Part 34: Mission 10 - Break The World
There’s nothing to be done at the intermission as our entire group has been separated by the space-time oscillation bomb.Mind you, both Rand and Setsuko’s routes have joined together for now.
And so, a new world begins…
Location: Glomar – Living Room
Inside the ship, Glomar, we find Sley talking to Mimsy. They both know that this year is her “last” and, therefore, he’d like her to go through with their planned marriage.
She’s a bit hesitant but Sley reminds her that she’ll soon lose her “functionality” as a woman and wonders if there’s something wrong with him. She doesn’t know and Sley sighs that she’s always evasive like that.
Still, he reminds her that, though the world may have changed, they’re still Emaanians.
On the bridge, Jabby calls the captain, Shaia, over the comm to inform her that another warp is coming.
Shaia’s surprised that there’s another one but figures it’s due to how unstable the world has gotten. However, this one is different from the other space-time warp.
Jabby is tagging, whatever it is, as a “Singularity” and Shaia’s jaw drops at this revelation.
Mission 10 - Break the World
The dimensional anomaly forms and Kei is shot right out of it.
Getting his bearings, he thinks it’s a good thing he’s him – a lesser pilot would’ve crashed and burned after all that. Still, he wonders what happened as the last thing he remembers was being in South America, protecting the Orbital Elevator and using that weird bomb.
Kei figures the bomb blast threw him somewhere but none of his guidance systems are working. Furthermore, he wonders what happened with the Junius Seven drop since, if that thing hits, it may as well wreck the entire planet.
He can’t even get in touch with Olson…
That’s when the Glomar enters the area and Mimsy quickly spots him.
Shaia recognizes his unit as a “Gerwalk type” and it seems to be a Chiram Device but Leeg, chief engineer of the ship, says that model has long since been abandoned by the Chiram.
Goove asks what they should do and wonders if they might be able to sell the thing as an antique.
Shaia vetoes the idea, though, since it’s a Singularity they’re dealing with – she confesses to not know what to do, as these are pretty unprecedented circumstances. Mimsy figures they should try contacting the pilot.
Kei is a bit confused at this ship as he’s never seen that type before.
Of course, that doubt flies out the window when Mimsy gets in touch, introduces her group as an Emaanian Factory and offers help.
“Oh…you’re pretty cute. Wanna tell me your name?”, Kei says. Her tone quickly gets harsher, as she asks if he didn’t hear what she said.
He did but his number one priority now is getting to know her and Mimsy’s a bit dumbstruck that the Singularity turned out to be such a womanizer.
Either way, Kei wants her name first, then they can talk.
She slowly introduces herself as Mimsy Rath and Kei does the same, before asking what is an Emaan as he’s never heard of a country with that name before. that’s one of the things they should talk about and she invites him over to do so.
She tells him not to worry as they’ve no intention of taking him prisoner or anything. “I’ve no problem with being handcuffed if it's with you," Kei says which makes Sley yell out for him to quit making passes at Mimsy.
Shaia tells him to settle down and Mimsy starts bringing Kei over to the Glomar.
Kei figures he’s got no real choice here considering the situation but, inwardly, he says he’s no idiot – if this is a trick, he’s ready to start firing back.
Before he gets there, though, the klaxons start blaring and Papty warns that a squad of Chiram Devices has been spotted on the radar.
They come in with Gerwalks like Kei but he’s never seen the model before and Mimsy angrily realizes that the Chiram seem to have detected Kei, too.
Indeed, the leader of the squad quickly tags him as the Singularity signal but the problem is that the Emaanians have picked it up first.
His subordinate figures they can just press them into handing it over and, while the captain will try to negotiate, he tells his men to stay on alert. Sley is a bit surprised that they aren’t attacking but Leeg figures it’s natural as both Emaan and Chiram aren’t officially at war with each other.
Shaia isn’t sure what to do and Mimsy tells her to stand her ground as she opens the comm channels, introducing the Glomar and asking if they’d like to buy something.
He’s interested in something, yes, but not to purchase it – he orders the Glomar to hand over the Singularity they captured. Of course, Mimsy reminds him that they ARE Emaanians and, therefore, a transaction of something like a Singularity will require a bit of negotiation on their parts.
Unlike the Chiram’s military state, the Emaan are a nation of commerce and, as such, they always require payment up-front before accepting any request and this is especially true when dealing with a Singularity. Kei is listening to all this and doesn’t get why they’re calling him that but he’s not happy with them treating him like some product.
The Chiram captain apologizes but says that if we won’t hand the Singularity over nicely, they’ll just have to take it and starts firing upon the Glomar.
These were just warning shots but the captain says they won’t tolerate any obstacles towards them capturing the Singularity while Mimsy protests that opening fire on a caravan ship is a serious violation of international laws.
Of course, that’s only a problem if there are any witnesses left alive to accuse them of committing such crimes.
: Now, Singularity...get over here.
: …I don’t think so.
: What?!
: I really don’t care for people like you, who push others around to get them to play along.: Besides, that Emaan girl was offering me a place to stay while you folks only want to kidnap me.: The choice seems pretty clear to me.
: Kei…
: That’s that, Mimsy. I'm putting myself in your hands.
Shaia then gives the order to launch the twins Maai (blue haired one) and Riea to protect the Singularity.
Kei is, of course, impressed with his two beautiful reinforcements but there’s no time to talk as the Chiram leader has already given the order to attack and destroy everything (except the singularity).
Kei tells them to bring it but warns that, later, it’ll be too late for them to regret underestimating the great Kei Katsuragi!
Mission Objective: All enemies shot down
Mission Failure:Glomar or Kei shot down
Skill Point: All enemies shot down by the end of turn 3
An easy skill point, provided you play aggressively and account for how the Chiram mooks can be surprisingly dodgy.
Make liberal usage of Focus/Strike and have Kei lead the charge for an easy victory.
Before anything, though, let’s take a look at our new friends:
Glomar (Shaia Thoov, Mimsy Rath)
Pilot Skills:
- Support Attack L2
- B Save
- Commander L1
- Accelerate (10)
- Trust (20)
- Strike (20)
- Repair Module
- Resupply Module
Shaia’s Voice Actress: Kumiko Takizawa (other known works: Rui in God Mars, Minako Tamuro in Idol Densetsuko Eriko and several other “motherly” characters).
Mimsy’s Voice Actress: Kumi Sakuma (other known works: Garnet Sunday in SRW OGs, Kiriko Masaki in Tenchi Muyo GXP and several others) – originally played by Run Sasaki
Ah, the Glomar…this here’s one of the weakest ships in the game: it’s got piddly defenses and its weapons aren’t all that (though she does have a long range ALL attack, which is nice).
However, I actually got more mileage out of this thing than from the Iron Gear on my past playthrough. this thing is made as a support unit and, having multiple pilots and both a repair/resupply module gives it some wiggle room (repairing mechs also gives some nice experience, if you go for a very damaged unit).
Since it flies and Shaia has Accelerate, you need to play her strengths and teach her Refueler (補給技能) so she can help people whenever they need (Focused Attack/SP Up/Guard are also good); as a battleship, it’ll be an event deployment on several occasions so you might as well make something useful out of it.
M. Lover – Maai / M. Lover – Riea
Pilot Skills – Maai:
- Support Defense L2
- Counter L2
- Backup Attack
- Counter L2
- Guts (20)
Squad Leader Bonus (the same for both): +20% money earned
Maai’s Voice Actress: Kiyomi Hanasaki (other known works: Kaori in Ranpou and that’s pretty much it)
Riea’s Voice Actress:Chika Sakamoto (other known works: Agumon and several digimon, Specter in Ape Escape and many others)
Can you say “squaddies”? Because that’s all that these two will ever be.
Their M. Lovers aren’t very powerful but they have decent pilot skills, can fly and have good movement (plus, they both learn Accelerate, so that's a plus); they’ll serve you well as squaddies but don’t expect anything else.
Kei charges ahead to attack the closest Ishfon; as I said, Focus is necessary to get a decent hit % as, without it, Kei’s missiles have under 60% chance to hit.
: These guys' mechs are incredibly fast!: But I'm not letting them shoot me down! Chirams, golems or whatever, they're not getting their hands on me!
Pretty easy.
The Emaan folks move ahead, while Shaia uses Accelerate to stay close and spread her command aura between the girls.
Enemy Phase!
Here they come and, unfortunately, Maai and Riea can only rely on Shaia’s aura to boost their numbers.
: Riea! Follow my lead!
: Stop with that "big sister" attitude! You were barely born an instant before me!: How dare you!
: Pbbt! I can do anything you can do!
Not bad, not bad.
All other Chiram troops close in except for the leader.
Player Phase!
Kei’s the only one that can reliably reach and attack the leader so he starts moving there; along the way, he double attacks an Ishkick into submission.
The Glomar does have a post-movement attack and, with that 2L size working for it, it should be more than enough to finish Maai’s job.
: Um... if the enemy approaches, activate the defense...
: Hurry up! They're going to shoot us down while we're a sitting duck!
: Not if I can help it. The Glomar is our precious home!
No problems so far.
Maai and Riea start moving to cover Kei against the smaller mooks but nothing’s in range.
Enemy Phase!
Turns out I didn’t need to worry as both the Ishkick and Ishkick Commander gun for Kei and he easily swats them aside.
Sadly, because it’s the enemy’s turn, he doesn’t get to double attack.
Player Phase!
Here goes Riea.
Whiffing a 70% shot…shame on you.
At least Maai gets the job done; also, to save up on Kei’s remaining Missiles, I have the Glomar weaken the Ishkick Commander.
Here we go.
Maai and Riea are very impressed with Kei’s skills, especially considering his outdated Device.
Mimsy, however, tells them not to relax as she detects more units incoming.
In come some weird Crow-like robots, a type which none of us have seen before.
They don’t seem friendly, though, as Mimsy detects them aiming in our direction and asks for what they should do. Shaia isn’t sure, either, and Kei is wishing he had Olson backing him up against these things.
It is then that Papty detects yet another group of units approaching.
It’s a group of Mobile Suits but not Zaft as Kei suspects: it’s Neo’s Phantom Pain Squad who introduce themselves as being from the New Earth Federation Army and offering their assistance.
Kei’s never heard of this organization and Shaia’s surprised that they’re offering help. Neo things it’s natural, seeing how the New Earth Federation has the duty of protecting the new world order.
Mimsy asks if they know what those crows are but Neo only says that’s a matter under investigation and imagines they come from one of the newly discovered worlds. Kei is very confused at all his talk but Mimsy tells him to leave it for later as, right now, we have to work with the Phantom Pain to fight.
Auel doesn't much like this and wonders why they’re fighting an unfamiliar foe for an unfamiliar cause.
Sting points out that, at least, they’re not slaving away for the Titans anymore. Neo agrees, adding that a victory here would go a long way to shutting up a certain other elite group of rival soldiers.
Stella’s also willing to fight if Neo’s doing it and, so, he orders them to intercept the crows immediately.
Well, this is certainly different.
Our Emaan troops have already moved so the Phantom Pain folks have first dibs on the targets; we’ll open up with Auel.
: Man... I wanted to go hunt ZAFT like the Titans.
: Let's ground these things quickly so I can go ask Neo!
Yeah, these crows aren’t very strong.
Still, they’re an original enemy so let’s weaken one a bit in order to take a closer look.
: I'm sorry, birdies...
Alright.
??? (AI)
This thing certainly can’t hold a candle to the most basic DAMON in Z2; it’s got low HP and defenses while also having low mobility.
Its biggest selling point would be that they have good movement range and can be decently accurate but, so long as you pay attention, these shouldn’t give you any trouble.
The AI’s stats aren’t that good, either.
Sting is just out of range of another crow, so he’ll have to destroy Stella’s friend.
: Ugh! They look dumb, but they're actually pretty fast!: But not fast enough to beat me! Not in a million years!
Attaboy.
Now, let’s take a look at Neo’s new mech:
Windam (Neo Roanoke)
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L4
- Support Attack L1
- Counter L3
- Commander L1
- Focus (15)
- Invincible (10)
Neo’s Voice Actor: Takehito Koyasu (other known works:
Neo’s pretty damn good and he’s got big stats all across the board; his new Windam is certainly a step up from his old unit, too.
If I had to compare him to anything, it’d be to Shagia as he focuses on ranged attacks and has highly accurate weapons to hit with (at the end of the day, Shagia is stronger, though, having a better unit and stats).
Might as well show off his strongest, non-TRI attack:
: Whatever these crows are, we'll hunt them to the last bird!
: If we don't do this, it'll put the boss in one of his moods!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNzGRc3Vx2U
Take note that Neo’s voice is distorted but this is not intentional – there’s a bug in this game that affects all Koyasu-voiced characters and causes them to have their pitch dropped.
Riea and some other characters are also affected but, in her case, it only happens during TRI attacks (and it's hilarious)
Enemy Phase!
Stella is the only one that gets attacked, as the farthest crows don’t reach the Emaan group.
Player Phase!
Might as well show off the Glomar’s strongest attack, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjIQw7hLC0M
Sumbitch…
Kei is more than capable of taking one of these things out by himself, of course.
: The hell? Are these crows trying to catch me too?!
Yeah, I forgot he had a line against these things and skipped the attack. Oh, well.
Following that, Riea finishes what Shaia started.
Let’s wrap this up with Stella’s Grifon 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RgCkDe3KDk
All crows are downed and Sting wonders if they shouldn’t investigate the remains.
Neo says that’s not necessary, though, as their orders are simply to take them down. Auel understands even less now but Neo says that, as soldiers, all that matters is compliance to their orders – if everyone questioned their superiors, nothing would get done.
Shaia gets in touch and wants to thank them in the name of her crew but Neo says they were just doing their job. He wishes her safe travels and gives his squad the order to return to base.
Shaia is very relieved that they weren’t interested in taking the Singularity as well.
Leeg suspects the Feds are too busy trying to cope with their suddenly multi-dimensional world that they haven't had the time to research space-time control. Sley figures, if anything, they could be at least be arsed to install an “UN” terminal in this region.
Either way, with all the problems taken care of, Kei is ready to have that talk with Mimsy and she knows a place nearby where they can land. Inwardly, Kei asks where Olson could be.
He thinks he might’ve been sent to some really crazy place…
Location: North Amerian Continent - New Earth Federation Headquarters
In here we find Brigadier General Edel Bernal, thanking Djibril for loaning his troops to the Federal Army.
He tells her not to worry about it as his sole concern is to help her proposal to restore order to Earth Sphere ASAP.
Djibril also wants to ask if she’s given thought about that other matter, saying he can offer her all the troops of the former Atlantic Federation if necessary.
With that much power on her side, it would be simple to oust Jamitov Hyman and seize control of the New Earth Federation Army.
She, uneasily, asks if conquering the Coordinators would be next after that.
Indeed, as the Earth Sphere won’t have order truly restored until they’re eliminated, right?
Edel doesn’t answer and Djibril continues, saying that his group greatly appreciates how she sacrificed herself over these past three months to achieve her dream.
Still, she needn’t make her decision to take his offer now and Djibril excuses himself to have another meeting.
As he leaves, Edel is saddened at the prospect of having to deal with such a bigoted man – his only interest is eliminating the Coordinators. Plus, there’s the Sage Council, the governing body of the New Earth Federation.
In the end, she has no choice but to work with them if she’s to help this chaotic world recover and restore order…
Back to Kei, he has a lot of questions that he needs answered: who are the Emaan? The Chiram? What’s this New Federation thing? What the hell is going on?
A voice behind him says not to be in such a hurry as they’ve plenty of time to talk. Turning around Kei finds a monster or, rather, Jabby.
Shaia says it’s OK, adding that while Jabby may look different, he’s a complete gentleman. Of course, Kei is freaking out even more, wondering what is this place that has monsters walking around (“Is this Wonderland?!”).
Mimsy tells him to calm down but Kei gets even MORE freaked out when he notices something on her back. Whiskers? Tails? No, just feelers that all Emaanians have.
Of course, that would mean the Emaanians aren’t humans and Shaia figures she should explain from the beginning: five months ago, with an incident called “Break the World”.
By "breaking" the world, she means that the dimensional walls separating the various worlds from each other all broke down at once. This resulted in the mashing up of this Earth with other parallel worlds, giving birth to a new, multi-dimensional Earth…
The massive Dimensional Quake, created in one world at one point in time, demolished the dimensional walls between worlds and gave rise to a new, commingled world.
Yet mankind did not perish.
Rather, it attempted to build a new order in the "Multi-dimensional World" created by the destruction of the dimensional walls - the event known as the "Break the World".
The Earth Federation, Earth Alliance, United Nations Earth, and United Federation of Predgio Towers merged their peoples and organizations into a unified nation called the "New Earth Federation", in whose name all of mankind was to be governed.
Declaring itself as the world's police, the New Earth Federation took an active role in local conflicts worldwide, and assimilated one small nation after another into its ranks. Though this provoked resistance from Chiram, one of the nations that predated the Multi-Dimensional World, both eventually recognized each other as allies and opted to coexist as neighbors.
As a result, the New Earth Federation and Chiram's sphere of influence radiated from the American continent to include fully 70% of the Earth, and 75% of its population.
The other regions developed independent cultures quite distinct from the Earth Federation.
The largest of these, integrated into the Multi-Dimensional World at the same time as Chiram, is the Emaan: situated in the Southeastern portion of the Galian continent, Emaan is a critical junction for efficient commerce in both goods and information.
As a result, Emaan has dispatched Caravans of its citizens to barter in those goods throughout the world.
Through the actions of the Emaan, and the "Information Centralization and Distribution" System (aka "UN") centered in the New Earth Federation, mankind has slowly begun to understand the Multi-Dimensional World, accept and adapt to it, and reestablish the basic pillars of daily life.
However, the world is still too mysterious and unstable for mankind.
In the atmosphere exist dimensional barriers called "Rivalry Zones", which restrict commerce between the Earth and Space to the Galian continent and certain special regions of the Pacific Ocean - where the barriers are weakest.
Moreover, small-scale dimensional quakes continue to occur to this day, and nobody caught in one has ever returned.
Irreparable anxiety has driven mankind in pursuit of transitory pleasures, and the whole of the Multi-Dimensional World is anything but stable.
Some continue to follow the wave of Trapars around the world, others have joined the Emaan caravans in search of fame and fortune.
Yet others have sharpened their claws for a bid to win the lordship of the entire unsettled realm.
It is the inaugural year of the Multi-Dimensional World Calendar, MC 00.
Half a year removed from the Break the World incident, something unseen by the masses is slowly, but surely, stretching forth its hand into this new world.