Part 109: Mission 30 (Rand) - Acperience
Mission 30 (Rand Route) – Acperience
The klaxons start blaring and Gidget quickly detects the incoming Chiram – they found us even faster than expected. Everyone deploys, with Oliver quite pissed that these stubborn folk won’t even give us a moment’s rest.
Kei knows that he’s the cause of this but Marin assures him that, nevertheless, no one here is going to kick him out. He and Jamil explain they were well aware of the Chiram’s Singularity sensors and Adette tells him not to worry as, just as we travel together, we also help each other out.
Apollo adds that none of us are rotten enough to think of kicking a friend to the curb and Mimsy says that, just as Kei said the Glomar is his home, everyone else sees him as a companion. Kei asks if she’s alright and, after apologizing, Mimsy says she can’t keep crying forever (inwardly, she asks Sley to watch over them).
Rand suggests Kei just take what he gets and, indeed, he’ll count on us - right on time, too, because Hap says the Chiram’s “Outcast”-hunting posse has arrived.
Talho’s quickly annoyed at how many mooks they sent down into this cramped cave but there’s a bigger concern: Ken-goh detects the hangar hatch opening and Eureka comes right out. She apologizes to her kids at how strange she’s become and figures everyone’ll end up hating her, just like the Nirvash.
Holland gets in touch and asks if she’ll be fighting and, when Renton tries calling out to her from the Gekko, Moondoggie asks why he’s not aboard the Nirvash. Seems like Eureka launched on her own and, ignoring everyone else, she asks why she had to end up like this.
Flying deep into the cave, Eureka wishes she had never changed if this was going to be the end result.
As she leaves, Holland immediately tries setting off after her but Talho reminds that the enemy’s right in front.
Maeter and Linck are in tears at the thought of her “mama” leaving them behind but Renton tells them to sit tight and promises to bring her back. Yes, there are enemies around but he'll find a way to get to her.
With no choice, Jamil tells everyone to intercept and hold the Chiram at bay until Eureka comes back. Holland’s fuming at being unable to do anything and, moving towards where Eureka ran to, Renton wonders what’s happening to her.
Mission Objective: All enemies shot down
Mission Failure: Any allied battleship shot down
Skill Point: Clear the map within 6 turns
Alright. Have a sit-down and listen because if you want to get both the Skill Point and the upcoming secret, you’ll need some prior planning.
As you can see from the time limit, we’re bound to have more enemies come in and, with this huge battleground to contend with, you NEED to move your people with that in mind or you won’t make it in six turns.
Going by the above picture’s compass, the reinforcements will arrive spread out across the entire northern edge of the map, so what I suggest is: send your people straight up on the first turn to deal with whatever gets close and then already start inching north as you want your people to be attacking the reinforcements in, at most, one turn after they arrive.
More so than usual, everyone needs Accelerate/Boost or they’ll be severely handicapped and post-movement TRI attacks are at a premium.
So, everyone dashes eastward and we brace for impact.
Enemy Phase!
Here they come.
Squeeze in as much damage as possible.
Kei will probably be our MVP for this one…
The Chiram battleship and it’s Nikick escorts are standing by.
Player Phase!
Apollo keeps moving on, trashing one of Jiron’s targets.
Rand’s one of our slower squads, so he’ll focus on what gets left behind as our speedier units dash ahead.
That’s one mook dead, two very injured.
Moving up, Marin misses an 85% shot (
) but, at least, Roybea strikes a nice hit; Kei joins Apollo and tears through a leading Ishkick.
Gain will also be very useful.
No kills but it’s pretty close.
Talho and Sara dispatch the survivors of Rand’s target while Jamil makes up for Marin’s miss.
Well, everyone could use some cheap morale and it’s right on Ryouma’s path.
Tekkouki learns Spirit after those two kills.
Finally, Jiron joins up with Gain and deal some nice damage to this TRI-formatted group.
Enemy Phase!
Rand gets attacked from afar but has just enough range to hit back, grabbing a kill (every mission I think of taking away that range-boosting part and I find reasons to keep it).
Gain, meanwhile, gets jumped by a full HP group and cuts it down to size.
What can you do about these, Kei?
The leader gets wrecked and the squaddies are hanging by a thread. That’s not bad.
Jiron’s group also makes the supremely bad decision to attack him and, being in TRI formation, they all get blown away.
Apollo nabs an easy kill as he’s attacked by his previous enemies and this one group of Ishkicks, trying to be clever, eat some missiles from Talho.
Player Phase!
Shaia’s deep in thought, asking Mimsy if it doesn’t seem like the Chiram’s attacks have been getting more vicious recently. Mimsy figures they’re just in a rush to grab Kei but Captain disagrees, saying an attack like this isn’t made when trying to capture someone.
It seems they’re trying to kill Kei which strikes Mome as odd as they, supposedly, need him for the Dimensional Repair…unless, Shaia thinks, they plan on doing it with just their one Singularity. No time to think about it, though, as Papty detects more enemy troops incoming and, this time, it’s the Federation Army.
Matthew’s very annoyed at their insistence in chasing us all the way here and Stoner quickly singles out that black KLF from before. Anemone isn’t happy, though, as she can’t see The End’s “look-alike” around but Dominic tells her not to worry about the Nirvash and, instead, focus on their target.
She yells at him to back off and suggests he just worry about taking care of Gulliver – he does so, while wishing her to be safe out there.
Anemone is a bit confused/grossed out at Dominic’s agreeable attitude and, inwardly, he apologizes that he can’t do any more than just wishing her well.
Jürgens sends all units out to attack with an admonition not to interfere with the Chiram and, with enemies all around us, it seems we’ll have no choice but to deal with these two groups at the same time. Holland isn’t willing to get killed in a place like this and Jiron psyches himself to fight to the bitter end.
Yeah, this is a real dick move. The feds show up all over the northern corner of the map and you need to kill them all, Jürgens and Anemone included, if you want the skill point.
Needless to say, you want to start working on these guys ASAP (a good bunch of them are in wide formation) while also doing your best to draw them closer to our folks by playing their range.
Talho does some good damage, leaving these Chiram very weak. Perfect for Shaia to score some easy kills.
I always find myself feeding kills to the Glomar.
Speaking of feeding kills, Sara takes this one.
This batch is a bit far away but Marin is just in range to TRI them. He’ll be moving towards the Feds with Hit & Away.
Also, oddly enough, the Feds showing up is everyone’s cue to start talking before fights…no idea why they didn’t do this from the get-go.
: I’m part of this team, too…! If one of my friends is risking his life, then I’m also going to pull out all the stops!
The leader gets dropped while the squaddies barely hang on (one with only 9 HP…my enemies never had this much Windanium when I wasn’t recording…).
Gain finishes the job, with Adette leveling up and learning Prevail L4 ad Support Attack L3.
The radar detects something else entering the area but it’s not enemy reinforcements: it’s the Archangel crew, with Waltfeld saying that the Gekkostate’s seems to have a tough fight in their hands.
Hap nearly has a heart attack, thinking that even the Desert Tiger’s crew is gunning for them, but Waltfeld calms him down saying they’re here to help. Talho wonders if this is payback for our assist in Orb but he says we’re free think that, if we want.
Inwardly, Murrue knows that we’re caught right in the middle of some of the Feds’ more worrisome activities and, as such, she cannot allow us to die right now. Garrod is a bit curious, though, as the timing of their arrival seems a bit too perfect, to say nothing of the fact that we were hiding in here.
Waltfeld says they only found this place because they had a certain guide.
It’s Enil, glad to see Garrod after all this time.
Just as Garrod’s shocked to see her here, Tonya’s surprised that the two of them know each other but Rand tells them to leave the reunion for after we’ve dealt with our current mess. Garrod trusts Enil enough to fight alongside her and, if anything, she’s glad to see she made it in time to prevent things from getting broken beyond repair, as Rand said.
With that done, Waltfeld suggests we retreat while they keep the enemy from following but Holland says, in no uncertain terms, that he ain’t budging. Jamil echoes the sentiment and, in that case, Waltfeld says they’ll help us fight as best they can.
Kira’s ready to go, eager to do whatever he can before things reach their breaking point – no matter what foe stands in his way.
Matthew sees the Freedom’s pilot hasn’t changed at all but Garrod figures he's also a pariah, following his own path just like us. Anemone isn’t amused with him messing with her fight and, while he doesn't like it, Kira will fight her if there's no way around it.
OK, so we have the Archangel and a Kira/Waltfeld/Enil platoon showing up right next to the enemy. Should help us clear them out quickly, right?
WRONG! Because, on top of Kira’s “no-kills” gimmick, there’s another issue that also reduces what his buddies can do:
BIG Secret Alert! - Kira, Murrue, Waltfeld and Enil can't shoot down ANY enemy.
You can only use these guys to weaken the mooks but that sure as hell won’t stop them from going after them - especially Murrue, as the AI likes to go for ships.
Since the feds are still at full HP, you can keep them around to do some damage but start moving Kira and the Archangel closer to our troops in order to draw the enemy (be also ready to move them behind our folks as too many enemies going after these two can screw with your Skill Point time).
FYI: Enil’s now piloting an Esperanza which is much more support-oriented than her Jenice Custom.
It carries a resupply module, flies and has better movement range but, in exchange, only its weakest attack is post-movement.
She does take upgrades off the GX, though, so she’s decently strong.
The Element System is running now, though, and that’ll really help against the bosses.
As they start moving towards our folks, Kira takes a shot at some nearby Asshimars.
: I swore that I wouldn’t kill anyone else…: So I will only take away their means of attacking… That is how I’ll fight!
: (You swore not to kill…? Welp… Wonder how long that’ll last.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbfNGzmgeH8
Yeah, sure. Whatever.
This attack does have a dynamic finish but I can’t show it while Kira’s being an asshole…
Still have the remaining Chiram to deal with but at least they’re kind enough to be in Center formation.
Do your thing, Apollo.
: Lessee your guts, Renton! Show your boss how a kid CAN get the job done!
Riea falls 90 HP short of taking her target down…
Holland switches with Kei and dashes by Kira to, hopefully, give the mooks a tastier target to attack.
: Renton… If anything happens to Eureka, I’ll…
: Rrrrr, shit! Why did this have to happen?!
That’s one Asshimar dead, too.
Jamil takes out a weakened Ishkick and our remaining Supers start moving towards the Feds.
Enemy Phase!
Elchi and Gain both get jumped and easily down their attackers (but not before Gain eats a hit).
Elchi learns Spirit, too.
The second Nikick group attacks Jiron who, sadly, is out of TRI shots. Gonna have to make do with the Boomerang Idiom.
: UUOOOOOOH! Bring it on! I ain’t budging an inch until Renton and Eureka come back!
Not a whole lot of damage but it helps.
And the feds play ball, with three nearby groups going after Holland (who kills another Asshimar).
These Gadeels zoom across the battlefield and get just in range to attack Ryouma.
: Renton’s off bringing Eureka back. We’d be wasting his spirit if we lost here!
: Whatever it takes, I’ll hold this line until they return!
Not bad.
Everything else starts closing in on us. As before, Jürgens will prioritize the Gekko Go but, I believe, Anemone will focus on whichever group Kei’s on (as per her orders).
Player Phase!
Time to wrap up the Chiram front. Apollo punches their flying airplane carrier twice and off goes around 60% of its health.
Let’s see if Gainer can’t finish the job.
: Renton…! You say we're bros, so show me what you got!: As your bro, I believe in you!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d56va0ogr4
And there it goes.
On the other side, Ryouma’s group shreds one of the Gadeel squads while Shaia steals another kill.
The Government actually has a post-movement TRI and, seeing how Jiron’s out of shots, Burume takes the lead to clear out the last Nikick group.
I had Kira Hi-MAT them to make sure all of them die to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKAaJQMpxtM
Nice and easy.
Gainer gets his OverSkill going with that.
Talho takes out the leader of this group and Garrod swoops in to work on the squaddies.
: Hurry, Renton! I don't think we’re gonna be able to hold this for long!
Ah, well. We’ll take this one out when it attacks.
Murrue and Marin pick a healthy squad each and let loose. From Marin’s kill, Hilda learns Support Defense L3.
Rand will help clean it up.
: Even Renton’s going all out for Eureka – we can’t back down!
: Ya got it, Mel! I wouldn’t deserve to be “THE HEAT” if I screwed up now!
No problem – the last Hizack should die when it attacks.
: Isn’t that nice… giving your all for the girl you love.: Hang in there, Renton! We’re gonna do whatever we can over here!
Kei moves after a pack of Mon-soonos and tears a hole through them.
Enemy Phase!
Kei gets jumped by two groups and dispatches all six of them while Rand gets attacked by that one Hizack and wrecks it.
Burume’s attacked by three groups and, while he eats a lot of damage, he manages to get three kills.
What about you, Marin?
Wide formation saves the squaddie…
Garrod weakens the other Gadeel squad once it attacks.
And Murrue’s jumped by two Mon-soono squads (one of which being Kei’s weakened one, who she’s forced to defend against).
Still, since we didn’t see it before, here’s the Archangel’s regular Lohengrin attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApkCZqktCqY
Actually had to restart this turn because of this...Anemone got a very lucky hit on Kei and oneshot him (and I need Kei to go through this quick enough).
Player Phase!
Sara shows how much experience can be gained by healing the nearly dead Burume and the other Sara.
This yields THREE levels, teaching her Support Attack L2 and Strike.
Gainer takes out an Asshimar while Apollo wrecks one of the weakened Mon-soono squads.
Kira, meanwhile, takes a Hi-MAT shot at the two surviving Asshimars to leave them near death.
Talho’s in position to MAP some people so, to get out of her way, Garrod sets off to work on Jürgens.
And there are three easy kills for her!
Ryouma and co. take away a big chunk of Jürgens’ HP and, as a reward, Michiru takes Prevail L4.
He’s got Prevail but I’m confident Rand can handle this…right?
Right. Good man.
Dyke learns Prevail L5 and Rand takes a new spirit command, Drive (気迫): this is a much more expensive version of Spirit which gives +30 morale to the caster.
I very rarely use it but it’s there.
Jürgens has to pull back but he expects all his remaining troops to fight with everything they have.
Shaia quickly dispatches a near-death Daughtress while Kei’s still doing his thing.
Might as well have Jiron deal with these Asshimars as they’re all he can reach.
We’re in the clear now.
Enemy Phase!
The last two mooks play ball and get dropped against Gainer and Garrod.
Anemone is still going after Kei, who’s busy dodging everything.
Player Phase!
Anemone has some choice words for Kira, mind.
: This thing’s more agile than it looks!: I don’t want to fight but, if she’s coming after me, I—
: Urgh, you’re so annoying! If you’re not going to do this for real then get the hell out of my face!
Ah, excellent.
Alright, that’s enough out of you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7s2yPbqp4
No wonder the Moon Race seemingly never runs out of resources. We’re punching all kinds of shit up there!
We get another Dustproof for our troubles.
Anemone’s bored that her look-alike still isn’t here and, besides, something about his place is creeping her out. With that, she goes back home.
And not a single kill on the Archangel team!
As soon as all enemies are confirmed destroyed, even more Federation troops show up; holding the line is proving unlikely and we STILL haven’t heard from Renton.
Both Garrod and Tifa are worried about their respective buddies.
: EUREKAA! Where are you?! Please answer me!!: I wanna apologize to you!!
: (I said I’d pilot the Nirvash because I wanted to help…but now it looks like I hurt you instead…): (When we first met, I told you that I knew that machines had feelings…) : (You said that kind of stuff was obvious. I was really happy that we were alike but…I was wrong.): (I only felt like I could understand the feelings of machines… I might’ve convinced myself to think so.): (But it looks like you’re actually communicating your feelings with the Nirvash…): (I’ve been thinking… I’ve been with you all this time but I don’t understand you or your feelings at all…): (But I...I do want to understand. That’s why, I…!): EUREKA! Answer me, EUREKAAAAAAA!!*Renton runs further into the cave*
: Is that the Nirvash?! Then, Eureka is—
: (That’s right…I was looking for a book. I have to find it…): (If I don’t hurry, the bus will leave. If I don’t hurry, the sun will set.): (I have to find my book quickly. If I don’t, the night will melt me away.)
: I’ve found it…
: (This is me… a book without words…a book with nothing written in it. That’s me…)
: (I am nothing… nothing at all. I couldn’t find myself…)
: (…Melting…I’m melting away…): (I’m…I’m scared…)
: (Somebody…help…please, anybody…help me…): (Help me…help me, Renton…!)
: EUREKAAAAAAA!!
Back at the edge of the battlefield.
: EUREKAAAAAAA!!
It's not clear from this sequence but, if you check the anime, Eureka's actually melting into all that Scub Coral that forms the cave.
: …Sorry…: Huh?!: This is the punishment I deserve...: Eureka!!: What’s…going to happen to me…?
: Let’s go back…! Let’s go back to everyone!: I…I’m…sorry…
: It’s alright!! I…I promise, I’ll keep you safe!*Renton takes her back to the Nirvash.*
: The Nirvash! Renton?!: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I’m the one who should be apologizing for being so selfish…: …: She was desperate… Eureka was reaching out when she said she leaving the Nirvash with me…! : And, still, I…I…!
: Renton, run!!: UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!
: What?!
: He’s…: Please, Nirvash! Help me!: Give me enough power to protect Eureka!!
: Not good! Everyone run!
: It’s just like in Bellforest…!: We’ve got a Seven Swell incoming!!: RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!
Some time later, Enil thanks the Archangel team for all their help with Murrue saying she’s the one who should be thankful for all the handy intel Enil provided about the Feds and the Chiram.
Those two groups, like the Emaan, have all been chasing after ZEUTH nowadays and, speaking of, Murrue is also glad to have been able to clear up some rumors surrounding this group with her own eyes. When Enil asks, Murrue says there were a few worrisome stories about our people in the UN but, with today’s meeting, she sees they were wrong.
Enil figures our folk must be rather famous if we’re being talked about in places like that. Waltfeld thinks it’s a shame that our group was separated from the Archangel team while they ran from the Seven Swell but Enil isn’t worried, as she doesn’t think she’d be able to face Garrod and co. after all that’s happened.
Waltfeld believes no man could stay mad at such a beautiful woman and tells her to try and go meet with Garrod again – she thanks him for the words but figures his heart belongs to another girl.
Enil asks what they’re going to do now and, now that they know what the Feds are up to, Waltfeld says they’ll be going for Gibraltar, a large Zaft stronghold.
Also, on that subject, Enil heard that Murrue and co. fought against the other half of ZEUTH while in Galia but Murrue assures her they didn’t want to do so. Regardless, with the knowledge of what both the Plants and the Federation are doing, Waltfeld says the time for them to act has arrived and, when Enil asks, Kira says they’ll fight to stop the world from going down the wrong path.
Enil starts laughing which annoys Cagalli, who says they’re serious. Enil apologizes, merely amused at how pure Kira is. “Those kinda sound like the words of some saint, watching over everything from up high,” she quips.
That said, concerning Kira’s decision to avoid killing anyone in combat, she offers a piece of advice as someone who’s fought alongside him: only God can do good in this world without dirtying his hands.
With that, she takes her leave and wishes for their battles to go well and Waltfeld does the same.
Kira is deep in thought and Cagalli tells him not to worry as, regardless of what anyone says, he should stick to his own path. He agrees but, inwardly, he asks Athrun if said path really is just and wonders if he’ll find an answer if they meet up again.
Back at the Gekko, Holland asks what the hell happened to Eureka but Renton, of course, has no idea.
Holland doesn’t believe that, considering Renton was on-site but the kid insists that, even though he WAS there, he doesn’t know what happened. Holland wonders if he did something to her but Renton says she was already like then when he found her.
He says Eureka passed out when he brought her over to the Nirvash and Holland’s aghast that the kid caused that Seven Swell by himself. Renton says he did it because Eureka was like that but Holland tells him to shut up.
Mischa comes in right then, suggesting that they have to bring Eureka over to the infirmary (even though she has no idea of what they can do). Furthermore, she asks him to head to the bridge as they’ve just received a transmission from Löwen and this seems to give Holland an idea.
As Holland gets to the bridge, Hap relates how our folk are all safe and sound but he doesn’t care, instead asking for him to open the comm to Löwen. Talho protests about his attitude, saying everyone went through hell to escape that Seven Swell.
He tells her to shut up and orders Gidget to do as told, which she does. Löwen’s glad to see us safe but Holland tells him to leave the speech for later because he’s got something to ask of him.
Holland wants to borrow some of the Fed’s resources and imagines Löwen’s in the neighborhood – he’ll tell the details once they meet.
That’s actually good for Löwen because, as it turns out, Edel also wants to meet us in person.
Holland agrees on the chance that it’ll make his request easier to be granted and Löwen gives us directions to a place where we can meet. As the comm gets cut, Talho asks what the hell Holland is doing making a big decision like that by himself but he once again tells her to shut up and orders our destination forwarded to Jamil and the others.
Hap asks what he’ll do if the others refuse and Holland’s more than willing to have the Gekko go there alone - there’s no other way about this.
Ken-goh asks if this is because of Eureka and, once he confirms, Talho snaps that she’s VERY tired of how “Eureka this, Eureka that” is all he says whenever he opens his mouth. Hap tries to calm her down and Talho’s quite aware that Eureka isn’t some ordinary girl but Holland isn’t really listening.
Inwardly, he tells Eureka to wait as he’ll find a way to save her - he’ll use whatever means necessary to make that happen.
I’m not crying…I just have something in my eyes!
