’ll just focus on softening the Zondar for the time being.
There. Three weakened Zondars, ripe for killing.
This here EI-28 is getting his jollies spamming MAP (along with all other faux-Zondar Kings). Akito and Volfogg give it a lesson.
Followed shortly by Gai (Daigouji) and Hayato.
With that done, Kouji sets out to finish the job.
One less annoyance…
I try to get clever and kill the EI-15 after weakened Faux-Primada but his Turbo Smasher Punches are far too weak.
Volfogg taks down the EI-15 while leaving Faux-Primada barely alive:the kill earns him a level and Support Attack L2. Very good.
Sousuke quickly chains both EI-21, dispatching one.
Right on time, he gets a level and learns Valor.
There’s no way for J to reach the top of Z-Master’s hair during this turn (even using Accelerate with the J-Ark). As such, he’ll move up closer and blast something to pass the time.
Not bad at all but I’m finding that the Assault attack seems to be slightly better up-close (what with its high critical ratio).
Whatever the case, Hayato and Genryuujin quickly take away the remaining health.
This earns the Getter Team a level and teaches Benkei Valor (his main use, from here on out, will be of a backup Valor-Battery).
On the eastside, Gouryuujin just chained an EI-02 and EI-13 – killing the former.
Orgun’ll also help with the Zondar while waiting to settle his score with the Eviluders.
Good job.
Boss tosses another repair at the Valstork and we’re done.
Enemy Phase!
5 targets hit. Everyone is fine for the time being except for Tetsuya, who’s in dire need of a heal; he’s low enough that a series of powerful hits will take him down (unless I use Iron Wall but I need to save some SP for the bosses).
Moving along, Genryuujin is still being the target of choice for the westernmost Zondar.
Which is very good, seeing how he either dodges or takes piss damage before opening a can of whoop-ass.
Gouryuujin’s weakened EI-13 manages to slightly annoy him before getting smashed by a tonfa.
EI-21! Listen to my song!
Rang and the Eviluders come closer but are too far away to do anything.
Player Phase!
First things first: Shihomi and Nuke both cast Trust to repair Tetsuya a bit.
Now, Mike needs to move in closer to position himself for Z-master which means that Kouji will need to cover for him on Armor Reduction.
Even though it’s not one of his stronger attacks, it still gets the job done (more so with an assist from Mao).
Moving closer, Mike takes the chance to take another chunk of EI-27’s HP.
Akito starts flying up, making a stop by EI-29 and getting help from Volfogg.
Volfogg did more than twice your damage and he had the Support Penalty against him!
Either way, Gai (Daigouji) swoops over and takes the kill.
Now, this is just too perfect to pass up. Kaidou can get an Alert going to make sure that there’ll be no problems.
Everything takes decent damage but there are no kills.
Hayato and Genryuujin team up once more to overkill Uppo-kun.
Finishing that job, Genryuujin moves after EI-27 (taking an assist from Kurz).
It should be low enough that Tetsuya and Kouji can take it out.
Yup, yup.
Kurz needs the levels, so he’ll finish this EI-21.
And he doesn’t get it…
Gaogaigar gets to work on EI-26.
While its HP is still rather high, Sousuke will call for some help from Golion (give them some screentime after coming ever-so-close to deployment).
Excellent.
Alright, enough faffing about. Time to send J over to Z-Master.
: Target point has been reached.
: We can get inside Z-Master’s body from here!
: I won’t allow it! The study of The Power isn’t finished yet!
: You…!
: Uwargh!
: Kazuma! Mihiro!: We’re OK! …J, hurry up and go!: You have my thanks!*J enters Z-Master*
: You…! How dare you…HOW DARE YOU?!: How dare you put Mihiro in danger like that!
: Aria!: Wait just a bit, Mihiro! I’ll break the cockpit open and rescue you!: Shit…! Mihiro, you have to escape!: No! I won’t leave you behind!: Kazuma!!
: That’s…! Why are you protecting him?!: Kazuma and Mihiro are mine and Yumi's children! I won’t let you kill them!!*Beep, beep, beep…Boop!*
: !
: Carret reacted to something!
: Is this…the same thing that happened on the moon?!
: At that time, it unlocked a hidden function in the Valstork…what’s gonna happen now?!: Battle Formation: Pattern Cross!: Pattern Cross?!: T-this is…!?
: Valstork and Valhawk…: They combined!: Look, brother! Something’s showing on your monitor!: Valguard…is it this thing’s name…?!: Kazuma! The controls are in Valhawk’s cockpit!: It’s your job to pilot it!: Alright, lemme try this again! I’m getting used to it! : This is…! How does the Valstork have such function?!: Here goes!!: AAAAAAAAAAAH!: Aria!: Don’t worry, Mihiro! I avoided her cockpit!: You…!: I owed you one…so I won’t be as violent as you were.: Even if I don’t know what’s going on, I won’t take the life of someone who helped us before.: The terror of space, the weakness of the individual and the importance of life…: Heh...now, I really don’t understand. That’s the Spaceman’s creed!: Shut up, shut up, shut up! I don’t need any sympathy from someone like you!!: Remember this, stupid Kazuma! I will beat you and then I’ll live with Mihiro and my sisters!: What does that mean?! Are you saying that my father and I don’t matter?!: I certainly don’t need you to understand! All I want is for you to disappear!*Aria leaves.*
: Who the hell is that girl...?: She wants to capture us but says Kazuma and dad are not needed…?: And…where do I fit in all this…?: We’ll talk about it later! After we’ve dealt with Z-Master!
: What about the J-Ark…? Where’s J?!: I am…right here!!
: U-UUUAAAAAAAAAARGH! IMPOSSIBLE!!
: J, you’re alive!: Of course. I promised that I wouldn’t die until we settled things between us…!
: Look! The flow of The Power has stopped going into that monster!
: Then, that bastard’s energy isn’t infinite anymore!
: Energy levels confirmed to be decreasing. The indicated point is showing the lowest level.*Z-Master’s face becomes targetable.*
: Damn you, Soldato J! You’ve injured my heart!: That’s right! Now you won’t be able to disperse The Power throughout your body!
: And if we attack at that point, our attacks will get through to him!: Minus thoughts will bring about the destruction of the universe…: All should be mechanized into a life-form without Minus thoughts, the mechanical life-form Zondar.: These negative emotions that you call “Minus thoughts” are simply proof that we live! Without those, it wouldn’t be life!: Thus, all life-forms must fuse with the machine in order to reach the next stage of development!
: It’s not the same…! Your plan would mean a heartless world!
: Sure, there are things like hatred, anger, sadness but there’s also happiness and laughter and the joy of being alive!
: I wouldn’t be able to cook as a machine…
: And I wouldn’t be able to love!
: Eliminating stress would be good. But destroying the human heart and killing all emotion goes too far.
: Mechanization’s Master Program, Z-Master, for humans to remain human, your existence cannot be allowed!: The universe doesn’t need your mechanization…! What it needs is our burning courage!!: If you simply call them Minus thoughts, then you, Z-Master, ARE THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE ANNIHILATED!!FUCK. YES. The Valguard is one of the most broken supers in the game simply because it has EVERYTHING.
High attack power? Check. Defensive Power? Absolutely. Flexibility and Support Capability? It has 6 pilots, the Valstork’s amazing MAP, long-range and close-range attacks and it STILL acts like a ship (meaning it can still be used to substitute people or to ressuply repair folks that go inside).
What the fuck is an SRX? Valguard is the real deal!
Now that I’ve satisfied my inner fanboy, we go back to work. First, though, we send Boss over to repair the Nadesico.
This earns them all a level and teaches Strike to Nuke.
Valguard is the only unit that can still move, so let’s have him pummel the remaining EI-02 some.
Very nice.
Enemy Phase!
Z-Master will now stop blasting random folks and start behaving like a normal unit.
That is, he’ll waste his time attacking “weak” units in a predictable attempt to finish them off.
As for the Eviluders, they are still getting closer.
Player Phase!
They’ve gotten close enough that we can go after them, so let’s have Gaogaigar do the honors.
Followed by J.
I tell ya, after dealing with those super-powered Zondar, it’s satisfying to be able to kill weak mooks again.
Akito and Gai (Daigouji), once again, team up to take down one of the Eidos.
As for Shin-Getter, Ryouma should have no problems dealing with those three down there.
Like so.
Now, we’ll start dealing with Rang so here’s a look at him:
You can see that Rang isn’t the Head Detonator for nothing – his stats are through the roof and he’s got a good amount of HP and Armor; his mobility is low but, again, blame the broken size modifiers for that (also, even without that bonus, he’s still dodgy as fuck – especially once his Prevail gets going).
Like the Tekkaman, Detonators have 30% EN Regen and 10% HP regen.
His weapons also follow the Tekkaman standard, with several short-to-medium range attacks, a MAP and a long distance, pre-movement, high-powered attack.
Be especially wary of the MAP as it can take you by surprise and Rang can do some decent damage with it.
Rang also comes with a crapload of dangerous Pilot Skills:
- Sword Cut (best to avoid using parry-able attacks when his HP gets low because he’ll have a ton of Skill)
- Counter
- Break Morale Limit
- Prevail L6
- Support Attack L2
- Commander L3
- Multicombo L1
With his high armor and Prevail, and the fact that I’ve used some of our heavy hitters to take out his cannon-fodder, it’s unlikely I’ll kill him in one turn but that was my own lack of foresight – on this situation, toss everything you have on him (especially your GGG units) and take him out quickly.
Be careful when going after him and, if you can’t finish him off in one turn, do try to keep your group spread out so you can avoid his MAP.
Getting started, Valguard slaps him around some.
Sousuke’s low HP is actually good as his Prevail is running at near full power and gives him a nice hit %.
Next in line is Blade, with less impressive numbers. Can my luck keep up?
: Not bad at all, Tekkaman! Even among all the Tekkamen that I’ve fought in the past, your power is first class!: Answer me, Rang! What did you mean when you said Aiba was your founder?!: Even if you’ve escaped the Radam’s control, you still do not need to know this!: What I’ll show you is how the power of our Solid Armor far exceeds that of the Radam’s Tek-System!
Yes, we can! I find this impressive, considering how often I got screwed by the RNG on past games.
Call this Mazinger-Luck? It seems that Kouji’s luck did indeed rub off on Tetsuya.
Mind you, I had him cast Invincible before going in.
While Kouji can toss his boomerang from that distance, he needs Ruri to cast Attune to get a high enough hit %, though.
Also, he has Iron Wall lest his low HP get in the danger zone.
See what I told about Rang being resilient?
Before we end the turn, Boss still hangs by the Nadesico and heals it up.
After that, I have the ship move by the GGG folks to start setting up for when we go after Lord Z.
I screwed-up majorly during this turn. Can you spot the problem on the image above?
Enemy Phase!
With Yurika having moved inside his blind-spot, Z-Master (once again, predictably) switches his attention of Boss – who had Invincible cast.
The farthest Eidos may have full-health but it meant little when he made the mistake of attacking Getter.
As for the closer one, he won’t fare any better than his cohorts.
*breathe in* GETAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH TOMAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKU! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMERAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
Another level for the Getter Team and Ryouma learns Spirit and Prevail L6.
Well, aren’t we clever…
Much better. Go Orgun, go!
Damn it, why couldn’t you have pulled upgrades from someone?!
Ready to see my mistake? Did you see the problem where I did not?
Surprise, MAP attack! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!
I had to reload twice before Kurz managed to dodge the attack – Rang had 37% chance to hit him and when he took the attack, it transformed his piddly Gernsback into cosmic dust.
Player Phase!
Eat a dick, Rang. Orgun can cast Focus + Valor but needs to use his Orgun Cutter to have a decent chance to hit.
: Rang! This star system has something that the Eviluders have lost!: The Eviluders have no need of your "heart"!: That’s not all! There's something more, and it's here! I have to find it!: Your selfishness will not save you from the fate of a traitor to the Eviluder kind!
Alright, that’s not bad for a unit that didn’t take upgrades off anyone.
Still, it’s enough damage and I will greatly enjoy this.
Let’s see Valguard’s strongest attack: Cross Proton Punisher!
With Cheer and Bless, we get 2-3 levels for the Valstork crew, another truckload of cash, a Large Magazine and an Initial Morale +2.
Bless learns Rouse (60 SP – adjacent units' morale +10) and Prevail L6.
: Tch…It seems I’ll have no choice but to wait for the arrival of the main army!: Hold on, Rang! Are you saying the Eviluder fleet is coming to this star system?! : It is according to Deputy-Commander Zoa’s guidance! Orgun, this star system will be the site of our final battle against the Radam!: Don’t forget the wishes of our founder, Aiba! The Eviluders will rule this universe!*Rang leaves.*
: Rang…: My father wished for the Eviluders to rule the universe… How can that be…?With the Eviluders dealt with, let’s turn our attention to the last enemy:
As you can see there, Z-Master has a huge amount of HP and his stats are rather decent (he loses to Rang on all but Defense and Skill) but that’s pretty much all that he has.
His Armor is incredibly low (less than Sayaka’s Venus A) and he has no safeguards aside from his, easily-breakable, Zondar Barrier. This is, as usual, in order to balance out his incredible 3L size – had the modifier been working properly, this would’ve been a much more interesting fight.
Of course, like all Zondars, he has 10% HP and EN Regen.
His attacks are powerful but they often prove to be innacurate. His MAP as a huge 3x10 range and both it and the regular version (his 2nd attack) add the Armor -30% debuff – needless to say, your Supers want to avoid it (don’t be afraid to use Exhaust with Yurika/Izumi/Pegas/Mike/Kurogane to get him below 110 morale while you set up your attack).
His 3rd, strongest, attack is the uncreatively named Laser. It has HUGE range and power but, as you saw above, Z-Master is very predictable with it. He’ll often focus his attention of whomever he thinks he can kill and, if you can narrow it down, you can set a weakling up with a defensive Spirit as a decoy.
Finally, Z-Master shows himself to be less combat-savvy than Rang with his somewhat-underwhelming Skills:
- Break Morale Limit
- Prevail L5
- Multicombo L1 (again, why? Like Arm, this guy doesn’t have chainable attacks)
You can see how much he suffers from the broken Size Modifiers and the lack of usual skills that got cut. He really, REALLY needs Guard (and his 3L size).
Conclusion: From something that big, you’d expect a much tougher fight but nope.
Z-Master is predictable and he won’t gain morale while you slaughter the Eviluders; if you have his decoy constantly dodge his attacks, you can move in and set up a nice attack formation while he wastes his time.
Of course, once you start taking him down, make sure to finish it on the same turn because that humongous MAP will wreck your Supers up if he gets a Prevail’d hit in.
My next couple of turns were just my guys coming back up top and setting up a nice formation (with Z wasting his time going after a protected Boss) – I’ll just skip ahead.
Here we go. As per usual Zondar-Bustin’ tactics, the opening volley is left to Mike and Volfogg for some dual-soundwave action.
Very nice.
Let’s do this!
: I don't care if you have unlimited power, we still won't let you beat us!: Weak-hearted one, you fight whilst trembling with fear and despair…: Because we can get over it! Humans have that strength... you just can't admit it!
: Sources of Minus thoughts, only mechanization can deliver you from despair.: I guess I've been really mad with all that's happened...: But then Akito found me, his beautiful girlfriend, right?: N-no! I found that, to defeat the Minus thoughts, you just need to strengthen the “Plus” of your heart!: Yeah! As long as the power of love remains, we will never be mechanized!
: Let’s go, Z-Master! I will complete our mission at last!: Warrior of the Red Planet. You, who once was a Zondarian, are now a person overwhelmed by minus thoughts...: …I was made a Zondar from the shame of my failure.…: And that will spur me to fight on! To cast aside my weakness and regain my honor as a soldier!
: Master Program…you've deviated from your directive and lost the ability to understand the human heart.: Eviluders, you who have forsaken your hearts... your only hope for peace is to submit to mechanization!: You’re wrong! The human heart is what I’ve been searching for all along, with both the strength and weakness it possesses! : Which is why I will not allow you to have it!
: A human that lost his heart is a human no longer! Look at the Radam’s Tekkamen and you’ll understand!: Just another bug who can resist the mechanization. But we will have them soon enough, once we’ve destroyed the Tek-System.: I'll be the one to destroy them! And I'll destroy you, too, as a soldier of Wärter!
: Sorry, Z-Master, but we don't need your help to fight off our stress!: There is no need to pretend. All humans carry Minus thoughts at the depths of their hearts.: But we're not so weak that we'll all drown in them! And we can definitely manage without you! 
: That Primeval bastard was already big but his boss is on a whole different level!: It is the human existence that is small before the vastness of the universe. : But worry not, for even the weakest hearts can find salvation in mechanization.: What you’re saying is a bunch of nonsense! YOU are the most stressful thing for all of us right now!
: I go to school so I understand stress…and I also seem to cause stress on some people, too.: That stress is the greatest enemy of all organic life.: However, Chidori also said this: there is no point to life without any stress.: Your methods are too extreme. As such, I will defeat you…!
: You better be honored, Z-Master! You're first in line to get a taste of the Valguard!: We were careless…we allowed the power of the Scribes of Knowledge to reach even this star system.: Kazuma! Remember the Trailer maxim: if it’s broken, fix it, and if you can't, toss it to the curb!!: Roger that, dad! I’ll show you that I can master Valguard’s power!
And now…we come to the end. Of Gaogaigar Season 2, the Primevals and Z-Master! Our very own HERO will move in t-
BOSS BOROT’S FINISHING MOVE….
HIIIIIP ATTAAAAACK!
Sorry, I just had to do it. Seriously now, let’s have Gai (who else?) deal the finishing blow.
: User of the legacy of the Green Planet…I will break your heart.: My body has received the wishes of many people…!: My mother, Cain…and all the people who believe in our victory! With them, I will not lose!: The power of the G-Stone is increasing… This power, is it truly infinite…?!: That’s right! My courage is infinite and the human heart has no limits!!
Z-Master is worth three levels, a HyperSensor, a Mars Donburi, an Infight +1, a Gunfight +1, and an Ignore Size Differences.
Gai also learns Prevail L6.
: UUUAAAAAAAAARGH! This is…We must descend into the planet once again and regenerate ourselves amidst the infinite energy!: I won’t let you!*J runs inside Z-Master*
: What are you doing, J?!: Z-Master! You will not regenerate this time!: W-what are you doing?!
: The Power is also destructive energy.: You were a fool to forget that!: No way, are you…?!: That’s right. I’ll create a bypass and flood his entire body with The Power.: Even if he tries to, his weakened body will be unable to withstand unlimited energy!: The Power – full discharge!: RAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
: King J-Der…!
: The Power…as the infinite energy is excessively absorbed, it’ll cause Z-Master’s entire body to completely collapse.: However, by acting as a bypass, it’ll be the same for King J-Der…: J!: Gai…we’ll settle things another time… You better not die…
: Kaidou!: Latio…The Power’s flow can no longer be stopped.: But, what about you?!: Don’t worry…I’m leaving everyone on Earth in your care.: I understand…but you can’t die, Kaidou!: Thank you…my friend from Earth.
: Z-Master’s energy is rising! Its level can’t be measured!: All units, retreat! Get out of this sector!!: J…Arma…: We’re together at the end…: We’ve accomplished our goal…: (Mother…): We are ruined…however…
Tekkaman Sword reports on Z-Master's destruction and the cessation of all mechanization to Omega.
Omega smugly notes that leaving our people alive seems to have paid dividends: now one of their biggest obstacles is gone.
Evil's dissatisfaction with this is evident, but Omega now says it's quite clear that the humans, defeaters of the long-hated Zondar, are clearly the best biological hosts for the Tek System.
Once the Radam Trees blossom, they'll have an army that even the Solid Armor of the Eviluders won't be able to stop.
Omega orders Sword and Lance to hurry up and plant more trees.
He then finally allows Evil to dispose of the traitorous Blade in whatever manner he sees fit.
As Evil gives his gratitude and promises to bring Blade’s head, Omega sounds quite confident that the Earth will become their new homeworld...
The news is similarly well received on the Eviluder side, where commander Zoa receives Rang's report with enthusiasm – now they can focus on the Radam without the Zondar’s interference.
The only black mark is Rang's failure to eliminate his former subordinate Orgun due to human interference.
Zoa doesn't mind the delay so long as the traitor ends up dead eventually, and Rang plans to bring the entire army to the task as soon as their investigations are done.
After Rang leaves, Zoa wonders about this solar system and that 3rd planet, Earth; he turns his attention of the leader, Miku, and asks what's so fascinating about this planet way out in the middle of nowhere.
Miku doesn't know directly, but says that she feels called.
As, perhaps, was the person they detected off at a distance...
Elsewhere, Aria is getting tortured by Critic, who is prepared to execute her for her failure to bring in the data they sent her after.
Aria begs him reconsider, saying that she doesn’t want to die.
Regulate asks him to let her off easy - after all, she did bring them word of several other interesting things.
Critic protests that "they" are probably happier about this new information than everyone here is, and Inference agrees - it was the thing "they" hated most after all.
Inference tells Aria that he'll let her slide, and to go receive treatment from Applicant.
Aria somehow manages to drag herself to a standing position and walks off with Applicant, under her own power, somewhat to Inference's amusement.
He's got bigger things on his mind, though, like how the promised day is a month away and they might have to push "the button" themselves.
Therefore, Inference orders the Scientia, incomplete as it might be, launched as a test of this "infinite energy" everyone's been hearing so much about.
Critic and Applicant will see to the Scientia's final checks themselves and will have it ready in time.
Inference is eagerly anticipating February 14, Earth time: the day when the Scribes' new journey will begin.
Now that things have calmed down, Heero and Golion, of course, had lines against Aria and Z-Master.
Orgun also had stuff to say to her but I didn’t get a chance to get him to attack her:
-Heero Vs. Aria-
: He's predicting all my moves! Does he have a precognition system?
: Zero shows me everything you do. You have nowhere to run.: Seriously? That's a real thing? Good thing we came to this system!-Heero Vs. Z-Master-
: You do not hesitate while standing before us. Even among the weak-hearted ones, you are special.: If I am special, it’s because there’s a human that gives me strength. : To me, that woman is the strongest being in the universe.-Golion Vs. Aria-
: Study subject 5036532481220324, the legacy of the Ancient Altean Culture…
: You mean Golion?!
: Do you know something about the people who built Golion?!: Recording complete. We're already done with that machine! I'm destroying it!-Golion Vs. Z-Master-
: Weak-hearted one, still you would challenge us?: Humans may indeed be weak creatures...
: It could be that things are as you say…
: However, no human is alone!
: Yeah! Like the five of us, everyone is able to join their strength together!: Let’s go, Z-Master! Take a look at what happens when the weak hearts of five humans become as one!-Orgun Vs. Aria-
: An Eviluder that kept his heart is completely irregular! You’ll be a valuable sample!: I am aware of your goal. However, you’re too late…I’ve already decided on the person that will inherit my body and my heart!