Super Robot Wars Z Part #17 - Mission 5 (Setsuko)

Part 17: Mission 5 (Setsuko) - Day of Awakening

Setsuko Route Chapter 5

Last time on Super Robot Wars Z, Glory Star's continued warping around. Probably because Setsuko got Teleportitis or something (Let's see how many people get that one).They ended up getting arrested with a group of Super Robot pilots after fighting off aliens. Arrested by the Cosmic Era Earth Alliance. This will be fun.

Current Top Aces
1. Denzel
2. Kouji
3. Toby
4. Maria
5. Setsuko

With the newcomers here, I give them each a point of HP, Energy, and Accuracy.

Duke Fleed borrows Setsuko's Booster for this mission, he's going to need it.

I also give him a more permanent Chobham Armor, which ups his HP by 500 and his Armor by 100

I then give Toby this Anti-Dust Module, which ups the Virgola 2's Ground Ranking to S, mostly because it's there.

Kappei's old grandpa is still looking for him, but the kid's been running off early and getting home late. His grandmother is just glad he's an energetic little boy, but his mom plans to give him a stern talking to. Just because his dad is always out fishing is no excuse for him to act out.

Speaking of, she's glad old Heizaemon (whew) is finally done with his pottering around. He's been trying to find the legacy of their ancestors, you see, for months now, and he's made their families the laughing stock of the whole town as a result. But "is it really over," mumbles Heizaemon, "or has it just begun?"

Anyway, it's what he wants to talk to Kappei about - he might have found the text he was looking for. And if what's written there is the truth, he needs Ichitaro, and he needs to find that treasure quickly.

Meanwhile, Kouji is trying to convince the Alliance that they're Earthlings, but since the Extraterrestrial Research Lab doesn't exist in this universe, and more importantly, because their craft are unrecognized, their story isn't flying. Kouji can't believe they've fought so hard to protect the Earth for this.

Meanwhile, "Daisuke" asks Denzel what's going on. He's the same Duke Fleed, pilot of Grendizer, but he usually goes by his civilian identity of Daisuke Umon when not in the cockpit. Anyway, Denzel and Toby fill him and Hikaru in on the alternate world thing. And while our world is at the tail end of a long war against aliens, this must be this Earth's first encounter with theirs. They must be keeping us prisoner because we've seen them, suggests Setsuko. Or do they simply believe we're one of their existing enemies? Aliens are one thing, but our story is just insane. Besides, Maria can't blame them for looking askance at our robots. Grendizer is actual alien technology.

"What did you say?" Setsuko jumps out of her seat, drawing the attention of their Alliance guard. Whoops! Toby tries to smooth it over by saying she's just hungry; Denzel hopes they can at least be treated as human beings, as they can see we are.

"Human beings?" spits the Alliance captain. "We're not falling for what. We know you're siding with ZAFT!"

Team Grendizer doesn't even know what ZAFT is, but it just proves Toby's and Denzel's prediction right: they assume we're their existing enemies rather than something unknown. And they say they can prove it, too, by analyzing our DNA and proving we're altered humans.

Starting with Maria! The Alliance officers grab her and start dragging her away. This is bad - if they analyze her DNA, Duke knows they'll find out he and Maria aren't from Earth!

Luckily, their ship gets an S.O.S. just then; the commander has to go, but leaves guards outside the room.

Kouji points out that Maria could have kicked his ass. She knows that, but she didn't want to. "He was... afraid," she says. "He looked at us with such fear and hate..."

What we just got is a personal taste of how Naturals and Coordinators treat each other in this world - not even recognizing the other as human beings. Team Grendizer looks to Denzel once again for information.

They introduce themselves, so let's run through them quickly. Kouji pilots the Double Spazer, and Setsuko recognizes him as the former pilot of Mazinger Z. Where's Mazinger, anyway? Kouji says it's tied up in experiments at the Photonic Power Laboratory. Hikaru Makiba pilots the Marine Spazer, and Maria Grace Fleed, Duke's sister, pilots the Drill Spazer. She shares a name with Duke Fleed, but again, he goes by Daisuke Umon and won't tell us why - that he's keeping the fact that he and Maria are from Planet Fleed secret from our own military.

We're all glad to be working together, but back to the explanation...

Which a fellow prisoner here is also very interested in. His name is Takeshi Tsukikage, leader and manager of the "Blue Fixer," here with his head of research Ella Quinstein and two of his fighters, Jack Oliver and Raita Hokuto. Fighters? Denzel asks, does that make them military? Actually, Blue Fixer is the research arm of this world's environmental committee; they concern themselves with extraterrestrial life and how it can coexist with Earth life. The Alliance has called them in to study us; if we play our cards right, Tsukikage assures us this arrangement right here could be mutually beneficial.

It sounds like they'll be much more helpful than the Alliance, but suddenly Raita roars that it's our fault so many people died in the attack. Kouji snaps that that wasn't our fault, we were the ones trying to save it! Oliver suggests it might have been a trick to gain their trust.

Quinstein admonishes them both not to jump to conclusions - it's not scientific. They shut up, but they clearly haven't been swayed. Still, at least someone's willing to listen to us.

Denzel begins by swearing to Tsukikage on his honor that he's about to give a complete, unbiased account of what's happened to them. He starts at the moon...

Back on the shores of Suruga Bay, it's Kappei versus Kozuki in what they claim is a final duel. Kozuki just has one question, though - what are Aki and Michi doing here? Aki says Kappei just called them out here; Michi is ready to administer first aid if anyone gets hurt. "These pigs? They're my bodyguards!" smirks Kappei.

This Hamamoto fucker (are there any little boys in Kappei's village who aren't dickbags?) starts giving him shit about his crazy senile grandfather, and that is something Kappei won't take.

But before the fight can break out, they spot something over the horizon...

Chapter 5: Day of Awakening

It's the robots from yesterday - and they're attacking the city! Aki and Michi start running back there to find their parents; Kappei wants to stay out of it.

The Alliance guard deploys, along with the Blue Fixer fighters, but they get routed easily, and Oliver and Raita pull out. If they can't do any damage, they'd be better off helping the civilians escape.

But then Kappei hears Ichitaro's voice from the ocean, urging him to come to the shore - and then jump!

A huge ship catches him and he finds himself on its bridge. His grandfather calls this ship the Beal I, the treasure of their ancestors, a weapon against Gaizock. And they're ready to fight back. Kappei just needs to get changed.

His grandmother has prepared his suit and everything. "What am I, a space handyman or something?"

Just wait, Kappei.

Hey, nice ascot. Heizaemon says it's a piloting suit engineered to protect his body from impact. His mother is there too, and she doesn't like this at all, but Heizaemon drops him down a chute...

And into the Zambird as it deploys! Kappei's always wanted to pilot a fighter jet, but unfortunately, he has no idea how. Whoops! Heizaemon tells him to remember "Chapter 33, Lesson 1," and Kappei instantly knows what to push to make the thing fly!

Apparently, Heizaemon has been secretly putting Kappei through post-hypnotic training in his sleep for months. Another trick from the ancestors. "Listen, Kappei! The claws of evil are reaching for this Earth - an evil the ancient texts of the ancestors call Gaizock. It is the duty of the Jin family to fight against them!"

And the Zambird has another trick, "Ace Change," which transforms it into the robot Zambo Ace, of course. Heizaemon and Ichitaro return the Beal I to its hiding place underwater, entrusting the battle to Kappei, who has been just waiting for the chance to teach those monsters to wreck his town.

Right! Our objective right now is to beat up these enemies here, the Battle Mastery hasn't revealed itself yet though.

Invincible Super Man Zambot 3
Kappei Jin - Zambo Ace/Zambird
Voiced by Nobuyo Ooyama

Skills
* Prevail(Level 3) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Resolve - Pilot starts the stage with +5 Will
* Will+ (Hit) - Pilot gains +1 Will every time they hit an enemy.

Spirit Commands:
* Guts(25): The caster regains all HP.

Squad Leader Bonus
*Squad gains the effect of the Will +(Damaged) skill.

Kappei is a strong pilot overall. With Guts there's no problem just rushing into the fray. One unique thing about him is that he'll gain Will absurdly fast, with two skills that let him gain it faster and his Squad Leader bonus effectively gives him a third. He's all about getting powered up fast. The Zambo Ace isn't the strongest unit around and doesn't really fit his strengths though. But that's not much of a worry, he'll be getting a better mech fairly soon.

But that's for later, right now we have to handle things here.

: Come on, Gaizock! Eat the power of my ancestors' treasure!

Hmmm not bad at all. With nothing else to do, I end this turn.

Oliver and Raita are trying to figure out what that robot is. It's not a Mobile suit, but it might be a private operation. Something of Kazami's? Oliver says no, he'd have heard if anything had come out of Trinity City. It wouldn't be the huge cyborg from the Mars Report, would it? Whatever it is, they have to tell Tsukikage; Oliver says he'll go make his report while Raita continues with the evacuation.

These guys being to move up to Kappei.

It really doesn't amount to much.

Especially since Kappei just healed off every bit of damage they did.

Now I end my turn without attacking, I did this because I thought it would make things easier, but it didn't really make any difference so whatever.

The main point is that I blew up the second jerk.

Having beaten up some real live aliens, Kappei struts his stuff for the girls. Kozuki has more questions than praise, though - what's with Kappei's family?

Tsukikage's got the footage of that battle, and while that red robot beat the first wave, it looks like all the other alien squads are converging on Suruga Bay. However tough that thing is, it probably can't take on that whole force at once. The army is out of usable robots, and as we've seen, the Blue Fixer battlemechs are far from up to snuff. Setsuko says they and their mechs could handle it, but Denzel stops her. Given the situation, there are some things that are just out of reach. Tsukikage agrees that we're probably telling the truth about the parallel universe, and even that we may have the noblest intentions.

Sounds good to Team Grendizer. They were going to break out anyway.

Yes, the military would trust them even less, and yes, it would be a stupid move, but they have to protect the town. Quinstein is surprised they'd fight for citizens of another universe, but there it is - everyone on the Dizer Team is determined to do this.

And if that's how it's going to be, the Glory Star is going too.

Setsuko goes from down to up in half a second - maybe the first time her teammates have ever seen her smile, she admits.

Reinforcements arrive. "Bring 'em on!" says Kappei. "I'll kick all their butts!"

Even more arrive the moment he says that. Good job, Kappei. He tells Aki and Michi to get out of there; with this many aliens, they'll crush the whole town over them!

Oh, and he's got three turns starting now to take them all out.

Yup! This stage's Battle Mastery condition is that once the enemy reinforcements arrive, beat them in three turns. Oh yeah, and that first turn will be taken with you being unable to do anything no matter what. They arrive once Kappei, the only playable unit on the field, blows up the last enemy. The game then automatically moves him so you can't adjust his position. Probably the first real challenging Battle Mastery thus far!

All the guys begin got move towards Kappei, this is actually bad. Kappei can't handle them all at once and couldn't even reach them all before the time limit. The enemy phase ends with that.

Kappei doesn't think he can do it anymore.

: Don't think like that. If you don't think you can win, you definitely can't.

: A comm? Who's calling me?

: It doesn't matter who I am. Focus on the enemy.

: I know that! Don't tell me how to fight!

: There, that's what I wanted to hear. Besides, your backup's arrived.

: What backup?

Spazers are really good at getting us places fast! Duke calls the red robot and offers his help.

"Zambo Ace and I don't need any help!" sniffs Kappei.

The Dizer Team is surprised to hear a kid in there, but glad to know at least he's an Earthling. There's no time for introductions, though - we have to save the city as fast as we can, and we'll need all the firepower we've got! "Okay, fine!" grumbles Kappei. "You can do whatever you want!"

You'd expect a little gratitude, but that's not important right now.

What is important is getting those aliens good and smashed. And we're going to have to pull some trickery to do that. We have two turns to defeat them all, and they're quite spread out.

I have Hikaru scan them to get a good look at their stats.

They have two attacks we need to worry about. The Post movement attack has a Range of 3, while the other has a range of 6. Enemies will use the strongest attack that can hit, and will usually prefer not to move if possible. Of course, I can't get anybody in range for their 6 range attack in one turn. So they'll move towards the closest target to hit with their Post movement attacks.

Which is why I move Kappei away from the fight. I do not want those enemies in the water to move towards him, so I make him the furthest target. Two of them will still move up to him on the enemy phase, but that's fine, he take care of them.

Luckily, one is still in range for Zambo Ace's pistol.

: Those aliens are puttin' up a good fight!

: How lame would I be if I didn't fight just as hard?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHY83Z1Jlmw

Unfortunately being in the water gives them a defensive bonus. Still not too much to handle.

Next I move up Duke Fleed, he is now the closest target to those guys in the water up there thanks to me moving Kappei.

Glory Star and the Spazers can clean up the remaining ones down here.

: Well, look at us! Charging out all by ourselves to save the people of another world!

: 1st. Lieutenant... I couldn't bear to stand by and watch civilians die.

: Very dashing, Setsuko.

: I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be insulting!

: Hey, don't sweat it. I'm right with you!

: A soldier's job has meaning when he does it in defense of something. Don't forget this moment, 2nd. Lieutenant.

: Yes, sir!

"Go Glory Star Go!"

Seriously, the hardest part of this mission is those two sitting in the water. You have to make sure they do not go towards Kappei or else getting the Battle Mastery is impossible.

Kouji opens up the barrage on the other side.

: Watch your backs, Hikaru, Maria! They may be scouts, but they're tough!

: Okay, Kouji! You be careful too!

: We have to survive to get back to our world, where Father and Goro are!

With everything done, I end the turn.

Naturally, the two closest to Kappei target him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6iITTzYlE
They both go the same way.

And success! They move towards Duke Fleed, thus securing my victory.

: If their aim these last two days was to gather data...

: Then whoever's behind them must be after the Earth!

I don't think it's mathematically possible for these things to kill Grendizer.

Meanwhile Maria gets the kill on this one for targeting her. With her weakest attack.

The other gets the great idea to target Toby.

This one doesn't have the water to boost its defenses so it's handily one shot.

On my turn I move Kouji up to finish off the one Duke Fleed weakened last round.

Oh geez. I had been hoping that the Spazer Storm would finish it off, but it would seem its B in Water let the punk survive. Whatever, it'll be done next round.

I target this one since it has the higher HP.

It's still blown up.

And on the enemy phase the remaining two suicide on Kappei and Duke Fleed anyways so I win.

Hooray, the army's here! A little late...

But just in time to pull weapons on us and order us to come quietly - the red one, too. They're pinning a forcible escape on us and won't listen to excuses that we were authorized. This must have been their plan all along - let us go so they could accuse us of escaping and have an excuse to put us away. It was probably the army, though - it looked like Tsukikage and Quinstein were in the dark too. Not that admitting that helps us now.

Luckily, we have an escape plan - Heizaemon gets us all into the Beal I and jets! It sucks that we have to make enemies with the Alliance, but this was probably how it was going to go down to begin with.

"So that's the legacy of the Jin family he was talking about," mutters a shadowy figure. "Where will they go from here?"

And back on the Bandock, fat man isn't too broken up about his Domilars getting wrecked. "All material things are doomed to destruction," he rumbles. "This planet's natives are putting up a good fight. I like that. It makes for a better hunt."

Emperor Vega (goddammit) feels the need to point out that Grendizer isn't from Earth, but the big one says it's just as weak a prey. Was it really a threat to them? Poor Emperor Vega, no longer the ruler of the universe. Wandering, with no home, he has no choice but to pledge his cooperation to Gaizock.