Part 46: A Faraway World

Shirota fills in Crushers Command on our new friends from a parallel universe. But when he gets to the part where they're from an organization called ZEUTH, Ohtsuka recognizes the name! It seems that other soldiers and robots purporting to be from ZEUTH have been folding in around the planet, and even a few out in space. It looks like Ime's trick cut holes in the dimensional fabric to more than just wherever Gaioh came from. The good news is that the ZEUTHers are on our side, and we could use all the help we can get against the Imperium. Well, Kappei did say that his team fights against evil, so that's a check for us. Going by the news around the world, Ohtsuka guesses that more of Kappei's allies will be falling in around the Dark Continent. We're ordered to pick them up if we find them in our investigations of the island.

Speaking of the Dark Continent, they have apparently sent us some extra soldiers of their own. There's just one catch...



Meanwhile, GOONZ is catching up on interdimensional events. It's also been about twenty years since the big quake in ZEUTH's universe. It was in the same situation as we were, but about a year ago, a lot of shit went down at once. ZEUTH cleaned it up, and it's been pretty quiet ever since. Watta in turn explains that the big threat for us is the DAMons, and their boss Gaioh, though there are plenty of other enemies to deal with too. Kappei promises he's behind Watta all the way.

Speaking of parallel universes, what's this about the alternate Gekko? The ZEUTH universe had a full complement of the alternate crew, and there were alternate versions of other GOONZ members. Kappei feels that each of them, despite having the same name and face, is like a completely different person here. Keiko and Uchuta stop him from going into any details, though. Doesn't he remember what happened to Setsuko?

Keiko explains that Setsuko was a fellow soldier in ZEUTH who lost comrades in the war. She later found alternate versions of her fallen fellows from a parallel universe and reformed the team with them, but ZEUTH laid down some ground rules about parallel selves. Mainly, no one could compare alternate versions to the versions they knew first, or let the alternates compare themselves. That's probably for the best, and Benkei muses that he wouldn't want to know if something horrible happened to an alternate version of himself anyway. Anyway, that's why Team Zambot isn't willing to talk about anyone from ZEUTH who has a doppelganger in GOONZ.

The Eureka Seven doppelgangers, by the way, have locked themselves behind closed doors for another cryptic meeting. The team players around here have all noticed how Holland reacted strangely to the sight of the Zambot team. Ryoma in particular is keeping his eye on Holland...



Aaaah!

This is Dr. Mishima, who is extremely pleased to be on the Dark Continent where "the aroma of battle wafts in from all directions! And the Imperium is on the move too! Hee hee hee! My scientist's blood is boiling!"



Also present: Professor Saotome's daughter and research assistant Michiru Saotome, and Getter's backup pilot Benkei Kuruma. Michiru does the introductions, and Benkei is proud to stand ready to keep Getter running in case something happens to Ryoma, Hayato, or Musashi (who doesn't think they've got anything to worry about). Saotome must have hand-picked Benkei, so he's cut from some sturdy cloth, at least.

Mishima is here to fix up the Getter, which hasn't been in for its tune-up since they joined Celestial Being. Also, he's supposed to tell the Getter Team to call back to the lab. What could old man Saotome have to say?



Well, as it turns out, he wanted to gloat at Ryoma for getting slapped around by the Imperium. Really, doc? But then he sees that Ryoma's eyes haven't given up hope yet, and exhorts Ryoma to draw out Getter's full power! "If you can do that, you will be invincible!" But according to him, they haven't even gotten halfway there yet. He's having Mishima shorten Getter's combination timing window by 0.2 seconds - he expects them to master that before they come back crying to him. Ryoma shouts back that soon, it'll be Getter whining because it can't keep up with him. Saotome replies that when that happens, he'll have a new Getter waiting for them - just try to get it done sometime in the next three years, yeah? "I don't think you have three years left to live, old man!" smirks Ryoma. "Ha ha ha! Foolish! I will not die until I perfect the power of the Getter rays!" bellows Saotome.



The other heroes are impressed by Saotome's force of will, strictness, and utter insanity - but Michiru assures them that Saotome really does believe in the team he picked. And though Ryoma grumbles, he has faith in the good doctor himself. Mishima's work is just about done, so it's time for Ryoma to direct his rage at the real enemies. They're heading out to test the new machines - and practice until they can use their full power!

Crowe, out on a scouting run, has picked up an ongoing battle several miles out. Perfect timing. Maybe it's the Imperium, maybe the Beastmen - but either way, it's an ideal opportunity to take the new Getter out for a spin!


Chapter 25: A Faraway World
(WPC route)



It's Beastmen. Headed by Viral in his new Enkidu!



Their opponents are Jiron Amos and his posse. The last thing they knew, they were chasing longtime nemesis Timp Shaloon, and suddenly, there are Beastmen everywhere!



Also sucked into this particular skirmish is Gainer Sanga, who was just sitting in a classroom. The rest of the Gainer cast had split up all over the world, but one sudden dimensional burst later, they're all together, and in their robots no less!



Cynthia here even locked her Overman away, so she's extra surprised to find herself piloting it.



Viral had heard Kamina was back in town and brought his men out for some human-hunting, but what he found was some much more entertaining prey.



By the way, nemesis Timp Shaloon got pulled through the rift too. It looks to him like there's nothing for it but to declare a truce. Jiron wants nothing to do with him, but to even Timp's chagrin, it's true - they can't afford to fight now.



So with these seven units, we have three turns to wipe out all the Beastmen, Viral last of all. But first, we have all those new robots to inspect!


Walker Gallia (Jiron Amos, Chil)
Skills
Prevail L7
Morale
Offensive Support L2
Spirits
(Jiron)
Guts
Accel
Sense
(Chil)
Luck
Focus
Alert
Traits
-
Weapons
Standard Rifle (8 ammo)
Bash (10 EN)
Boomerang Idiom (3 ammo)
Bazooka (6 ammo)
Sandrat Team Assault (2 ammo, 110 Will))
Walker Gallia Full Power (60 EN, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: If at 30% HP or below, casts Vigor at the beginning of the ally phase.

Jeez, what do I say about this gas-powered, steering wheel controlled oddity? Jiron is the angriest little hobbit you'll ever see. The Gallia moves all right and its pilot is tough as nails, so it has that going for it. On the other hand, its consumption is weird and it is truly awful at attacking flying enemies, and frankly, we already have one Dai-Guard.

The Gallia has, as I said, lost its most powerful attack, the famous ICBM Toss (one per battle, of course), though it still has its intermediate power attack. As a consolation prize, its squad filler units have been folded into a squad attack.


Xabungle (Elchi Cargo)
Skills
Command L1
Offensive Support L2
Prevail L5
Spirits
Vigor
Luck
Traits
-
Weapons
Bash (10 EN)
Standard Rifle (8 ammo)
Quad Launcher (6 ammo)
Sandrat Team Assault (2 ammo, 110 Will)
Xabungle Full Power (60 EN, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: +50% money gained.

Oh, Warmachine Xabungle. One of those mecha shows where the titular robot gets replaced (and, in fact, the main team ends up with multiple Xabungles). Elchi was the captain of the land battleship Iron Gear, so ending up in the robot sort of downgrades her to sidekick. Z2 is going to hand out a replacement Iron Gear anyway.


Brockary (Timp Shaloon)
Skills
Prevail L7
Counter L6
Predict
Guard
Spirits
Snipe
Accel
Sense
Fury
Traits
-
Weapons
Bash
Rifle (20 ammo)
Brockary Full Power (3 ammo, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: ???

He's here so I might as well show him off too.

I swear this robot's name is "Broccoli."

Anyway, I really like how you can tell from the skills that Timp is not a team player like the Sandrats are. And as he and Jiron said, this truce is strictly temporary - he's only around for this chapter, so I don't particularly care for his Ace Bonus. If you're curious, it's +1 movement and +20% evasion.

Also, I can't tell why none of the Xabungle units have Hit & Away. Their primary weapons are not the kind you can shoot on the move.



Anyway, we'll see how they perform before we move to King Gainer.

I can't imagine what Kotsett will let happen to the Iron Gear all by himself.
Let's take these people out and find a way back to our own universe!








Could have gone way worse.

Jiron! They're coming! It looks like this huge face!
I don't know who they are or where we are, but we've gotta fight our way out!
Follow Jiron's lead, men!
Yeah! We're not gonna bite it here!
We'll give 'em all we've got!
We've survived to get this far! We're going to keep surviving!







Teamwork!

Anyway, let's talk about Overmen.


King Gainer (Gainer Sanga)
Skills
Oversense L4
Game Champ
Block
Spirits
Focus
Drive
Accel
Sense
Traits
Photon Mat
Overskill
Blade
Weapons
Chaingun Shot (12 ammo)
Chaingun Slash (10 EN)
Overfreeze Bullet (8 ammo, Oversense L2, mobility down)
Overfreeze (35 EN, 130 Will, Oversense L2, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: The Gamer skill is replaced with Game Champ.

My reflexes have been honed by years of video games!

Every Overman pilot has the same Oversense skill, which boosts hit and evasion rates, much like Psychic, and also the damage-soaking ability of the Photon Mat barrier (1000 points, +100 for each Oversense level) and the power of weapons that list it as a prerequisite. Gainer further has the Gamer skill, which boosts his Skill stat by 10 when he's over 130 Will, and which he can upgrade through practice killing to the Game Champ, which boosts it by 30 instead. Can you say "Attack Again"?

Every Overman also has a unique Overskill which activates at 130 Will. King Gainer's is Acceleration, which does just what it sounds like. In gameplay terms, it increases King Gainer's movement, accuracy, and evasion, and gives him a 30% chance to autododge an attack in the same vein as the Jammer and Getter Vision.

King Gainer is missing his final plot attack, Overheat, and also his Overskill attack, where he uses his super-speed to overwhelm the enemy. (He's also missing his formation-leading attack, but it's useless in this game anyway.)

Even so, Gainer is extremely sensitive to ramping up to 130 Will as quickly as possible so he can make full use of his Overskill and Armored Core prowess (and the Photon Mat, for all that's worth, since it doesn't work below 110 Will). Skills will be assigned accordingly. Overmen are also universally Small, so Ignore Size can be a good idea when fighting armies.


Emperanza (Gain Bijou)
Skills
Oversense L3
Hit & Away
Offensive Support L3
Spirits
Sense
Snipe
Focus
Traits
Photon Mat
Overskill
Weapons
76mm Cannon (12 ammo)
Brunhilde's Arm (20 EN)
Black Southern Cross (5 ammo, 100 Will, Ignore Size)
Black Hole (60 EN, 130 Will, Oversense L3, mobility down, pierce barriers, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: Accuracy +15%. Range of weapons, other than MAP and range 1 weapons, +1.

Now that's a sniper, right?

Gain will be the latest addition to the ZEXIS Sniper Team, after Lockon and Michel. He's extremely good at it. Also, he's awesome.

Emperanza's Overskill, inherited from the monster Brunhilde whose left arm is grafted onto the Overman's body, is Gravity. It permanently Accels the machine, as in the Spirit, each round, and strengthens the Photon Mat by an additional 200 points.

Like King Gainer, Emperanza has had its TRI attack from Z quietly removed without adaptation.


Dominator (Cynthia Rain)
Skills
Oversense L4
Gamer
Attack Again
Spirits
Faith
Focus
Sense
Analyze
Traits
Photon Mat
Overskill
Weapons
Strike (5 EN)
Photon Mat (20 EN, Oversense L1)
Overskill Pummel (40 EN, 130 Will, Oversense L3, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: Evasion +15%, critical rate +15%.

Cynthia is Gainer's longtime rival in the game, and other than not having Game Champ, she easily gives him a run for his money in stats. She also has the Spirit originally known as Friendship (awww), which is an upgraded version of Trust that fully heals one unit.

The Dominator's pliant, stretchable body is its Overskill: Shapeshift, which gives it a boost to its mobility and a flat 50% chance to avoid any attack. This is on top of the machine's and Cynthia's natural quickness and the small size shared by all Overmen, making it really hard to kill.


Panzer (Sara Kodama, Adette Kessler)
Skills
Oversense L2
Will+ (hit)
Defensive Support L2
Spirits
(Sara)
Cheer
Focus
Vigor
(Adette)
Scan
Strike
Guard
Traits
Shield
Repair
Weapons
Strike (5 EN)
60mm Rivet Gun (12 ammo)
BB (3 ammo, accuracy down)
Gauli Squad Charge (3 ammo, 120 Will, accuracy down, pierce barrier, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: Gauli Squad Charge +400 attack.

Sigh.

Sara had an Overman, you know. It was good. Now she's back in the slow, groundbound, useless piece of shit Panzer so they have somewhere to put Adette, Gauli, and Bero.

Fuck it.

Haha woo, Dominator! We get to work together again!
Dunno why, but I don't care! Let's just have fun with it! You and I, we're the best!









Ow.





Attack #2 - the Photon Mat, OKG's answer to beam technology, I guess.

Anyway, let's heal Cynthia up and -



Oh wait.

Watch out, Sara!
Hold on, Ms. Adette! This cockpit doesn't fit two! Please stay still!
Not the time! Eyes on the enemy!
We've got your back, Sara!
Go all in, Sara! Show them the pride of the Gauli Squad!
Roger! Sara Kodama, striking with the Yapan spirit!






At least the BB blinds the enemy, reducing its accuracy. Like many things in Z2, it worked much better in a squad context.

(I've seen a lot of damage caused by dimension shocks, but I never thought I'd get swallowed by one myself...)
(This is too much to be a coincidence. Are we being gathered here for a reason?)

Gain knows what's up.







He's also in the one Overman that can apparently take a hit. I like these units, but they need upgrading.

Gainer! My life is in your hands!
That's great motivation to do this right!
I'm not going to die here either! Time to be men, King Gainer!








There's a "dreaded" joke to be made here.



Anyway, I doubt many enemies will go down this turn.



Oh, but Timp gets himself attacked.

Damn. Last I knew, that melonhead fella and his gang were on my tail, and then I got dropped here.
Always knew that fella was bad news.








Yeah I didn't care for Timp doing anything either.



A few battles happen but many of the enemies go nowhere.



When the next turn starts, the Black Family and Yoko's villagemate Dayakka join in! They're the reinforcements Ohtsuka mentioned.

Gainer explains that not only are they not from around here, they're not from this plane of existence. Kitan doesn't exactly follow all the science, but we're under fire from the Beastmen, and that's good enough for Dayakka. Introductions go all around.

I'm Gain Bijou, the Black Southern Cross.
What a man!
I sense a keen intellect beneath primal vitality.
We're all black something but he's way cooler than our brother!
Come on, you guys!

Anyway, we have introductions of our own - they didn't show us their Ganmen!


King Kitan (Kitan)
Skills
Spiral Power L1
Defensive Support L3
Will+ (damage)
Prevail L5
Spirits
Guts
Drive
Invincible
Strike
Weapons
Hit (10 EN)
Kitan Stinger (20 EN, pierce barriers)
King Kitan DX (60 EN, 125 Will, pierce barriers, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: At 130 Will, casts Vigor at the beginning of every ally phase.

Kitan is pretty cool. He's near impossible to kill, but is a hella energy hog. King Kitan DX is a squad attack that combines with Kiyal's Kiyalunga (um, the Dark Continent residents aren't good at naming robots), but she's not a subpilot or anything.

Clear out! Black Family comin' through!
Get 'em, Kitan!
Go, King Kitan!
Don't forget about my Kiyalunga!
Oh yeah! I'm gonna finish this with style for my dear sisters!












Dayakkaiser
Skills
Spiral Power L1
Guard
Offensive Support L2
Prevail L4
Spirits
Vigor
Invincible
Strike
Weapons
Hit (10 EN)
Cannon (8 ammo)
Ace Bonus: At 130 Will, casts Assail at the beginning of every ally phase.

Assail, or Charge, is a Spirit that gives the (P) property to every weapon on the unit for one turn, so it basically means Dayakka can fire that cannon with abandon.

Once again, I don't know why he doesn't have Hit & Away. The Ace Bonus helps with that, though.

We may be individually weak, but when we're together, nothing can stop us!
Here we go, Dayakkaiser! We're fighting for everyone living on this land!






Anyway, I've got two turns to wrap this up and that includes however long it takes to knock down Enkidu.





More teamwork!



These Cannon Gannons (actual name), with their long range and bunch of HP, are particularly annoying.



Fortunately, we have Gain Fucking Bijou.



With that kill, GOONZ arrives on the scene! A little late, I suppose, but.



Kappei, Gainer, and Jiron all recognize each other from ZEUTH. Jiron tastelessly asks Holland if his kid got born yet (whoops, Eureka Seven spoilers), and Gainer calls out to Renton, with whose other version he was pretty close. Uchuta and Keiko hurriedly shut them up. Dayakka and Kitan show off their new Ganmen. Leeron's glad to see that, and not for their tactical value: "Kamina and Simon are having an effect on the people of this continent."

Okay, Watta! We gotta show off our new tag attack!
You got it, Kappei! Let's clean up those Beastmen!
When did they...
Teamwork that crosses universal bounds, huh. This should be fun to watch.



Anyway, the units that can't be lost now are the mothership (of course), Getter... and Timp. Sure, okay.



Getter has the speed to dive right in.



The others, well, follow as best they can.



And that's the end of the turn, but at least I have a respectable amount of firepower now.




Soon, the Dominator's Overskill goes online. The other Overmen are probably soon to follow.



This is the only Ganza that moves.



The other ones are in the back and at full HP. Yaaay.









Enkidu is actually impressive with its blade, and has a shield just to make it more annoying.



Now it's the last turn to take out the rest of the Beastmen.



Here are the enemies left to finish off. I'm guessing I can count on Kamina and Simon to take down Viral with their Valor, though.






First we sweep these up. Akagi learns Drive.





Now there's just the one Ganza left.





But rather than lying down and dying, it charges Kiyou!



King Gainer's Overskill activates, and Gainer zips in to save them! He uses the Overskill Attack, which has been added back to King Gainer's movelist.



Emperanza's Overskill also goes off from the kill.



Anyway, all there is left to do is take down Viral.







That is some impressive Prevail.



Oh. Guard, too. Even so...

It's you and me, Kaminaaa!
You're burning pretty hot, beastman! But my soul's on fire too!
A monkey like you couldn't comprehend how I've longed for this day to come!
I will destroy you and reclaim my honor!
All right, general! If that's how it is, I'll gladly fight you man to man!
It's a duel between men! A contest of wills and spirits!

Wow, Simon doesn't even get lines anymore.








Viral drops an Auto-Repair Machine.



Oh yeah, and that's the SR Point.



Timp decides to skedaddle, but it seems that Viral's mission was to take home a human from another dimension. He grabs Timp and drags him away, promising that he'll get Kamina next time.



And a new enemy chooses this moment to arrive - the new alliance between Dr. Hell and Emperor Zuul, led by Baron Ashura!

What the heck is that?
It's like a man and woman squished together!
That's how men and women are supposed to be, but not like this!



So anyway, Ashura is with one of Zuul's top commanders, Sagul. Sagul says that Zuul has decided that this planet could be of use to him after all. So I guess we're not going to be destroyed, just subjugated. Great. But still, Zuul has ordered GOONZ, who stand to oppose him, put to death! Ashura tells Sagul to leave it to him/her and go worry about his own mission, and he leaves to do just that. What is he up to, exactly?



Ashura won't give us a chance to investigate. He/she sends her Vargas V5 at Getter Robo, a Mechabeast that can split into its component parts. But the Getter Team recovers and counters with their own new technique - mastery of the Getter combination sequence and the Getter Change Attack!



Vargas retreats and recovers. Looks like it's a fight!



As usual with Mechabeasts, we can ignore the Talos (and, in this case, the Gishin psychics) and just take down Vargas.



But for now, Sara heals up the Dominator and gains Invincible. Whee?

(That man, Sagul... why is he here on the Dark Continent?)
(Is it related to the reason Zuul is working with Dr. Hell?)



Yawn Talos.



Vargas' split attack has one advantage over Getter's - it has super long range.

You still wanna go, Mechabeast?
Unfortunately, your split attack is just a sleight of hand.
But ours is different! Because each of us is trying to crush you with all our might!
And if you didn't get it the first time, you can see what happens when all of us strike as one!




But Ryoma defends instead.



The Getter Change Attack can only be used once per map (or resupply, I suppose).



And now for something completely unnecessary.



And something else completely unnecessary.



Hell, let's just keep doing this.



I don't even know the meaning of "necessary" anymore.






Oh right, it's actually paying attention to the stage goal.



Oh yeah, and I left Gainer way up there after his event.




Enemy phase: enemies die.



Oh, and Vargas finally deigns to attack his own nemesis.

Attack, Vargas V5! Crush Mazinger Z into scrap!
I already saw your attack when you used it on Ryoma!
Mazinger and I won't fall for a trick we already saw! We'll turn you into scrap!








This won't last much longer.





You know what screw it. He's done every interesting thing he's going to do. Kouji kills him. The end.



He drops a Repair Kit.



As usual, Ashura whines that s/he'll get you next time, Kouji, and retreats Vargas.

Gainer and Jiron are willing to come with us - they're confused, and we can't be bad if Kappei's with us. The fact that Gainer knew the alternate Renton well bothers this one, though...



Anyway, the new ZEUTHers get the parallel universe explanation. Renton asks whether Gainer's with Cynthia or Sara. "Or both of them?" Gainer splutters, but asks back if a Eureka exists in this universe, and Renton's blushing smile gives him his answer. Formal introductions are passed around, but one of them is missing - what are we going to do about the kidnapped Timp? Jiron explains that Timp, far from being one of his group, is his longtime nemesis and the murderer of his parents, and anyway he's a tenacious bastard, so he'll be okay. Probably.

So Shirota, as the WPC's representative, would like the new ZEUTHers to remain in the Gekko's custody, and they agree, since they're lost here and they also owe us for bailing them out - though Gain is quick to add that this only holds as long as we aren't evil. Obviously, Dayakka and the Black Family are also signing up with our team. They report that they're not the only ones following Kamina's example, either. "See, Simon!" laughs Kamina. "That drill of yours didn't stop at the cieling - it's drilled a hole into the whole wide world!"

Even Shirota is moved by Kamina passion. "He's almost glowing. Call it vitality if you want... but just watching him, you feel like you can do anything."



Mishima, Michiru, and Benkei are taking their leave to head back to Saotome's lab. Ryoma sends his warm regards ("Tell him not to underestimate us!"). Seeing their confidence, Mishima believes they'll be able to control "that" soon enough. "The question is, can humanity hold out until then..."



Viral has delivered Timp to his superior Thymilf, who has in turn brought him to the Spiral King. "Thought th' Beastman's king would have a tail or teeth or something," quips Timp. "This'n looks just like a human."



The other generals (these are the last two - Adene and Cytomander) shut him up, but Lordgenome is curious about what he said - and the balls he must have to be so at ease before the King. Timp smoothly offers his info on those who would stand in the way of Lordgenome's extermination of humanity, at least the ones that came from his universe, in exchange for Timp's own life. He orders Thymilf to take Timp into his own forces after he gives up all his data, but Timp just smirks. "Too easy to pull one over on these overgrown critters."

Moving on, Guame is concerned about the increasing number of Damons spawning on the Dark Continent, but Lordgenome isn't surprised. He orders his generals not to harm the Damons, and refuses to tell them way, only that they don't need to know.



Everybody joined.