Super Robot Wars Z Part #82 - Mission 24 - Operation: Reclaim the Photon Power Lab

Part 82: Mission 24 - Operation: Reclaim the Photon Power Lab

Unified Route Chapter 24

Here's our mission! Defeat all enemies, and to get the Battle Mastery beat all the regular ones and then finally Dokuganki by the end of turn three! It's not a super hard stage, thank goodness.

So let's start things up!

: I’m pretty sure there’s a Yapanese tale where a tiny kid defeats a demon!

: So King Gainer won’t be daunted by a difference in size! Here we go!!

Center formation helps

The jets are in Wide Formation, while the other guys are in Center.

Darn those things are pretty tough. At least his squadmates will be vanishing shortly.

Anyways, there's a reason I put Katz in a Borjarnon this stage instead of the Nemo.

It has a Post Move TRI Attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nuv0D1SmP0

Adette learns Invincible(10) from the process.

And look there, they have an average of 24.5 Kills together now, one more and it'll be 25, soo...

Let's fix that up!

There we go! Now they have an average of 25! That secret is in the bag now.

Amuro gets another level of Newtype, while Jiron gets Spirit(30).

The jets go down in a round of Center Formation attacks, I can only get up to the very front ones, so they'll be going quickly.

Aquarion Maris is much better for the approach, cheaper attacks and they're actually post move.

Roybea gets Level 2 Support Attack

Kappei's turn to remove one of these guys!

: Let’s do this, demon-freaks! I got a dog, monkey and pheasant with me and I'm here to get rid of all of you!

: A dog, monkey and pheasant...?! If Chiyonishiki's the dog, then...

: Uchuuta's the screeching monkey and you're the squawking pheasant!

: You son of a...! Like hell I’m gonna take that sitting down!

: Whoa now! Let’s get that anger and take it out on the guys who messed up our Japan!

Ryouma blows up another and Maria learns Prevail Level 3.

Toshiya's ready to go.

: How dare you pull that kind of deception with our birthplace!

: Get to it, Toshiya! Grab these guys and we'll toss garlic all over them!

: Hey, hey…I'm sure demons aren't too keen on veggies but you use garlic against vampires...

Not getting to use Roger much is the biggest downside of my route picks.

Pretty much a continuous stream of wrecking.

Quattro takes his turn.

: (His fighting spirit set my heart ablaze..!)

: (Is this what Duke Fleed spoke of? The bonds between people with the same wish…?)

: Quit sitting there doing nothing, Marin! We’re fighting too!

: You don’t have to tell me! I now have the same goal as them!!

Enemy phase comes and things get smashed.

On my turn I've cleared out most of the enemies on the east side, so I have to begin moving everyone towards the main group.

So a lot of people aren't getting actions this round.

Still got to keep moving forward. You know, I think I actually outnumber the enemies.

OK I have to wonder how one jet got taken down and one didn't, but whatever.

I swap frames and move Shinn up.

Shinn got hit but that's not much of a problem.

Aquarion moves up.

Kei's TRI can pretty much clear out any squad of squadmates, it's pretty funny.

Quattro handles a jet.

The King Beal finishes off the last enemy on the East side, horray.

Ryouma elimiates another squad.

Switch Gain to the leadership position soo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frapoIW2lhY

Gain even learns Level 2 Oversense from it.

I moved everybody up and go some chip damage out of it, so ending the turn!

Curse these things being in Wide formation, it makes it hard to counter kill them with a good ALL attack.

Shinn you are just having bad luck today.

It gets his SEED going at least.

Right, last turn, lets get to clearing these guys out.

Dokugaki gets Analyzed.

These squads are a lot tougher, though I'll handle them.

Good job there

Shinn finishes them off.

Time to bust out the God Gravion guns.

I actually use Snipe!

Annoyingly tough, it takes several TRIs to take out one of these squads, and I still haven't even gotten to the boss yet!

OK I think I'll leave that one for the counter kill.

Time to finally take down this guy.

: Damn Getter Robo! I won’t hand the Photon Power Lab over to you!

: Where do you get off saying that when you were the ones who took it in the first place?!

: We’ll take back everything you stole!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqrkcBA4V3U

Toshiya levels up his Prevail. It's almost to the point of being helpful!

: This is the Japan we grew up in!

: Trying to take control of it with these dirty tricks…

: You deserve a spanking for that!

: Toga…

: Understood! God Gravion will fight to protect Japan…and the entire world!

: Yes! Whenever you’re ready, Master Toga.

Now comes the gamble. I'm going to try and get him on the counter from the enemy phase, clearing up units to attack the remaining grunts.

Well, mostly just Roger Smith doing his own thing.

And here's where I realized my gamble might not pay off! Shinn's already weakened and the boss has a very high hit rate... can he take the hit or miraculously dodge, giving me the Battle Mastery?

He can! And Luna learned another level of Support Attack, and Shinn learned an all new Spirit Command!

Fury(30) - The next attack by the caster ignores Size Modifiers, Barriers, ALL Attack penalties, and defensive skills

Dokuganki’s increasingly annoyed at our gall to stand up to one of the glorious demons and finds the will to keep going.
As Sirius lies amazed at his determination and Maria can only hope that Kouji hurries.

Indeed, Kouji’s just made it to the lab’s control room to rescue everyone and Hidler’s impressed that he’s made it this far; he introduces himself but, of course, the only thing Kouji wants is to get him off their lab.
Hidler’s not about to do that, though, as they need both the Getter Rays and Photon Power for their invasion but Kouji’s not going to let him trample over the life's work and the soul of Yumi (and Saotome) for the sake of his twisted ends – his mention of the soul of a scientist seems to strike a note with Tekkouki.
Hidler praises his strength but reminds Kouji that he still has hostages and goes after Sayaka again; she tells Kouji not to worry about her but he says the Demon’s underestimating him.
He didn’t come all the way here without a plan and gives Boss the go-ahead!

Outside, all we see is Boss running Borot-first into the lab and, with the impact, Kouji quickly knocks Hidler away and gets Sayaka back.
Yumi and the others want everyone to escape now but Hidler, at least, plans to finish off Kouji; he shoots but Kouji’s pilot suit protects him enough to avoid a fatal wound.
The next one will do him in, though, and Hidler’s just about to shoot when Sayaka begs him to stop and promises to tell him of Mazinger’s location; Tekkouki actually protests, asking if she intends on forsaking the “scientist’s soul” that Kouji spoke of and, while she does understand how important the Mazinger and Photon Power Energy are to Kouji and her father, she places higher value on Kouji’s own life.
Tekkouki is aghast that she’d value that over the research and Sayaka wonders if he really can’t understand why; Hidler’s had enough and plans to get rid of Kouji anyway as punishment for his defiance and, after that, he’ll just extract Mazinger’s location directly from Sayaka’s brain.
Kouji won’t let that happen but, before either him or Hidler can attack, a third shot strikes against the demon.

That’d be Tetsuya, still in one piece, and with this new hindrance appearing, Hidler calls for a retreat.
In that case, Tekkouki sees no choice but to take to the field himself; as they run, Tetsuya says all that’s left is to deal with the remaining enemies but Kouji asks him to stop, wondering where he’s been until now.
Tetsuya says they’ll talk later and leaves, while Yumi tells Kouji to focus on fighting the Hundred Demon Empire for now – and for that, he’ll need to launch the Mazinger.

Even better, Shirou kept Kouji’s old pilot suit around during his absence (he’s even polished the helmet) and he’ll need it now that his old one’s damaged.
Kouji quickly thanks him and heads off.

: What?! Something’s happening at the lab!

: Dokuganki! I’m retreating for now! You and Tekkouki eliminate these annoyances!

: Understood!

: Oh no, you don’t!

: The Jet Pilder! That’s where they hid it?!

: Thanks a bunch, Prof. Sewashi! The Pilder’s pristine! Here I go!!

: Rrrgh, FIRE! Take him down! Do whatever it takes!

: Urgh, damn it! I finally got airborne but at this rate, I’ll—

: Don’t give up, Kouji!!

: That’s crazy, Tetsuya! Even the Great can’t handle all that!

: You’re underestimating the new me, Kouji!

: Huh…

: Your dad – my own father figure – died because of my worthless jealousy. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

: And then, during the final battle with the Dinosaur Empire, my weakness caused Musashi’s sacrifice.

: You’re wrong, Tetsuya! That wasn’t anyone’s fault!

: But I still couldn’t forgive myself!

: That is why I’ve reforged myself to be a man worthy of the Mazinger!

: A man worthy of the Mazinger…

: Go, Kouji! This sort of attack is nothing to me now!

: Lay our flames – our souls – into the Mazinger!

: Tetsuya, you really are a big hero!

: And I’ll be right there with you! We’ll fight against evil together!

: LET’S GO, MAZINGER-Z!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5iDQUvBAwo

: Wh-WHAT?! The Mazinger was hidden in a place like that?!

: This is all par for the course, Marshal Hidler! Looks like your investigation was a bit shoddy!

: Silence! What can you possibly do with that obsolete robot?!

: Tetsuya!

: Yeah!

: UUWAAAAAAARGH! IMPOSSIBLE!!

As Dokuganki explodes Kouji proudly shows the power of the two Mazingers and Yumi tells him that, with the newest advances in Photon Power research, they were able to give his Mazinger a power up.
It’s now far stronger than it was before and Nossori is eager to see their combined strength once again; Tetsuya’s rather impressed that Kouji piloting it so well after spending that much time away but, as Kouji puts it, “the soul of the Mazinger within them is immortal”.
And now, together with their Mazingers, they’ll do whatever it takes to protect what’s important to them – such is the reason why Tetsuya came back from his personal Hell.

They have some extra help in the form of Jun, Tetsuya’s companion, and Sayaka who show up in their mechs.
Jun sees Kouji’s words as the words of his father, Kenzo Kabuto, and Boss tells Tetsuya, if he’s indeed back, to fight until he can’t anymore – of course, Tetsuya reminds him that he’s talking to the resident combat pro; Sayaka shares the same spirit as Kouji, even if she’s not in a Mazinger, promises to fight as well.
Finally, the Mazinger team is back together and Kouji and Tetsuya join together to charge the enemy lines and show the demons how frightening the two Mazingers can be; as Amuro and Katz are greatly impressed by the legendary strength of the original super robot.
Jun, Sayaka and Boss team up together, with Boss being ecstatic to have a pretty girl in each hand, and since this all happened because of his efforts, this is their way of thanking him; Nuke and Mucha are quite happy, thinking getting hurt that badly was well worth it for this.
Boss feels the same way and this only makes him even more fired up.

Before we can beat the rest of the demon’s off the lab’s grounds, Tekkouki launches with a new robot and several reinforcements.
He introduces himself to the Getter Team and Sayaka quickly recognizes him; he presents his Mecha Tekkouki, a robot for which he’s bled himself dry to create with the sole purpose of defeating the Getter.
Hayato figures he created it to get revenge for his fallen comrades but Tekkouki says a demon feels no such thing: all he wants is to prove that his research and his mech are the strongest!
Ryouma’s more than ready to accept his challenge but Sayaka isn’t happy with this; Kouji asks if there’s anything wrong but she says it’s nothing, while inwardly remembering that Tekkouki saved her life before.
Still, he’s a demon and, as such, he’s an enemy that we have to defeat!

Tekkouki then casts Strike on himself, which is a bit of a pain.

Still on the enemy phase, so things swarm Shinn a bit. He can handle it though.

Tekkouki will target Getter Robo if its within range, which is fine by use because...

SECRET ALERT: Make sure Tekkouki has a fight with Getter Robo this stage.

: Let’s do this, Getter Robo! I’ll defeat you and prove mine and my Mecha Tekkouki’s strength!

: Like hell we’d be defeated just for your self-satisfaction!

: We’re fighting because we’ve things we have to protect!

: Things you have to protect…?!

: That’s right! And that’s something a heartless demon can’t possibly understand!

: Come on, Tekkouki! Behold the power of the Getter and the humans who pilot it!

With a new turn comes new characters! Lets have a look at them!

Mazinger Z
Boss - Boss Borot
Voiced by Hiroshi Ohtake
Nuke - Boss Borot Subpilot
Voiced by Kousei Tomita
Mucha - Boss Borot Subpilot
Voiced by Isamu Tanonaka

Skills:
* Prevail (Level 4) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Support Defend (Level 2) - If adjacent to an ally on the enemy phase, if an attack will hit the ally, the character will perform a Support Defense and the attack will hit the character at reduced damage instead. The number of times this can be performed depends on the skill's level.
* Will+ (Hit) - Pilot gains +1 Will every time they hit an enemy.

Spirit Commands:(Boss)
* Faith(50) - Fully restores one ally's HP.
* Guts(20): The caster regains all HP.
* Spirit(40) - Increases the Will of all pilots in the caster's mech by 10

Spirit Commands(Nuke):
* Trust(30) - Restore 2500 HP to an ally.

Spirit Commands(Mucha):
* Scan(1) - Reveals an enemy squad's stats without having to fight them.

Squad Leader Bonus
* +30% Money earned

Great Mazinger
Jun Hondo - Venus A
Voiced by Yumi Nakatani

Skills:
* Prevail (Level 3) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Support Attack (Level 1) - When Adjacent to an allied character before having attacked that turn, can perform a Support Attack after the ally attacks. The support attack will be slightly weaker then a regular attack.
* Backup Attack - Platoon attacks do 20% more damage.

Spirit Commands:
* Gain(20) - The caster's squad will gain double the Experience Points from the next attack.
* Vigor(10) - The caster regains 30% of Max HP.
* Strike (20) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.

Squad Leader Bonus
+20% EXP, +10% Hit Rate

Mazinger Z
Sayaka Yumi - Diana A
Voiced by Minori Matsushima

Skills:
* Support Attack (Level 1) - When Adjacent to an allied character before having attacked that turn, can perform a Support Attack after the ally attacks. The support attack will be slightly weaker then a regular attack.
* Support Defend (Level 1) - If adjacent to an ally on the enemy phase, if an attack will hit the ally, the character will perform a Support Defense and the attack will hit the character at reduced damage instead. The number of times this can be performed depends on the skill's level.
* Cooperative Attack - Whenever the pilot performs a Support Attack, that attack will automatically be a critical hit.

Spirit Commands:
* Trust(25) - Restore 2500 HP to an ally.
* Strike (20) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.
* Luck(40) - The caster's squad will gain double the amount of money from a defeated enemy, the effect fades after the next attack even if an enemy is not killed.

Squad Leader Bonus
HP and EN Recovery increased by 50%

Three new Squad Mates, but they're not bad. Boss can be hilariously powerful if you put some upgrades into him, and Nuke and Mucha will learn some very powerful Spirit Comannds at high levels Jun and Sayaka will both be handy on the sides, and of course I have two new repair and a new resupply bot. Also, Boss has the best TRI Attack ever.

Buuut they won't get to do much today so they just move up here for now.

Shinn needs some healing, badly.

Hmm... three squads of enemies in MAP range...

First might soften up Tekkouki a bit.

Next...

I move everybody out of the way, softening them up, and have my fun.

Problem mostly solved!

A little late on the Overskill there Gainer.

Mazinger Z
Kouji Kabuto - Mazinger Z
Voiced by Hiroya Ishimaru

Skills:
* Prevail(Level 5) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Resolve - Pilot starts the stage with +5 Will
* Will +(Damaged) - Pilot gains 2 Will every time they are hit by an attack.

Spirit Commands:
* Alert (10) - The caster gains 100% evasion rate for the next attack that targets the caster.
* Guts(15): The caster regains all HP.
* Strike (20) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.

Squad Leader Bonus
*-20% Damage taken

Great Mazinger
Tetsuya Tsurugi - Great Mazinger
Voiced by Keiichi Noda

Skills:
* Prevail(Level 5) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Blocking - If the mech is equipped with a shield and/or sword, can use Sword Block and Shield Block. Sword Block will neutralize melee and missile attacks, while Shield Block will reduce damage taken. Activation rate is based off the skill stat.
* Counter (Level 4) - On the enemy phase, will sometimes attack before the enemy. Activation rate is determined by the skill stat.

Spirit Commands:
* Vigor(X) - The caster regains 30% of Max HP.
* Strike (15) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.
* Invincible(10) - The next attack that hits the caster will do 10 damage.

Squad Leader Bonus
+10% Hit Rate, +20% Critical Hit Rate

Mazin Power! Boo ya. Remember back when I said Kouji would be getting his big main machine? Well here it is! The grand daddy of them all, the original Super Robot, Mazinger Z! Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger are both incredibly good machines. Both are sturdy, hard hitting, and both mechs have the amazing Mazin Power ability. When the pilot hits 130 Will they will automatically do 25% more damage! That's hilarious. And of course, Kouji and Testsuya are both amazing pilots to boot. Yet, despite that there's a very good reason to have only one of the two as the Squad Leader and keep the other as backup. The reason is Double Burning Fire, a strong Post Move ALL attack that costs only 40 EN. It's also a team attack between Mazinger and Great Mazinger, so the best way to handle it is to have both Mazingers in a squad together.

Back to punching things forever.

Roybea learns another level of Prevail.

And the turn procees to the enemy phase with the same story, the grunts killing themselves on me.

And Tekkouki keeps beating himself against Getter.

I finish off the last of the grunts

Which gives Adette Level 3 Prevail.

SECRET ALERT: Move Boss Borot to the west side of the Photon Power Labs, any of the three squares will do.

: Boss! What are we doing here?!

: He’s right! Why are you grabbing junk in the middle of the battle?!

: Take a good look! This here ain’t any junk: it’s a part of the Great Booster!

: Did it shatter when Tetsuya charged against the barrier?

: If we can gather these things, we oughta be able to put them to use or at least sell them back to Prof. Yumi!

: *sigh* …So petty…

: No back talk – I’m being ENTERPRISING here!

Kei does a fair bit of damage to Tekkouki...

And Toga finishes him off.

As he’s beaten, Tekkouki wonders if the adjustments to his mech were insufficient; he’ll run off for today but promises to settle everything with Getter when next they meet.
Victory is ours but Ryouma knows that Mecha Tekkouki was a fearsome enemy, certainly worthy of being the Hundred Demon’s answer to Getter, as all of its weapons were made to counter our own; that said, it doesn’t have the Getter Team’s teamwork and Apollo agrees, being glad to see Benkei’s growth despite not wanting to fight at first.
Indeed, now he’s a proud member of the Getter Team.

Seems Kouji and Tetsuya’s friendship has been reborn and Tetsuya tells him that he can’t simply apologize and erase everything that’s happened; therefore, as a way to repay the man who raised him and Jun, he’ll atone for his mistakes by fighting.
Kouji understands but asks him to always remember this: they are brothers, tied to one another by the Mazingers.
Maria, inwardly, is very glad to see Tetsuya again and has renewed certainty that she’ll find Duke and Hikaru someday; Yumi wonders if Kenzo is watching over his two sons growing up and he’s sure that the souls of the Mazinger within them will destroy all evil.

Inside the lab, Yumi thanks us for helping liberate the place but Heizaemon says this victory’s all due to Kouji and Tetsuya’s bravery, with Gengoroh asking that they gave a lot of motivation for the younger members of our team like Kappei, the Zaft kids and Gauli’s folks.
Regardless, today’s battle has proven to Kazami that the Hundred Demon Empire has been targeting Japan’s “Super Energy” sources like the Getter Rays and Photon Power and Sewashi’s sure they plan on using those for their world-domination plans.
Kouji’s ready to take them on and Tetsuya’s right behind him, willing to defeat not just the demons but any enemy that threatens peace; Yumi understands how they feel and gives permission for the Mazinger Team to join Heizaemon’s group.
Heizaemon admits that we came here precisely to get their help but wonders who’ll protect the lab while they’re away; Kouji sees no problem, though, as all they have to do is kick the Hundred Demon Empire off Japan before they leave.
Problem is, Yumi says, we still don’t have a good idea of what their full plan is or where their stronghold is hidden; Tetsuya sees that Kouji’s as gung-ho as ever and says that finding these men, who’ve hid themselves in human society, is a near-impossible task.

In comes Sandman, though, saying we needn’t worry about that; when Gengoroh asks where he’d gone off to, he says he had a mission of his own to do and has Raven present us with a list containing the name of every person that’s been replaced with a demon in the army and government.
Kazami wonders how they got made this list so quickly and Sandman says he, endowed with beautiful staff and friends like Raven, has been keeping an eye on suspicious activities for a while now; that said, Raven is rather amazed with the skill displayed by the demons as, rather than simply targeting the people in charge, they went for their right-hand men.
Heizaemon and Kazami understand that, replacing big public figures would’ve been easily noticeable so it’s simpler to control those authorities from the shadows and consolidate their dominion over the country; in that case, then, Kouji wants to pummel these infiltrated demons right away but, this time, it’s Raven who vetoes the idea.
He says that we must figure out a way to eliminate the infiltrators that doesn’t let the general public know what’s going on as, if word got out, everyone in Japan would start doubting their neighbor, demolishing society in very short order.
Tetsuya figures quietly assassinating the moles would take too long, but Sandman sounds confident that the demons won't keep their low profile now that ZEUTH’s here.
Best prepare for the next battle as though the fate of all Japan depends on it.

Location: Hundred Demon Empire’s Science Fortress Island – Emperor’s Room

Emperor Brai has just been told by Hidler of his failures to secure both institutes and he’s quick to apologize and place the blame on Tekkouki.
Brai decides to let this slide, adding that they can’t underestimate the power of these ZEUTH folk anymore; Hidler’s certain he can capture both labs if Brai sends over some reinforcements but the emperor reminds him that their true objective is world domination – acquiring these super energy sources are simply a means to that end.
In that case, Hidler asks what to do, then, as it seems ZEUTH is onto their moles; with that in mind, Brai tells him to bait us over and deal with our people directly which causes Hidler to panic, thinking the emperor’s sentencing him to death.
Not quite, Brai will be sending him a Mecha Fortress Demon to use, so he tells Hidler to fight to his heart’s content; Hidler’s relieved, thinking he’s got nothing to fear with that humongous unit, and promises to defeat us and finish the conquest of Japan.
Brai leaves him with a warning not to screw this up and cuts the comm.

After that, Brai turns over to call his chief scientist Gura.
From Hidler’s report, it looks like his student Tekkouki is being a bit rash and Gura apologizes, adding that the kid’s quite talented but, because of that, he’s hard to please; either way, better to let Hidler manage him.
Gura has no complaints about it as every single demon exists to serve the will of the Emperor; with that done, Brai asks if Gura’s if he’s found anything about that alternate energy source he spoke of.
Indeed but Gura say that it’s completely different from the Getter Rays and Photon Power… it might not even be correct to call it “energy” in the first place; it’s more like “dimensional power” and Gura theorizes that an explosion of said matter is what caused the Dimensional Collapse.
This strange yet powerful matter has been detected whenever the Fallen Angels appear and while it is a very interesting phenomenon, Gura doesn’t have enough data to speculate on a connection between the two things.
That said, if they could harness this power, the whole world would be their plaything; since Brai ordered Hidler to go after ZEUTH, he figures there’s a high chance the Fallen Angels will appear now that Aquarion’s joined our team and, when it happens, they can further study this dimensional power.
Brai's even willing to give up on Japan if it means garnering a mightier means to take over the world but, if they can get both the super energy sources and that power, nothing will be able to stop his empire.

----

Extra Dialouge

Kouji & Tetsuya vs Anything

: Let’s go, Tetsuya! Time for our combined attack!

: Leave it to me, Kouji! I’ll follow your lead!

: (That’s it…that’s our tempo.)