Part 104: Mission 29 (Rand) - Outsiders - Part 2
Before we get this going, there’s one thing we need to go over:
BIG Secret Alert! Arguably the biggest secret in the game and Rand suffers a rather annoying handicap in getting it; while Setsuko has already had the chance to score several points for it, this is the first real chance Rand gets to make progress in it (you COULD have gotten the one point in the Pacific route, shooting Kira down, but that would’ve cost a lot of nice stuff).
Essentially, to get this secret, you need to stack up a total of 9 points OR 7 points with 36 Skill Points – Rand can’t get 9 points without the Pacific Route but 36 Skill Points isn’t hard even on a first playthrough; now, there are two ways to score points on this mission:
- Shoot down Yzak without killing ANY other Zaft units (not even his squaddies): +2 points
- Or, shoot down Yzak while having at least 3 other Zaft platoons alive: +1 point
Mind you, I’m not sure if the Chiram taking out Zaft units counts against you (I hope not because that’d be bullshit) but, just to be safe, I’ll try to wrap this up before any of them die.
Quickly now, let’s look at our two main targets:
Nikick Olson Model (Olson D. Verne)
Pilot Skills:
- Support Attack L2
- Cooperative Attack
- Support Defense L2
Like Atena, Olson is all about being dodgy/accurate while busting powerful ALL and TRI attacks; his HP and Armor are still piss, though, so cast Analyze and throw anyone with Strike on him.
Your SP might be depleted after the Emaan which means you have another incentive to just rush Yzak down for those two points.
GOUF Ignited (Yzak Joule)
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L3
- Fighting Spirit
- Blocking
- Commander L2
- Sword Cut
- Shield Block
Yzak’s Voice Actor: Tomokazu Seki (other known works: Sousuke Sagara in Full Metal Panic, Go in Getter Robo Armageddon, Domon Kasshu in G Gundam and a million other roles)
Oh, Yzak…two games in a row, I’m forced to put up with your antics.
Yzak’s a melee attacker and he has a habit of immediately rushing anything close but he oftenly doesn’t have the defenses to back that aggressive attitude; his Skill is good-ish so he might get some blocking and parrying in but that Prevail L3 certainly isn’t enough to save him against out Super Robots.
He has both a post-movement TRI and ALL attacks which are pretty powerful (especially when paired with that Leader Bonus) but his GOUF’s HP and Armor are worse than Olson’s Nickick which means you should take him out quickly.
Having lost the safety net of his old Duel Gundam’s armor purge only speeds up an already simple process.
In a perfect world, I would have Apollo punch Yzak twice and be done with it but, even after casting Spirit, he’s 1(!) morale away from activating the Element System are there are no mooks in range…
Enemy Phase!
Zaft has started to mass produce ZAKU Warriors and they’re much better than the Chiram’s Ishkicks.
Seeing how our team is so very far away, the two groups start fighting each other: one Ishkick dies but, other than that, they just trade blows.
Player Phase!
Apollo only needs some morale and I try sending Eureka after Henry to, hopefully, allow someone to take him out.
His squaddies are gone but, sadly, there’s no one that can get close enough.
With no other choice, we’ll have to hope no Zaft mooks get dropped between this turn and the next (I still don’t think it counts if you’re not the one who kills them but I’m paranoid like that).
: We’ve finally broken through the Rivalry Zones and made landfall. I can’t just go back empty-handed!
: Let’s go! I’ll show you all how Yzak Joule does battle!
Yup, that’s Yzak.
Enemy Phase!
While a handful of mooks hit each other (no kills), a few Zaft mooks decide to tangle with us.
Apollo just defends and that’s enough to get the Element System going.
Yzak, meanwhile, picks on our dodgiest mech and promptly regrets it.
Thanks for the free kill, Henry!
Pew, pew.
He unceremoniously ejects right before his mech explodes.
Atena and Olson are coming over while Robert’s wasting time weakening random mooks.
Player Phase!
Alright, let’s take this guy out before anything bad happens. Still trying to push Gain to level 38 to teach him OverSense L3 and get that sweet, sweet OverSkill running.
Three more levels to go until he gets there. Meanwhile, Burume has learned Counter L4.
Yzak concedes that we’re stronger than expected but yells that it’s not enough to stop him and recovers a bit of HP.
Garrod’s surprised that he’s still good to go and Yzak yells not to underestimate him – he didn’t survive the previous war by mere chance. Dearka gets in touch right then and tells him to withdraw.
Yzak isn’t amused, telling him to get down here with his squad if he’s the time to speak nonsense like that but Dearka clarifies: THAT “legged” thing has showed up.
Dearka’s already tracking it down and wants Yzak to join up – he agrees, putting his fight with ZEUTH on hold for now. Roybea’s surprised that he took off like that, seeing how serious he seemed, but Michiru’s intercepted enough of their comm to hear that “legged” business.
None of us know what it means but, since this is Zaft we’re talking about, Hayato figures it’s gotta be something important…
It really isn’t, Hayato…
Now this is much easier. With all Zaft troops safely away, Gainer moves in and finishes what some of their soldiers started.
Following that, Kei decides to tangle with Robert after he moved so far ahead.
: There you are, Singularity! I’ll be the one to bring you in!
: Don’t even joke about that! I’m not into being chased by creepy old men, ya know!: Silence! I need but capture the Singularity and success will be mine for the taking! You’ll be my stepping stone towards the top!
And there go his two squaddies.
We can’t move too far ahead as we’re trying to draw Atena and Olson closer so we’ll focus on taking Robert out.
Marin cuts him down a bit and leaves everything set for Holland.
Even better, he takes a level and learns Fury.
Olson tells Robert to retreat as further combat would be impossible for him but he refuses to do so after losing so many subordinates in this hunt for the Singularity.
He isn’t planning on doing anything against the Singularity BUT he at least wants to sink the Emaanian ship!
: That Chiram Device is charging right at us!
: A suicide attack?!: Autopilot set…target: Emaanian battleship! Henry, you handle my retrieval!
: Get outta there, Glomar!
: !
: I…I am a man!!
: Mimsy, I’ll protect you!
: Sley!!
: SLEEEEYYY!!
: Sley...no…
: Sley...he’s really gone?
: No, that’s not true! He ejected, right?!
: It wouldn’t have helped…not in that explosion…
: Damn it…how…!
: Sley…: He…he gave up his life to keep Mimsy safe…: Damn it, Sley! I won’t waste your sacrifice!Am I a horrible person if I said that the first thing that popped in my head was that tombstone from Beavis and Butthead? I would so have photoshopped that if I had the skills.
Moving on, Ryouma is outdamaged by Tekkouki and leaves an Ishkick barely alive…which is then promptly punched into the Moon by Aquarion.
Enemy Phase!
Alright, here’s your chance to redeem yourself.
Now that’s more like it, boy!
The only other Ishkick squad goes for Holland, who blows a hole through all of them with a TRI attack.
Here comes Atena, accompanied by some new mass-produced Nikicks.
: …Filth!
: “Filth”?! What are you going on about?: I won’t accept you! I never will!!
Atena taking small damage from Kei: “I’d never let a lecher like you get a clean hit on me!”
Her squaddies are men, though, so they get torn to shreds.
No time to wonder why Atena’s so pissed – Olson’s also gunning for Kei.
: (You haven’t changed at all, Kei… You’re skilled but I can easily see through your mannerisms.): Whoa, who is that guy?! He snuck in my blind spot!: (It may get a bit rough but I must bring you to Chiram. No hard feelings, Kei…)
One of his squaddies gets blown away in one shot.
Player Phase!
Alright, let’s wrap this up. First off, Gain busts a TRI attack on Atena and Ziene kills the other two mooks that attacked Holland.
Quickly, Gainer will clean up the last Ishkicks.
Alright.
Eureka further wrecks Olson’s day…
And Rand will handle the rest with Atena.
Boosh!
Atena isn’t happy that the Singularity and friends keep giving her this much trouble but Olson quickly orders her to pull back – their mission doesn’t end today.
She begrudgingly does so but Kei is still left wonder, certain that he’s seen her movements somewhere before.
Marin’s fallen a bit behind on levels, so let’s do something about it.
Very nice. Marin learns Prevail L6 and Analyze, while Hilda gets Lift Technique L5.
Olson sees that he can’t go on and tells all units to retreat (
).With all enemies dealt with, Jamil wants to leave the area immediately and Shaia agrees.
Kei thinks of how Sley, despite his fear, showed himself a true man in his last moments and this whole thing seems to strike a sour note for Ziene: “Sacrificing your life for your comrades…” she mumbles, saddened. Rand’s thankful for the grief she offers for our friend and, with that, Ziene will be taking off.
Rand asks what Asakim’s up to nowadays and she says he’s very busy with a lot of things – the world itself has begun to shift, too. Rand’s quickly reminded of how the Chiram were also after him way back when (mission 21) but, regardless, Ziene leaves with a warning for us to keep an eye on what the other half of ZEUTH’s been doing.
Mel wonders what she meant by that and Gainer, inwardly, has realized something. Whatever it is, it seems to him that it’s been validated by Ziene’s words and what we’ve seen of Zaft’s actions today.
Rand muses that a lot of things are starting to move with us right at the center of it all – this is likely to become complicated…
Gainer, I already have to deal with our usual cryptic people…why are you also jumping on that bandwagon?
Location: Pacific Ocean – Glomar, Hangar
This isn’t a Z song but it is from Orguss, so I think it’s appropriate.
Far away from the Emaanian nation, Jabby tells Kei that Mimsy’s locked in her room and doesn’t want to see anyone right now.
Mel, Michiru and Sara are having a hard time accepting that Sley’s dead, realizing how he gave it his all to help Mimsy and, in the end, laid down his life for her. Hayato says it’s what he wanted, even if his own feelings were unrequited.
Riea’s surprised at him implying that Mimsy didn’t love the guy but Papty says that she did see him as a valued friend but, unfortunately, that alone doesn’t make it love.
Maai now sees why Mimsy never went ahead with marrying Sley and Adette wonders if she’s really fallen for Kei, then.
Talho wonders about that but, still, she figures the best thing for us to do is to leave her alone for now. Kei approaches them and says Shaia’s calling everyone over to the living room.
Renton assumes it’s got something to do with what happened at Emaan and Kei confirms, adding that there’s something that they now HAVE to do…in Sley’s memory.
Shaia just gave us the rundown of the situation but the question in Jamil’s mind is: what does she plan on doing from here on out? Truth be told, she isn’t sure since she doesn’t have a good read on the danger gripping Emaan and the world itself.
Still, the idea that our world is doomed to collapse is quite surprising to Gain. Gainer doesn’t like Gain’s casual tone, as if this is someone else’s problem, but then Rand asks what he suggests we do against this crisis.
He figures we could have Kei repair space-time but, then, Ana asks if he’d do that regardless of Kei’s own feelings about this. Indeed, Rand tells him to consider how important Kei is in this whole thing compared to everyone else and, while he certainly can’t agree with the Emaanians wanting to force him to do it, he can see what drove them to that point.
Garrod asks what they should do, then: do we ask Kei to go and fix space-time for us? There lies the problem for Jamil as, from what Shaia told us, Kei’s mind is going to influence the repair process itself and, if he doesn’t make a good job, it could result in the destruction of the very worlds he was trying to save.
Holland now understands that the Chiram and Emaanians were after Kei to make sure the repair would create a world as per their wishes.
With that in mind, Rand asks Kei what HE wants to do but, just like Shaia, he isn’t sure.
Rand figures there’s nothing to be done, then, and Gain says any normal person would be confused after being told that they’ve free reign to mold the world in any way they want. If anything, Garrod is relieved as he was wondering what to do if Kei started going crazy with the power to save and destroy whichever country he wanted.
Kei’s not that kind of guy, though, as he’s well aware that there are people living in all those countries so he’d never be OK with any of them getting destroyed. Ryouma’s glad that he thinks that way but Oliver is worried, considering that Kei’s got no idea on how to proceed from here on out in this Singularity business.
Shaia doesn’t think this needs to be dealt with right now but she doesn’t mean they should just ignore the problem. So far, all their group has done was follow Emaan’s script and, as such, she wants to keep travelling the world with everyone and gain some perspective to more than just the one nation.
Kei’s all aboard that idea and, while Shaia says the world needs him, the least she can do is give him his freedom and then they can, together, decide how to proceed.
When Jamil asks, Holland agrees with Shaia and adds that he’s not about to let one person bear responsibility for the fate of the entire world.
That said, Elchi wonders if we have to pretend that we don’t know of the incoming collapse and the best Jamil can think of is to tell Löwen. He figures he can be trusted with this and, furthermore, he can pass the information along to Edel for us.
Holland asks what do to about the Plants, considering they’ve tagged us as wanted men, and Jamil thinks this is important enough that they should also be made aware.
Gain figures we can have Löwen reach the other ZEUTH half and have them relay the info to Durandal (this could also help shed some light as to why we’re being wanted by Zaft).
Jamil agrees to have Löwen act as our mediator with them but Gainer seems hesitant. When Jamil asks, though, says there’s nothing wrong.
Still, Gain sees that he’s troubled and wonders if he’s hiding something from us.
Shaia somberly concedes that Sley would still be alive if she’d decided to stay with Emaan but she’s also aware that there’s no use thinking about that now – they cannot return – and her purpose will now be to wander the world.
Everyone else in in that same boat, seeing how our pursuers are now the Emaan, Chiram, Federation and Plants. Apollo tells them to bring it on as he doesn’t own any sort of obedience to those guys and Sirius understands: we’re outsiders, pariahs, who’ve decided to isolate ourselves from those groups.
Holland agrees, saying he’ll follow his own path even if the whole world turns against him and, to Shaia, ZEUTH is the only place where they all belong. Marin seems taken with the idea and he should, considering he’s also one of our buddies in Apollo’s eyes.
Hayato suggests Marin drop his “lone wolf” act now and Jiron agrees: we’re all wanted men, aliens, vagrants, Singularities and Newtypes, whatever – anything goes with us. Raita isn’t feeling all this camaraderie towards Marin but Ryouma says the guy has fought alongside us a bunch now, so what else is there to think about?
Matthew says Raita won’t be able to enjoy the world for what it is as long as he insists on fussing over small details. Even Ana doesn’t care for that kind of people and Gain tells him to give up, especially seeing how he hasn’t found a single shred of evidence to accuse Marin of being a spy.
Raita turns to Oliver, who promptly says he’s got nothing, and Marin tells them not to go all soft on him: their taunting helps get him in the mood for combat!
Kei pulls Rand over to the side and wants to ask how come he’s a Singularity, too, but, of course, Rand has no idea why.
This is especially curious to him because of the fact that the Singularities are supposed to be the people who were at the scene of the outbreak of the Great Singularity, the Orbital Elevator (which Rand wasn’t). Either way, Rand knows that the Chiram and Emaan also have their eyes on him but he certainly won’t let them have their way.
Like Kei, he’s wants to stay in charge of his own ideas.
Aboard the Chiram mother-ship, Olson reports Kei’s break with the Emaanians to his superior, Wesley.
Still, he thinks this’ll make it easier to complete their mission and promises he’ll bring Kei back. Wesley says there’s been a change of plans, though, and his new mission will be to kill Kei on sight.
There’s only so much Wesley can divulge over an unsecure transmission but he says it won’t be long before their country doesn’t need a Singularity anymore – Olson quickly realizes he’s talking about “Project D”. However, they can’t risk the Emaanians or any other nations making use of Kei and, as such, it’s best if he’s taken out of the equation.
Olson points out that he himself is a Singularity, and asks if Wesley intends the same fate for him but Wesley denies it, saying Olson’s ability as a soldier, his oath of fealty to Chiram and value as an insurance policy will keep him safe (Olson seems dubious).
Wesley wishes him good luck in his assignment and cuts the comm. “Project D: a plan to fix space-time by using a new Space-Time Oscillation Bomb…to think it’s come this far. Kei, it seems there’s no way out for either of us. ”, Olson thinks.
What were you talking about the Emaanian's plan being terrible, truegent?
South Amerian Continent – Chiram Capital, Presidential Office
Jamitov has called the Chiram president on a special hotline, so he presumes it’s something important. Indeed, Jamitov has come to request the Chiram’s cooperation as fellow inhabitants of the multi-dimensional world.
The president is dubious at the honesty of those words but, regardless, Jamitov goes straight to the point: he wants the Chiram to provide the New Federation with ALL of their space-time control technology.
Jamitov says they’re both aware of where the world is headed and, as such, the Federation wants to work together with them to prevent it from happening.
Time for another Bazaar event! Let’s keep on trekking towards those nice parts.
Seems like Kei’s going to sell that “Hong-Kong video” as he was, originally, planning on showing it to Sley once things calmed down but…yeah.
Rand asks if he’s planning on trading it for something else and Kei confirms: he figures he should buy some sort of memento of this area, as it’s very likely we won’t come back. Mome notices that Mel seems to have an idea for it and Kei asks her to lead the way.
Mel agrees but she doesn’t want to hear any complaints once they get there.
Secret Alert! - Rand’s Fallen Angel Feathers – 3rd Step: Purchase the Emaan Souvenir Pennants (エマーン土産のペナント)
Our people bring the pennants back and Apollo’s quick to wonder what those things, which Jun says are rather unpopular souvenirs sold at various tourist spots, are doing in the ship.
Mome tells him we were the ones who bought those and Jun’s blown away that someone actually paid money for something crappy like that. Kei doesn’t agree, saying that while it’s not that impressive, these souvenirs have actually made some people happy.
He points them “thatta way” and we see Goove and Leeg, amazed at all the famous Emaanian locales depicted in the pennants. Maai and Riea have already staked claim to a couple and Kei only tells them to leave one for Mimsy, impressing Maai with how kind he is.
Reika sees the Emaanians, exuding nostalgia at the sight of these pennants from a homeland that they won’t be able to return to, and both she and Tsugumi now understand how thoughtful these presents from Kei were. Rand tells the kids to observe how a true ladies-man works his magic and Renton’s already taking notes.
Garrod’s jaw has been dropped by Kei’s superior technique and Gainer’s also impressed by the fact that Kei thought, by himself, to give these mementos to the departing Emaanians.
Jun and the other boys see that they have to follow Kei’s example and Gain sighs that Kei’s done it now: his big idea has dumbstruck the kids.
As for the man himself, he inwardly tells Mimsy that this is all he can do for her right now but he hopes that it’ll help heal her sorrow, even if a little.
Fanart: Thetruegentleman tuns my thoughts into reality. Sorry, Sley!
