Part 82: Episode LXXIX: Maria Balthasar and the Number Eighteen

Episode LXXIX: Maria Balthasar and the Number Eighteen

Music: Forest of the Black Moon


“...interception course with Shevat. It would be reasonable to believe that their main targets are going to be the 4 Gate generators. They are probably planning on finishing us off since Dominia's demolition has weakened the Gate output. We have scrambled our interceptor units, but I do not know how they will fare... The people of Shevat are not accustomed to Gear tactics. I want to avoid unnecessary sacrifices if at all possible."
"Yeah... I know, doc. We'll go! We're already involved. And, we can't just stand by and watch these people die."
”Besides, we’ll just get guilt tripped into it until we accept anyway. No sense in dallying about.”
"Fei..."
*nods* "I don't like the idea of working for free... but I don't like the idea of turning tail and running from them even more! Let's do it! It doesn't matter who they are. I'll take 'em all down in my Brigandier!!"
"Yes...! We'll do what we can to protect the people here!"
"Tch. Since the day I met you all, there's been nothing but trouble... But I've come this far with you all. I guess there's no point in bitching about it. I'll show them what happens when they tick the great Rico off."
”Rico, you’re on guarding the queen duty.”
*frown*
"I will go too! The enemy was able to get in because they let the Yggdrasil in. We can't allow the people of this country to be in danger because of us..."
_{”Psst. Bart. Does whatshisface have a Gear too?”
“Yeah. It’s got a cape and a pope hat and it has machinegun arms.”
“Awesome.”}


“Especially since my life also depends on it. I have no intentions of kickin' the bucket here."
"Shut up! Dad, could you not say anything!?"
”I can use my foot up your ass to do my talking, son.”
“When you get a Gear bigger than 10 feet tall and doesn’t involve potentially shooting you out in its bullets, then you get a say in battle plans.”
"Alright alright, I know. Why can't you be more nicer?"


"...? Going chu help...? Chuthulhu, what're you doing here?"
”Ugh! Who let that thing out?! Dammit, Margie!”
"Well... In all the bustle, she somehow tagged along."
"What am I gonna do... This isn't a game. It's dangerous, so go back to the Yggdrasil. Okay, Chuthulhu? Be a good girl."
"Uh hmm... Chuthulhu's not a good girl. I'm in that dangerous age right now."
”Hey. Willy.”
“It’s Billy.”
“That’s nice. Think I can borrow one of those guns of yours?”
"And Chuthulhu can help chu! I'm going with all of you. Yeah? Yeah?"
"Tch, alright... Don't come crying to me when things get outta hand."
”Or Weltall missteps. On top of you. Repeatedly.”
"Heh, so they call you Chuthulhu also. Many of your friends live in this city. You want to go meet them later?"
"R, really? They're all here? Yaaay! I finally found them!! Chuthulhu's friends. They're here!! Now, let's put everything into it. Everyone, we have chu give it our best shot!"
”Don’t we have an invasion to stop? Can ever we stop listening to the stupid mascot character?”
“Seconded.”
“The motion has passed.”

Everyone turns back to Citan...


“As I have explained before, 4 separate units are each headed for their respective generators. From the information collected in Shevat we have a good idea of the capabilities and composition of the Gear units... However, there is one giant Gear that they are holding back that we have no information about."
"An unidentified giant Gear...? It can't be..."
"Allow me to put it on screen."
”What screen?”
“All the windows here double as view screens.”
“Even the ones on the floor?”
“No. That would be stupid.”
“Sure would...”
*gives the evil eye to Fei*

The music stops as Zephyr brings up the enemy Gear...




"What's with that creepy Gear...? Do you know anything, Maria?"
”It’s not capable of picking up submarines and throwing them at people, right? I’ve had some bad experiences with that...”
"Achtzehn... is the 2nd Gear my father designed... Seibzehn's sister Gear. But Achtzehn wasn't completed...! Other than Seibzehn, father didn't make anymore, he was supposed to have burned the plans...! So... Why...!?"
“People of Shevat! Hear me!”
"That voice... No... Father!?"

Music: Tears of the Stars, Hearts of the People


“Just in time to test out Achtzehn. I can take you and Shevat out all at once! Hello, little rats, come on out. Come on my cute little guinea pigs."
"Why that...!! Why is father...!?"
"Calm down, Maria!! It doesn't mean that Dr. Nikolai is inside!"
*shakes head* "But...!! But... Father's voice...!?"


“You intend to lose even before you fight...? Against the very people who made you suffer?"
"...!! But..."
"Well, that is fine. Let us consider our next move! We must repulse the Gear forces and protect the generators."
*thinks* "To do that, let us split into four teams, and intercept the enemy. The four of us will attack independently and defend each generator to the death. The other two, wait here. It is dangerous... but we cannot turn back now. If even one generator falls it is a defeat for us."
”Why are two people waiting behind?”
“To protect Queen Zephyr, of course.”
“Lemme guess. You’re volunteering?”
“I’ll leave that up to Fei to decide.”
“Huh? Why?”
“You are the main character, aren’t you?”
"Maria... You, wait here."
"...Please, Maria."
”You will undoubtedly be needed to ride off into Seibzehn to save the day as the climax of your story arc.”
"... Okay... I understand."
"Next, the formation of the enemy Gear forces. At Generator 1, there are two small Gears and a complement of Solaris troops... If you do not hit them fast and hard you will get bogged down in a firefight. At Generator 2, there are 3 White Knights. They are very fast and maneuverable. At Generator 3 there is a large Gear and a White Knight. Be careful, the large Gear has some kind of special attack. At Generator 4, there is a large Gear and a White Knight. The large Gear seems to be a power Gear."


At this point, we get to decide who defends which Generator. The only two Generators that really matter are 1 and 4. 2 and 3 are a cakewalk. But one requires someone that can take out a bunch of enemies at once (read: Elly) and 4 requires someone that is decently speedy, packs a punch, and can take a good amount of hits (read: Fei.) Billy, Bart, or Citan can handle 2 and 3. I went with Billy and Bart because Citan’s Gear is boring and kind of sucks and hasn’t been upgraded since the Thames.


After assignments are doled out, we’re given the opportunity to go save, rest up, and do some shopping. Solaris will just patiently wait for us to finish up before attacking. It is very nice of them.

Music: Knight of Fire


Alright. Time for the main event. We can choose to do the Generator defense missions in any order. It’s probably a good idea to do Generator 4 first, since that’s the hardest and failing any round will result in a game over. But let’s just go down the line for the LP here.


”I think I’ve gotten into the double digits with counts of high treason against Solaris. A few more isn’t going to change much.”


Generator 1 involves a fight against a half-dozen Solaris Stormtroppers with a pair of “Littlefoot” super Gears.


The threat in this battle is the Solaris Guards. They all only do 200-300 HP of damage. But that adds up very quickly considering all six get to go in a row and they are way speedier than Gears. Being squishy humans, any of the Gears can stomp on one of them and be done with it. But, for every round our Gear takes, every surviving Solaris Guard gets to take nearly two.




So what we do is just have Elly nuke ‘em all with Aerods. One and done. Overkill? Sure. But it’s really the easiest way to deal with this fight.


The two Littlefoot Gears have very high Ether defense and can survive even an EtherDoubler Aerods. But, any Strong attack will one-shot them. So the rest of the round is easy to mop up. One down, three to go.


”Just like those vile sinners that beat me at card games. The fires of hell await all your lot!”


Generator 2 pits Billy against a trio of White Knights. They attack by venomously defending all slights against their beloved. Or maybe they only have weak physical attacks and go down in two X attacks. One of the two. Next!


“There's no way a pathetic unit like yours could ever beat the likes of me!!"
”No kamikaze attacks! That’s cheating!’


Generator 3 offers another White Knight duo, alongside a scorpion looking Citadel Gear. The White Knights should be taken out first. Two X attacks will take out one. We can use the Attack Level 2 Deathblow we’ve gained to take out the other quickly. Just leaving the main event to take on.




Citadel attacks by screaming loudly at its enemies, or else using its tail to piss all over them. Both of these only do a couple thousand. So as long as Brigandier has Booster on and doesn’t dick around, it’s no sweat. Three out of four down. Next!


”Unless there’s a cutscene and suddenly I can’t go. Hate when that happens...”


Generator 4’s battle is against yet more White Knights, along with this...silly looking caterpillar Gear, Avalanche.


Avalanche is a pain in the ass because it spends the first few rounds lowering Weltall’s defenses before going in to attack. At that point, it’s doing 3500+ HP of damage every round. This gives us around five or six rounds to take out Avalanche before it takes out Weltall. Why couldn’t we have two Gears defending a single Generator, again...? I wouldn’t have minded Stier coming out just to be a punching bag.

After the battle...




I guess Fei just forgot about Maria’s Dad Gear floating around still. He should know that Solaris never does any attacking without a boss rush.

Back in the palace...


"What's Achtzehn gonna do next?"
”Or rather, do at all. Damn thing has just been sitting there like a pair of saggy tits.”




Suddenly, a lone Gear flies out to combat Achtzehn. I guess Shevat found a spear Gear from the Great War stuffed in somebody’s closet or something.


"Beat it! This isn't an opponent for you!!"




Welp, that went about as well as could be expected of a nameless friendly going against a boss Gear.


"Why...? Why this...?"
"So you can be test subjects for this guy."
”...What guy?”


Achtzehn tilts back and unleashes its dreaded Techno-Rave Beam over Shevat. The fiend!


"What was that...!?"
"Achtzehn's new weapon... the anti-Gear Psycho Jammer!"
”That’s a stupid ass name!”
“Father was...never really good with names...”


"Brigandier won't move...!?"
"Vierge isn't responding either!"
"This one's no good either...!!"
”You’re supposed to say your Gear’s name and express exasperation! You’re not doing it right! ‘This one’? For all I know that beam just gave you erectile dysfunction.”
“...”
"Is this his doing?"
"Powerful electrical waves are interfering with the Gears' response circuits. Don't worry, it will soon pass. But..."


Fei and the gang’s Gears are all disabled by Solaris’ dreaded Anti-Gear Psycho Jammer! Can anyone stop the might of Achtzehn and Nikolai Balthasar?! Tune in for the most unlikely of rescues on the next exciting episode of Xenogears!










Achtzehn Concept Art – Anti-Gear Psycho Jammer... I’m calling it now: Emperor Cain is really M. Bison.