Part 9: Marion, In the Armory, With a Gun

Update 9: Marion, In the Armory, With A Gun


Well, let's see what's in this house-

Oh, wait. Wrong game.


---

Last time on The Young and the Reckless, Avan got reminded that his plan of enrolling at the secretive military school wasn't going to provide him with more information about Leon. Oh, and Melissa got shot too, that sure happened.


Set Potentials lets us set a unit's final class potential from the list that they've already gotten. It's not worth covering in any more detail until it matters, which will about 20-30 updates from now.

Those other options suggest that for sure, I'm bringing those story moments you were promised.


We've got 4 events to see: Marion's second event, Helmut's first, Lotte's first, and a daily event. Let's get these out of the way, shall we?





Music: Everyday Life of the Class

~* Courtyard - Daily Event *~


: Take care of yourself, Sofia. I should head to my office now anyway.



: He said gentle, ephemeral beauties with a dark past were his type.
: I-I see?



: So, what IS your type, Brixy?
: Well, take a student like yourself for instance, Avan...
: What?! Er, I can't be here right now!


: Mm? Sofia?
: She's gone. Took you seriously again...
: And is it just me, or was there a none-too-subtle jab at me in there?




That was fun. It's apparent you can't get the upper hand on Brixham in any conversation.



~* Hallway- Lotte's 1st Event *~


: I better hurry before someone else gets the same idea!

*Much screenshaking*


: Oof... Sorry, are you okay?
: Owww... Dude! Watch where you're going, dude! You could have--


: Oh, it's you, Lotte. What's got you running down the halls?


: It'll be a scandal! Class Chair Attacks! Top story on the Lotte Insider!
: The what?
: Dude! You don't know?


: Its intrepid writer-- that's me, dude-- gets all the dirt, first!
: Oh, riiight! Now I remember.
: That's the paper Zeri was talking about! "That vapid gossip rag," he called it.


: So, what's got an intrepid writer like you barreling down the halls?
: I'm hot on the trail of my next big scoop, dude!
: Lanseal's Seven Wonders! I was going for the ghost in the gym next.


: Heh. Generations of cadets have told of paranormal phenomena numbering seven!
: I've spent my days here hard at work unraveling those mysteries.
: Of course, the first four mysteries were sadly only hoaxes...
: But I know the last three will be scoops fit to stop presses all over Europa!


: Ah! I was just thinking of expanding! Welcome aboard, my editor-in-chief!
: Heh, thanks!
: Wait, why am I editor-in-chief?


Lotte has her priorities straight.

: Now, let's hit the road! Truth waits for no man, dude!



Come on, Brixy, if there's at least one person in the class who is motivated, it's Lotte. Sure, it's all in the wrong direction, but she's dedicated to her craft.

You know, I wouldn't mind just being able to roam around and dig up cases as Lotte. Hell, has anyone ever done that as a game before? Play as a small news group trying to cover the events of a war?

I'd play it. Heck, I'd make it if I had the time and not so many other projects on my hands.



~* Classroom - Helmut's First Event *~



: The military superpower quickly gained ground in the opening hostilities...


: ...All right.
: "But a dramatic reversal saw the Empire driven back to the border by..."


: Huh? What do you mean? And what did he do? Why shouldn't Helmut read it?
: Don't you know anything? You need to stay awake for class more!
: Every time the Empire's loss comes up in class, he makes Helmut read.




Cosette, why can't I play you instead of Avan? You're terrible at combat, but you're a nice person and narratively more interesting than Avan.

: Wait, what? Helmut's an imperial?!
: Shhhh, dummy! Keep your voice down!
: He came here just after the peace accord was drawn up, apparently.


: What, like a hostage? What do you mean?
: To the Empire, this treaty pushes their agenda back a little while.
: So it's only natural we'd want some leverage to keep the peace going, right?
: Well, that's Helmut.
: What, just one exchange student?
: How does that stop two countries from fighting?


: Word is, his family has direct ties to the imperial bloodline.
: He's the perfect choice for a hostage.
: Huh. And everybody knows about this arrangement?
: Probably. I heard some people talking about it a little while ago.


: Ahh, okay...
: Now I'm all interested in meeting the guy. I'll go talk to him next time--
: Avan, shhh! You're going to get us in trouble!



*Avan and Zeri bail out on her*


Yep, they just did that. Sheesh, what kind of friends are you guys?



...Helmut's in a rough position. Facing discrimination for something he had no part in and supposedly being a bargaining chip for the Empire? It's only more sad when you realize the dude is 27. This guy's got his whole life reduced to being made fun of in front of teenagers when he could be married and starting a family right now. Damn.

I've seen his first two events already, so I'm interested to see where this goes.



~* R&D Building - Marion's Second Event *~


: Ugh, I just want to get done with this and-- Huh? That looks like...


: Marion? Huh. I don't see her in the R&D building very often.

*She walks out of sight*

: I wonder what brings her here. Well, I might as well go say hi.





*The sound of a canvas cover being removed is heard*

: Tee hee...
: I've finally found you. Yes, you're the one...
: Mm, just lovely. With this, I could...

*Avan trips over something*


: Who's there?!
: Sorry, it's me. I didn't mean to startle you.
: Oh, Avan... What brings you here?
: I just say you come in and I thought I'd say hey.


: No, I was just... Er, Ms. Lane asked me to come and, um...
: She got to you too, huh? Man, she can be a real tyrant!



*She does a curtsy and hurries off*

: It wouldn't kill Lavinia to do SOME of the work around here herself...

She will, in time. I still haven't gotten the right equipment.



: I was just saying you work folks like me and Marion a little hard is all!
: Marion? Who said I asked her to do anything?


: Then she played you. Not that I'm surprised to hear you fell for it.
: Played me? But why would she lie about something like that?
: Search me. Maybe she was covering something up.
: Come to think of it, I see her here every once in a while.


: Huh. I wonder what she could be hiding.



Ominous. Then again, Avan, you ever get the idea she ran off because you were spying on her? Because you kinda were.

---


Here's a little angled shot I took with the camera in the meantime.

Alright, time for chores and maintenance!


The only upgrade I can afford presently, and the only one to provide significant benefit. Field Suits are worn by Scouts, Shocks, and Engineers. Lancers wear a specialized blast suit, and Armor Techs have an even more specialized armor.


I go against my rule and level techs to 3 for the time being. It nets me another order I'll probably never use.

...That's about it.

Mission time!


I'll just do these in order, I guess.


There's a good bit of lancers, an Ace, and a commander lancer we have to take down.


I forget to deploy Avan somewhere, so I lose an AP point this first round.



Player Turn Music: VC1 Desperate Fight
Enemy Turn Music: VC1 Resistance
Spicing this up with a bit of VC1's music. Desperate Fight is a favorite of mine.



This is a miltary mission, but unfortunately since my recordings lost audio for the rest of February, I won't be able to give you any.

I'll make up character lines as we go- I'm sure they said them at some point. They're all ones you've heard anyways.


I deployed Helmut by himself up here because I imagined this place wouldn't be hard to take with a grenade launch.


: "Underway."

Cheeky jerks put a mine back here for some reason.


Is the flag undefended, or can I just not see the dingus they left defending it?


Oh, well. There's a leader off to the side. Might as well show how a lancer's blast armor fares against explosions.


They fare very well, very well indeed. A whopping 5 damage was done.


Huh, it really is free for the taking then. That's very odd.


I send in Avan to play defense.


: "Rrragh!"

Well, maybe a bit of offense first, but...


...He's just going to crouch here for the rest of the mission. Eventually, crouching will become a permanent state of being for our destined Gunner, so much in fact he never has to worry about leg day.


In a fun twist of events, the silo is the final map, instead of being the starting map. Though the base we took doesn't take us there at all.


That's because it takes us behind these jerks in red. I send in Mischlitt just to get her some usage.


Not nearly enough morale to trigger Genius constantly, so she can't one-shot this guy. One day, Mischlitt, you'll be incredibly lethal, but that day won't come for some time.


: "There are walls we cannot break."

Thumping this dude is pointless, so I send Mischlitt in the other direction and she triggers Insular. She'll at least be able to knock this guy from cover.


Let's have Marion delete a few of these dudes.


A twofer? Oh, you know I'm going to go for it. Look, even that guy over there is shocked!



Enemy Radio: "Noo! He was such a good guy...!"

Alas, it was not meant to be. I have to run Marion back to the base so they don't swipe it back.

Also, I just put that radio line in because we haven't heard it and I can remember that one. The delivery is gloriously hammy.

(Yes, the double kill would have worked had Mischlitt bonked this guy on the head first.



Enemy wastes their CP, what's new?


This man breaks laws of physics, just because he's also rebelling against nature.


Would you believe he missed all but one shot at this range?


Didn't we all know that was a bad idea?


Wait what-





...How did you manage to completely miss blowing up the sandbags!?

Marion's perfectly fine, by the way. Well, halfway fine. Lances don't do much damage to people, unless it's a headshot.

...You can headshot people with lances by the way. I do this later, so look forward to that.


The enemy moves their scout off the base in the south, but fails to get anywhere in particular.


They move another scout from behind the boxes, giving me a great shot of Avan's face.


Do I even need to show this?


Well, that was it for their turn. They moved up another shocktrooper, but he's still too far out of range to do anything.


: "Engaging."


Mischlitt hits a dude. Fun fact- enemies don't retaliate ever against melee attacks, regardless if they go down or not.

I kinda wish techs would counter against each other- it'd make for some neat duels.


*Bop*

Mischlitt, I'm getting you mission credit if it kills me.


There. Maybe we'll get one of your events now. Don't worry about Noel, she'll also get some credits in soon.


What a motley crew of enemies. There's probably someone hiding in the grass, but they're probably just a lancer. 4 CP is more than enough to end this here.


Helmut, you've got Lancer Killer, right? Get in there and let's see what you can do.


: "A tank is a unit's heart- hands off!"


Unfortunately, saying this boss is beefy is an understatement. Even with the buff Helmut's not even scratching him while he's taking cover. I'll have to make him stand.


The healthbar didn't even move.


Finish this, Marion.

(Yes, there was a lancer in the grass.)


She runs out of AP just before she gets close enough. This scout is wide open though, and it's basically a free take down.


Yeah, you should've been crouching, buddy.


I'm halfway through a clip of headshots- what are you, a cheap terminator or something?


: "A clean hit!"

Damn, with the last bullet too. Sheesh, Marion you've been the real MVP for every map I've used you on. I still had another CP, but still, the guy could've dodged.



Seriously, the "Allies Defeated" bonus is a pittance. What, does Brixham give Avan a pat on the head and hand him what pocket change he had left from buying a candy bar?



Yeah, that's about right. This was a bit shorter than my usual quota, but I was sparing with screenshots.

Anyways, that's it for this time- we've got a few more scenes coming on our next episode of the Brixham Bunch!