Part 87: Mission 26 (Rand) - Into the Nature - Part 1
Mission 26 (Rand) - Into the Nature
Kei notes that the Coralian looks a whole lot more intimidating when you’re looking at it from this close and Stoner’s working with Mel to take as many pictures as possible.
Rand apologizes for him having to coach the girl in photography but that’s just his way of thanking the two of them for their past help. Furthermore, he says Mel’s sensibilities for taking pictures are rather good and she coyly wonders if she oughta quit the repairman business to become a photographer (Rand tells her not to get carried away, now).
Inwardly, Renton remembers what Holland said and wonders if something’s gonna happen over by the Coralian. Garrod pokes his buddy, asking if he’s getting cold feet but he denies being scared.
Jiron tells him not to push himself too hard, though, as this is the first time most of us are seeing that huge cloud thing, too. Oliver asks what is that Coralian and Matthew says it’s a god and he’s the one who’s gotten closest to it.
Gidget confesses that they don’t quite know what it is, only that it’s pretty amazing: “It’s a huuuuge wave…! It comes with a BOOOOM! Then it goes all like WOOOOOOOOSH!” Moondoggie “explains”. That said, Hap tell us that they were warped away the last time they got close to one of these and that’s why they were taken to Rand’s world way back then.
Hap thought it would’ve been a once-in-a-lifetime experience but, obviously, it isn’t so. Stoner calls it the seat of God, the next step in the evolution of human consciousness, which only serves to make Garrod even more confused and, when Renton tries to ask Eureka if she understood, she flatly states that she doesn’t know anything about it.
Over a private channel Talho asks if Holland’s really doing this and, if so, what is his true objective here.
Holland admits that he wants nothing more than to run away, to the other side of the planet and just forget about all this. However, even after the world got all wrecked, they still ended up running into the thing.
Talho figures that since the he can’t and won’t let it go, then, he’ll have Eureka face it? Holland isn’t very happy with her poking that old wound but it’s not difficult for Talho to see what’s his goal here.
Eureka’s starting her charge, telling Renton that their job is to enter the Coralian Zone but the kid’s still worried, saying she doesn’t look too good. Still, since this is what Holland wants, she’s willing to go ahead with it.
Things aren’t gonna be that easy, as Gidget detects something approaching: federal troops.
Holland wonders if they also detected the Coralian and Jamil asks why the feds are also following it. Holland doesn't answer and decides to have Eureka keep going while the rest of us handle the mooks.
Gain sees that he’s, essentially, telling us to act as shields for her and Rand wonders if that’s not asking a bit too much of them. Holland can’t tell us anything right now but he bows his head and begs us for our help.
This is the first time anyone here has seen him act like that and Matthew’s dumbstruck by this – Holland tells him to shut up and asks what’s our decision.
Ryouma isn’t very happy to get into a pointless battle with the feds again but Rand figureswe can’t well ignore the situation now.
Apollo also adds that the army isn’t just going to leave us alone anyway and Jiron simply wants to know what’s up with that Coralian thing. Garrod tells Renton to get going as he still needs to give us those Lifting classes and Holland smirks that we must’ve have a few screws loose somewhere, a perfect match of the Gekkostate crew.
: Here we go, you lot! Time to ride this wave!
: Support the Nirvash everyone! We can do this!
: Renton...our destination is over there.
: Roger that! Let’s go, Eureka!
: Hey…kid.
: Y-yes! What is it?: Keep your eyes open. The subspace sensor has detected that the dimensional walls around this area are unstable.: “Dimensional walls”?: You should hurry, is what I'm getting at. We don’t know what’ll happen if we take this slow.: R-right!
: The dimensional walls are distorted…?
: Think that’s got something to do with that Coralian?
: …
Mission Objective: Eureka reaches the designated area OR all enemies are shot down
Mission Failure: Any battleship or Nirvash shot down
Skill Point: ???
Another hidden skill point but, as usual, you already have the timer running against you: just know that everything needs to be downed by the end of turn 6.
The Mon-soonos are a bit far away but a handful of our units can get to them.
They’re all Mon-soono 20s now and Gainer falls juuuuust short of killing one with a double attack.
Eureka moves ahead and starts attacking whatever’s close.
Tonya quickly detects enemy reinforcements coming over and it’s the Ageha Squad led by Jürgens. They detect the “Kute-class Coralian” up ahead and also the Gekkostate and their collaborators engaging in combat with their advanced troops.
Dominic tells them to move the Izumo to attack at once and eliminate our people but, of course, Jürgens protests that HE is the captain of this vessel and tells him to refrain from giving our orders on his own.
Dominic says this isn’t the time for discussion as, even though Jürgens is the ranking officer, Dominic’s mission is the reason why they came here. That said, Jürgens thinks it’s too dangerous to fight here as they’ve no idea what could happen this close to the Coralian.
Dominic asks if he doesn’t have the confidence to deal with unforeseen circumstances and an irate Jürgens is left without a choice but to confirm the attack seeing how they’ve been assigned to work with the UNE intelligence bureau.
Dominic requests that he also deploy Anemone and, inwardly, Jürgens angrily wonders who these two brats think they are. Kengoh finds the combination of UNE and Predgio Towers troops into one squad to be rather peculiar but, more importantly, Hap sees something else coming from the Izumo.
That’d be Anemone and she thinks “Kute” is a lame name for the Coralian – these army-types really must be morons.
Dominic is in the process of telling her mission when she yells that she already knows what to do. Eureka and Renton notice that her KLF is very similar to the Nirvash.
Anemone doesn’t much care for how the Nirvash looks like her The End and says it’ll be “bye-bye” to us today. Dominic wonders if he gave her too much medicine but knows that he had no choice.
Kei sees Anemone gunning for Eureka and, while Renton’s worried, Eureka seems deep in thought at this Black Nirvash...
Here’s our Skill Point: we have until the end of turn 6 to destroy everything (including the Izumo) and then take out Anemone; the Izumo will gun for the Gekko, so use both it and Eureka to bait them closer while sending some quick units to intercept the farther UNE troops.
This one isn’t too hard but there’s one added thing that you should be mindful of:
Secret Alert! - Rand’s Fallen Angel Feathers – 1st Step: Kei and Shaia must shoot down 8 enemies between the two of them
Remember when I said Rand could get another one of these in his secrets? Here you go.
It’s another lengthy chain but giving SP Regen to someone is always worth it and it’s not like Kei and Shaia (mostly Kei) can’t get that many kills in one mission.
Jürgens is the same as he was before but let’s have a look at our resident crazy girl:
Nirvash The End (Anemone)
Pilot Skills:
- Lift Technique L5
- Counter L7
- Battle Spirit
- Morale+ (Hit)
- Predict
- KLF
Anemone’s Voice Actress: Ami Koshimizu (other known works: Karen Kozuki in Code Geass, Ryuuko in Kill La Kill, Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon Crystal and MANY others).
Anenome’s built pretty much as a glass cannon: her attacks are powerful and long range, while also sporting S ranks in Air which means she’ll dodge like no one’s business thanks to Lift Technique + Predict BUT so long as you have enough SP to cast Strike, you can get through her without much trouble.
She’ll prioritize Eureka, who’s more than capable of dodging her attacks reliably, so just keep her at bay until it’s time to surround her – once that’s done, she’ll easily fall.
FYI: her strongest attack, Vascud Crisis, ignores barriers and size differences while also lowering morale, so keep an eye out for it.
Back to work, Ryouma and co take out the leader of Gainer’s victims while leaving the other two nearly dead.
I’m sending Garrod to intercept the UNE troops and, along the way, he can do a wee bit of damage to Eureka’s target.
Fine, fine…
Enemy Phase!
Kei and Gainer get attack by two packs each, with Kei nabbing two kills and Gainer weakening the others.
This new group of Mon-soonos goes straight for Eureka.
Alright.
Everything else starts coming closer.
Player Phase!
Kei moves to wreck one of the UNE groups while Rand leads the charge against the original Mon-soonos.
How long has it been since I actually used the Freeden for anything?
I try to be clever and have Elchi get some damage but the Iron Gear’s piddly grades against Air targets don’t help; so, Gain switches to the front and nukes the squad before moving farther ahead.
Help me out here, Shaia.
Uuuurgh…I want the Minerva and King Beal baaaaaack…
Also, yes, I gave the Barrier Field to them to help out with survivability.
The Gekko’s hanging back to draw in the Izumo, so Talho finishes Shaia’s work; charging ahead, Apollo easily wrecks one of Kei’s survivors.
Following that, Marin will gun for Rand’s group.
Sara couldn’t take down the squaddie but it’s quite weak.
Eureka stands still while Garrod gets working on a full-health group.
Holland should be able to clear this up.
Well, he was…not Matthew, though.
Finally, Ryouma and Tekkouki quickly take out two of Garrod’s targets.
Enemy Phase!
The battle’s interrupted when Marin’s subspace sensor gets a reaction: seems the Coralian’s starting to distort space-time around it. It’s not a warp that’s happening, though, as evidenced by the hypnosound our people hear.
A bunch of Fallen Angels appear and Pierre wonders if they’re really chasing us around now but that’s all good with Apollo, who’s always ready to kick their asses. Touma’s observing the situation and is slightly surprised that the Gate (the Coralian) opened a rift into their everlasting prison which allowed the Cherubims to slip through.
Otoha wonders if they could be released from the chains of fate if they used those beings but Touma says the gate exists for “them” to traverse through it – thus "they", the rightful owners, must use it first. “And when it happens, we shall see if this world can still support all of its life,” he says.
Anemone isn’t amused, wondering if these things are here to bug her, and Dominic alerts Jürgens that the monsters are moving to attack everyone present. Jürgens is ready to keep going since they’ve come this far and tells his men to take on both groups of enemies.
Gain asks Holland what to do in this situation and he still isn’t willing to give up on the chance to get Eureka to the Coralian. As Eureka keeps going, Anemone is amused by her determination and decides to play with her for a while.