Part 16: Episode XVI: The Sand Pirates of Aveh vs. the Midnight Invaders
Episode XVI: The Sand Pirates of Aveh vs. the Midnight InvadersMusic: Steel Giant
“Five Gebler special force Gears, and one single unidentified large Gear. All pilots report to the Gear Hangar!”
Well, that’s a hell of a way to get woken up from sleep. I wonder how Gebler managed to find this hidden pirate base. Hmm...perhaps it had something to do with the giant visible hangar door on the side of the mountain entrance? Or the huge trail undoubtedly left across the desert by the Yggdrasil? Or bringing the experimental stolen Gear already acknowledged to be pursued by nearly all military forces back to said base? Truly a mystery.
Fei decides to stare off into the distance vacantly instead of getting to safety or...ya know, doing anything useful. He’s yet to kick his angst funk quite yet.
Fei turns his back on Citan like a jackass...
"Bart and the others are already fighting! Aren't you going to do anything? Do you still think it has nothing to do with you?"
<I’m not listening! I’m not listening!> “...” ”Well, if you plan to stop being such a tool during this attack then that would be a welcomed change.”Citan runs off to go help...
"I... What am I? That old man... he called me... the slayer of god... I don't want that kind of power..." ”That is...think of ALL the grinding I’d have to do...”
“My... home...”Yeah, whatever Fei. We all know you’re going to be back in Weltall and fighting by the end of the update. Let’s get to some giant robot fisticuffs while we wait for that, hmm...?
“I think I took out most of the small fry, but...!" "There are at least four, maybe five of them left! Their performance and technique is far greater than any of the ones we faced before!" "Dammit!!"
”Do Gebler really paint their Gears pink...? I really hope there’s a chick piloting that thing...”
Alright, battle time. This next section is kind of a
This here is Swordknight. He attacks with a gun, so obvious he’s total crap. The strategy for pretty much all of these fights is just to perform a Heavy attack, perform an Attack Level 1 Deathblow, and repeat. Pretty simple.
You may notice we’ve got a couple of guest Gears here, the Deurods. They managed not to fall into a plot hole between battle transitions this time around. Good for them. Unfortunately, they’re total crap and we’ll only be seeing ‘em this fight. But, that’s fine. This thing went down faster than it has taken you to read these two paragraphs describing the fight.
Upon Swordknight’s defeat, it just sparks a bit and retreats. All the Gears during this battle follow suit. We don’t actually kill any of the Gebler jerks during this sequence. They all had character portraits. That entitles them to at LEAST one more encounter before getting killed off. I think that’s called Xenogears’ “Alice Rule”.
Elsewhere in the Yggdrasil hanger...
"Pardon? Yes it works but..." “Alright!”Citan dashes toward the cockpit...
“It is nowhere near operational..." ”Do not worry! I am a doctor.”
"It's alright, Maison."Sigurd walks into the hangar...
"It's fine. He'll be okay. It may not even be enough for him." “Master Sigurd...?”
“I hope I can still remember..."Citan starts up his new Gear and enters the brawl...
“Well then, it is high time someone broke you in..."
"Reinforcements!?"
Citan busts out some mecha kung fu with his new Gear – Heimdal.
"Compared to the pain my friends are going through, Yours is nothing...!! I cannot allow people like you to persist in tormenting those who cannot fight back. I will take you on in their place. Come on!"
"?? What are you talking about!?" ”Let’s practice medicine...”
Same deal here with Heimdal. Heavy attacks, Level 1 Deathblows, repeat. This Gear, Aegisknight, is probably the most pathetic out of the Gebler’s forces present.
The only attack it seemed interested in busting out on Citan was a “Pile Driver”. This is quite the misnomer. There was no awesome robot wrestling taking place. It just sort of...gives Citan’s gear a hug and that apparently damages its armor...?
Whatever. Needless to say, Citan kicked its ass despite piloting a new Gear for the first time and being out of practice for half a decade. Doc Uzuki is just that good.
“There is a limit to what I can learn seeing as I started so late in life. Even so, I hit that guy hard and he did not go down. They must be using 'that stuff'. Young one! They are using -Drive-! They are battle enhancement drugs. Normal attacks will not hurt them!" “Crap... This'll never end!" ”...? Eh...how do drugs prevent a Gear from exploding when we beat it up?” “Science.” “...Oh.”Two more Gears drop into battle...
"It's okay! We'll get by without him!" ”Besides, given the progression of this fight he’ll almost definitely show up within the next ten minutes. Probably to save someone at the last minute.” “Do you believe he will have a solo battle first or will it just be a three way team-up?” “Eh... Depends on if a boss shows up.”
Next up is a pair of Wandknights. These guys fly around and use plasma shotguns. Maybe if they...I dunno...gun-whipped with said shotguns then they’d stand a chance? But just firing guns? How passé...
Same deal, different mechas. These guys go down even faster since Citan and Bart can just double-team one and take it out in a couple turns.
Elsewhere...
”I told you playing in the hangar was a stupid idea!”
“It was your idea!” “Well, you’re stupid for going along with it!” “Nuh-uh!” “Uh-huh!” “Nuh-uh!” “Uh-huh!” “Nuh—“
“...Uhhhh.”
“S, sis...!!”
"How admirable... Now what kind of sound will you make when I do this?"
“Aaahhhhhh!!!” ”Jackass-getting-shoulder-checked-says-what?!” “Wha...?!"
Weltall out of fucking nowhere! How utterly unexpected!
"Why are you fighting?" "You, what are you doing!?"
”A nice paycheck...?” "What if this was your home!?"
This smug jackass, Vance, pilots a Gear with oversized claw arms. It promptly gets its shit pushed in before he retreats.
"We'll talk later! We've got big trouble coming down on us now!"
”Big...really...hmm... What’s the adjective I’m looking for here...?” “Absurd?” “Goofy ass...?” “Ah! That’s the one. Big, really goofy ass trouble...”
Time for the only real fight of this sequence, the really silly looking drill Gear, Schpariel. This guy hits harder than anything we’ve faced thus far and it has a whopping 6500 HP to make up for the 1-vs-3 handicap match.
Schpariel opens the battle with summoning lightning from the top of the hangar. What...? Gears can totally summon lightning indoors. Despite looking impressive, all this does is...just lower one character’s defense.
We can counter that by having Bart toss a Wild Smile at the thing to completely gimp its ability to attack. That goofy indoors lightning attack was the Spiral Power Gear’s only special attack. The rest are all physical strikes so...yeah. Wild Smile REALLY borks its offensive capability.
Speaking of which, Schpariel’s attacks all involve turning into a drill and attempting to drill our heroes. It comes in flying drill variety...
And digging through the ground to drill at its opponents. Honestly, even without Wild Smile you’d think any Gear worth a damn could dodge a huge cumbersome robot spinning slowly towards its opponents.
Anyhow, it’s basically the same deal as all the mini-bosses with Heavy attack...yadda yadda...you know the drill (hurr!). It just takes a lot longer to take the thing out, even with stacked odds. That said, it only managed to get in a single successful attack the entire fight before going down. It was a bit embarrassing.
A bit later...
Music: Leftover Dreams of the Strong
"Thanks... Fei."Bart walks off all flustered. I hope Elly rejoins the group at some point soon or else I think Bart is gonna try to pull a move...
"I...still don't know what I should do." "Fei..." "What Bart's doing isn't for his own gain. He walks the path he believes in, one step at a time...wishing only for the happiness of those around him. I, on the other hand... I thought I didn't have a path that I could take laid out before me. But like he said, that's just running away. I must find my own path. Right, doc?" *nods* <Thank the heavens he is finally snapping out of this pity party...> "If Bart wishes, I'll cooperate with you guys. That's all I can do now. But I think I'll find the path I should follow as I help others like you. Moreover, I can't turn my back and ignore what such a terrible group of people are doing to others." "Thanks Fei."And so Fei stops being such a Debbie Downer and becomes a freedom fighting pirate...
Some time later...
“Gebler has discovered this base. So we should leave a small garrison and evacuate while we still can. Fortunately, the Yggdrasil is undamaged, so we are able to embark immediately. The crew's preparations are complete. Whenever you are ready, Master Fei and good Doctor, please accompany the young master to the bridge. Doctor Uzuki, Master Fei, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I would truly appreciate it if you would be so kind as to stay with us and help us out on our rescue mission!" ”Yeah, yeah Jeeves. We’re gonna go save the princess or whatever.” *jumps a few times* "Hey, alright, alright. Let me say goodbye to the women before we go." ”The only women I saw were a couple little kids and that lunch lady in the mess hall...” “...” “S-So...? Tch. Fine! Let’s just go!”The party heads to Yggdrasil’s bridge...
“First of all, our party should inspect the town and work out a plan of action." ”...You mean there’s not a plan? We’re just going to this city and winging it...?” “More or less...” “...” <Regretting this decision already...>
Welp...on to the Aveh capital of Bledavik we go to rescue the Fem-Pope!
Heimdal Render