Click to see the mission!
Here we are, closing off the Rescue Route. Quatre had a bit of a sprint in the last mission, securing himself as our top ace. Ichitaka and Kenji are now tied for the second and third place.
Kouichi, as you might guess, will be a very recurring event deployment, so I gave him an extra pip on everything – you might as well boost everything since, one, he’s not the best at dodging despite the Linebarrel’s size and, two, there’s always that 50% boost to squad bonuses.
Remaining cash goes into giving Goh, Ichita and Jeeg some boosts here and there.
Putting out squads back together after they got all messed up last time, we’re going with:
Jeeg/Kyo
Ichitaka/Miu
Reiji/Quatre
Iczer-1/Yagyuu
Yamashita/Shizuna
Shizuru/Tetsuya
Goh, Mira and Kouichi are deploying as events.
: … Are you there, weasel?
: You called, Prof. Grife? Have you decided to cooperate?
: Hmph, I simply felt like calling, though I’m surprised you answered so quickly. Guess you don’t have much to do with your life.
: Not at all. I actually keep quite the busy schedule.
: So you say, but not busy enough that you can’t stay planted in front of a monitor apparently. Maybe I ought to call you up at random and mess with your sleeping hours?
: I hope you won’t, as I’d prefer to keep the unpleasantries to a bare minimum. Mind, I might start considering it if you continue being so unreasonable.
: What’ll it be, then? Drugs? Hypnosis? Or just plain old torture? Do your worst! I’ll kick the bucket before you even get started!
: Please, you need not worry. I’d never do anything taxing on your body.
: Why don’t you take a quick nap, Professor? And do look forward to when you wake up.
: What are you up to, weasel?!
: Could I ask you to stop calling me that? You don’t know my name or even seen my face.
: Next time you call me… could you please go with “Mr. President”?
: Wh…at…? Hrk… my head’s going…!
Thud.
: Excellency, the brain wave scanner is ready.
: Very good. You may start right away.
Back at JUDA, Maki and Rachel have called Ichitaka over as they’ve found some info that’s seemingly related to sponsoring Grife received in his research. It’s not much, but it’s a first step! Now, does he remember those nixed upgrade plans for Alice that they found while analyzing his painting? They found a commonality among all those plans.
See, the nixed plans would’ve all used materials created by a single enterprise: GreAT Corporation. And they mean ALL the materials, down to the tiniest bits. Ichitaka’s heard of that company: “Providers of your every need, from groceries to toilets!” Rachel isn’t sure about that slogan, but they ARE known worldwide as a very prolific company. Still, Maki says that where GreAT truly struck gold and grew into a huge multinational was as a manufacturer of mechanical parts.
As it turns out, they apparently supplied the professor with everything he needed for absolutely free – and he needed a lot of stuff. GreAT even gave him items they don’t usually manufacture, so it’s pretty clear there was something going on between Grife and that company.
But Maki and Rachel couldn’t find what reason there was to cause the professor to call off the whole thing as suddenly as he did. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the quality of the materials, though.
Still, if we can figure out what Grife was researching, we might figure out why he was kidnapped and by whom. Rachel’ll have JUDA’s intelligence department look into GreAT and even poke around other companies that might’ve done some industrial espionage into the guys.
Ichitaka’s very thankful, but Maki tells him to save it until they’ve finished their work. In the meantime, Kouichi’s waiting for him.
Outside JUDA, everyone’s already waiting for Ichitaka and Kouichi. Yamashita suggest them watch it as, were this a mission briefing, Reiji would’ve been piiiissed. Kouichi promises to treat him to some curry bread by way of apology, and Ichitaka says it was his fault. Regardless, Ishigami tells them to let it go and beckons Miu to speak.
She officially welcomes Kouichi and Nagisa to LOTUS’ living quarters, and Nagisa’s rather surprised at how fancy the place looks for housing some pilots. The LOTUS folks have it good, she sees!
And there’s even a big fluffy dog around the place, which Nagisa is so enamored with. Looks a bit too old to be a watchdog, though…
Actually, it’s the dorm manager’s pet but we’re free to think of it as one of the team’s mascot. Wait, dorm? Wasn’t it supposed to be some living quarters for the pilots? Yamashita explains that, originally, this was JUDA’s company dorms, but they figured it’d make a good place for the LOTUS folk.
Goh says the mechanics also live here, though they’re back at the Dannar Base at the moment. In other words, these dorms house everyone working with LOTUS. Does that mean Emi’s here, too, Kouichi wonders. She on his mind? N-no, not really.
Either way, Ishigami hands over the card keys to their rooms and Nagisa and Iczer-1 take off to take a look. Ichitaka offers to show Kouichi around as the building’s rather unique shape makes it a bit difficult to get around.
Ishigami stops shot a bit upon hearing they’ll be going together. There a problem? No, he’s just worried about potential injuries. Huh?
: Alright, over here’s my room so yours should be just around the corner.
: Thanks much, Ichitaka.
: There’re a bunch of devices around the rooms, but it all comes with a manual, so you oughta be able to figure it out. Anything you don’t get, just call and I’ll come over.
: Hey, I’ll be alright – I’m not a baby.
: Yo, Ichitaka! You said you bought this new manga, right? Can I borrow it some?
: Oh, Kenji. Sure thing, just gimme a sec to get it.
Couple minutes ahead…
: Let’s see, 203… 203…
: Ah, here we go!
Cha-chunk!
: OK! From this day onward, this shall be my cas…tle…?
: !!
: Waaaaaaaaa?!
: (Why… Why’s Emi in my room… naked?!)
: What is it, Kouichi?!
: Something happen?!
: Y-You…
: Gch?! Emi?!
: Hu-Huuge…!
: You’re all despicable!!
Slap! Slap! Punch!
So, Kouichi’s back at the infirmary while Ichitaka and Kenji got off with some slight bruising. Nagisa’s not amused, as she thought the Cthulhu had attacked again. Rachel shakes her head at them, but Ichitaka insists he’s just an innocent victim here. Is he? She’s inclined to think otherwise, looking at Kenji: “I’m hurting a bit, but it’s fair price for the great view. Heeheehee…”
Maybe Tsubaki should give him some more serious bruises, then? N-No, he was just kidding! Just kidding! Ishigami is so very apologetic to Emi, saying he “made a mistake” when handing out the card keys. Uh-huh, and what was he telling Ichitaka about being worried about potential bruises? Did he give the wrong keys on purpose?! Perish the thought! He’s the president of JUDA Corporation and would never do such a thing!
Yui tell Emi and the others not to worry as she’ll extract the truth from Ishigami. He yells that it’s all one huge misunderstanding – look into his eyes! – but Yui says she’ll hear his excuses at the office. Now march!
Yamashita sighs at the crazy CEO they have and at least Shizuru sees that Ichitaka and the others fell in the guy’s trap. It’s actually somewhat impressive, as the guy arranged it so Kouichi’s arrival in the room coincided perfectly with when Emi ended her bath.
Shizuna wouldn’t put it past Ishigami to have abused his security access to gather intel and set up this “surprise”. Wait, does that mean he could have risqué footage of everyone?! Thankfully, no, as Rachel explains to the panicking Ichitaka and Kenji that there are no hidden cameras around – he likely figured out Emi’s bath time from the water and electrical data.
“Psh, lame. And I was just thinking of asking the guy for a quick peek,” Kenji sighs. Tsubaki and Emi aren’t amused. Despicable, indeed.
By the Dannar Base, Shibakusa and the other mechanics have finished getting the Goh Okusaer all set up and Kiriko apologizes for calling them all the way back here. No problem, as just servicing one unit was pretty easy – much more so than the work they had to do on all our units. The actual problematic part comes now, though, and Momoko knows: the Goh Okusaer is a lot harder to control than the Neo, which is why they’d stashed the thing away.
Konami says she’s got it the other way around, as the Neo Okusaer was made BECAUSE the Goh Okusaer put such a heavy strain on the pilot. And who’ll pilot it? They’re considering Shizuru and Shibakusa figures she could handle it. Kagemaru asks if Kiriko would be fine with that, as he knows she was considering her daughter for it. Still, he won’t press her on that subject.
Kiriko takes Anna to be a pretty good candidate – even taking away her parental bias – but she’s still gone and Kiriko doesn’t know if she’ll return. Best not to put all their eggs on that basket, so Shibakusa will get the bot ready for Shizuru to use and will have it shipped to JUDA.
But there’s a new problem as an emergency call comes in: it’s Shukuyu, who reports that they’ve spotted the Menage Zero. It managed to shake them off and is headed straight our way! How the hell did that happen? Momoko gets some footage and they spot Lou’s Cosmo Diver.
The girl was supposed to be on our side, but she started blasting Shukuyu’s group and that’s how the Menage Zero got by. Lou’s been missing for two months already, having gone off in pursuit of the Menage Zero – Kiriko’s happy she’s safe but working together with the enemy isn’t the best.
Regardless, the Zero tends to show up wherever Mimetic Beasts do which means there’s a pretty good chance our area’ll be attacked by the things. We better watch it, thinks Shukuyu. Kiriko thanks her for the update and asks how her partner’s doing – he wasn’t hurt by the Menage Zero, was he?
No, Moukaku is still combined with her. He’s fine… and, then, he isn’t, promptly going crazy as all get out, demanding to know WHERE IS THE MENAGE ZEROOOOOO!
As the feed gets cut, Kiriko seems to have an idea of what happened. Knight and Ellis Valentine, as well as the Dancouga, should be around Dino Base, so Kiriko asks Kagemaru to get in touch ask for their help over there. The Dragon’s Hive guys owe us one. But what happens next…?
Back in town, things haven’t been a whole lot better for Anna: she’s been kicked out of ANOTHER apartment and just lost her job. Whatever will she do? Pinpin’s still around, but she hasn’t anything more for him to eat. This calls for a new job, fast.
Last one was at a restaurant that actually paid pretty nice, though she ended up punching the manager after he yelled that she needed to shorten her skirt about 10cm. Pinpin meows and she agrees that she wasn’t in the wrong there. Still, life sure is tough out there for a regular girl and she’s starting to regret running away from home… but there’s no place for her in the Dannar Base anymore.
And, to make things worse, she hasn’t seen Nagisa since that robot attack. She hopes she’s alright… An Eida add playing nearby, announcing a Christmas tour, reminds her of seeing one of these when she was last with Nagisa. She could go for an idol lifestyle right about now, as it’d mean she could stop looking for part-time jobs…
A voice suddenly asks her to wait a moment – is she actually getting scouted?! Her name’s Anna Aoi, she’s 17 years old, and her specialty is cooking sukiyaki! Actually, no, it’s Goh’s little brother Suzaku Kururugi Shinobu… and what was that about sukiyaki? N-nothing at all, pay her no mind, bye!
She doesn’t go far before Shinobu stops her from running. Anna yells that she’s not going back to Dannar Base, but Shinobu actually says that’s totally fine. He’s watched her work so hard, for so long, by herself, and he’s reached a point where he can’t just watch it all in silence anymore.
He’s on the verge of asking her to come with him when a bunch of explosions rain on his parade. What’s going on? Mimetic Beasts, and they’re coming for them!
Mission 10 (Rescue Route) – Engage, Godannar
: Anna, we need to run! It’s too dangerous here!
: Hold on! That’s…!
: Goh…!
: Anna, hurry! This way!
: …
: There you are, Mimetic Beasts! Sorry, but we’ll be keeping this town safe from you!
: Goh, there’s a good chance the Menage Zero’ll also turn up. If he does, don’t rush him by yourself, please.
: I know, but the Cosmo Diver… Lou’s also with him. If he shows his face, I’ll want to settle that score here and now.
: (His defeat to the Menage Zero left deep wounds in his spirit… They should be healed, but…)
: Nagisa, please keep on standby until I summon the Iczer Robo (130 morale).
: OK, you got it.
: Kouichi, weren’t you hospitalized after Emi’s punch?
: “Hospitalized”, he says… Heh, don’t worry about me. I’m pretty hardy, you know.
: All Factors carry D-S.O.I.L nanomachines inside their bodies, and those heal any wounds pretty much instantly. So depending on our D-S.O.I.L.’s activity rate, we’re almost unkillable.
: Aah, I see how it is – you guys are pretty much all supermen and superwomen, then.
: Our enemies are dead ahead. Cut the chatter.
: Alright, time for a good ol’ fashioned Mimetic Beast extermination. Let’s jump right in there!
Beep, beep!
: Wait a sec there! Some new heat signals incoming!
: … Here he comes.
: …
: That’s it, alright… the Menage Zero!
: And the Cosmo Diver!
: Lou…?! She was with the Menage Zero these past two months?!
: Don’t let them close in on you, Lou! (Ken)
: Roger!
: Here I come, Mimetic Beasts! Haah!
: You’re not the one!
: Menage Zero…!
: Away. We’ve already had our duel, and you’ve been found wanting.
: What?!
: So stay there and do not interfere with my battle!
: I can’t do that. Rather, I’ll take down those Mimetic Beasts, you, and get Lou back!
: If you won’t heed my warning, then I’ll give you no quarter!
: !!
: Goh, wait! I’ll go in first!
: Aargh!
: Don’t, Mira!
: As you wish. I’ll start with you, then!
Ken steps towards Mira.
: Mira, get back!
The Godannar powers down.
: Goh!!
: Can you move?
: Y-Yes, I’m fine… my unit’s falling apart, though…!
: Pull back to base. You can’t fight after that!
: But…
: Hurry! Do you want me to lose my nerve again?!
: …!
: Don’t push your luck, Mira – pull back. We’ll take care of Goh.
: Alright… stay alive, everyone.
: The Okusaer…!
: Come on, Anna! Let’s get out of here!
: No, I have to go…
: Go where?!
: Ah…
: (That’s right… Where would I go? There’s nowhere I belong… I still act like I’m a pilot, but I’m the one who ran off like that… and I’ve know that for a long time.)
: (Yet… What’s this I’m feeling?)
: Anna, you don’t have to force yourself to fight! Being a pilot’s not who you are!
: Just forget my brother and we’ll go live in peace!
: …You’re wrong. I want to pilot a robot…
: Huh?
: I’ve just remembered something… Ever since I was a kid, before I even met Goh…I’ve always dreamed of being a pilot…!
: Anna…
: (I’ve been lying to myself all this time… I’d been projecting my insecurities as a pilot onto Goh and twisting my own dreams…)
: (I’m not as good a pilot as the others, so I blamed everything on Goh’s past and ran away… I didn’t lose where I belonged – rather, I’d turned my back on my dream!)
: … Shinobu!
: Yeah?!
: Take me back to the Dannar Base! I’m no running anymore. I’ll fight!
: Are you sure about this, Anna?
: Absolutely. If I ran away now, I’d regret it the rest of my life!
: … Alright. Come on, Anna. I’ve left my bike not far from here!
: OK!
: How’re you holding up in there, Goh?!
: I’m fine, but the Dannar’s drive systems are out. I’m running some makeshift repairs, so you folks’ll have to handle this by yourselves for a bit! Sorry!
: (I need to hurry… I’ve a responsibility to get to Lou and scold her for what she’s done!)
: Troops, cover the Godannar and destroy the Mimetic Beasts and the Menage Zero. Feel free to disregard the Cosmo Diver.
: We gotta fight the guy that beat the Godannar to a pulp before…?
: Kouichi, your heart-rate’s rising. Are you afraid?
: N-No way! I was just thinking that this is the perfect guy to take down on my debut!
: Hah, I reckon you’re doing OK if you’re running your mouth like that. Watch our backs and we’ll watch yours, rookie.
: If you choose to retreat without any issues, I’ll allow it… Oppose me, however, and you’ll find only death!
Destroy everything while protecting Goh and Kouichi – the former’s your biggest risk as you can’t even cast spirit commands with him. Ken’ll ignore him while there are Mimetic Beasts to kill, but the beasties themselves won’t; so either jump in there and keep them away, or keep a group like Ichitaka/Miu near him as a safety net.
You’ll eventually have to deal with Ken and he’ll retreat under 8k HP. As Reiji said, you COULD totally ignore Lou, but, of course, there’s a catch – suffice to say you’ll want to leave Ken and Lou for last. For now, don’t kill her and don’t bring him below that HP threshold.
Blade Gainer (Ken)
Pilot Skills:
Sword Cut
Predict
Prevail L4
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Cosmo Diver (Lou Roux)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L2
Ken’s pretty good, in that he’s about tied with Goh on most stats (he’s got a bit more on some, less on others) and the Blade Gainer’s both beefy and hits decently hard. Not as hard as Iczer-2, but still. His main issue is the same as Goh’s though: very short range. The best he’s got is 1-3 and we have a lot of folks who can beat that.
Prevail and Predict means he’s rather accurate, but he’s not all that dangerous. If you wanna take him out, though, you’ll have to go with the standard practice of having someone bust Fighting Spirit with a support from Ichitaka or whoever.
As for Lou, she’s not all that great. Better range than Ken but way less stats, power and resilience.
But, as I said, we’ll be ignoring them for now and moving everyone towards the Mimetic Beasts.
Enemy Phase!
In come the little guys.
HEY!
: Please stay out of our way! I don’t want to fight you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oExYoNGu1w
Youcameaftermegoddamnit.
Still, there’s no problem with us taking potshots at her – it’s only Ken that runs off after a point. Speaking of, he runs over to Lou’s side.
Player Phase!
: Eh? Did Mira comeback?
: Look again, Kenji. It’s similar to the Neo Okusaer, but that’s a different unit!
: Is that… the Goh Okusaer?! Mira, why’re you piloting that thing?!
: It’s not Mira in here!
: A-Anna?!
: I’m back, Goh! And I’m here to help!
: Absolutely not! Get off this battlefield!
: I’m so sorry, Goh… I know—
: No, you don’t! Do you have any idea the trouble you’ve put everyone through running off for over two months?! How many people were endangered?!
: I’m really sorry! I just—
: No, what you did was inexcusable! You’ve no right to pilot that robot!
: You don’t think I know that?! That’s why I didn’t come back all this time!
: Hey, hey, hey, hey! We appreciate any extra help, but can anyone explain what’s going on?! Just who’re you?!
: We’re talking, if you can’t tell! And who are you? What’s your deal with Goh?
: Keeping it short, the girl piloting the Goh Okusaer’s Anna Saruwatari… Goh’s wife.
: Whaat?! But she looks not that much older than us!
: Wait up, did you say Anna…? Anna Aoi?!
: Nagisa?! So you were alright… thank goodness.
: I am, yes, but never mind me! How’re you a pilot and married?! Was that why you said all that weird stuff back then?
: Um… I might’ve kept a few secrets. Sorry!
: We don’t have a lot of time to catch up now, but I’ll fight these with you!
: Stop right there! I haven’t okayed your reinstatement!
: Uurgh! You’re so pigheaded!
: While you’re very irresponsible!
Beep!
: That’s enough bickering, you two. This is hardly the time for that, don’t you think?
: Professor! Why’s she in the Goh Okusaer?!
: Because I felt it was necessary. Besides, weren’t you waiting for her to come back?
: That doesn’t mean I want her reinstated as a pilot!
: The Dannar Base is part of LOTUS, so you don’t get a say in this matter.
: And what you should be focusing on right now is on finishing your repairs!
: … Roger that!
: I also have plenty to say to you, Anna. Normally, like Goh said, you wouldn’t be allowed in that cockpit.
: … I know.
: Then you’d best pull your weight and then some if you want to redeem yourself!
: Yes, ma’am!
: And, Anna, that mech was set up for Shizuru to use, so it might not be the best fit for you. I reckon the seat, in particular, will be too wide, but just bear with it for now!
: Shiba!
: No worries. I can fight just fine with it!
: And keep the Plasma Drive at level 6 or lower – any more than that and you won’t be able to control it!
: Roger!
: The rest is up to you, folks!
: Copy that. All troops, engage and destroy the Mimetic Beasts and Menage Zero!
Goh Okusaer (Anna Saruwatari)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L3
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L2
Spirit Commands:
Alert
Iron Wall
Strike
Mech Features:
Angel Wall
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, money earned+10%
At least Anna gets the claim the “Goh Wifebot” to show Mira what’s what. The bot itself is, as you might expect, the Neo Okusaer but better.
Anna and Mira themselves are pretty similar, with slight variations in stats. Anna’s clearly built as the more defensive pilot with that Iron Wall, while Mira’s more offense-oriented with her Accel and whatnot.
The loss of Accel isn’t too good for Goh, but we’ll have to make do – if anything, the Goh Okusaer’s squad bonus will get movement+1/+2 at 50/100% upgrades, so you can compensate for it some. Extra money’s always nice, too, especially with how the AI’s drawn to big HP pools.
Also, take note of this:
Secret Alert!
You’ll want to take Lou down with either Anna or Goh (when he’s back). Remember, she’ll run off when Ken does, so handle her first.
So let’s get to work. Kenji follows up Reiji’s initial attack.
There goes the leader.
Yagyuu can’t quite finish the leader off, so Yamashita takes it.
Enemy Phase!
Here they come.
Four groups get weakened. Kenji takes a kill and, of course, Ichitaka’s ever the mook magnet: he takes two kills (because I held back) and weakens many more.
Ken also draws in a lot of attention.
: You’re in my way! Move!
All three groups of Type 13 Mimetic Beasts run in and Lou readily support defends him twice. Make sure you take that into account as you hit back on her attacks.
Player Phase!
Goh’s finished his repairs and is back in action. Kagemaru wants him to combine with the Goh Okusaer right away but Kiriko says it’s too soon: she wants to see if the girl can actually handle the unit.
Furthermore, Goh outright refuses to combine with Anna. Kouichi looks on at how angry the guy’s gotten since his wife came back. Will he be alright?
Moving along, with stuff softened up, we can go to town. Goh takes one, Anna guns for another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le9_vzqsuvs
Her barrier holds even better than Mira’s with her stats. Yamashita and Shizuna claim this group’s survivor.
And we need to clear the area around Ken and Lou, lest the things do too much damage for comfort.
: I’ve really been reborn this time!
Kouichi can shrug off damage just fine, but these beasties draining his EN’ll make for an annoyance if it piles on.
Jeeg, Ichitaka and Shizuru get rid of the last mooks by that area.
Iczer-1 and Yagyuu are holding the line down here. One kill for the former.
Enemy Phase!
Here come the big ones.
He takes two of the little guys when they attack.
Cut back to Ichitaka, the enemy mob is still failing to do any lasting damage – one for him, one for Miu.
Player Phase!
Lou’s already around 30% HP, so let’s deal with her quickly.
: Get off the Cosmo Diver, Lou! There’s absolutely no reason for you to be fighting!
: You have a family, Anna, so I don’ expect you to understand how I feel…!
: And don’t you have a family too? What about me and Goh?!
: … No, I don’t! Leave me alone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf6lRdJpEOU
: Why are you with the Menage Zero, Lou?! Come back to the Dannar Base!
: You never taught me anything – rather, you always treated me like a kid! I won’t go back to living with people like that!
: Quit being so selfish, Lou! You are a kid and that means listening to the grown-ups!
: Lou! Get off the Cosmo Diver and lets all just go back to the Dannar Base!
: No, I won’t…! I won’t go back until I’ve avenged my dad…!
: Lou!
: Can you move, Lou? Pull back.
: OK!
: LOU! Damn it, why aren’t you listening to us?!
With that done, we’ll simply spend the turn clearing out the remaining Beasts (focus fire the bigger ones) and move to take Ken out.
Fast forward!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HzdVxtLU1c
Iczer-1 herself gained a new strongest attack now that Nagisa’s with her!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUJbfygFjsI
And here’s the ACTUAL full power Executor blast plus DK – I’m sure the city’ll be fine.
Ken had actually taken quite a beating over the fight (he did try attacking my guys once or twice), so he’s rather close to his threshold by the time I get to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_8Co4iGjK8
Listen, it’s written the way it’s written. Best I could find was a JP forum suggesting it’s like Strike+Slash.
I actually needed to spend one more turn trying to get him into a better position. Goh can’t pull the necessary numbers without combining and Kenji’s doing pretty well, so I decided to give this kill for Kouichi.
Ichitaka: “Lemme handle this, Kouichi!”
And we get a Predict skill part and some nice cash for our troubles.
Kouichi also learns Assail (突撃 – can use pre-movement attacks after moving) and Prevail L3.
: Hmph. I won’t fall to… urk!
: (Wh-What… my body’s… Is this…?!)
: (No… I cannot die yet, not before I’ve carried out my mission. I…!)
: And that’s a wrap. The Menage Zero ran off but the town didn’t take a whole lot of damage, so I reckon that’s a pretty good way to end things.
: Hold on now. Remember last time, when there was one Mimetic Beast hiding around?
: Hm. It’s too soon to let our guard down.
Beep, beep!
: I knew! Got one on radar – it’s…
: Right under the Godannar!
: Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!
: What?!
: Watch out, Goh!
: Thanks, Kouichi. I owe you one!
: Sorry, Goh, I didn’t get there fast enough…!
: …
: You’ll need to use the Twin Drive to take that one out, Goh, Anna. Combine!
: But Professor…
: Sorry, Mr. Moritsugu, but can you just play along?
: …As you wish.
: Troops, support the Godannar’s combination! Once it’s complete, immediately engage and destroy the Mimetic Beast!
: Roger that! Come on, Goh!
: No! I won’t combine with someone as irresponsible as you!
: You’re still stuck on that, you blockhead?! Weren’t you so very willing to combine with Mira?!
: Don’t bring her into this! I can count on her, unlike you!
: Aargh, that’s IT! It was because of that attitude of yours that things went south for us!
: What?! So it’s my fault now?!
: Oi… There they go again…
: Who has a lovers’ spat while a whole battle’s going on…?
: I hate how rude you are! And I hate your chin! Why’s it so big for no damn reason?!
: And I can’t stand how bratty you are! Or how self-centered you are! Or how long your baths take!
: Oh, speaking of baths, I hate how you like to just get out and waltz around the house naked!
: While I can’t stand how preachy you are! You’re a senior in high school, for crying out loud!
: I hate, hate how you only change your socks after a few days!
: It annoys me to no end that you’ve so much more money saved up than me!
: And it REALLY grinds my gears just how nice you are to all women you meet!
: Um… I don’t think we should be listening in on this…
: But we should still watch them. Do you not feel it, Nagisa? The beautiful emotions irradiating from them…?
: Huh…?
: And could you not start eating dinner before I even sit at the table?!
: Well, I don’t care what you think!
: Right back at you!
: Oof… they just keep going and going.
: I don’t give a damn about whatever you say, because I already knew you inside out!
: … Alright! Let’s combine, Anna!
: OK, Goh!
Both bots pull back.
: Huuh?! What just happened? Weren’t you fighting?!
: Drive change, GO!
: Drive change, GO!
: AAAH!
: Crap, the Plasma Drive’s gone over level 6!
: WAAAAH!
: She really can’t control it?
: (Goh, Anna… Prove to us all the strength of the ties that bind you!)
: Get in there, Goh! Show how a big-time hero does things!
: B-But the chances of a successful combination like that are…
: Um… It’s 50%!
: No, it’s not! It’s 200% with the two of us!
: (I-I won’t let this beat me… I’ll master the Goh Okusaer… and surpass her! I… I wanna outshine Mira!)
: Keep at it, Anna! I swear I can handle whatever you dish out! If you’ve got the spirit of a pilot, then fly with all your heart!
: Goh!
: Anna!
: Dannar… ON!
: Revolveeeer… OPEN!
: Godannar! TWIN DRIVE!!
: …Hah…
: They pulled it off!
: Daaamn, their power’s just filling this whole area!
: Must be nice…
: I feel it now… I’m back!
: We’ll take him out with a single punch, Anna!
: Aye, aye!
: HAAAAAH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMxJTPHh87w
: We did it, Anna! … Hey, Anna?!
: Passed out, huh…?
: Do I zap her?
: No, just let her rest. I’ll keep watch ‘til she comes to.
: … Welcome back, Anna. This is where you belong.
: (Welcome back, Anna… But now your real fight begins…)
: Any Mimetic Beast signals, Yamashita?
: All clear. I think we’re good.
: Good, ‘cause I’m hungry as hell after that. Let’s get back to JUDA.
: We should, yeah. And I guess we’ll have more sushi waiting now that Goh’s wife came back.
: Hahah… Guess I’ll have to wait ‘til later to have Anna’s homemade cooking again. All the better for her to rest, I guess.
: Hold on please.
: What is it, Professor?
: I’ve something important to speak of. Mr. Moritsugu, can you all stop by the Dannar Base?
: Bad news, I presume?
: It’s about some information that just came in. I don’t meant to rain on your parade, but this needs to be spoken of.
: Understood. We’ll head to the Dannar Base right away.
Had we attacked Ken with Goh, they had this convo:
: I’ll be beating you this time, Menage Zero!
: Fool. Fight as many times as you’d like, it won’t change the outcome. You cannot defeat me!
: I’m not the same man I was when I lost back then! Come on!
Anna wakes up at the Dannar Base infirmary and is welcomed by a very relieved Nagisa. Iczer-1 greets her as well and, when she asks, Kouichi explains where they are. Anna, realizing she fainted, wonders if that might’ve angered Goh. Speaking of, Nagisa’s still annoyed that she didn’t say anything about being married and wants to Anna to come clean now that stuff’s calmed down.
Anna, apologizing again, says she WANTED to tell her but also wanted to avoid the fuss that’d obviously come if her schoolmates found out about her marriage and being a pilot. Nagisa figures having an argument that the entire town can hear would make for an even bigger fuss, but hey. Anna asks that she forget that.
Hearing that the big hero from the War of Giants walks around home naked and doesn’t change his socks kind of crushed Kouichi’s idealized CHAMPION OF JUSTICE image, though. “Oh, no, Goh isn’t anywhere near that kind of perfect superman,” Anna laughs. “He can’t do anything without me.” Well, Goh DID say that he was just a pilot before.
Kouichi introduces himself properly to her and apologizes for stealing her spotlight, saving Goh from what surprise attack. On the contrary, Anna thanks him a lot for doing so and Nagisa has a laugh at the flustered kid. Still, Iczer-1 inwardly notes that he’s acting like a fine Champion of Justice now – he’s long-time wish has been granted.
Shinobu runs in, glad to see Anna’s OK. He takes a look around and notices that Goh isn’t here. Just what is he doing? His wife just came back. Iczer-1 explains that he’s been called to the command room by Kiriko.
So, what she wanted to speak to us about relates to Max and Moukaku – Ichitaka and Miu recognize those names as other heroes of the War of Giants. Max, in particular, was presumed KIA in said conflict five years ago, but was recently-ish found in a near-death state INSIDE a Mimetic Beast and brought back to life.
As it turns out, Mira explains, she went through the same thing and had been absorbed into a Mimetic Beast five years ago. That’s the first Ichitaka’s ever heard of that, though Kyo figures making an announcement of these miraculous returns would’ve raised all sorts of inopportune questions. Not to mention that Mira had lost her memories until not too long ago and, even now, her body’s still in bad shape.
In Max’s case, however, as soon as he came back to life, he stole the Core Gunner and went to kidnap Mira (though she doesn’t remember much of the event). And the guy was acting crazy when it all went down, and while Goh figures the guy resented him some, the man he saw then was completely out of control.
Why would he resent Goh, Kenji wonders? Because Max was in love with Mira since forever, but, five years ago, she got together with Goh. Yet he failed to protect her during the war, and Max never forgave him for it.
In the end, Shizuru says they captured Max, his body displaying myriad abnormalities, and tried to figure out what had happened. Kiriko has some bad news, though: both Max and Moukaku have just died. The latter having shown the same physical abnormalities and loss of mental control as Max – it’s pretty clear that their death was caused by the worsening of whatever condition they had.
Mind you, Kagemaru remembers that Shadow, an operative of Silicon Base, also displayed the same symptoms but barely managed to survive. Yet another heroine of the War of Giants, Yamashita sees.
Kenji was thinking that that disease affected those who’d been absorbed by Mimetic Beasts, like Max, but Moukaku and Shadow hadn’t been, right? Indeed, Kiriko will explain and turns on a video: it depicts the so called “Insania Virus”, a RNA virus that infects humans and the Mimetic Beasts are its vectors. Mira’s getting worried.
Next video is of Max, taken just moments before his death. When Shizuna asks, Kiriko confirms it: he got like this because of the Insania Virus. The disease itself is called Rabid Syndrome and it is caused by the thing. Good news is that the Insania Virus is innocuous to nearly everyone, except in some specific cases.
Reiji knows what’s coming: she wants to tell us about said specific cases. Namely, the Virus becomes active when the carrier displays unusually powerful fighting instincts – thus, the Rabid Syndrome occurs. From what they’ve seen, the odds of an infected person are extremely high especially amongst male pilots. Women CAN display the Syndrome but it is very rare – Shadow was a special case in that she took male hormones.
Seems to Yagyuu that the Insania Virus is a biological time bomb the Mimetic Beasts developed to kill their natural predators. And here comes the kicker: as Kiriko said, the virus is transmitted via the beasts and, as such, anyone who’s fought the things could potentially be infected… and we’ve fought them plenty.
Yamashita freaks out: does that mean we could all be infected?! Indeed. Alice protests that she’s regularly checked everyone’s health and no one was displaying any symptoms, but Kiriko explains that the virus hides amid the host’s neurons. Plus, cases of it going active are exceedingly rare, so common exams won’t pick it up.
Meaning Kiriko wants everyone in LOTUS to undergo specific tests to check who’s infected and the chance of the Insania Virus going active. We can’t risk losing anyone else to the thing. Miu’s really scared now, but Kagemaru tells that even if we’re infected, we shouldn’t be at a big risk of it going active. For real? He wouldn’t lie about something this serious – now go get tested.
A nondescript time later, the results are in: while there are some of us who are already infected, we, indeed, aren’t at a risk of it activating… except for Goh. He’s actually very likely to trigger the Rabid Syndrome. See, Goh pilots the same kind of robot as the two people who’ve fallen to the disease and, worse, he’s by far the person who’s come into contact with the most Mimetic Beasts.
Thus, Kiriko has no choice: “Goh, you are to step down as the Godannar’s pilot. That’s a direct order.” Goh flips out, but Kagemaru reminds him of what happened to Max – if he keeps fighting, that’s how he’ll end up as. Are they ordering him to retire as a pilot?! More like they want him to take a vacation – a potentially long one – until we’ve figured out a treatment for the thing.
Goh still isn’t happy, so Reiji has some intel to relay to him: it seems that when Moukaku lost control, he went and started attacking his own allies. Unable to contain him, the Dragliner and Dancouga had to kill him. In other words, Moukaku died at the hands of his own friends.
Kiriko confirms that there was no other way, and Kagemaru raises the point: were Goh to go on a rampage with the Godannar, who would be forced to stop him? Goh easily sees his point. That doesn’t mean he’ll have to part was with LOTUS, mind, as Kiriko has reassigned him as a pilot instructor and tactical advisor for the team. Still important duties, only not in the battlefield.
As for the Godannar, Kiriko’s having Shizuru take over as its pilot – it wouldn’t do to leave the mech stored away. This may only be temporary, but until we’ve a better idea of how to treat Goh, we’ll have to treat this as a proper reassignment.
Shizuru’ll now have to undergo training to learn how to combine with the Okusaers and she promises to work hard such as to not hamper the team. With that done, Kiriko apologizes to Reiji for demanding we come over and relays her regards to Ishigami.
As we leave, Kiriko is worried about the LOTUS folks that stayed in space – specially the Combattler guys. She asks Momoka and Konami to get in touch with any and all countries – including the PLANTs – and help them set up their Insania Virus tests.
Kouichi’s very bummed out over what happened to Goh, and while Yamashita understands how he feels, staying like that won’t help anyone. Still, he can’t stand the sight of the guy getting hung out to dry as if he were some rookie like him. Isn’t there anything we can do?
Izuna says Goh’s been working by himself, wholly focused on his new jobs, so he doesn’t think anyone could get to him, really. The guy’s likely doing that to drown out the bad, and it’s hard for Ichitaka to see him like that.
That’s worsened, even, by the fact that he and Anna had finally managed to reconcile. We now need to be there for him and Tsubaki and Miu tell everyone not to look so down, lest Goh feel responsible for it.
All he has left at the moment is his work, so maybe we can lift his spirits some by working hard to improve ourselves with him. Yamashita makes special note for Kouichi not to screw things up on pilot training and disappoint Goh!
Well, he and Ichitaka figures a tag team of Reiji and Goh training them oughta make for some damn good progress on us – we’ll have both skill and strength covered. We’ll have to strive to keep that positive attitude until a cure’s found, Miu says, and Shizuna is certain it won’t take long for that with JUDA on the case.
Anna’s off in the pilot sim and the seat’s just perfect for her, compared to what the Goh Okusaer had. Well, Shibakusa says she’s still young – give a few years and she might get a butt to rival Shizuru’s. Just give him a holler if the seat starts getting too tight!
Touko and Nanae yank at his ears for talking like that to a married woman, but he swears that he didn’t mean anything like that – kids these days read too much into things. Nagisa shows up as Anna starts training (having some difficulty).
She’s working pretty hard and all signs point at Mira being the cause. From what Nagisa’s heard, the amnesiac Mira’s mind had regressed to an infant-like state and Anna took care of her during that time; she didn’t stop even after finding out that she was Goh’s ex, even.
Problem is, when Mira made a full recover during Anna’s absence, she became her rival in both work and love. The two women don’t seem ready to have an honest talk with one another, and Goh isn’t exactly in a condition to arrange that sort of thing.
Now we’re left with one woman who came back from the dead to find out he ex married someone else, and the other woman who’s developed a complex over the previous one. Complicated stuff.
Speaking off, Anna’s getting trounced by the sim. Shibakusa says he understands that she’s working hard to make up for us losing Goh, but she’s not beating an S-Rank simulation – especially considering how hard it is to handle the Goh Okusaer.
Anna’s not having it, though, saying she’ll only hold us back if she can’t deal with this – she’s got to recover from her absence and get used to her bot in preparation to combine with Shizuru. Again!
Shibakusa sighs and does as told, Touko and Nanae worried over how hard she’s pushing herself. “I’ve never seen Goh look so sad before… I wanna be able to help him. I wanna support him! And, for that, have to get a lot stronger!” she thinks to herself. “Goh… I’ll work hard, and I’ll fight enough for both of us!”