Part 69: Mission 20 - A World Without Lies - Part 1
Mission 20 - A World Without Lies
Our team has arrived in the “operation” site and Adette says this should be a place where we can find some Skyfish.
From what Stoner told Garrod, they congregate in areas where the Trapar is thick and seeing how Siberia has its weak Rivalry Zones, it stands to reason that the conditions should be good for us. Once we grab these Skyfish, Chil knows we can get some reflection film the Gekkostate was looking for.
Indeed, Shaia didn’t have this item in stock, so Kei also came over, in the name of the soul of the Emaanian traders, to procure some. Adette is onboard with that plan, hoping to capture the skyfish and sell them to Shaia at a nice profit.
As everyone gets fired up, Gainer does wonder what Gain, Rand and Mel are doing here and, as it turns out, they heard that Gainer would be proving that he’s a man, so they had to come over and see it.
Rand also wanted to see Renton’s debut at LFO-piloting while Setsuko was worried about him. Toby asks how it feels to be piloting and, while Renton says it’s great, his trembling voice shows how nervous he is.
Rand and Toby tell him to relax and he should be fine with Eureka as his navigator.
Renton is determined to prove that he’s a man – he said he’d do this, so that’s that. Eureka does tell him to warn her if he starts to feel sick as she doesn’t want him puking inside Nirvash’s cockpit.
Garrod takes this time to ask Renton why the Gekkostate came to Galia and Gain’s also curious: even if the Trapars are dense in this area, the icy conditions can’t make this a good place for Lifting. Renton doesn’t know all the details but, apparently, Holland came here in search of someone.
Adette puts a stop to their conversation and tells everyone to go look for skyfish…but there are none to be found. We can’t really hunt for nonexistent fish but Adette insists that everyone keep searching instead of complaining.
Chil asks her if there isn’t some sort of bait they can use to call the skyfish over and that reminds Adette of something: she tells everyone to think happy thoughts. Renton understands, remembering that skyfish tend to show up whenever a bunch of happy people get together.
This all sounds very strange for Jiron but everyone goes with it…
They all think about what would make them happy but things soon start getting weird when Eureka turns to Renton and asks “You wanted to do that with me?”, causing the kid to panic.
Following that, Garrod tells Gainer that this isn’t the time to be thinking about Sara’s figure while Jiron heard Garrod thinking of Tifa’s smile when she’s thanking him. both kids are very confused as to how they managed to hear that and Chil also heard Jiron’s wish of eating a huge lizard roast all by himself, even though he never said it.
Gain confirms no one said anything - it's like something transmitted their thoughts through the entire area – but some people are focused on other things…
: Darling, you pervert! Your wife is sitting right next to you and you’re thinking about Adette’s breasts?!
: H-hold on a sec! This is an invasion of privacy! You’re peeking into my mind!: And you're thinking about Shaia’s butt just as you say that!!
: Setsuko… What was that…?
: D-don’t listen to it, Toby! That’s…um…it’s…!
: Haha! Setsuko has a crush on—
: Don’t listen to it! I beg you!!: O-okay…
: …
: Huh…?
: E-EUREKA! You can’t listen to what’s on Kei’s mind! Absolutely not!Gain quickly realizes that it must be an OverSkill to do something like this and Adette seems to realize something: she orders everyone to fire at their surroundings to smoke out the culprit. Everyone starts firing with everything they have and Jiron wonders if they’re not overdoing it.
Adette says, if it’s who she’s thinking of, there’s no such thing as overdoing it. A voice behind our group agrees with her.
Out comes the Overman Planetta, confirming Adette’s suspicions that it’s Chief of Operations Kashmir Valle, finally taking to the field.
She tells everyone that he’s a ruthless man, who’d do anything to maintain the schedule of the Siberian Rail’s trains (his "diamond"). He thanks her for the introduction and he assumes she knows why he’s here, then.
He proclaims our Exodus to be an anomaly that’s disrupting his schedule – therefore, he’s here to put an end to it. Garrod isn’t impressed with this guy coming here by his lonesome and, despite the long trip, Gain has a bullet that insists that Kashmir goes back home.
Kashmir easily dodges the shot, much to our people’s surprise.
Gain wonders if he anticipated where he was aiming and Kashmir yells that it’s useless: none of us will be able to lay a single finger on his Planetta. Garrod and Kei don’t buy it and try to attack, which prompts Kashmir to call out exactly where they’re aiming and dodge accordingly.
Gainer wonders if there’s a connection to us hearing each other’s thoughts some time ago and, indeed, that’s Planetta’s OverSkill: it allows him to project his opponents' thoughts over a wide area, letting him anticipate and avoid any attack.
Gain takes it to be one of the so-called Psycho Overmen and Jiron and Renton realize that, as long as he can read our thoughts, there’s no way for us to hit him. Kei, however, figures that he’s still alone, so if we can attack him at once…
Not! Kashmir calls a bunch of reinforcements, proclaiming himself to be a lion who gives his all even when hunting some ugly rabbits.
He tells his troops that he’s transmitting our thoughts and sends them to play with us. Kejinan is his second in command and Adette asks what happened to the Saint Reagan.
It seems their continuous failures caught up with them and, as such, they were called back and Kejinan and the others were reassigned to work under Kashmir. Adette knows Kejinan well enough to see that he just wagged his tail at a new master as got himself an Overman as prize.
Maybe but he wonders if she’ll be able to say such things after she’s seen the power of his Mexbrute. Gainer warns everyone that, as long as Kashmir’s Overman is around, the enemies will be reading our attacks and it’ll be pointless to attack the boss-man himself.
Renton is quite intimidated that his debut as a pilot is against such strong enemies but Gainer tells him to get his head on straight – the enemy’s hearing his hesitation and, if he doesn’t steel himself, he won’t be able to fight.
Kei adds that we’ve already warned the Iron Gear, so we need to hold on until they get here. Kashmir sees Renton panicking and takes him to be of no consequence, so he orders his men to destroy every single one of the exodizers.
Kejinan is more interested in proving his strength to Adette.
Mission Objective: Shoot down the Mexbrute and Planetta
Mission Failure: Any allied unit shot down
Skill Point: Shoot down the Mexbrute by the end of turn 3
I suppose the game’s decided that, since we get our whole team back, there’s no problem in ramping up the difficulty and, boy, is this mission a big difficulty spike.
First off, because our thoughts are being broadcast, ALL enemies have Focus cast at all times, so you need to be extra careful with your real robots; furthermore, the Siberian Rail and Breakers have all been buffed, so expect them to be a whole lot more resilient (the breakers have ditched the Trads for good, too).
We need to kill Kejinan in three turns and that’s very doable as he’ll rush Adette right away, so keep her at a distance to make him close in and surround him on turn three.
Finally, let’s take a look at the two new Overmen we need to contend with:
Mexbrute (Kejinan)
Features:
- Photon Mat
- OverSkill (At 130 Morale, Mobility is buffed by 10, plus the pilot’s Oversense level times two; additionally, there’s a 50% chance to outright dodge any attack that doesn’t have Strike
This thing is certainly very dodgy, especially with Kashmir’s buff in play, but, thankfully, it’s not very powerful; since Kejinan’s flying solo, he won’t be able to fire his strong TRI attack, so that’s another plus.
It’s pretty much a direct upgrade to Asuham’s Jinba, having a lot more HP and defense, while sacrificing a wee bit of base mobility.
You’ll pretty much need Strike to hit him, so try to take him out with as few attacks as possible because this is a long mission and you’ll NEED to conserve SP.
Now, for our biggest headache thus far:
Planetta (Kashmir Valle)
Pilot Skills:
- Oversense L3
- Counter L3
- Predict
- Guard
- Photon Mat
- OverSkill (when over 130 morale, auto-casts Strike, Alert, Focus and Zeal(!) at the start of each turn)
Kashmir’s Voice Actor: Keiji Fujiwara (I was certainly surprised when I saw this – he sounds nothing like Holland!)
This motherfucker…Asuham’s a slightly better pilot but that advantage obviously goes out the window once his OverSkill activates; pairing Strike with Zeal (the caster can move twice in one turn) is a recipe for a dead Real Robot and he often prioritizes the King Gainer units, which are our flimsiest.
The Planetta isn’t VERY strong but it can deal decent damage and being unable to dodge means you’ll probably be safer defending with your reals (he’s likely to use both his moves on one unit and that can lead to a kill); Guard and Predict further increase his evasiveness and bulkiness over 130 morale and also boost his critical ratio.
FINALLY, his 2nd strongest attack will also reduce a unit’s accuracy, so watch it.
You will absolutely need Strike against Kashmir and, if possible, prioritize going against him with your Supers; if you can hit him reliably, you should be able to take him out before he wrecks a Real.
Everyone moves up ahead and, in the interest of conserving SP, no one but Eureka (who has SP Regen) casts Focus.
Obviously, the Nirvash is leading the charge.
Enemy Phase!
Here come the Breakers, ignoring Renton and making a beeline for Jiron.
A couple of Governments get him down to dangerously low HP.
Rand also gets jumped but he’s more than capable of hitting back for big damage.
Time for you to show your stuff, Renton!
He’s not as good a pilot as Eureka but he’ll get there.
All other enemies, Kejinan and Kashmir included, start coming over
Player Phase!
First things first, Jiron is down to nearly 2000 HP, so he uses Guts to get it all back.
I marked Kejinan’s range on the map, to make sure he won’t be sniping at our people; in the meantime, Adette keeps playing bait while shooting whatever’s in range.
Kei switches to Orguss Flier mode to get a wee bit of extra mobility and double attacks a weak Government into oblivion.
His reward is a level up and Counter L5.
Garrod has Invincible as a safety net, so he moves ahead too.
Not bad.
Renton finishes his buddy’s target, leveling up and learning Lift Technique L3, while Gain starts working on another Dogozzo.
Rand moves ahead and finishes off the other weakened Government.
Gainer is dodgy enough to take care of himself even when the numbers are skimmed against him.
Argh! Just short of a kill!
So, it falls on Jiron to move over and take that Galapagos down.
Enemy Phase!
Jiron is attacked from afar by a Promeus and Gain’s mobbed by Dogozzos (I actually had to reset here because, even with focus, they had a 30% chance to hit and both attacks connected, killing Gain).
You can’t snipe Gainer like that!
Everything helps.
Oh, crap. Kashmir’s just in range to attack Gain.
Whew…also, that’s some pilot suit.
Player Phase!
Alright, we have to down Kejinan right now, so let’s switch to him right away.
His morale is just 110 but we already need to use Strike/Sense to get a reliable hit in – missing could well cost us the skill point, so we have to play it safe.
Kei’s double attacks are ever so reliable.
Might as well take this chance to show off the Mexbrute’s melee attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XOD07Ye7Y8
I can always count on Rand.
Jiron leaves Kejinan barely alive.
So, let’s have Renton take his first big kill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJk3cdsmjqQ
Kejinan drops a Paunchy Fruit, which is a consumable that restores all of the user’s SP.
Kejinan isn’t willing to lose just yet and finds the strength to carry on.
Adette yells at him to give up but he refuses, charging after her. Gainer is about to go save her but she tells him to stay away; what kind of teacher could show her face again after being saved by her student?!
Kejinan finds her strong spirit quite attractive and Adette is very annoyed that she’s having trouble against someone that’s relying so much on his Overman’s power. Such power involves creating illusions at will and Kejinan provides a demonstration.
: Uhuhuhuhuuuu~
: What?! A tricksy old man appeared?! (FYI: this line is a rather obscure reference - it comes from おどるポンポコリン, an ending song of "Chibi Maruko-chan" whose main character was voiced by Chil's VA.): It’s an illusion created by the Overman…?!
: Disgusting...: Ma’am…depending on your answer, I wouldn’t mind asking the Chief of Operations to let you go.
: ...This is going to cost me, isn’t it?: That’s right! If you want to be saved…
: Then you'll be my wife!!
: Huuuh?!
: The hell is he going on about?
: Was that some sort of psychological OverSkill attack...?!: I kept quiet when Yassaba was around but not anymore…: Will you accept my feelings, Ms. Adette Kistler?: …: As abounding as the tundra’s ice, piercing through eternity, the flame of my passion will burn your body and your heart!: And it’ll burn me, too!: Kejinan…you…
: Uuurgh! What are you babbling about?! Do you have any idea how sickening that lovey-dovey spiel is?!
: He’s lost his focus…! Now!!
: Ack! Black Southern Cross…how dare you! Take this!!
: Urk! He got me?!
: Gain!: Don’t worry about me, Gainer! Just take him out!
: It's useless! I can hear the voices of your minds clearly! I won’t make another mistake!: Ma’am! Please hear the cry of my heart and marry me!!
: !: What are you up to, Gainer?!: I got it! If he can hear me, then I’ll let him hear me!: Oh, you’ve hadan idea? A last-ditch effort, hmm?
: Sara! I love you! I’m in love with you! SARAAAAA!: I’ve loved you since before the Exodus!: And I don’t just love you! I want to know more about you!: I want to know everything there is to know about you!
: What’s with that brat?! We’re in the middle of a battle!: I wanna hold you! I wanna hold you so tight that I could crush you!
: Gainer…?!: What's going on…? I can feel this incredible energy…!: I’ll drown out the voice of my mind with the cry of my heart!: SARA! I LOVE YOOOOUUUU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!: Uuuuurgh! This is too much!
: Wow, Gainer! Nice! : Please hear the cry of my heart! SARAAAAA!: The hell is that, brat?! You piggybacking off my confession?! 
: That’s it, Gainer! You’re a man – a strong man!: After meeting and getting to know you in class, I’ve been crazy about you!: I love you! If only you would notice it! Then, I wouldn’t suffer like this! Back at the Iron Gear…
: You're such a kind person, so I know you'll see what lies in my heart and answer me back! : I want you to be mine, with all that’s so beautiful about you! : I’ll win you over, no matter what obstacles I need to overcome!: If anyone’s against me, then show yourself right now! I’ll fight you!
: Is that Gainer’s voice…?!
: I don’t know how we're hearing it all the way here but, yes, it is!
: The kid’s giving the confession of the century. 
: He’s pretty rad…: But if you accept my love, Sara, then I won’t fight! 
: Yeesh! Well played, Gainer!
: I-IDIOT!: What the hell is he yelling?!: I’ll just hold you, Sara. I’ll kiss you all the way to the bottom of your heart! : I’ll kiss you with all that I am, no matter where we are!
: What will you do now, Sara? 
: Good luck, girl. I’m rooting for you! 
: !!!!!!!!!!
: You better give him lots of kisses!
: This is a once in a lifetime confession, so he deserves a nice reward, right?: I don’t knoooow!!Back at the battlefield…
: I won’t just kiss you! I’ll devote my heart to you because nothing makes me happier! : And if you share that joy, I’ll give you even bigger kisses!
: Yow! That’s amazing, Gainer! But I’m not about to be one-upped!
: TIFAAAA! WHATEVER HAPPENS, I’LL PROTECT YOOOOUUUU!!
: UOOOOOOOOH! I WANT TO EAT A HUGE LIZARD ROOOOAAAAST!
: TINA, FRANÇOISE, MADAME LIN, MIMSY - ALL THE GIRLS IN THE WORLD! COME ON A DATE WITH MEEEE!
: I WANT TO GO ALL OUT AND DESTROY STUFF EVERY NOW AND THEEEEENNNN!!
: I WANT A BIGGER BUST AND HIPS, AND A THINNER WAAAAIIIIST!!
: I WANT TO COMPLETE THE VIRGOLA WITH TOBYYYYYY!!
: SETSUKO AND I ARE GOING TO GIVE IT OUR AAAAAALL!!
: I’M ALL YOURS, EUREKAAAAAAAAAAA!!: YAAAAAAARGH! I can't take this anymore! Cut the OverSkill!!: Haha! Now I can actually fight again!: Hm…? I can’t hear Black Southern Cross’ voice…!: Sorry, but I have you now…!
: Wuuaaaargh!
: Gain!
: Nice move, Gainer. You showed that you’re a man in more ways than one.: Uurgh! I can’t activate my OverSkill after that!: Do not make light of my Planetta, though! I’ll simply crush you all head-on!: I don’t think that’s gonna happen, Chief.
Since we have so many ships, the game’s now giving us a choice to choose which ones to deploy as well.
Remember that the Impulse Gundam can only change frames if the Minerva’s present.
: Our backup!: All those different kinds of mechs coming over...now that's beautiful.
: All teams agreed to strike against the Siberian Rail, so we're here to lend a hand.
: I have to help the earthlings fight each other now...?
: Quit your belly-aching, Marin! Don’t you feel like you owe them after they helped us out?!
: We’ve been ordered by Prof. Tsukikage to work with them, so that’s what we’ll do.
: Fine, I get it…!: Pfft…stubborn ass.: Alright…! Now we get on the offensive!
: TAKE A LOOK, DUKE FLEED! I’LL KEEP EARTH SAAAAAAAFE!!
: HOLD ON, PEOPLE OF IO! I’LL AVENGE YOU SOMEDAAAAYYYY!!
: AYAKA! I PROMISE I’LL FIND YOOOOUUUU!!
: Come on, Shinn! Yell something, too!
: Umm…errr…okay!
: I’LL BRING PEACE BACK NO MATTER WHAAAAAT!!
: Boooring! You didn’t confess your love to anyone!: G-guys…what’s going on?
: You were amazing, Gainer!: You’re awesome. You won my respect with that.: Huh…: …: “I’ve loved you since before the Exodus!”: “I’ll just hold Sara and give her lots of kisses!”: Whaaaaaa-?!
: Yup, Gainer. We heard everything. 
: You’re pretty good, Gainer. I know we were rushing you to tell her but I can’t believe you’d do it like this!
: Nice one, bro! You’ve got guts!
: I thought you were just some frail kid but you sure showed me!: Yes, that was wonderful!
: Every girl wants someone to confess their love for them before everyone’s eyes!
: Heh, to be young and spontaneous...
: But that’s alright, no? Kids will be kids.: U-um…Sara...: Talk later! Fight the Siberian Rail!: Y-yes!
Seeing how things are going, Kashmir decides to call for some help of his own, in the form of a large Siberian Rail/Breaker posse. Leading them is an Emperor Custom landship, captained by none other than Timp.
When Bello asks, Rag says Timp is Jiron’s old nemesis who used to be an agent of the Innocents. Jiron wastes no time in calling out how Timp’s fallen if he’s turned into a bodyguard of the Siberian Rail.
Timp, however, says Jiron misunderstands him as, unlike Hola and the others, he’s been hired as a special advisor to the Siberian Rail guards – an overseer, so to speak.
Kashmir asks him to destroy these pests and Timp’s more than willing to get serious to take out Jiron.
Adette calls for Gainer to get in formation with her and Gain joins in, his Gachiko being rather beat after Kashmir’s attack. Kei and Garrod also team up to give the enemies a taste of some true aerial combat and Renton joins them, if only to get some pointers on how to put the moves on Eureka from Kei and Garrod.
Finally, Rand/Toby volunteers to help Jiron take on his old enemy – Mel is especially keen on kicking his ass now that they’ve met again.
Adette has moved far away from Kejinan and Enge figures the guy's proposal just went down the drain.
Jaboli isn’t surprised at all, telling Kejinan to look at a mirror – Kejinan yells at her to shut up and promises revenge for his spurned feelings. Gain, meanwhile, warns everyone that, while Kashmir can’t read minds anymore, he can still use his regular OverSkill.
Furthermore, he tells Gainer that, to wrap it all up nicely, he just needs to show off his strength in front of Sara and she agrees, telling him to take responsibility for what he said – he’s more than willing to do that (while Renton can only sigh at how cool he is).
If it’s not clear from how much dialogue I translated, I love this mission.
This mission is still far from over, though, so I’ll end it here for now; the rest should be posted on Wednesday.
By the by, I didn’t make a video for Gainer’s confession because it's not particularly flashy, graphically speaking: Gainer can be heard shouting in the background while everyone talks it out (plus, I got a phone call as it was playing out and, as such, the video stood still for a few minutes…).
So, I figured it’d just be better to just grab the scene off Nico to show it off.
Couldn’t find subbed or dubbed versions of this scene only but you can find the entire episode online.
See you all soon!