Part 23: That Makes No Damn Sense!
Ohtsuka confirms that that beastmen have already left the Dark Continent and begun spreading out. They've gotten as far as sub-Saharan Africa and show no signs of stopping. Sumeragi is suspicious that they made their move so quickly, as if they knew when the dimensional barrier was going to vanish.
Because of the beastman problem, the Peacekeeping Council is demanding the exploration team's collected data so they can come to a decision as quickly as possible, meaning we're being recalled on the double.
Simon and Kamina have returned from their scouting mission with bupkiss. Yoko has to assure Kamina it wasn't a total waste of time - better safe than sorry, and it's good for them to be in their Ganmen getting used to piloting anyway. He's still chafing under Sumeragi's orders, but that's okay, because we're on our way out anyway.
Crowe explains to Kamina his ongoing mission to collect interesting combat data and pay off his debt. Kamina thinks selling his freedom to pay back debt is silly. Yoko reminds Kamina that his utter lack of planning anything is silly and he has no room to talk.
But just then, they spy something in the distance, and it's not a beastman...
Chapter 12: That Makes No Damn Sense!
(Dark Continent route)
A man screams for us to get away (from what?),
and starts lobbing explosives at us.
It looks like he thinks he's attacking beastmen... oh.
The three girls he has in tow assure us that they and their brother will save us from those big nasty beastmen.
But when he sees Kamina, his rage quickly turns into confusion (and more rage).
Kamina calls the new guy a dumbshit for mistaking us for beastmen and the two just get madder at each other.
But the other guys recognize us as humans, so we're safe for now. He still wants to know how humans are piloting the beastmens' Ganmen, and doesn't believe Kamina actually jacked it.
Hey, hey, hey! Who's journeyed from the village of Jeeha to the very ends of the earth, and destroyed as many Ganmen as the stars in the sky? It's me! His Awesomeness Kamina, leader of the Gurren Gang!
He's adorable!
He's wonderful!
He's hot!
Really? You guys are taking his side?They introduce themselves in order as Kiyou, Kinon, and Kiyal, and their brother Kittan. Together, they're the Black Family of beastman hunters. They comment that Crowe seems different somehow (maybe it's the art style?), and Yoko explains that he's from the outside world. The girls guess, haltingly, that "outside" means beyond the barrier, but Kittan insists that the barrier is the literal edge of the world and there's nothing beyond it!
But there's no time to explain. Ryoma flies in with Getter to warn us that Ganmen are incoming!
Whoops! Kittan is spoiling for a fight, but his sisters are cowed by the sheer number. Crowe agrees that there sure are a lot. Looks like they've come to stamp us out once and for all.
Kamina's also ready to get drilling, but the beastmens' opening volley sends him with Lagann, Simon, and Gurren sinking into the ground!
Unfortunately, we're still entertaining Ganmen. All we can do is hold out until they get themselves out, and as Ryoma says, "Not like hole-dwellers are gonna have any problems with holes!"
Yoko will go down into the hole after them, taking the Black Family and leaving Brasta and Getter to hold the line.
The time limit is three turns to wipe out these enemies.
There are a few enemies, and Ganmen are pretty solid.
Note how the Brasta hasn't taken off yet. In case I forgot to mention it earlier (because it never came up?), flying units on terrestrial maps can freely switch between the ground and the sky, which can let them take advantage of terrain or save the EN cost of movement - though some units that can fly don't work as well in the air, and others generally shouldn't be anywhere near terra firma.
Opening with a charge. Brasta and Getter-2 are both pretty fast.
On the enemy turn, Hayato starts knocking out the wounded Ganmen...
and the resulting level up for the entire Getter team wins Musashi that upgraded Drive Spirit.
In addition, the second kill brings the Ptolemy and ten robots onto the board.
If I remember right, the Shuttle and Aphrodite are sitting this out again.
Crowe fills the other pilots in on the situation. Naturally, they're joining the battle up here while Yoko figures things out down below.
The onslaught takes its toll on Getter...
But it survives the round.
There's not much call for a bucket of Will for Getter when all the pilots are already over 130, but it'll be super useful in the future.
Allelujah's kill gets him Accel.
Having Aoi shout will push her to Dancouga within a turn.
Since Takeru regenerates SP, blowing some on Drive (I really prefer Shout, though, as a name) is good use of resources.
Shame about his range, still.
Kouji has Accel. I just wanted to remind you how cool that is.
Getter Arm!
After the kill, we cut back to Yoko searching for Kamina and Simon...
It looks like they've landed in a village!
A local approaches and asks if they came from the heavens. Kamina confirms this and introduces himself and Simon. The fellow asks if they could take a couple of kids, Gimi and Dari, off his hands.
The kids ask if they're servants of the Holy Faces. Wait, what?
The guy explains that his name is Rossiu and they're in the village of Adai, of which they're citizens.
The elder grumps and reminds Rossiu that he was supposed to see the kids all the way out of the village. Rossiu explains that he was going to hand them off to the men from the heavens, and that works for the elder. But Simon asks the important question: why do the kids have to leave?
The elder explains that the children "have received salvation and are to be sent to Heaven." See, in Adai, there can be no more than 50 people at once. If there are more, the excess are chosen by "God" and sent to "Heaven" - the surface. Simon and Kamina are painfully aware that the surface is definitely no paradise.
But the elder will hear no objections - this has been the way of Adai for generations and the tradition cannot be broken. And he insists that it's a great honor to be sent to Heaven where they can be freed from the strife of the world. Kamina responds, "Where are you gettin' this from? That makes no damn sense! Do you even know what the surface is like?"
But the kids are eager to be "sent to Heaven." Simon insists that they're doing it because they have to, not because they want to, and Kamina echoes what he said to Crowe back on the surface - "If you don't wanna do it, don't! Who the hell do you think I am? If I say I'd die before I do something, you're not gonna get me to do it even if you kill me! Hey, Forehead, what're you thinking about this?"
After he leaves, Rossiu asks the elder if it wouldn't be better to just tell everybody the truth. The elder responds that the only truth that matters is that the village mustn't be over 50 or it will fail. He will do anything to keep it. No one will miss those two kids, anyway.
Rossiu remembers his own mother, who was "saved" long ago, and decides to leave the village himself. "If it's possible to live on the surface, then we don't need this horrible farce." The elder remains unflappable throughout, and sends Rossiu off with the village's holy book. Rossiu reminds the elder that he can't read it, and the elder calmly admits that he can't either. But whatever the book is, he wants Rossiu to have it, and his blessing.
Kamina and Simon reach the surface with the kids in tow. They push the kids off on Yoko, because it's time to get back to the hunt.
But no sooner than they dash off into the battle does a Beastman pop out of the sands with his sights set on the children!
Rossiu arrives just in time and leaps to get the kids out of the way. Meanwhile, Yoko and Kamina work together to make quick work of the Ganmen.
Kamina says Rossiu's worthy of being in the Gurren Gang for his courage just now. The more serious of the team are concerned that Kamina is going around telling everyone we're in his Gurren Gang.
Kamina! Simon! Better make up for all the fighting you missed!
Right! Damn it, Simon! You're supposed to say "Who do you think you're talkin' to?"
You hear that, Ganmen? Your fun's over now that Simon and My Awesomeness are here!
Crowe, Kamina, and Simon are available.
Right now, it's best to keep them together in the faster Gurren-Lagann (Gurren is a little bit slow).
Gurren sure has sharp eyes.
Those Ganzas are probably about to move.
Let's welcome them in.
Their subordinates pick fights they can't win.
Their forces in tatters, the Ganza take their shots.
And lose.
Within a turn, the last few enemies are gone.
But hey, remember what this section of the game is missing?
Damons! And the horned ones, to boot!
Not only that, but MD... well, not MD. They aren't white, but they're the same sort.
Crowe's normal smirk and swagger are gone. He's deadly serious and set on wiping out the Damons.
In our absence, the Damons have been given names. The horned ones are called Bulldamons, and like all Damons, they are both tough and smart, with abnormally high Skill stats for regular enemies. Of course, they still have the D. Fault and the Will-draining shock attack. And spoilers - by the end of the game, they'll become the basic Damon grunt enemy. Enjoy!
The MD type is the Rhinodamon (and the original is Rhinodamon MD) because of its bulk and giant head horns. It's even bigger and nastier than the Bulldamons.
They all have Prevail L4 and Offensive Support. This is going to suck.
There's no real time limit on this, just take out the Damons.
Well, let's start.
Oh, shit.
Ohhh, shit.
Oh, shit.
This isn't going to be fun.
Luckily, I did bring along several robots that can evade the Damons' attacks, and Takeru is immune to Will drain.
Though he isn't immune to damage.
Small blessings - the Bulldamons don't regenerate their HP. Rhinodamons do, but there are only two of them, so it's best to leave them alone until I have a chance to focus on them individually.
Range also works on the Bulldamons, forcing them to fall back on their tail throw attack.
And then there's pilots like Kamina and Takeru that have Sense so they don't have to care. (Alert works too.)
Careful, bro! Fighting them is completely different from fighting Ganmen! Cool it, Simon! I'll take 'em on whatever they are and however strong they are! No losing, no turning back, and no worries! Never turn away and never look back! None of that is how a man lives!
That's how I've rolled and I'm gonna keep rolling!
: Manly, um... uh...
: I don't really care Slash!
It really doesn't matter what he calls it, it still works.
Meanwhile, Dai-Guard's weight can't penetrate the D. Fault. Whoops.
Say what you like about Dancouga Nova, but the robot is still an Obari robot.
Allelujah knocks out a second Damon. I know spreading damage is good, but I'm under no time pressure and I do want to take some of those Shocking Horns off the board.
Now we'll let them go.
Of course, one goes after the mothership.
Virtue's barrier absorbs the entire hit.
They're definitely stronger than the ones from before that Damon attacked. But I'm not gonna get whacked without keeping my promise to Esther. It'd be against my principles.
Crowe's popular with the Damons.
But he continues to survive and hold his own.
Eventually, the Rhinodamons attack. The first one goes after Ptolemy again. Go figure. Can Virtue soak the damage?
As it turns out, yes, but not unmarked.
The other one shoots straight for the DM Buster.
I'm concerned. Time for Defense.
Frozen Fire is about what it sounds like. As a side effect, it drains energy from the robot.
Anyway, let's get some shit done.
As far as rushing the Rhinodamons goes, I have a few Offensive Support options available. Crowe and Lockon are the best bets, they both have two supports to fire, and there's one on each Rhinodamon. Convenient.
Let's focus on #1. We'll start with Dancouga.
The Severance Cannon deals okay damage.
The response, Frozen Fire, is fought off by Invincible, but it still drains Dancouga's energy.
After Lockon's followup, the Damon is pretty wounded, but not in any danger.
Tieria's cannon can cut through barriers once per turn because of his Ace bonus, but he does enough damage to ignore the D. Fault anyway, since any damage that's over its limit goes through in full.
He can trigger the Cosmo Laser as a support, but that probably won't get through the barrier on a support. Fortunately, Naoto can extend the range of the Triple Laser until it can support instead, which might get through the barrier.
It does, and Tieria even dodges.
While getting the Ptolemy out of the way, I had it heal Mazinger. From doing so, it gained two levels, and Chris gained the Analyze Spirit, the one that debuffs one enemy for the round.
This is so Takeru, behind in levels, can finish the job.
A note about Supports - I might have mentioned this before, but the AI automatically drops to the lowest attack it thinks can take out the enemy, or the highest attack if it can't. However, this actually doesn't take barriers and shields into a count. Lockon has defaulted to the GN Missile, which will probably work, but with the Damon's Prevail, why take the risk?
Now that's done, let's move to the next one. I'm going to hand it to Crowe, but he's probably going to burn all his attacks on it first.
First following Hayato...
and then Simon.
I'll just have it weakened a bit more.
And that's that.
For fuck's sake, Crowe is level 14 and hasn't learned a second Spirit yet.
Now it's time for cleanup.
I'm glad I can count on Mazinger to deal truckloads of damage.
Setsuna picks off one and weakens another.
Celestial Being's cooperation finishes it off.
Dai-Guard is not being useful, so Akagi can wait.
Oh my god I totally forgot about Trider. Oops.
Another turn left for the enemies, tops.
Are you serious?
Luckily, Ptolemy's barrier absorbs both attacks.
One down.
One about to be down.
Let's get this over with.
With Lockon's help, Akagi makes himself useful.
I hope that's the end of the chapter.
It sounds like Bulldamons are attacking everywhere now, though there aren't that many of them out and about.
Crowe quickly composes himself, but his brave face isn't fooling anyone. He's disappointed that MD didn't show up, and explains for the pilots who didn't know what MD is and why he wants its head.
Kamina wants to know more about the outside world - and the many dangers, Damon and otherwise, lurking in it - and decides to accompany us back off the Dark Continent. But that's a conversation for later. The area is hot and Sumeragi wants to ditch it.
After the Ptolemy leaves, a strange man in a strange robot is revealed to be lurking in the shadows. "So that's my target," he murmurs ominously. "He's a tough one. I mustn't be careless. A bouquet of flowers in the rain. The breath of the sun and moon. That is the dizziness of chaos."
With that, the chapter ends.
Kamina hasn't backed down on his desire to see the wide world and learn as much as he can. Simon thanks him for encouraging him when he was full of doubts, but Kamina says it's the reverse: "Without you, I can't find my way forward. Your drill's the one that pierces the heavens." Unrelatedly, he demands that Forehead and the kids come too. Simon's on board with that plan, and actually, so are Gimi and Dari, so Rossiu's gotta come.
Kittan's staying, but he says Kamina's always welcome in his "family." Kamina returns an invitation to join the Gurren Gang.
(His sisters are still falling all over Kamina, but what do you expect?)
The Family takes off, but seeing the beastman hunters reminds everyone that the beastmen are attacking the whole world now. Of course, for Kamina this is just the beginning of a new adventure for the Gurren Gang - again, that includes all of us. There's nothing for it, since "World Peace Keeping Council - Crushers, Celestial Being and Co., and the Gurren Gang" is too long, but maybe it doesn't matter. Our mission is over, and the group's going to disband afterwards.
You don't believe that, do you?
Leeron's coming with us too. S/he's as curious about the greater world as Kamina. Specifically, the greater world's technology. But s/he also wants to see how Simon and Kamina will change and be changed by that world. The last part convinces Yoko, and she's coming too, though Dayakka "didn't think you were into guys like him."
Back in New York, Elgan Roddick is getting his update from Ohtsuka about the happenings on the mission and the new recruits. He orders Ohtsuka to get the Crushers and co. back to Dragon's Hive. There's some news for them about that Boatman guy. And there are some other new friends waiting at Dragon's Hive too, but that's a story for another branch. Roddick wants to pull them all into a new team with the power and authority to fight off the Damons, Invaders, Image, Gishin, Mechabeasts, terrorists, beastmen... the world is in trouble, and it's going to take some firepower to save it... or change it.
After cutting the line, Elgan responds to someone unknown. "I know," he says, "but I told you I don't need your meddling. I will avoid that doom with my power and the power of this world's warriors. I believe they can do it, that they will do it."
Since this is the official split, I should mention that we have been granted a Pigmole Steak, a consumable that restores 40 SP to one pilot. See you next chapter.