Part 79: Mission 23 - Challenge of the Hundred Demons - Part 1
Mission 23 – Challenge of the Hundred Demons
Michiru has patrolled ahead on her Lady Command and she’s spotted a large government force near the lab, which means an attack is imminent.
Saotome sees that Roger’s warning that they would try to take the place by force was right and Genki isn’t happy. Fudou says, in that case, we must stand our ground firmly to stop them from doing so but DEAVA’s Jerome isn’t that certain, figuring this would be an act of defiance against the government.
Sophia does raise the point that having DEAVA personnel in here is already a violation of the current martial law and Jerome says it’s because Fudou wanted the Elements to come here for some joint special training.
Either way, Fudou says there’s no going back: “Let us begin the purge of the darkness that’s nested within this nation!” Chloe soon detects a bunch of government mobile suits approaching.
Kurt tells Saotome that we’re receiving a transmission via one of the enemy units.
It’s the one-eyed man, complaining at Saotome’s refusal to cooperate with them despite their many “requests” but the professor has dedicated his life to researching the Getter Rays and isn’t about to let it be used for someone’s ambitions. The man feigns ignorance but Saotome has figured that they’re strengthening their forces like this to wage war against the rest of the world and he won’t help them with that.
The one-eyed man wanted to get the institute without any violence but it seems there’s no way around it and gives the troops the order to attack. Aquarion Luna has deployed with Reika as the head and Apollo tells her to switch to him – he’ll take them out in one go.
Fudou vetoes it, though, and Sirius asks why as Reika’s mind is still unstable ever since the Harvest Beast attack – she can’t fight. Fudou calls him naïve and asks if he thinks he can keep Reika away from battle like this.
Silvia thinks there’s nothing that we can do but Fudou isn’t having it: “Which one is it, Reika: you can’t fight or you won’t fight?” he asks. Tsugumi offers some support to her senior, saying that Reika helped her discover her own courage so she’s sure she’ll be able to get through this.
Pierre tells her to give it a try and, if things go south, they’ll lend a hand; Jun wonders if it’s alright for Aquarion to fight against humans but Fudou says we’ve no choice.
On top of that, Rena adds that these people aren’t humans anymore.
When Silvia asks what that means, she says all will become clear soon enough. Either way, Apollo wants to get going as he’d never be able to face the Getter Team if the lab got stolen while they were guarding it.
Michiru will also help and she wants everyone to do their best until Ryouma and the others return – meanwhile, Saotome closes the lab’s dome to protect against the enemy barrage.
Reika’s not looking too good but she slowly tells Sirius that she’s fine and willing to do this as a way to make up for what happened to Glenn (who's been in a coma ever since).
Mission Objective: All enemies shot down
Mission Failure: Any allied unit shot down
Skill Point: Clear the map by the end of turn 7
By the amount of time given by the skill point, you should be able to deduce that we’ll have more enemies to deal with eventually; this point isn’t VERY hard but you still need to move quickly.
To get the most leeway, it’d be best if you managed to kill all enemies during the 3rd turn player’s phase – this might require some lucky crits and/or save scumming, though.
If you miss that spot, you can still get the point but you’ll need to rush even more.
Aquarion Luna (Reika Kou)
Pilot Skills:
- ESP L3
- Counter L4
- Support Defense L2
- Gain (20)
- Focus (15)
Reika’s Voice Actress: Sanae Kobayashi (other know works: Catherine in Macross Frontier, Madlax in Madlax and several others)
Reika’s the same as she was before but two things should be noted: by Fudou’s order, you cannot switch to either Apollo and Sirius and, to make things worse, she starts at 60(!) morale due to her hesitation.
I didn’t think to do this at first but it is absolutely recommended to use Apollo to cast Spirit as any extra morale helps kill enemies faster.
Before anything else, though, let’s take a look at Michiru:
Lady Command (Michiru Saotome)
Pilot Skills:
- Support Attack
- Prevail L3
- Backup Attack
- Scan (1)
- Accelerate
- Vigor
- Alert
- Jamming Ability (+10% to evasion and accuracy to the entire squad
- Resupply Module
Michiru’s Voice Actress: Rihoko Yoshida (other know works: Miwa Uzuki in Steel Jeeg, Maria in Grendizer and many others).
Michiru’s the standard support girl and she’s quite reliable: she can fly, she’ll recover the squad’s EN, she knows Accelerate and has Jamming.
Don’t expect her do to jack for damage as the Lady Command has piss attack power but it has good movement range and decent mobility (you may want to spare it either a part or some cash to upgrade it, though) but it’s got horrible HP and defenses, so keep an eye on it.
All in all, I usually keep her together with Getter but she’ll fit well in any kind of squad.
With that done, both women move forward and we brace for the incoming attack.
Enemy Phase!
Reika seems to be the priority target as most enemies run towards her – this Daughtress does get in range.
: Urk…!
: Stay strong, Reika! One may lose sight of even the light if she faces away from it!: But…if I fight, I’ll bring misfortune to all of you…!: I…
The enemies are lacking their Nobuyuki Hiyama voice today…hmm…
One Daughtress does gun for Michiru.
: We’ll keep this place safe while Ryou, Hayato and Benkei are away!: The Saotome Institute embodies my father’s dream…I won’t let anyone take it!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ5Jq32I81E
I suppose everything helps.
Player Phase!
After retrying a couple of times, I found this to be the better spot to set the Luna (I remember to cast Spirit now).
We need her to draw the attention of everyone as Reika can oneshot these guys if she gets a crit with her bow.
Michiru, meanwhile, will hang far away and deal with her one Daughtress.
Enemy Phase!
Hi-Zacks like getting up close but we can leave this one alive.
Fine, fine.
Everyone but this single Dagger-L plays ball and goes for Reika; now, we’re left with only this and that Hi-Zack left alive.
Player Phase!
Michiru and Reika each take their last kills and we’re making good time.
The enemies are shot down but Saotome's got a hunch about the enemy pilots, and orders Michiru to round them up for study at the lab.
Reika seems to be struggling and Tsugumi’s worried as it looks like she took some decent damage. She tells her not to worry, though, as this is nothing compared to the pain Glenn’s going through.
Jun asks about Glenn being an Element from before him and Tsugumi joined DEAVA and Pierre fills him in on Glenn’s run-in with the Fallen Angels during their first combination: thus far, he’s still comatose and is undergoing treatment in a Federation Army hospital.
Apollo sees that she’s feeling down and says they can’t fight together like this; Sirius tries sticking up for her but Apollo sees something too strange to be simply chance: every time they tried to evade, it backfired on them.
Reika says it’s her fault as she “calls misfortune” but there’s not time to explain as we soon hear some hypnosound. Fudou says that they sensed that Reika’s not at the top of her game and decided to take advantage of it to destroy Aquarion.
A huge mob of Fallen Angels appear and things aren’t looking too good.
Nearby, the one-eyed man sees their arrival and moves to summon the main force before the Fallen Angels wreck this area – they MUST get control of the lab. Roger then shows up, questioning if that main force is really comprised of humans.
It seems he thought there a few suspicious things going on but he didn’t expect it to extend this far – either way, he plans on making the man pay for using him in his conspiracy and, to start off, he’ll have the one-eyed man reveal who he really is.
A familiar voice tells him to wait, though, and says the job of exposing THE TRUTH is his to do.
”Reveal your true nature under the moonlight, inhuman one!” Schwarzwald yells and the one-eyed man is revealed to be an One-Eyed Demon: Dokuganki, a servant of the Hundred Demon Empire, as Roger suspected.
The demon isn’t happy with Roger’s meddling and runs off to call his personal troops. Roger still has stuff he wants to ask him but Schwarz says he needn’t chase after the demon as there’s no place for him to flee.
Regardless, Schwarz is quite happy. The two travelers from Paradigm City simply running into each other in this vast world? This kind of serendipity calls for a celebration!
Roger counters that he’s no interest in conversing with Schwarz, though, and that’s just as fine. Schwarz says they both wish for the truth and, tonight, they’ll catch a glimpse of it!
Dokuganki deploys with a big group of forces and, if anything, he can now stop that charade – he tells his men to destroy both the Fallen Angels and the defenders, and to take the Saotome Institute as a show of the Hundred Demon Empire’s power.
Apollo tells Reika that they don’t have time to be scared when we’re facing both these enemies but, to make things worse, Chloe gets one more signal incoming and Rena senses an enormous willpower.
: AHAHAHAHAHA! Do you hear me, Negotiator?!: I shall now reveal to you a small piece of the truth!
: …
: No way! The Fallen Angels are afraid of that bandaged guy…?!
: That man...he’s touched the Taiji...?
: Oh, pitiful, lost dolls! If you do not wish to be bound by the chains of fate, obey my command! : Give these blind fools a taste of your destructive power!
: Grrr! Return fire! Show them the strength of the Hundred Demon Empire – the rulers of the world!!
: Aaah!: Urk! They've us surrounded! We can’t counterattack or even retreat like this!
: Damn it, we just can’t catch a break!: Do you see this, Roger Smith?! The world will once again submit before this truth…in the form of its destruction!: This power is the truth! The power that recreates the world!!
: I refuse to accept that!
: BIG O, SHOWTIME!
: Good thing we brought Big O along with us.: Roger Smith, you, a Dominus, would deny the truth?
: It’s impossible that such wanton destruction could be the “truth” of any kind…!: Schwarz, by my own laws, I will stand against you, the Fallen Angels and the demons!
: Whoa, that guy’s pretty cool…!
: Heh…talk about a badass helper. We owe ya one, Roger Smith!
: As I thought, you’re the Aquarion pilot that I met in Siberia.: Let’s go, Reika! It ain’t gonna look good if we just sit back at let him handle everything!: B-but…If I fight, I’ll bring misfortune to everyone around me again! Just like Glenn!: You’re wrong, Reika! Glenn risked his life and fought alongside you and I’m sure he doesn’t regret it!: But…: You keep talkin' about "Misfortune"...Yeah, right! You call this misfortune?! : Don’t forget that Ryouma and the others saw their friend die! But they’re still out there, fighting, so the world doesn’t end up like that mummy says!
: !: Open your eyes, Reika! If you don’t fight, then the world will be wrapped in misfortune!: Sirius…!
: Machine Angel...! You are an apostate who’s turned his back on the truth and I now sentence you to death!*A Cherubim soldier charges after Aquarion*
: A Fallen Angel’s approaching!
: Show 'em your misfortune!
: …You’re right. If I can never fully escape it, then…
: I will master this misfortune!: Yeah! Let 'em have it!!
: HAAAAAAAAAAA!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHHwrJIowZI
: You did it, Reika!
: Amazing…! She transformed the energy of her misfortune into attack power! : The strength to go beyond the absolute bottom of one's misfortune…
: Truly, BOTTOMLESS MISFORTUNE! 
: I've no idea what Uncle Fudou's talking about. 
: His words sound ominous but they’re strangely reassuring…!: Y'all really don't need to worry about pops’ yacking, ya know.: I suppose so, Apollo. Then, I shall, as usual, act in my own way.
: Roger Smith! How can a Dominus of a Megadeus ally with the Machine Angel?!: Blast you, Negotiator! You'd take the side of the Saotome Institute so soon after being fired?!: Silence, both of you! Whether you tried to use me for your unfair agenda or are trying rain destruction upon the world over some twisted “truth”…: I won’t tolerate either one of you!: Indeed!
: BIG O! ACTION!!: We’re going in, too!
Alright, here’s the kicker to the Skill Point: you only need to shoot down the Big Duo and the Mecha Dokuganki.
So, only kill what you need from the mooks and, as the timer starts to run out, take out their leaders (whatever mooks remain will retreat, FYI); if you’re short on time, you’ll need to rush them which means morale might be strained.
As expected, Schwarz will constantly go after Roger, so use him as bait.
Roger’s very far from everything but he can inch forward enough to aim for a Xibalba.
Good, good.
Apollo moves a bit closer to the middle of the battlefield to increase the number of things he can punch.
Enemy Phase!
The first Cherubim decides to attack Apollo from afar.
: Come on, Sirius, Reika! We’ll deal with the Fallen Angels and the Demons in one go!: You needn’t tell me that!: Oi! What’s your problem, dumbass Prince?!: The enemy’s right in front of us, you two! Save your bickering for later!
: Y-yeah!
: (Did you hear that, Glenn..? Your beloved Reika is back.)
If only Silvia would come back...I need my Skill stat boosts!
A lot of Fallen Angels start homing in on Roger and three trade blows with him.
The Demons aren’t shy of attacking the Fallen Angels as they move after our people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HczTolONrg
Rocket punches remain the best attack against classic super robot enemies and this Graave Cherubim knows it.
A couple of ships got for Aquarion and get punched away while some are working on stealing a Cherubim kill from us.
Oh god, Schwarz went after Michiru and she couldn’t get Alert cast…he’s pretty damn accurate (87% chance to hit her), so our best bet is to have her defend and pray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVxueSbbrBI
Thank god…
Player Phase!
Ryouma and the others are finally back, worried about their friends.
Apollo wasn’t about to screw up after they left them in charge of keeping the lab safe, of course. Our people quickly notice Big O and are surprised to see Roger here.
He extends his welcome to everyone as it’s been a while since their last meeting and finds it a strange coincidence that they would run into each other like this. Rand and Setsuko quickly recognize Schwarz’ Big Duo from Paradigm City and he also singles them out – indeed, he sees the hand of fate in all this!
Benkei doesn’t care about that, as it seems the demons and Fallen Angels have been running around willy-nilly while they were away. Hayato plans on putting a stop to it all now that we’re back, though.
Dokuganki isn’t happy to see Getter coming back and bringing friends along for the ride and everyone gets their first look at a member of the Hundred Demon Empire. Eiji isn’t impressed with fairy-tale demons wandering about and figures it falls on us to get rid of them.
Gain, if anything, figures Yapan is living up to the legends if the first thing we need to do once we get here is go demon-hunting. Quattro proclaims a three-sided battle between us, the demons and Fallen Angels and gives the orders to initiate the attack.
Dokuganki is increasingly annoyed and wants to get rid of all these nuisances at once. Apollo’s eager to show Ryouma the results of their special training and while Ryouma’s got his back, he says protecting the Saotome Institute is the Getter Team’s job.
Posted this a bit earlier than usual because I wouldn't be able to do so tomorrow; expect the last part on Saturday.
See you all then!