Part 30: Mission 9 (Rand) - Prologue

Alright, let’s start on our journey towards turning Aquarion into a broken unit!

Pilot Training:


First and foremost, a lot of Apollo’s PP is spent buying Attack Again and EN Save; following that, Silvia spends all her points buffing her Skill Stat and Sirius will better fulfill his job as an Accelerate-battery by stacking up on SP Up (I might buy him EN save later as he makes a good mook destroyer).

The reason for this set-up is that, when the Element System activates, Silvia’s massive Skill stat will pass on to Apollo which will allow him to double attack pretty much anything in the game (save for some end-game bosses but we can always buff Silvia more).
EN Save is there to give Aquarion some extra mileage as his later attacks are very costly.



As I said before, Gavane’s best suited as a squaddie so he takes the standard-issue Backup Attack.


Unit Upgrade:



As a Super Robot, Aquarion wants a bit of everything (outside of mobility, of course); however, it should be noted that he doesn’t need accuracy as much as others seeing how Apollo already benefits from Sirius’ impressive Accuracy stat and has the added bonus of his ESP.


Squad Management:



Loran’s no longer an event deployment, so Gain’s forced to return to the back row:

• Rand, Gain, Sara
  
• Garrod
  
• Gainer
  
• Jiron, Rag, Gauli
  
• Loran, Harry, Miashey

Now, on with the plot!





Aboard the Iron Gear, Sirius is being told how they’ve been warped to a different world than their own.
Rand and Mel knows it sounds unbelievable but he’s certain it’s the only explanation for what happened to the Elements – even if they don’t understand or believe us, it’s the truth. Silvia asks, then, how do they return to their own world but, of course, Rand doesn’t have a clue.
Sirius is a bit irked at Rand’s bluntness but there’s no other way to say it: we don’t know how or why the warps are happening.

Harry wasn’t aware that this phenomenon was happening on Earth and Gain tells the story of how one took us from Galia to Ameria.
Gavane, at least, now understands how it was that Inglessa managed to gather such an impressive posse of machines in just one night – it’s a damn shame we didn’t get warped to Luzianna, he thinks. Gainer and Sara only want to go home and aren’t fond of being used as political tools by Inglessa or Luzianna, what with the trouble it brings, and Gavane apologizes for his suggestion.



Sochie, as expected, is a annoyed that Loran kept this secret from her, too.
She wonders how he can be her employee if he’s hiding so much but Garrod steps in, telling her Loran only kept quiet because he didn’t want to give her cause to worry anymore. “Kihel” agrees with him, thinking Loran only wanted to protect them – same reason why he kept his Moon Race origins a secret.
Since it’s her “sister” saying this, Sochie decides to let it go. Still, she won’t forgive him if he hides something from her again.
Loran agrees and, inwardly, thanks Kihel for the help.



Back to Rand, he sees that Sirius and the others are confused due to the situation but he thinks there’s no reason for him to be so unfriendly – we’re not the enemy here.
Sirius replies that he’s not confused, he always keeps his spirit calm and serene. Silvia tells him someone like Rand, who’s clearly similar to “that beast”, can’t possibly understand - people like them are beyond saving.
Apollo heard that and taunts the “stupid girl” to keep talking when she has her own beast-like strength. Before Silvia can get in Apollo’s face, Gain jumps in and suggests that, since they’re our guests, they should introduce themselves.

Sirius finds it agreeable and introduces himself while adding that he’s one of DEAVA’s Elements. When Gainer asks, he explains that an Element is someone with special qualities that led them to be selected as an Aquarion pilot.
Burume asks if he’s putting on airs like that because he’s from this DEAVA and Silvia takes offense: “My brother is the Prince of the Alicia Kingdom! Savages like you are nothing like him!”, she yells.
Chil wonders if it’s prince as in “lives in a castle” prince and Elchi had sensed the grace and refinement behind his words and actions. Sirius, however, tells Silvia to stop as their kingdom has long since disappeared.



Having heard how she refers to Sirius, Jiron assumes she’s his younger sister. She confirms that she is that NOW.
Gainer wonders about that “now” bit and she explains: 12000 years ago, she was his lover. Gainer is a bit scandalized but, once again, she reminds him that she said 12000 years ago.
Sara’s going to need a better explanation and Sirius takes care of it: back then, in a place called Atlandia, a never-ending war raged between the humans and the Fallen Angels, much like the ones we saw yesterday.

At the climax of the war, the Fallen Angels' greatest hero, Apollonius, a.k.a. "The Wings of the Sun", sided with the humans and managed to seal Atlandia away in another dimension. Elchi wonders why Apollonius sided with humanity and, apparently, his betrayal was due to him falling in love with the human Celianne.
Together with Celianne, Apollonius piloted the Machine Angel Aquarion into battle.



Rand figures it’s a real romantic story but Silvia insists that it’s all true, as evidenced by Aquarion’s existence.
The Aquarion currently in our hangar is the very same that took part in that ancient battle – it was, until recently, slumbering in ancient ruins until its discovery. Loran notices that it’s the same as the White Doll in this regard.

As for Celianne, it turns out that Silvia has inherited her memories as part of her "past life". Mel still doesn’t understand and Sirius says that, when a person is reborn, he or she may inherit the memories of a previous life.
As the Alicia royalty are Celianne's direct descendants, it seems Silvia is Celianne reincarnate. Rand then figures that, by her reasoning, her brother would be Apollonius reincarnate and, while she agrees, Sirius stops her right there.
He protests that he’s no memory of his past life as the Wings of the Sun and, therefor, anyone could very well be his actual reincarnation.



Pierre then enters, saying that they came to this city precisely to investigate the possible reincarnation of the “Wings of the sun”.
He quickly introduces himself as Pierre Vieira, self-appointed ladies’ man (Sochie quickly tags him as a shallow man and warns her sister to stay away). Sirius asks about Reika and Glenn and Medic, tagging along, says they’re both asleep but Glenn is in pretty bad shape.
While Medic has emergency facilities here, he'll need a full-fledged hospital if the man is to be saved. Elchi figures Nocis probably has some of what he needs, but Sirius wants to stay in the city in case it gets warped again.

Jiron asks if that’s wise, as they might be attacked by more of those skeletons from before and Rand asks if those were also Fallen Angels. Sirius says those are shock troops called Cherubim Soldiers.
Following the so-called Great Catastrophe of eleven years ago, the Fallen Angels awakened and began invading the human world. Aquarion and the Elements are DEAVA's means of fighting back, fueled by the Elements' reawakened special abilities.
Gain figures those abilities are what allowed Pierre to kick fire around and he confirms, adding that on top of his pyrokinesis, there’s Silvia’s telekinesis and Sirius' swordsmanship.



Apollo for one isn't impressed as these Elements couldn’t do jack today.
Jiron tries to get him to settle down, saying Sirius and the others did the best they could but he’s not having it – because they didn’t act fast enough, Baron and others were taken.
Sirius won't deny that they made mistakes today, but also won't suffer anyone to insult the way Reika and Glenn risked their lives in battle - Apollo is more than happy to fight over it.
“You may have qualities of an Element…I’ll concede that much. However, you’re certainly not the reincarnation of the Wings of the Sun! And you’re much less a companion of mine!”, Sirius yells.

Elchi won’t have any fighting inside her ship but the argument is interrupted when another Hypnosound is heard. Cotsett knows this means more Fallen Angels are coming and Elchi’s about to order a retreat when Kihel reminds her that fleeing would probably result in further damage to this town and the neighboring areas.
As Inglessa’s militia, we should be able to halt the Fallen Angels’ onslaught right here. Harry is impressed at Kihel’s commanding presence, seeing that her similarity to Diana extends beyond appearance (Ho-hum…).
Elchi hesitantly agrees, thinking she couldn’t bear to face Gwen if she ran away now and Jiron is pumped to fight to stop other people from being taken like Baron. Sirius and Silvia are also deploying but Apollo doesn’t seem any less angry.



: …
: What’s wrong, Rand? You’re not deploying?
: Gainer…you think we might be running full-speed into a huge mess…?
: Huh?
: Well, we’re fighting those monsters. I’d say we’re already in a big mess.
: No, that’s not it. I’m talking about those warps.
: What about them?
: My boss has been missing for four years…Mel and I have been chasing after them this whole time.
: Four years and we didn’t find a single clue. But, during this past month, look at how many warps we ran into.
: And they’re quickly getting bigger and more dangerous…
: Do you think it’s a prelude to something?
: An even bigger warp than the ones before, maybe…?
: Yeah…
: Darling…
: Don’t make that face, Mel. Even if that happens, we’ve no choice but to keep moving forward.
: Burn down any obstacles on your path! That’s the “THE HEAT” way of life!
: But…
: Don’t worry. Whatever happens, I’ll protect you… That’s the promise I made to the boss.
: I may not be the smartest fella here but I don’t lie. So, relax.
: …Yes. I’m counting on you, darling…



At the hangar, Sirius and Silvia run into Reika who isn’t willing to lay in bed while the enemy’s coming – she wants to fight for Glenn.
The Hypnosound strikes again and Reika instantly doubles over in pain. Sirius realizes that her sensitive psyche has been badly traumatized in the previous battle – Glenn’s state is also weighing down on her mind and she’s in no shape to fight.
Sirius quickly orders Pierre to take the Vector Sol, while he takes Mars and Silvia takes Luna. He tells Reika not to worry and adds that he’ll bring her a rose of victory as a gift.



Pierre is pumped to finally pilot the Vector Sol but Apollo shows up tells him to move.
He commands the “amateur” to stand down and he’ll show what the true “dance of battle” is like. Pierre notices how his personality is completely different and wonders if he’s accessing the memories of his past life.
“Wait for me, Celianne! I’m coming!”, Apollo yells.