Part 95: Post-mission 26 Intermission and Mission 27 -Prologue

Well, that was tough but we pulled it off; with the Primeval problem taken care of, all we need is to finish off the Radam and Eviluders and we’ll be done. With that, let’s take a deep breath and relax while we run the intermission.
As always, your top aces:



Kazuma’s managed to keep a slight lead but Gai has just passed Bless. It’s going to be a close race but, being able to use Valguard, Kazuma will probably be able to keep up with Gaogaigar’s MAP.



Large Magazines restore ammo and give you an extra 50% but I can’t recall the last time when a unit emptied his shots on his most powerful weapon. It can be sold for 15k, so I think it’s a good deal.


BP Upgrades:


Bless has built up quite a nice amount of points, so let’s split it accordingly: 5 in Shooting, 2 in Defense.



Sousuke follows right behind, splitting his 6 points evenly across Melee and Shooting.



Kouji also has a decent amount and spends it all in melee, keeping a sole point left for a Defense boost.



As for Blade, he also splits his 4 points evenly among the attack stats.



Volfogg takes 3 points in Melee, 1 in Skill for more Holographic Camouflage.



Finally, Kazuma splits his 6 points in Melee and Shooting (4 points regular, plus the added ones from the BP+2.


Skill Parts:




Kouji takes the Starting Morale+2 and the Infight+1 (taking him to Infight L2).



Sousuke nabs the Gunfight+1.



Finally, while Size Modifiers are still broken, I’ll give it to Gai (Shishioh) if only to take it off the list.
If the stat wasn’t broken, it’s highly suggested you give this either to Real Robots or Super Robots like Gaogaigar and the Mazingers, which are all M sized (Blade is SS but his Voltekka Ignores size difference).
Do note that most final/combination attacks have an innate Size Ignoring property to them, so take more into consideration your mook-clearing attacks.


Unit Upgrades:


We’re swimming in cash and what better way to celebrate it than to make the already powerful Valguard even more powerful? Valhawk/Valstork get a point in everything.



Blade hasn’t had a huge upgrade in a long while, too. So he takes a point in EN, Mobility and Weapons.



Mazinkaiser also takes a weapons upgrade.



Followed by Gai (Daigouji)’s Aesti getting upgrades to EN, Mobility (No focus…) and Weapons.



Akito’s Aesti was around that same level, so he only takes a Weapons upgrade to keep close to Gai in damage.



Seeing how we gave a boost to Kaiser, Great Mazinger also deserves some love: he gets a point in EN, Armor and Weapons.



Finally, Arbalest takes a point in weapons and the lil’ cash left is used to boost his Armor.


Unit Parts:


Gai Daigouji’s old Servo Motor is replaced with a shiny, new Hyper Sensor (Mobility +10).



While the Servo Motor is passed along to Deathscythe.


That’s all that needs to be done, so let’s check back with our people:





Taiga asks for signs of Z-Master but Entouji confirms that there’s no sign of his energy signature – he’s been completely destroyed.
Leo sighs in relief as the universe is now saved from the Primeval threat; Both Gai thanks his mother, Cain and The Power for helping us seize our victory and D-Boy thanks his father, promising to fulfill the task given to him.
Both Mamoru and Volfogg turn their thoughts to J, Kaidou and Tomoro and are sure they’ll meet again someday.




There’s only one more thing to do and Yurika then orders the Y-Unit detached from the Nadesico.
The targeting system it contains sinks into the seas of Jupiter, much to Akatsuki’s chagrin, along with THE POWER; however, everyone knows that both The Power and the targeting system are two ancient forces too mighty for us, the Primevals or anyone to be able to control.
With that done, it’s time to return to Earth, via Mars, and Taiga declares operations in the Jupiter sphere to be complete.
Gai bids one final farewell to both Jupiter and the warriors of the J-Jewel but something still seems to be bugging Akito – he tells Ruri that it’s nothing important, though.



Time for a log entry! Almost a month has passed since the victory at Jupiter, we have since stopped by Mars to resupply and are now almost back home.
In the process, Yukina violently refused to leave the Nadesico, Gai (Daigouji) did his best to indoctrinate Sousuke and Heero in Geki Ganger, and the crew was seized by a debate over whether Akito should take "responsibility" for the kiss on Mars by proposing to Yurika.



In any case, Akito will be going to greet Yurika's father, Admiral Misumaru, when we return - and Kazuma can't decide whether to be bemused or envious over Akito's women issues.
He's also a bit concerned for Mikoto, who collapsed from what Gai said was overwork en route.
But hey, tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and thanks to hanging with the Wärter he's got a shipload of women to exchange valentines with – that is, except for Noin and Minato, already spoken for.
He's hoping to at least get some pro-forma chocolate out of the deal, noting that the next step after bringing peace to Earth is to bring happiness to himself.



Bless, appearing out of nowhere, finds this a rather amusing log entry.
It seems he, like Kazuma, got kicked out of the way of Mihiro and Carret's stem- to-stern ship cleaning.
Bless is actually rather glad that the "log" is turning out to be more like a "diary" - he feels it's important for Kazuma to cherish his memories.



He then asks Kazuma if he remembers his mother Yumi - Kazuma does not, since she died when he was very young.
Bless asks for forgiveness as it was his command error that led to her death, and laments the fact that in the explosion, all photos and mementos of her were lost as well.
Kazuma's not mad at him, but rather at the space pirates who dared cover themselves with the Trailer name, luring the Valhawk with a fake distress signal.
One thing Bless did learn in the process is to leave unforgettable proof of the things people are destined to lose, which is why he gave Kazuma the ship's log assignment...



Bless muses about how Leo briefly met his wife amidst The Power, and allows that he wouldn't mind at all seeing his wife again either.
After all, she was beautiful enough that he, level-headed though he seems, was head over heels for her.
At the time they were together, she was also extremely bashful - wearing a veil even as she carried on her family Trailer business.
It was she who showed the Trailer path to Bless while he was on the way back from Mars with those stolen Tulip Crystals aboard.



He was flying on stealth mode, having finally shaken Taiga's pursuit on his illegal freight mission, when the fatigue got to him and he fell asleep.
This resulted in a near-miss with a Trailer ship: Yumi's ship.
This "near-miss" blew a hole in the hold and vented some of the cargo into space, and the younger, hotter-headed Bless yelled at the other ship for his own error... or tried to, until the mere sight of Yumi made him change his ways and join the Trailers on the spot.



As for how he could have fallen for a veiled woman, Bless philosophically calls it "instinct", if not "fate".
This sounds pretty fishy to Kazuma, but Bless swears it's true, and further that Yumi felt the same, and took off her veil for him.
Kazuma recalls that Yumi was famous in her own right as the masked Trailer woman, and the real reason Bless got his nickname "Hawkeye" was for perceiving even through the veil how beautiful his future wife was.



Kazuma thinks this sounds like a lame origin story to Bless’ famous nickname, but Bless adds that Yumi's father's right-hand man (and Yumi's guardian) Galent earned himself the nickname "Devil's Arm" for punching out the young space pirate with enough temerity to propose to Yumi.
At least one thing is now clear to Kazuma: the degree to which Bless was smitten with Yumi is presumably why Taiga was certain there could be no love children involved.
And that from a man who Bless says had rather hoped to woo Yumi himself.



In any case, the Tulip Crystals Bless has been hauling around are a memento of the meeting with his wife.
Kazuma can see why Bless wouldn't want to tell that tale in front of everyone, but wonders why he hasn't even filled Akane or Mihiro in on it.
Bless says that Kazuma is now growing into manhood and after his exploits at the controls of the Valguard, no one can treat him as a kid ever again.



This sentimentality bugs Kazuma, but Bless reminds him of the Trailer maxim "Yield the road to the young when old age comes...” but Kazuma adds that the maxim also says “…if you don't like that, don't get old!"
With the glint back in his eye, Bless tells his son that the Valguard may be Kazuma's, but he's still the Valstork's captain.
Speaking of the Valguard though, Kazuma is a bit confused that, since the end of the fight in Jupiter, Carret hasn’t been able to execute the formation again and isn’t able to tell why; another thing worries Bless, though, is that he's always WANTED to be able to do combination attacks like that, ever since the Valhawk's creation.
So, the discovery that they’re actually equipped with that capability is a pretty unbelievable coincidence.



What's more, that Aria girl seems to know more about the Valstork than he does - making her a likely candidate for these "Scribes of Knowledge" you heard about.
That sounds awkward to say, though, so our commanders have elected to call them “The Database” instead.
We’re not really sure what they wanted with The Power or the Targeting Unit but it might become clear after we return to Orbit Base and begin operations to find and destroy the Radam.
Kazuma's looking forward to it and, despite Bless’ chiding that his eagerness proves he's still got a ways to go, he seems encouraged by his son's spirit.



Liger is waiting at the Orbit Base, extending a warm welcome to the Wärter crew and offering his congratulations; Taiga thanks him for taking care of things while we were gone but Liger says it was no problem at all.
Leo quickly starts asking if Liger messed up anything on his workshop while he was gone, making Liger yell out that Leo spewing the same rants as usual – he was half-hoping that his brother would croaked out there by Jupiter but Leo says there’s no way he’s gonna die before Liger.
Their fighting is interrupted by the arrival of two new additions to the team: Papillon Noir from Chasseur (France's anti-Special Terrorist force), and Kanzaki Michi of the Space Knights.
Both are well-known geniuses and the commanders are glad to have them aboard.


Their presence betrays some ugly Federation politicking, though: their respective commanders seem to have felt it was too dangerous to leave them where military jurisdiction might reach.


Entouji, Papillon’s boyfriend, is glad she came but she tells him there’s no time for them to talk.
Her Sensing Mind powers, the ability to see the future, have revealed something worrisome: dim visions of the future in which Mikoto is destined to wreak havoc.
Mikoto was already ensconced in sickbay, to recover from whatever sickness is ailing her, though.





The discussion quickly gets interrupted with the alarm klaxons - something is draining the base's energy!
Inwardly, Papillon realizes that her vision was correct and today is the day…

In the Orbit Base’s infirmary…

: Mikoto! What’s wrong?!
: Ah..aaah…
: Wh-what’s happening to you, Mikoto?!



: …
: Mikoto…that form is…!
: MIKOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

You didn't think we were done with the Gaogaigar finale, did you? Nah, there's still this tiny problem to take care of.

Things are just going to get crazier from here on out, too.

See you all then!