Part 147: Mission 36 (Rand) - Tomorrow Revealed - Part 2

Alright, here’s the deal: the other ZEUTH are all NPCs at this time and, as expected, their help will be quite handy in making good time for the skill point.
All of them will attack whatever’s closest but Shinn will make a beeline for the Destroy and this brings to that “issue” I said Rand players would have to contend with:

BIG Secret Alert!

• Shinn attacks Stella: +1 point
  
• Shinn shoots down Stella: +2 points
  
• Kira shoots down Stella: -1 point

Yeah…you need to babysit an NPC Shinn and feed him that kill. The good part is that he always moves first amongst his squad, so there’ll be no kill stealing, but the bad part is that (as far as I’ve seen) he outright refuses to use his strongest attack and his regular Beam Rifle isn’t strong enough to pierce the Destroy’s barrier without a crit.
Unlike the Setsuko path, you can’t make him switch forms so you’re left with two options to have him finish off the Destroy: either you save scum a LOT in hopes of him getting a crit that both pierces the Reflecter and does enough damage or you apply OG1 tactics and drain all of Stella’s EN pool.
Getting a crit on Stella with a beam rifle is very difficult, so I’ll be draining her EN.

Mind, if you took the Pacific Route before and shot Kira down while also getting all other available secret points, you can skip feeding Shinn the kill – chances are you did the smart thing and took the Galia route, though, so you NEED to get this!



Speaking of, there he goes after Sting.



: This'll never end if we let the Federation keep doing its thing…!
: So I'll put a stop to you and this war with my own hands!










Oi…at the very least all the NPCs have received an HP boost.





Stella is out of control and Shinn, unaware of who’s piloting the Destroy, asks why she wants to kill this badly. Before he gets a chance to charge in, Neo gets in touch and tells him what’s what.
Amuro and co. remember the lengths Shinn went through to help her escape and Camille says this battle won’t end unless we can deal with her. Shinn’s hesitant but Camille says, against an enemy this big, they should be able to avoid the cockpit and simply make it stop in its tracks.
Shinn wonders if they can pull it off amidst all this mess: “We have to or this’ll end just as it did with Four!”, Camille says. Gainer wonders if that pilot’s Shinn’s friend but Gain says there’s nothing we can do as it doesn’t look like Stella would even listen to us.
Garrod has no idea what they’re up to but Amuro agrees and tells Shinn to go for it – the kid knows there’s no other way, so he steels himself to fight.
“Stella…I promised I’d protect you, so exactly that’s what I’ll do!”





Athrun leads the charge against one of the nearby Gells-Ghe groups…



And Camille follows it up.



: How can you still go on spreading war?! You’ll really go this far just to satisfy your greed?!
: It’s people like you who killed Four…! I…I won’t stand for this!!












Sure, sure. By the by, Amuro’s using a Re-GZ and, since he’s in Camille’s squad, he’s grounded…
Regardless, Kouji follows it up and kills the Gells-Ghe.



And here comes Tetsuya after the stragglers.



: So the lives of anyone outside your lands are as trash to you…?
: Such people don't deserve mercy! I’ll tear you to shreds!!








Ouch.
Kappei fails to kill that other Dagger L but Talia finishes the job.



Ah…here comes Stella.



: I hate this kinda crap! You think you’re so badass, shooting this place up with that huge mech of yours?!
: Well, I smash creeps like you for breakfast! Get ready!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtVjPEqo_4



One of the generic Garudas has sight on Shinn but his chances aren’t too—















Thankfully, Shinn refuses to be destroyed before he can save Stella and recovers.
His determination and growing strength quickly impresses Witz and Roybea.



Player Phase!









Kira finally reaches the NW flank and takes a weak Marasai for some cheap morale; it’s time to start working on some bosses, so Renton pops a TRI attack to greatly damage Neo’s squaddies.
Duke follows it up and Neo’s already quite weak.



Can you do this, Kei?



: Hey…you’re that guy who helped me when I first came to this world!
: Apologies but I’m a soldier…I helped you simply because those were my orders.
: And this massacre’s a mission, too?! You need to quit the army if they’re giving out that sort of orders!












And there we go – Neo also drops a new Minovsky Craft.





His mech can’t hold on and it quickly explodes – this sends Stella over the edge and, in rage, she casts Valor.
Our team’s got no idea what’s wrong with her but she’ll destroy this entire area if she keeps going, so we need to stop her.

If, somehow, you got Shinn and Neo fight, they did have words for each other:

: You! You promised you wouldn’t make her fight again!
: I won’t make any excuses...I broke that promise.
: You’ll pay for this! I’ll never forgive you and anyone who’d put her through this!
: Nevertheless, to keep her safe, I cannot allow myself to be defeated!


Don’t worry about her Valor if Shinn’s this close as he’ll always attack, eat the damage and revive.
Of course, if you triggered the other ZEUTH’s arrival now and he’s away, send someone with a spirit cast to turn that off ASAP.








Apollo and Garrod finish off the two Zamza-Zahs, triggering Gainer’s OverSkill.





Sting’ll be a lot harder to down but we at least want to deprive him of his TRI attack, so Marin opens fire.



A Getter Change attack should cover the rest nicely.














Only 2200 damage on Sting but his squaddies weren’t so lucky.





As Talho downs the last Marasai on Kira’s group, Rand is forced to trek through MAPW Country en route to Bask. At the very least he wrecks the last Asshimar.



Gainer’s double attacks will work nicely on grinding down these Garudas.














Good, good.





A Missile Party later and this fresh Gells-Ghe group is rendered impotent.



Only one other group of those left and Jiron’s there to handle things.












That’ll do.

Our ships are busy dealing with that last Gaplant, mind.



Enemy Phase!



Thanks, Shinn!



: Stella! It’s me, Shinn! Don’t you remember me?!
: UWAAAAAAAAAARGH! GO AWAY!!
: What are you doing, Shinn?! We need to immobilize her unit first!
: I know that, but—
: AAAAAAAAAAAH!!
: Stella…hold on just a bit more! I’m coming to save you!








Oh, that was actually kinda lucky.





Camille and Athrun both take some kills from MY weakened mooks ( ) but that Gells-Ghe’s barrier is holding strong.



Can it stand up to Kouji, though?



: Stop, damn it! What are you doing this for?!
: Don't bring innocent folk into your crap! If you’re looking for a fight, we’ll step right up!








Urgh, barely…Tetsuya takes it out, though.



Last Gells-Ghe and Kappei’s calling dibs.



: You idiots! Quit dragging people who got nothing to do with your war into it!
: Think of everyone whose homes you just wrecked! Damn it, you’re gonna pay for this!










Good kid.





The last WEAK Marasai goes for Athrun and Kira, still needing a lot of morale, isn’t able to oneshot a fresh one.



As Sting a wastes his attack on Jiron’s group (only hitting Dyke), Stella decides to gun for Rand.
EN-draining tactics apply and, with that in mind, you should always hit back when possible to make her waste gas on her barrier.



: Enough is enough, girl! This is just overkill now!
: It’s not working, darling! This pilot…she’s long gone!
: Yelling ain’t gonna fly, eh? Then I’ll just hav'ta stop her by force!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPJn8EqlVgs







One Garuda snipes at Shinn, the other at Duke. At least this triggers Dizer Full Power.





Bask isn’t as clever but Gainer can’t do that much damage to the guy.



Player Phase!



Kira needs a wee bit of morale to use HI-MAT Full Burst, so we’ll have Elchi take out this weak Gaplant that has no business surviving for this long.








Would’ve died a long time ago if I didn’t snipe so much.








Apollo casts Spirit to get the Element System running and proceeds to take away a big chunk of the nearby Garuda’s health.



After Renton brings it down a bit more, Garrod moves for the kill.












These ships are worth some decent cash. To top it off, Gain gets his OverSkill going.



You need to get out right now, kid.










That’s better.









Ryouma, Jiron and Marin quickly take away all but a sliver of Sting’s remaining HP.



Do it, Roger!














Boosh!



Sting’s mental reconditioning seems to crumble away as he goes down: “Damn it, if only I had a stronger mech! Then, Auel and Stella--!”.



With that NE Garuda taken care of, that side will start working on Bask.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Xyw2Vfcmo
And his voice is a pitch usually reserved for tubas and Barry White.





Duke follows it up with a Screw Crusher Punch that does surprisingly small damage…I should’ve known better, considering who I’m up against.



With that in mind, Gainer will shift his attention to Stella. The important part here is to attack in order to drain EN via barrier activation and her counterattack.
FYI: You don’t get extra drainage from Center-formation attaks – only leader attacks and support attacks trigger the barrier cost.



: What’s this…?! I’m feeling the same anguish as when I fought Cynthia…!
: What do you mean, Gainer?
: This pilot’s mind is being bound by something!
: We have to avoid the cockpit at all costs and just immobilize this mech!












Hey! That second attack managed to get through!





Finally, Rand also contributes on the Bask effort.