When Lovecraft Meets Three Kingdoms and Pop Music: Super Robot Wars UX

Let's Plays Completed Let's Plays
, , ,
#21

Note that this is actually SRW’s plot debut of the Macross F movies, and yes, if you only played L and Z2, that does mean quite a bit will change down the line. (Z3 ran through the movies however. OE had no plot for Macross F because fuck you, and BX was notably postplot of the movies and the show - though it only had the movies - as Macross 30 implies how things actually went.)

The whole “It’s not ‘what you should do’, it’s ‘what you want to do’” influencing the OG is great - that’s the arc words of Linebarrels.

FUCK YES TAMASHI TALLGEESE IS HERE. Lu Bu Tallgeese is legitimately the greatest character of all Gundam and is also possibly the greatest Lu Bu of all time. I got him on my first run and never regretted it for an instant. His TAMASHII bullshit is also an amazing example of how, while UX may be an easy game, it can and will fuck you up the moment you let it.

88iIhIo.jpg711×544

Zhou Yu’s injuries are pretty notable and you should absolutely pay attention to them, because they were sustained in SD Gundam Sangokuden at the Battle of the Red Cliffs (soon after he pulled out a fucking ancient Japanese Mega Bazooka Launcher, I’m being absolutely serious) and he died from them shortly afterwards. So, uh… yeah. Watch out for that.

God, the computer Apparition voice is fucking amazing. Too bad it’s this scenario only.

Oh yeah, one last one for the road - Factor Eyes. So the anime just sort of gave people whatever fucking eye color they wanted, but the manga actually has very specific eye colors for everyone, and UX faithfully records that. Pay VERY careful attention to who has Red eyes, who has Orange eyes, and who has Yellow eyes. It is EXTREMELY important.

#22
Click to see the mission


One thing I forgot to note is that you get the scene with Saya and Arnie right after choosing the space route.
It’s pretty much the same, only shorter: Arnie freaks out over them being joining up with former enemies of the world Celestial Being, Saya asks what he’s going to do (no paraphrasing Yajima’s soon-to-be-spoken words to Kouichi) and Arnie ponders that.


Next, we find the Elshank having already left Earth’s orbit and the Celestial Being are already on the move. Rennie points out the Orbital Ring around the planet and Tsubasa explains that it’s essentially a giant solar panel array, which disperses the created energy through the three Orbital Elevators on the surface.
The sight is still as impressive to Mike as it was the first time he saw it – to think human hands could build something like that. It’s already been a full two centuries since WWII, and humanity has long since abandoned fossil fuels, turning their gaze to new energy sources – as Scarlet notes, the Orbital Ring and Elevators represent a culmination, but hardly the end, of that research.
All is not roses, though, as while the whole system is great, those who control said system have, in turn, gained even greater power and wealth in contrast to the rest of the world. To say nothing of all the times conflict has erupted as nations vied to control it themselves. Quite ironic for something created in order to bring humanity a better future, and, to Richard, it showcases both the greatness and stupidity inherent to humans.


Speaking of energies, the Elshank’s running on fumes as its stocks of kylhasium diminish further and further. If this doesn’t change soon, Ylbora fears the ship’ll be stranded. They need to get some more, Romina knows, but the problem is that it takes some very advanced tech to refine the fuel and Gameran isn’t sure Earth is at that stage.
Joe is confident, though: Earth made something as awesome as that Orbital system thing, so of course they got the tech and the brainpower to pull that off. Getting their hands on some new fuel should be way easier than finding that legendary ninja. Romina hopes so.
Now, with that done, Joe turns to Richard and asks what they’ll be doing.

: Before we get to that, there’s someone I’d like to introduce to you guys.
: Someone…?
: Come on in, Ensign Berge.

Door opens.

: …
: ?! H-He’s…!
: He’s that Federation pilot Richard captured, right…?
: I think so, yeah…
: Ensign Berge’ll be working together the UX starting today.
: Huuh?! Yo, pops, are you serious?!
: We here risking our lives on this mission, remember?! This guy’s got no idea what he wants – he’s gonna do nothing but drag us down!
: …
: Oh, don’t be like that. He’s given this a lot of thought.
: So you say, but…
: If you can’t bring yourself to trust me, then feel free to shoot me down.
: What…?
: But, if possible… I’d like to go and see for myself what Maj. Richard and Saya are trying to do. I’d like to find out what is truly right… that’s what brought me here.
: …
: What is truly right…
: (Ensign Berge…)


Cut to the C-Terahertz, Grathan isn’t actually familiar with that mysterious fleet. That said, considering how suddenly they appeared in the Earth Sphere, he’s pretty sure they’ve Warp capabilities like The Boom Army has. Which means, Hazard deduces, that their military might will likely also be significant.
Indeed, and that would make it a problem for them if said fleet were to ally itself with the Earthlings. Then the path is clear to Hazard: they must make sure the goodwill ambassador never reaches her destination. Grathan sees that he has a plan, and, indeed, he does.
Hazard turns to Dog and preparations are already in order – the operation can begin on his command. Inwardly, though, the slimeball has plans: “a fleet with technology to rival even The Boom Army… If I play my cards right, they could be my ace in the hole against both the Federation and The Boom…”


Now, over by the Federation’s shuttle, Shirin reports to Marina that they’re twelve hours away from the fleet; and while Marina COULD sleep until then, she wants to review some of the information they have in anticipation to the meeting.
After a moment of silence, Shirin asks: is Marina fine with getting involved in this? While she’s glad Marina was appointed as the goodwill ambassador, she’s still worried.
What does Shirin mean by that? Well, is Marina familiar with the Elshank? She’s heard that the ships in cahoots with Martian terrorists and seeking to invade Earth. That’s the official story, but Shirin, of course, doesn’t buy it. Rather, what she sees are the schemes of the director of the Martian Development Bureau to try and seize the ship’s technology and armaments for himself.

Does she think the same will happen with the outer space fleet, Marina asks. She does, especially in face of said fleet being advanced enough that it can traverse the galaxy. And the greedy eyes set upon it aren’t limited to just Hazard’s: the Union, the AEU, the HRL and more are all very much interested in getting their hands on it… and they’ll do ANYTHING to succeed. As such, Shirin worries that Marina might get caught in the crossfire and hurt.
A dark cloud sets on the ambassador’s face, and she wonders what the Federation was created for. So much blood was spilled and, at the end of it all, peace had returned to Earth; but, underneath, nothing has changed. It’s still the same power struggle with the various nations as before.
“People don’t change that easily – unfortunately,” Shirin sighs. “And that is precisely why I want to serve as a guide for them. To help them find a way to change for the better,” Marina counters. “It’s my firm belief that, in time, said people will all be capable of talking and understanding one another.”


But never mind that, the shuttle’s captain gets on the mic and warns that they’re pinging unknown MSs on approach. “Please fasten your seat belts,” he says… right before the shuttle starts getting blasted. Shirin feared this would happen.


Mission 7 (Celestial Being Route) – The Trailblazer


The Shuttle’s captain has no idea why they’re shooting – don’t they know there’s an ambassador from the Federation aboard? A mysterious man figures they’re likely AFTER said ambassador. Causing an international accident doesn’t seem to be the attackers’ concern.
Right as the terrorists prepare to shoot again, the man takes the flight wheel and manages to evade the incoming shots: “‘I have control’!” Shinichiro Miki proclaims, in his best Latooni impression. And with that done, all that’s left is…

: Wh-What?! Where’d that shot come from…?!

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: …
: ?! It’s a Gundam…?!
: Ah, right on time as always.
: 00 Raiser, Setsuna F. Seiei… engaging!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSfd1bxL7pY

: I-It’s too strong… This is how one of the Gundams that changed the world is like?!

: Is that… Celestial Being?!

*:gun: *

: Easy there. No sudden moves.
: …?!
: Y-You’re…!
: Nothing personal, but we’re not letting you ladies meet up with that fleet.
: Kch! How can you…!
: And… will doing this bring you happiness?
: Wh-What?!
: If you kill me, will you and your family—
: Sh-Shut your mouth!

Bang!

: …?!
: Marina…!
: R-Rrgh…!
: Whew, barely made it.
: Your attack’s a no-go, so you decided to try some old school assassination? What a dedicated bunch we got here…
: Thank you for saving us, Mr…?
: Oh, I’m no one important. Take care, miss.
: W-Wait…!

He doesn’t.

: (That man… I saw him during the Katharon days, I’m sure of it… He’s call-sign Gene-1!)
: (Celestial Being… Even now they’re still fighting against the world…)

: Lockon, I’ve brought your partner along.
: Thanks much, Setsuna.

: Aah… feels good to be back.
: Gundam Dynames, Lockon Stratos… Sniping the targets!
: Ack—! Captain, another Gundam…!
: Settle down! Our backup’ll be here soon! Just hold on until then!
: Federation shuttle, do you read me? We’ll deal with the enemy. Leave this area right away.
: C-Copy that!

: Okay, Mr. Terrorists… you better start bracing yourselves!
: Attack! Attack!


Kill everything, don’t lose anyone. And this is a pretty straightforward mission, especially compared to the other side (the actually fun side). You’ve got just a bunch of generics up against two Gundams, so head on in and start cutting them down.
Start using Focus with Setsuna and the goons start converging, as evasion decay will start piling up.


Gundam 00 Raiser (Setsuna F. Seiei)
Pilot Skills:
Innovator (イノベイター) – activates at 130 morale, increasing accuracy, evasion and the odds of triggering a later ability.
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Counter
All Attack
Spirit Commands:
Focus
Sense
Mech Features:
Sword
Gun
GN Field
Trans-AM
Trans-AM Burst – usable over 140 morale, costs 80 EN. Hits everyone in a 1-7 range; enemies get all stats debuffed by 20, allies get all stats upped by 20. The effect stacks.
Squad Bonus: Melee weapons’ attack +100, Crit rate +10 (Melee power +200, Crit +20, S in Space)
Setsuna’s voice actor: Mamoru Miyano (other roles: Flynn in Tales of Vesperia, Light Yagami in Death Note, Takuto Tsunashi in Star Driver and many more)

As your typical Gundam protag, Setsuna is of course good. Not a powerhouse, but certainly a higher tier unit. Newtype Innovator powers, plus that S rank and decent stats where they matter (melee being the highest by quite the margin), really boosts his numbers, and the 00 Gundam is a good machine (if currently gimped); range isn’t the best as Setsuna’s always been about SWORDS, but that’s a common trait in most units in this game.
He’s also soooo uninteresting in his movie incarnation, so forgive my lack of excitement. But, hey, at least we can use his Trans-AM Burst to really give us the edge in a battle. The ability to place a 40 point difference between our guys’ stats and the enemies’ is certainly nothing to sneeze at, especially as the game progresses.
Also, Setsuna’s kill count is tied to a secret – he needs to have 150+ by the end of mission 47.


Gundam Dynames Repair (Lockon Stratos)
Pilot Skills:
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Hit & Away
Gunfight (ガンファイト) – same as Infight, but for ranged attacks
Spirit Commands – Lockon:
Invincible
Strike
Spirit Commands – Haro:
Scan
Focus
Mech Features:
Gun
GN Field
Trans-AM

Squad Bonus: Ranged weapons’ attack +100, Accuracy +5 (Ranged power +200, Accuracy +20, Range +2)
Lockon’s voice actor: Shinichiro Miki (other roles: Ryusei in OGs and Alpha, Aoyama in Dai-Guard, Fighter Roa in Grandread and a ton more)

Take everything I said about Setsuna, only apply it to a sniper unit – only a step weaker. Still good, especially for ranged-focus guys, and having a free support subpilot is always nice. Mind you, Lockon ain’t the dodgiest guy around and the Dynames can’t take much of a pummeling either, so he’s very much meant to be hanging back.
His weapon ranges are very nice, at least.

Let’s wrap this up quick so we can get back to the other route.

: What you’re doing will only assure that the world never changes. There’s nothing to be gained from this battle, so I’ll end it with my Gundam and all its power!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzEMOxAqE0I

: I can snipe down a target all the way across the stratosphere! That’s who I am… and you better remember it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxHKcd15RvY

: Hrm… They really are as strong as advertised! But if our backup would just get here, we…!

: Ah-ha, there they are! And now—

: Wh-Whaaaat?!

:siren: SRW UX - A Bird’s Song

: Sorry, your backup’s been dealt with. (Eida)
: We had your whole plan figured out for a long while now!
: Th-That’s impossible! Our operation couldn’t have been leaked…!

: It didn’t, but that doesn’t mean much when it’s so predictable.
: Hahah… Always got that keen eye for reading the enemy, eh?
: We’ve already received confirmation that the ambassador’s shuttle has left the area in one piece.
: All troops, engage and destroy the remaining enemies ASAP.
: Roger.
: And we, the UX, will help you all the way through, Celestial Being!
: Time to jump into the fray, R-Daigun!


R-Daigun (Eida Rossa)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Predict
Spirit Commands:
Sense
Accelerate
Assail
Mech Features:
Sword
Gun
Resupply Module
Stealth – another mirror image effect. Maximum activation rate is 35%.
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, EN +50, A in Air (Mobility +20, EN +100, S in Air)
Eida’s Voice actress: Yuko Goto (other roles: Anya in Code Geass, Mikuru Asahina in Melancholy of Haruhi, Junko in Madoka Magica and plenty more)

Now how’s this for an early entrance? The R-Daigun is from Dancouga Nova, and it carries the usual characteristics of its ilk: it has decent firepower but lags a bit behind in terms of defenses. Her evasion can be surprisingly high for a Super Robot, especially with that S rank, but you should still be careful when using her – just in case.
Eida’s stats are a bit “eh” but her bot makes up for it some. Either way, you’ll likely want to use her for other reasons.


Ptolemaios #2 Custom (Sumeragi Lee Noriega, Feldt Grace, Mileina Vashti, Lasse Aeon)
Pilot Skills:
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Command L1
Spirit Commands – Sumeragi:
Alert
Trust
Spirit Commands – Lasse:
Vigor
Strike
Accelerate
Spirit Commands – Feldt:
Focus
Gain
Spirit Commands – Mileina:
Scan
Cheer
Mech Features:
Repair Module
GN Field
Trans-AM
Squad Bonus: Ranged weapons attack +100, EN +50 (Ranged attacks +200, EN +100, Spec Down Debuff Immunity, Movement +1)
Sumeragi’s voice actress: Youko Honna (other roles: Nagisa Misumi in Precure, Lalaco in Space Patrol Luluco and some more)
Feldt’s voice actress: Ayahi Takagaki (other roles: Chris Yukine in Symphogear, Manny in Reconquista in G, and many more)
Mileina’s voice actress: Haruka Tomatsu (other roles: Hyou Matsuri in Star Driver, Micott in Unicorn Gundam and many more)
Lasse’s voice actor: Hiroki Touchi (other roles: Daguza in Unicorn, Nathan Drake in Uncharted, and many more)

Same deal with the Elshank, really, only with even more pilots and slightly stronger weapons, in exchange for only its weakest being post-movement and lower stats overall. Not the best at attacking, but its strongest attack DOES ignore size difference, so it won’t take that big of a accuracy hit there. Sumeragi, as a pilot, is down there with Romina, but the bevy of subpilots will help her hit and stay alive.
It’s still one of your few ships in this game, so you’ll have to make do with it. Hit & Away could help Sumeragi keep up with the team and still blast stuff.

Carrying on, we just need to kill the few weakened survivors.

: The Red Dancouga… You’re also still up and about?!
: “Still”…? Sorry to tell you, but I keep a very clean face - no scandals or anything to ever push me into retiring!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FditS_xjJxk

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: And it looks like we’re done, Setsuna.
: No, there’re still more…


Oh, sure, just drop them right on top of us. Real cute.

: Those units…! I think they’re from that group intel mentioned - The Boom Army!
: Only the official story is that they’re Mars-developed Fed mobile weapons…
: But Eida’s correct. Those are the alien forces that chased the Elshank all the way to Earth!
: “Aliens”? What’re aliens doing in cahoots with a bunch of terrorists?!
: We can discuss this later. The main problem now is that we’re very outnumbered. What’s our approach?
: Oh, don’t worry about that. Everything’s well within expectations.
: What…?

: That’s…!
: We’ve a data match. Those are friendlies, being led by the Unknown Xtrikers!
: Good to see you here, Maj. Richard!
: Sorry to keep you waiting, Eida. Your schedule wasn’t hurt too bad, yes? I know we called you in a hurry.
: I knew what I was signing up for when I joined the UX. The mission is more important than my regular job!
: (A Red Dancouga… That’s the R-Daigun, right?)
: (Didn’t expect that mech to also be in with the UX…)
: Major, that’s the Elshank and its forces with you, right?
: It is, yeah. Contrary to what the Fed’s garbage announcement said, they’re actually 100% on our side.
: A pleasure to meet you, fellows of the Celestial Being. We are also here to assist you in any way possible.
: How’s your handling of the Wingle, Lt. Yuki?
: I’m managing it somewhat, thanks to your data…
: But do you really think I’m suited to work as a pilot?
: We’ll need your strength when the time comes for that Op. Meaning you’ve to learn how to handle yourself in battle ASAP.
: Yes, ma’am. I’ll do my best, ma’am!
: (And it’s not just the Red Dancouga… The Celestial Being and their Gundams, the alien machines, even the WSO…)
: (Why are they all so willing to work together with an alleged outlaw organization like the UX…?)
: Ensign Berge, please refrain from mulling during a mission.
: I-I know. I made a decision to be here, so I don’t want to be a hindrance for anyone.
: Put your money where your mouth is, then! Show us how committed you are!
: Mind if I hand you operational command, Sumeragi?
: Copy that. All troops, shift your targets to The Boom Army and wipe them out!
: Setsuna F. Seiei, roger!

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: The Boom Army is backing up an Anti-Federation terrorist group…?! What’s going on here?!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: Why is The Boom Army assisting with a terrorist assassination plot…?
: Does that mean their targets include not just Princess Romina, but Princess Marina as well…?

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: Enemy unit detected engaging us from vector 138!
: Heh… They better not be thinking the Ptolemy’s your average Gundam carrier or they’re in for a surprise!
: Right, so let’s go and give it to them! GN Field, deployed!
: Ptolemy, battle stations! We can at least weather this storm!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaHiM0DDutY
Hell, no – we’re going for the kill! Fire everything!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: That’s a bunch of alien drones you’re up against, Lt. Yuki! Hold nothing back! Kick their asses!
: “Kick their…”? R-Roger! Tsubasa Yuki, engaging!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: I’m really getting sick of finding another swarm of your mooks every goddamn day, Boom Army! But just give us a sec and we’ll shred this one too!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: She even anticipated the arrival of all the enemy groups…
: The lady’s reputation as one of the best strategists in the biz is very well deserved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku7-4vOzDug
And here’s Setsuna’s best move just because.

: No signals left on radar. The enemy has been wiped out, it seems.
: Then we managed to stop their assassination. All troops, back to your ships.

: Sure you don’t wanna say hi to Princess Marina or anything, Setsuna?
: I don’t see the need for it.
: Ah, of course, of course.
: (Yeesh, the kid’s dumb as bricks. What about all them Innovator powers, huh…?)


Aaand Klaus brings news that the UX just got framed for the attack on Marina’s shuttle, courtesy of the Martian Peacekeeping Forces recording us, the Celestial Being and the Elshank all fighting together against them. Shirin calls bull, saying they’ve one of the attacking terrorists in custody right now.
Klaus doubts that’ll make any difference, as he’s rather certain the whole terrorist group was secretly backed by Hazard’s Martian Development Bureau, with all the enormous influence it holds with the Federation government and beyond. They’ll make sure this goes the way they want. With a warning for Shirin to watch herself out there, he signs off.

In the meantime, Marina’s talking with the captured terrorist and he says no one ordered them to attack her at all – rather, they did so of their own volition. Trying to have talks with a bunch of unknown, suspicious aliens is UNFORGIVABLE. Marina argues that they’re doing so in order to try and avoid unnecessary conflict. It is by seeking mutual understanding that we may find prosperity for both us and them.
Counterpoint: the Skrugg killed the terrorist’s family and he is not even going to entertain the idea of talking with aliens. As Marina pouts, Shirin asks where they got the intel on the aliens, the shuttle and everything? It was Hazard’s group that gave it to them, wasn’t it? In other words, Shirin says, he and his fellows were all just pawns in the guy’s schemes.


Marina and the terrorist don’t understand, so Shirin will explain. Whether the attack on their shuttle succeeded or not, it’d be a major terrorist act. However things played out, it’ll still enable the Martian Peacekeeping Forces to further increase their activities under the pretext of suppressing terrorist groups.
What stories were the terrorists led to believe? That Marina was going to capitulate to the aliens, sell Earth out to them, perhaps? Whatever the case, Shirin isn’t about to let Hazard have everything his way – she will find a way to turn the tables on him.


Back at the Ptolemaios, Feldt greets Setsuna and Lockon with drinks, but the boy says he’s doesn’t need any and asks for Sumeragi. While Lockon shakes his head, Mileina says she went to the Elshank and Lasse relays the news that the UX got framed for the attack.


Joe is not happy to be tarred as a villain in this story, but it’s not like the UX and allies – what with all of them being outlaw groups – can make official announcements refuting these claims. If we try, it’ll only be spun against us. Damian sees Hazard’s grubby fingers all over this, and Rennie’s dejected that the Celestial Being got their named dragged in the mud as well.
Of course, they’re used to being public enemies ever since they started their campaign seven years ago. Arnie looks back at how long it’s been since Aeolia Schenberg first made his declaration of war to the entire world; yet, despite the creation of the Federation, the Celestial Being still haven’t succeeded in eradicating conflict.

Tsubasa walks over right then, now having a chance to see Eida’s face. Isn’t she one of Japan’s most popular singers? Is that a problem? Not at all, but she can’t help but be surprised that she lives a double life as a merc pilot! Arnie is surprised as well: first a couple of classical actors, then a singer… Imagine the collective gasp if the rest of the world ever caught wind of how the pilots of UX are actually like.
Eida doesn’t know of any actors here, and Saya whispers to her that, thanks to Richard’s stunt, Arnie serious believes their regular job is as actors. “It’s said that people aren’t always what they seem…” Arnie ponders quietly, “Does her agency and manager know about this other side of her?”


Speak of the devil, we cut to Johnny (with the glasses) who sighs that Eida called off ANOTHER gig and ran off elsewhere. Vladimir tells him she’s just taking some time off to relax and that she’ll be back soon. The problem is that Eida’s finally made it to the top, and if she doesn’t commit to it, she’ll soon find work drying up.
Oh, it’s fine, just put a little pressure on the clients and get them to play ball. Inwardly, though, Validimir apologizes to the frustrated Johnny: much as she wants to, she can’t tell him the truth about Eida now that he’s lost the memories of his days with Team D.

: Damn it, this pisses me off! It took forever for us to get to Earth and now we’re all wanted men again?!
: Wanted men… Had I stayed with the army, I…
: Yeah, Ensign Berge! Turns out you’re a real sucker too!
: You let pops there get inside your head and now you’ve gone from a hotshot Fed soldier to a bigtime criminal!
: H-Hey, Joe!
: Hahah… I can’t really deny it when you put it like that.
: Still, I don’t regret the choices I’ve made… because I’m finally fighting the way I always wanted.
: “The way you wanted”?
: I joined the army because I wanted to protect the lives of others… But my idealized vision and reality were two completely different things. I was never really sure about what I was doing.
: Still, there’s one thing I did figure out: there’re some people in this world I could never tolerate!
: Arnie…
: So you can call me a sucker and laugh right at my face, that’s fine. All that I want to do… is to protect the lives of others from those that are too evil to be left alone!
: Hmhmm, well said. Looks like he’s made of better stuff than you gave him credit for, Joe.
: Qu-Quiet, you!
: But… if that’s the way you think, I reckon we can carry on fighting together.
: Joe…!
: I got a real good look at what you’re all about – how committed you are.
: Guess now it’s mine and the others’ turn to do the same, right, Arnie?
: Thank you, Joe…!
: Alright, now that the bonding’s all taken care of, how about we move on to our next mission?
: Saya, Eida, I’m gonna need you girls to do a bit of infiltration for this one.
: Infiltration? Us…?
: Right. And, if possible, I’d also like to ask Lt. Yuki and Rennie to help…
: That’s no problem, but…
: Where are we infiltrating, exactly?
: That’d be that giant fleet from outer space… the Macross Frontier Fleet.


Location: Frontier Fleet – SMS Hangar

: (There’s no up or down in space. All you do in there is float…)
: (But what I want is to fly in a real sky – to fly even as I’m constantly being pulled down to earth…)
: I’ll say it again. You never know what might happen out in space. Danger can turn up at the drop of a hat. Are you ready for that?
: Of course… I-I mean, yes, I am, Maj. Ozma!
: Look at how nervous the nugget is. (Monica)
: He was famous at the kabuki theater scene as a brilliant Onnagata, right? You can certainly see it in his stance, the way he presents himself – everything, really. (Lam; and Onnagata is a role in kabuki plays where a man plays a woman.)
: Hmhmhm, he’s kind of… (Mina)
: Hoooot! (Bobby)
: I am Alto Saotome, second year student at Mihoshi Academy’s pilot training school…
: And, today, I take a vow to serve as part of the SMS!
: Hmph… alright, then. As of this moment, you are officially enlisted into the SMS, maggot!
: Yes, sir!
: (That’s right, I will fly… even if my sky is one of battle…)


Frontier Fleet – Griffith Park, Hill

: (Alto should be having his “welcome aboard” party right about now…)
: (I’m glad his dream of flying in a real sky is slowly being fulfilled…)
: (And if he can fly, could I do the same…?)
: (Could I fulfill my dream of being a singer…? Of being able to lift everyone’s spirits with my song, just like Sheryl Nome does.)
: …

:siren: SRW L - Aimo
Surprisingly, UX does NOT have Aimo as a BGM! Doesn’t mean you’re going to be safe from it, though!

: Aimo, aimo… ♪

#23

UX had limits on how many songs from any individual series it could take, and while the Macross F movies are two series (and they spread songs across them) it still wasn’t doable because F’s song rights cost a lot. BX is similar.

Also, I actually kind of like 00 Raiser’s animations. They’re simple, but effective. The BX animations are fucking disgusting, they have no weight as 00 Raiser just flits around like some kind of demonic hummingbird completely ignoring momentum. All the SD Gundams except Nu have the same issue. Of course, people feliate them because movement = good animation in the eyes of a lot of people…

#24
Click to see the mission!


We open at JUDA, right after Kouichi has been told that he was killed by the Linebarrel. Remember when Moritsugu said he became the bot’s Factor by accident? As we know, it wasn’t a satellite that caused the accident three years ago, but the Linebarrel – the Machina had just warped into our world, and Kouichi was precisely at its landing zone. To sum it up: he got squished by it.
That done, Kouichi’s body was injected with the Machina’s regenerative nanomachines; thus his body was strengthened, and he was reborn as a Factor. And as a Factor, Kouichi now has inhuman abilities… provided the Linebarrel is intact. On the other hand, if the Machina is destroyed, Kouichi will follow suit. Putting it simply, the kid’s life is now bound to the bot.

This all sounds insane and Kouichi has a ton of questions: “What the hell are those Machinas?! Why did you even make something like that?!” Ishigami has no answers for him, as JUDA weren’t the ones behind them. They don’t even know who did make the things; rather, the Machinas simply materialize in our world, just like what happened to Sun Quan’s group and the newly arrived Frontier Fleet.
Quan asks if that means the Machinas also came from a different world, but Ishigami can’t answer that one way or another. Who made the Machinas? What for? What is their purpose in materializing in our world? All questions without answer, and that is precisely why JUDA’s working to gather all 11 of them. But Ishigami figures that’s enough exposition for now, and moves to the meat of this reunion: he wants Kouichi to help JUDA with their project.


Over by the infirmary, Shangxiang’s just told everyone that they won’t be returning to Mirisha until they’ve dealt with Lu Bu… though, as she herself notes, they don’t even know HOW they’re going to get back in the first place. At least Zhou Yu is hard at work to recover ASAP, wanting to start being of some use to our group.
Yamashita’s disappointed that Lu Xun and Zhou Yu are down for the count, considering how they’re renowned as some of the greatest generals in the Three Kingdoms. Lu Xun gets all giddy over praise like that, but Shangxiang tells him to get off his high horse: back in their world, he’s still just an apprentice strategist. Buzzkill…
Either way, Saya walks on over to call in the others. Yamashita looks forward to seeing the bedridden Hyaku Shiki later.


Back to the President’s office, Kouichi’s a bit uneasy at being told to help gather Machinas. But, of course, Ishigami wouldn’t ask him to do it for nothing: “You said you wanted to be a Champion of Justice, yes? Champions of Justice need enemies to defeat. We can give you that.”
Ishigami presents him with images of the Katou Organization: another group with Machinas and the ones responsible for the attack that got Yajima killed. Ogawa interrupts them, bringing in other interested parties to this meeting. Ishigami’ll make the introductions…


But is interrupted when Shizuna (top portrait) yells that she still hasn’t signed up on working with these people. Her twin brother, Izuna, tries asking her to calm down, only to get brushed aside: Shizuna is NOT going to team up with this dumdum, Hayase, and a Federation deserter!
As Arnie and Kouichi reel back, Shizuna carries on: “Our work as Factors ain’t a game! We take our battles damn seriously – like pros – and I really don’t feel like having a buncha aimless goons dragging me down!”
Arnie takes it on the chin, but Kouichi doesn’t – seems to him that they don’t need his help, then! Oh, is he just going to turn tail and run from all this? Kouichi tells Ishigami that he’s got absolutely no reason to help JUDA, so, yeah, he’s taking off.

: Uurgh, and it was such a pain to bring that guy in…
: Blah, forget him! All you need is me, Izuna and the Deceive to ace whatever mission comes next!
: Hahah… Shizuna’s attitude is still going strong, I see.
: What now, Ensign? Got anything to say after being told off like that?
: Well, if they can’t bring themselves to trust me, then they can shoot me down whenever.
: Whaa…?
: But, if possible… I’d like to go and see for myself what Maj. Richard and Saya are trying to do. I’d like to find out what is truly right… that’s what brought me here.
: …
: And there you have it. I’d really appreciate if you could also give him a chance, Shizuna…
: Um… I’m Izuna…
: OH! My bad!
: I know you did that on purpose, old man!
: But you two really look so much alike. Are you twins?
: We are, but I’m a boy, FYI.
: If you ask me, everyone in this world looks pretty much the same.
: You’re one to talk! Your whole crew’s got that same Gundam face, so ya can go and shove it!
: Shove what where?
: Th-That’s… I-I-I— Aargh, ya huge dumdum!


Mission 8 – A Beacon For Tomorrow

: Intel said they picked up a signal coming from around here…
: I don’t see a Machina anywhere, though.
: What I wanna know is why the boss picked this group comp to go look for that there Machina.
: This is the first joint operation between JUDA, the UX, the WSO and Sun Quan’s forces. I presume Mr. Ishigami wanted to start things off with the team members more likely to work well together.
: Aw, isn’t it great that us ladies get along so swimmingly?
: But I’m a boy…
: Whatever, there’s nothing ‘round here. Guess we got some bad intel.

: Wh-What?!

: Yeeheeheehee! They fell for it hook, line and sinker…
: I’m Riku Ousei, captain of the Katou Organization’s 8th Unit!
: The Katou Organization?! What’re they doing here…?!
: My guess is the “Machina signal” we pinged was them baiting us into a trap!
: What do you mean? Are they not piloting Machinas?
: No, they’re not. Those are the Katou Organization’s own Armas, mass-produced copies of Machinas.
: Mass-produced copies…?!
: In other words, those’re a buncha knock-offs! And now they’re gonna see just how strong an original is!
: Give ‘em a real nasty one, Izuna!
: Okay, sis!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_qt-b1aX9A

: Gyaaaaaaah! M-My arms… they tore my arms in half!!
: Wh-What just happened?! All you did was touch him with that cable…!
: Hmm, I get it. That’s a weapon that sends illusions into the pilots’ minds, eh…?
: Damn straight! And you can’t defend against our Nerve Crack as long as you’re all are sitting in those mechs!
: Eeeheeheehee! And you think you’re going to beat me with smoke and mirrors?! Your imagination’s not very good! And because of that…

: You won’t be able to protect this city!
: ?! What the hell are ya doing?!
: The townspeople still haven’t left that part of town…!
: I told you: imagination! You didn’t even try to imagine why I chose this town to lure you into, hmm?
: It’s because I’ve set explosive pellets across the whole place!
: What did you say?!
: So, still feel like taking a swing at me? Go right ahead! The second you do, this whole place and everyone inside it’ll get blown to kingdom come! Yeeheheheheeee!
: This is unforgivable…! I’ve never met someone as sickening as him!
: But what’re we gonna do?! He just took all the townspeople hostage…!
: Only option we got now is to hang tough ‘til Moritsugu and the others get here!
: You guys all heard him, right?! Don’t try anything with that fatass’ unit or this’ll go south in a big way!
: C-Copy that!


Destroy everything except the Yaoyorozu, and don’t lose anyone. If you ever attack the Yaoyorozu, it’s game over as well. Another fight with the Katou Armas, with the added annoyance that Riku will immediately rush down your forces and start shooting – and you’re just gonna have to take it.
The good thing is that the AI seems to prioritize the Deceive and it is very well equipped to take that punishment. Dealing damage, however, not so much. But take things slow and steady and you’ll start to wear the enemies’ numbers down; even with the Deceive’s lower firepower, the generic Armas still have piddly defenses and our other girls will soon build up morale to start using their better weapons. After that, it’s simple.


Deceive (Shizuna and Izuna Endo)
Pilot Skills:
Factor (on Izuna) – D-S.O.I.L. baseline is 40.
Prevail L1
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Spirit Commands – Shizuna:
Invincible
Fighting Spirit
Spirit Commands – Izuna:
Trust
Focus
Mech Features:
Shield
Resupply Module
10% HP Regen
Nerve Crack – Requires 120 morale, costs 30 EN, range is 1-5. Works like 00 Raiser, only the stats get boosted/lowered by 15.
Squad Bonus: HP +500, Exp +10%, A in Air (HP +1000, Exp +20%, S in Air)
Shizuna’s voice actress: Kana Ueda (other roles: Pascal in Tales of Graces, Rachel in BlazBlue, Tsubaki in Steel God Jeeg and many more)
Izuna’s voice actress: Rie Kugimiya (other roles: Nena in 00 Gundam, Alphonse Elric in Full Metal Alchemist, Kagura in Gintama and a ton more)

Like in L, the Deceive’s the odd Machina of the bunch. It is 100% tailored around debuffs, so much so that its piss-weak Nerve Crack attack is the only damaging move it’ll have for quite a while (its “hands” are now its shield). On the flip side, it is dirt cheap and will reduce not only morale, but also all of the target’s stats.
But the real draw here is the AoE Nerve Crack which, while not too useful now since the mooks are so weak, will get progressively more interesting as we progress. Being so cheap, the Deceive’s EN regen will all but negate the cost, which’ll allow you to spam that buff/debuff every turn. Keep your people bunched up, draw the mooks in, and go to town.

Plus it has a nice Squad Bonus and a Resupply Module translates into a 10% EN regen for its team, so it could make for a nice companion to some hungry Super Robot. The Deceive’s L size and the new way Factor regen works have made it VERY bulky, too.
I got a surprising amount of use from the Deceive in L because it fulfilled its purpose of fueling Daiya’s rampage quite nicely – we’ll see if it’ll happen again here.

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel


Again, don’t attack him back.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIalK9axU0I

Keep on killing, and the plot’ll kick in in time.


Riku’s getting annoyed that we’re still fighting and figures we need another taste of horror – maybe then we’ll get what’s what! So he goes and blows up another section of the city: “those without imagination never realize the danger until it’s too late! This is what you all deserve for being incapable of visualizing your future!”
Moritsugu and the others arrive right then, but they’re immediately attacked: Sawatari has arrived with another batch of troops. Riku isn’t happy to see him, though, as he’d clearly said that he didn’t want any help from him or his men. He did, but Katou himself ordered Sawatari to get out here and kill our folks, so that’s what he’s doing!


Ishigami’s looking and is slightly concerned: first hostages and now an ambush? Oh, dear. Arnie has left to bring in Kouichi, hoping to convince him to change his mind, but things aren’t looking good.
“Then I guess my hands are tied. I’ll go and prostrate myself before the Champion of Justice as well,” Ishigami ponders. “And if even that doesn’t work… then Ms. Kizaki will handle the rest.”

: …
: Yajima… nothing makes sense anymore. What would you do now…?

Door opens.

: Kouichi…
: Risako…!
: Where have you been all this time? I was so worried about you.
: … Yajima died in that accident… We already had the funeral…
: I know…
: That’s it…? Is nothing on your mind? Aren’t you feeling anything?
: When are you going to stop shutting yourself off like that?!
: Rrgh… What the hell do you think you know, huh?! I’ve always been shutting myself off! I… I…!
: Kouichi…
: D-Damn it…! I… I miss him too… so much…!
: …
: You don’t have to do that anymore…
: What…?
: That “tough guy” act. Try it all you want, that’s not who you are – that’s not the real Kouichi. Just be yourself… Even if no one accepts that Kouichi, I always will…
: Risako…
: Hm…?
: …

Ring, ring!

: ?! Of all the… Who is it?
: Heeello there, is this a Mr. Champion of Justice speaking?
: ?!

: Aaah!
: Th-This is too much, sis! We’re going to get overwhelmed!
: Damn it, we’re pros, aren’t we?! We can’t go down like this…!
: Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that? What pros are ya talking about?
: Us! The pros that kick the asses of trash like you for a living!
: Ah, OK. Glad we got that sorted out. Then how about you try shooting back some?
: ‘Course, that’d mean curtains for everyone in this city! Ahahahaha!
: You piece of…!
: Just stand your ground for now, people. Make sure you don’t fire back at them, no matter what!
: Easy for you to say! Gaah… We’ll get you all for this, just you wait!


Don’t attack Riku OR Sawatari, and instead continue to destroy everything else.

I’ve already cleared out Riku’s posse of mooks, and Sawatari’s gaggle is too far away. When our turn comes up…

: Hahaha! Aw, what’s the matter?! Weren’t you gonna kick our asses?!
: Gch… Blasted cowards!

: Come again?! But they said they wouldn’t work with me!
: True, true, but the fact is they fell right in a trap of that Katou Organization I told you about. Things are looking quite dire right now…
: So I’d like to ask you to go help them out.
: Wh-Why should I—?!
: Oh, and we’ve a satellite feed of their cockpit. Take a look, will you?

Beep.

: Uwaaaaaah!
: Aiiieeee…!!

: Th-That’s…!
: Like I said, quite dire. And the enemy’s taken hostages, so they’re all sitting ducks out there. If some Champion of Justice doesn’t intervene – and soon – I fear they might die…
: Now you’re threatening me…?
: Don’t be silly – this is no threat.
: This is a sincere plea for your help…!
: …!
: What’s wrong, Kouichi?! Did something happen?!
: Tsk…!

Kouichi runs off.

: Ko-Kouichi, wait…! Kouichi?!

: Goddamn it…! “Sincere plea”, my ass! Why’d you go and show that feed, then, huh…?!
: What the hell does he want from me?! Yajima… what should I do now?!
: Hayase…
: You…! You’re that ex-soldier…
: I’m glad you remembered. Mr. Ishigami asked me to come pick you up.
: Pick me up…?
: Hmph, you really got told off by that twin girl and you’re still going along with what the guy asked? You’re a real sucker, aren’t you?
: Hahah… maybe I am. Still, she didn’t say anything untrue. I have just been drifting through life, aimless.
: I joined the army because I wanted to protect the lives of others… But my idealized vision and reality were two completely different things. I was never really sure about what I was doing.
: …
: Still, there’s one thing I did figure out: there’re some people in this world I could never tolerate!
: …?!
: So you can call me a sucker and laugh right at my face, that’s fine. All that I want to do… is to protect the lives of others from those that are too evil to be left alone!
: …
: What matters isn’t what you should do… It’s what you want to do…!

: Urgh… Hrmm!
: Psh… This bunch doesn’t know when to quit. I’m just about sick of messing with them.
: Yo, Riku, go for it. Blow them up along with the city.
: Wh-What…?!
: Heeheehee… I don’t like taking orders from Sawatari, but fine.
: Truth is, I’m also pretty bored here…
: S-Stop! Don’t do it, I’m begging you!
: Yeeheeheehee! Oh, now that’s music to my ears!
: Take a look! This whole place is about to learn the true meaning of—

: O-Ow!
: Wh-What was that…?!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel (Full Intro)

: Hmhmhm… Ain’t easy being you, eh?
: Wh-Who are you?! Where’d you come from?!
: What, can’t you imagine who I am?
: Because it’s pretty obvious: I’m a CHAMPION OF JUSTICE!
: Ha-Hayase…!

: Thank god; looks like we got here in time!
: Everyone, the hostages are safe! You don’t have to worry about them anymore!
: Wh-Whaaat?!
: This is the WSO’s Gren Falcon Squad speaking!
: We’ve found and disabled all of the explosive pellets!
: Cpt. Scarlet!
: With me, maggots! We’ve leaving this area pronto!
: Sir! Yes, sir!
: Ahahah… Looks like our patience paid off!
: And now we’re going to repay you in spades for all that abuse!
: G-Go to hell, you!
: Shizuna, Izuna! I… I saw you guys getting hurt out here. That was when I realized: I want to help you!
: So I ask you two… What do you want me to do?!
: …?!
: They… They killed a buncha people who had nothing to do with any of this…
: And we couldn’t do a damn thing to stop them…!
: Sis…
: So… Please, Hayase… kick their asses!
: There we go… Now I know for sure what I want to do AND what I should do! You with me, Ensign Berge?
: Aye, aye. And what we should do is one thing only: wreck all of them!
: We’ll take care of the rest, guys!

: Hah, them’s fighting words I hear!
: The name’s Takurou Sawatari, captain of the Katou Organization’s 4th Unit! Now come and get me, Horns!
: Everyone forward! Counterattack!


Yaoyorozu (Riku Ousei)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Guard
All Attack
Riku’s voice actor: Daisuke Sakaguchi (other roles: Jun in Aquarion, Shinpachi Shimura in Gintama, Uso in V Gundam and many more)

Riku and his bot are designed all around soaking up damage before tagging you with an Attack Down debuff. Both his attacks can do that but, thankfully, he’s not a terribly good shot (though that’ll be somewhat offset by his Prevail as it starts running).
The Yaoyorozu’s got superlative armor, but not all that much HP. Even with most of our troops at base morale, we should be able to barely kill him in one round. Best to get rid of him now, lest he debuff your guys and/or gain morale to trigger Guard, which’d only make him even bulkier.


Linebarrel (Kouichi Hayase)
Pilot Skills:
Factor – Baseline is 100
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Spirit Commands:
Invincible
Strike
Mech Features:
Sword
Gun
10% HP Regen
Squad Bonus: Melee weapons’ power +100, Mobility +5 (Melee weapons +200, Mobility +20, S in Air, Range +1)
Kouichi’s voice actor: Tetsuya Kakihara (other roles: Simon in Gurren Lagann, Natsu Dragneel in Fairy Tail, Angelo in Gundam Unicorn, and many more)

Funnily enough, mangabarrel’s Kouichi joins with slightly better stats than the one in L – notable his Accuracy and Skill. As before, he’s a good all-around character, though he prefers melee attacks than ranged ones. The Linebarrel’s better geared towards dodging now, especially with that S rank I got him, but I reckon the lowered tankiness is merely to offset Kouichi’s huge battle regen. Like we saw in the previous mission, he’ll get back 50% of all damage he takes.
As far as attacks go, he’s got a mix of pre and post-movement attacks, with the majority (the three Executor attacks) being the former and very nice range coverage. He’s even got that MAPW he used before, which hits up to 8 squares in a straight line.
As before, the plot will demand that you field him throughout the game, but Kouichi and the Linebarrel are so good that you don’t have a good objective reason not to do it.
And, of course, his kill count matters for a secret: he needs 200 kills by the end of mission 44.

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: Hurting people, taking their lives just for fun…!
: What of it? Those who can’t even imagine their own fate don’t deserve to live!
: You monster…! It’s you who doesn’t deserve to live!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frKEwuZzLbY
Didn’t connect, but it’s fine – all that happens is there’s a big explosion.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: You’re about to learn that those who toy with the lives of others always get their due!
: You’re the one who’s going to get her due for daring to stand up to me!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: Why don’t we go and find out whose imagination is greater, yours or mine?
: I don’t care enough to compete with you. All I see here is an obstacle to remove.

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: You can’t even imagine what’ll happen if you try to mess with me?!
: Someone who can’t imagine the pain he’s causing others doesn’t have the right to use that word!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: You can’t imagine your future, so it’s up to me to grant one to you. Grant you a future of pure despair, that is!
: Took the words right outta my mouth! Give him what he deserves, Izuna, and don’t hold anything back!
: Okay… That man really doesn’t deserve any mercy!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: Come on! Let’s see what your imagination amounts to!
: I’ll do more than that. I’ll teach you that true imagination means being able to grasp the pain of others!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: Say your prayers, fatass!
: Eeeheehee… Are you assuming my Yaoyorozu’s slow because of its bulky looks?
: Your lack of imagination will cost you your life!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buYbX5q-ByI
Now that’s a very pretty DK.

: Wh-What… How could I have been…?!
: What’s up? You look surprised!
: …?!
: Can it be that you didn’t imagine this outcome, I wonder? Seems to me that your imagination’s not all that either!
: RrrghARAAAAARGH! You maggot! Trash! Worm! Piece of goddamn, worthless CRAP!
: MY imagination is not all that?! I’LL SHOW YOU!!

: Wh-What’s he doing…?!
: Yeehee… Eeeheeeheeee! You can’t even imagine this either, can you?! Too bad!
: My imagination’ll always get the better of you!

: Wha…?!
: He self-destructed…?!
: Kch… Are you kidding me? That’s not using your imagination, it’s just giving up!

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: I cannot and will not ever tolerate fiends who’d use the people as shields!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: Come closer. I’ll pay you back with interest for all the pain you put my baby girl through!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: Now that was a filthy tactic if I ever saw one. And I am here to give you your just desserts.
: Hahah, that just a lil’ game. Don’t get hung up on stuff like that, guy!

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: How could you even consider killing innocent civilians as an acceptable tactic?!
: Hey, we’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done. Just like your little gang, eh?!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: A random, totally average kid gets a whole bunch of power to use without eve breaking a sweat…
: I swear, I hate Factors!
: Bring it on, ya lowlife! I feel like I could take on anyone right about now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4SMKYP19zY

: Hrk… Goddamn brats!
: Done already? Then I’ll put an end to this!

: Gwaaaargh!
: Hah… You’re not too clever, are you? Did you seriously think you could beat me with that…?
: …?! Wh-What’s this chill down my spine… this anxiety…?
: Am I actually afraid of him…?! No, no way…!
: You better be ready, lowlife, ‘cause here I come!

: Ack…! Wh-What the hell is up with him… He’s like…!

image070.png466×535

: I-Is that how he’s really like?! I-I can’t stop shaking… WAAAAAAH!
: What’s up, old man? You look like you’ve seen a monster or something!
: ?! This cable… You didn’t!
: Ah, I see what’s going on. When did you kids manage to tag him with the Nerve Crack?
: Courtesy of all the openings in his guard. I could hit someone like that in my sleep!
: Rrgh, so you’re doing this?! You tricksy little pricks!
: What’re ya gonna do now, bud? Only way you’ll be safe from that big ol’ monster is by ditching your mech!
: Damn… DAMN IT ALL! Next time I find you, you’re dead! You’re all dead!

: Hmph, did you say something? Because all I heard was a lot of whining!

: Whew…
: Did we… win?
: Yeah… Yeah, we won!
: Pah… He relies so much on the Linebarrel’s superior specs. What a ridiculous way of fighting…
: Eh, I think we can let that slide. It’s some major progress compared to how he was before.
: Major…
: Let’s just be happy with this win, I say…

: Well, well… Looks I didn’t need your help today after all.
: I’m not what’s important right now… Are you really going to carry on with Kouichi Hayase, sir?
: Do you take issue with that?
: I seriously doubt he’ll be able to make good use of the Linebarrel. One needs only look at his actions thus far to see that.
: Sooner or later, he…
: Hmm… I understand that the Linebarrel means much to you. But the fact is that the Machina now means just as much to young Hayase.
: Mr. Ishigami…
: Why don’t we wait and see? Who knows, he might just wind up a real Champion of Justice…
: …


And Riku’s survived, and very pissed at the humiliation he suffered today. Sawatari calls in, all like “Yo, buddy, still alive?” but Riku isn’t happy to hear from him. He would’ve won today had Sawatari not shown his face around here. He threw his plan off course and gave the enemy time to regroup!
Yeah, yeah, whatever – don’t get your panties in twist and come back to base. After Sawatari ends the call, Riku is left fuming. That piece of crap, Kouichi, dares berate his imagination?! Riku’s gonna get him for this! He’ll rain hell right on top of that kid! Yeeheeeheeheee!


Kouichi’s got a new suit – standard issue for all JUDA employees – and Ogawa thinks it looks quite good on him. “I’m already having second thoughts about this,” he sighs and Ogawa has a laugh at his big mouth persisting even after his change in attitude.
Arnie does ponder that he shouldn’t keep wearing this Fed uniform forever – maybe he should ask Richard for something? Ogawa suggests he doesn’t, as while Richard may be an amazing pilot, he’s a bit peculiar in regards to other things – including fashion. Arnie would probably wind up wearing bright yellow tights or something. That doesn’t sound good.

Shizuna and Izuna walk on over, and Kouichi asks if she’s here to yell at them again. “N-No! I… w-well… Hayase, Arnie, I…” Yes? Izuna pokes her not to chicken out now: “Um, I… Thank you for what you did today…” Shizuna says eventually.
But the atmosphere is quickly diffused as Kouichi stammers that he’s still blown away by how much Shizuna and Izuna look alike. Of course they do – they’re twins, damn it! Sure, but Shizuna’s a girl, so she should try to at least look different from her brother. And he’s got an idea of something that could help… which he tries offering to Izuna. “Hayaseee! You did that on purpose…!”


But before Shizuna’s done yelling, Kouichi inches over and pins her hair a wee bit back with his tie clip. That should make it way easier to tell them apart. Shizuna’s stunned for all of five seconds before yelling at him to piss right off and stomping away (Izuna runs after her).
Well, Arnie figures that was her way of opening up to them and Ogawa also thinks so. That said, what’s Kouichi going to do now? What does she mean? That isn’t it about time he faced his best friend and paid his respects?

: (Yajima… I know I’m really late for this, but…)
: I figured I’d find you here, Kouichi…
: Risako?! You too…?
: Whenever I’ve the time, yeah… I kind of feel like I can talk to Yajima again when I’m here…
: …
: But I’m glad you decided to come over. I know you two weren’t in the best of places the last few days…
: That was because of me… I was a complete idiot…
: Kouichi…
: Yajima was right all along… He never once stopped believing in me… And, still, I…
: …
: I know it’s too late for me to say this… but I have to say it anyway…
: I don’t think it’s too late at all…
: Risako…
: What matters… is what you want to do, right?
: …!
: Don’t get hung up on “should haves” – focus on what you’ll do from here on out. I’m sure that’s what he would’ve said…
: …
: Yeah… Thanks, Risako…


Back at JUDA, Richard’s just gotten word that the Celestial Being are coming to Earth – seems the goodwill ambassador has finished her talks with the Frontier Fleet. They’re accompanying the Elshank and coming to join up with us.
Having that famous group on our side sure makes Ishigami rest easier, but the Elshank has a problem: they’ve got almost no fuel left. Scarlet and Tsubasa think the WSO may be able to help with that: the ship let them have a sample to analyze and, from what they’ve seen, it’s possible to refine something extremely similar to the Elshank’s Kylhasium from a mineral found on Earth.

That’s great news for everyone and Ishigami will let the ship know… only there’s a catch. Said mineral is only found on a certain, very “unique”, island. As luck would have it, the place is the site of the WSO’s upcoming operation: a lone island far southwest of Japan, wholly isolated from the world behind the so-called Gravity Curtain.
Saya knows where this is going and doesn’t like it: it’s the infamous Machine Island.

And the one convo we missed today:

: Why don’t ya start crying and screaming again, girlie? I might let you keep your life if you do! Hahahahahaa!
: Yeah, run your mouth while ya still can, jerk! Give us a sec and we’re gonna have ya crying so bad, you ain’t even gonna see five feet ahead!

#25

Yaoyorozu is actually missing an attack in this game, it should have a large number of pellets inside of its chest armor but UX forgot about that (or just didn’t give it that, either way.) Hilariously enough, the battle the anime decided to move his fight to - since it didn’t have his manga fight for dumb reasons - IS in UX, but got moved back far enough that his manga death happens earlier instead of later. We’ll get there though.

Mmmmmm, those manga style cutins. Pretty much every Machina has one, as if to emphasize “This game is using the manga, not the anime, we have the GOOD version today!” and Linebarrel will have quite a few in particular. I love all of them.

Deceive might seem bad now, but its attack later will far outstrip what it could do in L in terms of power, and the Nerve Crack will never stop being amazing if you can use it. I actually had it as a leader in my first run with Dunbine as its partner, where Dunbine was mostly to comboattack with Bilbine. However, it can work as a squadmate to another unit. You’ll just need to get in close, because… well, that 1-3 range is the most it’s going to get, and enemies MOB Deceive like mad.

#26
Click to see the mission!


We find ourselves at the Frontier Fleet, and Alto’s pretty beat. His “welcome aboard” party was just the other teammates messing with him throughout the evening. But his grumbling’s interrupted by the suddenly appearing Sheryl. What’s she doing here?


Cut to the President’s office, where Marina’s already meeting with Howard. Turn out the Frontier Fleet originated from a different universe’s Earth – both planets share many similarities, like the shape of the continents and being the third planet in the Solar System, but a more minute analysis has confirmed that they’re not the same. The histories of both planets, for example, is completely different.
As Mishima points out, the Fleet’s Earth was once brought to ruin during a war with the giant Zentradi; once they pulled things back together, several colony ships were sent out to find a new planet for their people to call home. The Macross Frontier was the 25th of those ships and Mishima hands Marina and Shirin a dossier about it.
Marina ponders everything, the giants and their war, them setting out to travel across the galaxy, and their capacity of performing interstellar warps by way of their Fold technology – indeed, their version of Earth has much ours hasn’t, so the suggestion that they came from a parallel universe doesn’t sound so farfetched.

Mind you, the Frontier folk didn’t expect a universe like this to exist – they just wound up here by accident after they were forced to perform an emergency Fold as a way to escape the Vajra. The what? Dreadful space bugs that attacked the Fleet in the past – other Macross fleets had also been struck and destroyed by the things, too.
Mishima says it’s impossible to communicate with the bugs, and they could well be considered to be the nemeses of all mankind. Marina doesn’t like the sound of that.


Back to the Elshank, the men are waiting to hear news of the meeting at the Frontier. The girls have also left for their infiltration mission, and Joe asks if it wasn’t a bit unreasonable of Richard to ask Rennie to take part in that. What, isn’t she a potential ninja since she can pilot one of the Ladorian machines? Sounds like someone pretty suited for the job to Richard.
Joe counters that being able to pilot a mech doesn’t equal being good at infiltration and spying stuff. At the very least Saya and Eida are UX operatives and Tsubasa is a trained soldier, no? Rennie seems like the odd one out among all those girls.

Scarlet is inclined to agree and asks what motivated Richard to pick this particular group to infiltrate the Frontier. “Hmmm, what motivated me…? I guess I just got all giddy over the thought of a group of four spy women – sounds like something straight out of a movie,” Richard ponders. What, so it was just his cinephilia behind choosing those girls?! Joe’s just gotten real worried, real fast.
Oh? Is Joe really that concerned about Rennie, Damian quips? H-Hell no, dumbass! Why would he ever care if anything happened to that nag?! Romina looks on in silence and, when asked by Shaff, quickly says it’s nothing! Hmm…


One thing Arnie wants to know is why Richard even cared to put together this whole infiltration in the first place. Wasn’t the UX current mission to help the Celestial Being? Yes, but this one was an additional request from Ishigami. Apparently, the Frontier Fleet’s also got something to do with JUDA’s ongoing “project”.
“In any case, why don’t we sit back and look forward to our four beautiful spies working their magic? ‘Richie’s Angels, move out!’” Arnie shakes his head at Richard’s glee.


But at least the girls are enjoying their mission, as we find them at the Nyan-Nyan restaurant. The food here’s very much to their liking – nothing they’ve had on our Earth tasted as good as this! But Tsubasa is confused: Richard’s “spying” mission is looking more like a gourmet tour of the Frontier Fleet than anything else. Saya finds it very strange as well.
If you ask Eida, Saya’s outfit is far stranger than that – a black catsuit? That’s the stuff you only see people weaingr in TV shows. Rennie is forced to agree as it only makes her stand out. “R-Really? But the Major said it was indispensable for this mission…” Richard’s TV obsession strikes again, Eida sighs. He might be an ace pilot, but he’s got so many quirks.

Setting aside Saya’s suit, Tsubasa is surprised at how society here isn’t different at all from what we have on our Earth. This whole city wouldn’t look out of place anywhere on the surface. But it IS impressive to Rennie that they managed to fit something as big as this inside a spaceship. The whole thing’s like they sent some Space Colony to travel through space and it’s almost hard to believe that it came from beyond the solar system.


But there’s a bit of a hubbub nearby: some girl’s getting accosted by a man who asks that she come home with him.

: No! I said no! I’m not going back until my brother accepts my decision!
: But the captain… I-I mean, your brother is worried sick…
: My answer’s still NO! Let me go!
: Ranka…

: Hey, you there! That girl didn’t do anything to deserve that!
: Eh…?
: A man as good-looking as you should know way better to mistreat her like that…
: Making a girl come with you against her will… That’s something we women will NOT tolerate!
: N-No, wait… This is really not what it looks—
: Shut your mouth! We’ll see how brazen you are after we’ve bashed those glasses into your face!
: H-Hey… W-Wait a sec!

Punch!


Elsewhere, Alto asks if Sheryl really should be walking around town by herself – isn’t she a major celebrity? The “Galactic Fairy” and all that jazz? Sure, but Sheryl’s looking for a missing earring and she NEEDS to find it. There’s a jewel inside it that can transmit thoughts, you see. Plus, it’s a good-luck charm of hers.
That’s fine but how does she figure she’ll find the thing at Alto’s place? She points back to the Vajra attack, when he saved her, and says the earring dropped onto him at that point. Her manager, Grace, has some cybernetic implants on her, so Sheryl went through her recorded visual data and saw it all happen.

Alto’s heard of those implants – physical and mental enhancement tech – and they’re pretty commonplace in the Macross Galaxy. “Huh… Since when has that kind of stuff become so widespread over there?” Alto says, and Sheryl takes from that that he’s been on her native fleet before? He has, back when he was a kid.
“Hmm, I knew it…” Sheryl mulls, but doesn’t tell Alto what that means.


Over by the mall, it’s been cleared up that Michel wasn’t a bad guy - that doesn’t fix his black eye, though. Still, he knows it was all just a misunderstanding and his glasses are in one piece, so it’s fine (and he doesn’t really mind getting hit by pretty girls like them).
He does want to know, however… why is Saya dressed like a spy woman? Saya stutters, so Eida comes to the “rescue”: “N-No, um… She just really loves cosplaying, you see…” Michel rubs his chin, not looking very convinced, but Tsubasa swiftly changes the subject. Why is Ranka so against going home?

Because her big brother threw a fit when she said she wanted to be a singer, and always treats her like a kid. “I just want to sing to the whole world!” she says. Michel, however, tells Ranka to stop acting so spoiled. She’s not even giving any thought to Ozma’s own feelings, the guy who’s always taken care of her.
Moreover, if she says she wants to sing, could she do it right here, right now? Is she capable of placing herself in front of all these people who didn’t come here expressly to see her and sing for them?

: …
: H-Hey, Michel, you don’t have to say it like that…
: No, I agree with him 100%.
: ?! Eida…
: Someone looking to fulfill their dream needs to have at least that much commitment and energy.
: Speaking for myself, I’d sing right here without a second thought. I’d do it even if no one cared enough to watch… because I know my voice can make them turn my way!
: …!
: Dreams, huh… That sounds nice. I’m actually a bit jealous of you two.
: We didn’t really have any dreams back on Mars…
: Rennie…
: (Dream… my dream… Alto…)
: … I’ll do it! I’ll sing!

: Damn it, you’re dragging me all over the place looking for that earring! What does this mall even have to do with the thing?!
: Oh, dear. You don’t have a lot of stamina for a soldier, do you?
: The SMS isn’t part of the military, OK? I wouldn’t want to be part of a squad that’s duty-bound to obey whatever order comes their way.
: Hmm, so it’s a PMC, then? The type that’ll brave any danger if the money’s right?
: I’m not in it for the money either…
: Hahah, it’s fine, it’s fine. Now we’re both professionals here: me, the professional singer, and you, the professional fighter.
: Pfft… If we’re going with that, I’d much rather be a professional flier.
: Someday I want to travel to a planet with an atmosphere and fly across a real sky. That’s my dream…
: A planet with an atmosphere… Well, I’m sure it’d have a much more colorful smell than this place.

:siren: SRW L - Aimo

: Aimo, aimo… ♪
: Hm…? Hey, look at that crowd. And that voice…
: Is that Ranka…?!

: Aimo, aimo… ♪
: I’ll be damned… Well, I know when to throw in the towel.
: Wow… I can feel her song like it’s echoing throughout my heart…
: Hmhmm… I didn’t think she’d be this talented…
: Lulei, luleia… ♪
: Lulei, luleia… ♪
: …?! N-No way… Is that?!
: Hmhmhm… I don’t often do freebies like this.
: Th-The Galactic Fairy… Sheryl Nome! What are you doing here?!
: “Galactic Fairy”…? Do you know her?
: Kinda. What I want to know is why she’s got Princess Alto tagging along with her.
: Eeh, it’s just for a bit…
: You have a very nice voice. What’s your name?
: Ah? Ranka… Ranka Lee! Did you really like my voice…?
: I don’t say things without meaning them. But, I have to ask… How is that you know the lyrics to Aimo?
:…!
: “Aimo”…?
: Yeah, that’s what she was singing…
: …


Mission 8 (Celestial Being Route) – On Your Dream


And it is right then that a big flock of Vajra decides to pop right on top of the Frontier and start blasting. Seems to Mishima that they crossed over into this universe in pursuit of the fleet, and he asks that the SMS be deployed right away.
Shirin and Marina run in, asking what’s going on, and Howard has to apologize to them: they might have, unwillingly, brought a calamity to their world. Yeah, said nemeses of mankind are here.


Back to the mall, Luca’s gotten in touch with Alto and informed the group of the attack – they need to head back to the Macross Quarter on the double and get ready to deploy. But Alto promises a worried Ranka that he’ll make it back safely. And, more importantly, she needs to evacuate into the Island’s shelters.
Sheryl figures she should head back as well, so her questioning Ranka about her also knowing Aimo will have to wait. She still wants Alto to keep an eye out for her earring, mind, and he promises to find and bring it to her. “I’ll be waiting for you, Alto,” Sheryl says… and Ranka’s concerned at how close they sound. And what’s this about an earring?
As Michel and Alto take off, Tsubasa wonders what they should do themselves. Considering Alto mentioned something about a deploying, Saya figures they might as well head back to the hangar as well.


:siren: SRW UX - The Target.
Outside, Jeffrey, captain of the Quarter, leads the SMS into battle and deploys all their units as several Vajra draw closer to the Frontier’s last defensive line. This is Alto’s first legit battle as part of the team, and Michel suggests he better start running now if he’s planning on it – this’ll be a whole lot different from his kabuki plays.
Absolutely not: Alto’s got his Valkyrie, complete with a Tornado Pack, and vows to make good use of it. That’s great, but Ozma tells the nugget to get on his six and stay glued to him. Formation Planet Dance!


Destroy everything without losing any allied unit. This is our first battle with the Vajra, so they’re not going to throw anything too tough our way: we’ve got a bevy of Small (yellow) and Large (red) models and they are pretty much unchanged from L. The major difference is that they all have Energy Shields, which reduce all incoming damage by 1000. This’ll make them hardier than before, but not THAT much more.
Aside from that, they are still rather dodgy and accurate, so you’ll want to keep your units bunched up around Ozma and Jeffrey to make use of their Command auras. Let them come to you and swat them down easily.

But, before we start, take a seat because we’ve a lot of homework to do:


Macross Quarter (Jeffrey Wilder, Bobby Margot, Catherine Glass)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L4
Support Attack L1
Support Defend L2
All Attack
Command L1
Spirit Commands – Jeffrey:
Trust
Strike
Invincible
Spirit Commands – Bobby:
Accelerate
Alert
Spirit Commands – Cathy:
Scan
Gain
Mech Features:
Transform
Pinpoint Barrier – Reduces all incoming damage by 1000
Squad Bonus: HP +500, Accuracy +5 (HP +1000, Accuracy +20, Armor +125)
Jeffrey’s voice actor: Toru Ohkawa (other roles: Julius in Tales of Xillia 2, Roy Mustang in Full Metal Alchemist, Saito in Ghost in the Shell an many more)
Bobby’s voice actor: Kenta Miyake (other roles: Zangief in Street Fighter, Abdul/Avdol in Jojo Stardust Crusaders, Conroy in Gundam Unicorn and many more)
Cathy’s voice actress: Sanae Kobayashi (other roles: Gemini Sunrise in Sakura Taisen, Reika in Aquarion, Canon in Fafner and a bunch more)

Macross ships are always great and the Quarter is no exception. Resilient, strong and with a lot range means you can easily have it lead the offensive with our units. Its 2L size means its accuracy will take a hit against smaller units but that’s nothing that can’t be fixed with upgrades and Strike.
It also has, of course, a MAPW for both its Buster and Macross Cannons, which blasts everything in a line up to 8 squares ahead – powerful, but it only being a single line instead of the usual 3xSomething makes it lose usability.
Still, between the Elshank and Ptolemaios, this one’s easily our strongest battleship and both its plot relevance and the limited number of carriers will force us to use it.


VF-25F Messiah F – Tornado Pack (Alto Saotome)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Predict
Spirit Commands:
Focus
Sense
Mech Features:
Transform
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, Crit rate +10 (Mobility +20, Crit +20, Movement +2, A in Air/Space)
Alto’s voice actor: Yuichi Nakamura AGAIN


RVF-25Messiah F – Super Pack (Luca Angeloni)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Predict
Spirit Commands:
Focus
Sense
Mech Features:
Transform
Repair Module
Composite Sensors – range 1-5 around Luca, costs 30 EN per use. All enemies inside the AoE have their final accuracy and evasion numbers lowered by 30%.
Squad Bonus: Money +10%, EN +50 (Money +20%, EN +100, Spec Down Debuff Immunity, A in Air/Space)
Luca’s voice actor: Jun Fukuyama (other roles: Zero in Code Geass, Touga in Gravion and loads more.


VF-25S Messiah F – Armored Pack (Ozma Lee)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L4
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Guard
Command L1
Spirit Commands:
Invincible
Strike
Focus
Mech Features:
Transform
Squad Bonus: Armor +100, HP +500 (Armor +150, HP +1000, Crit +15, A in Air/Space)
Ozma’s voice actor: Katsuyuki Konishi (other roles: Kamina in TTGL, Volfogg in Gaogaigar, Lloyd in Tales of Symphonia and a ton more)


VF-25G Messiah F – Super Pack (Mikhail “Michel” Blanc)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Hit & Away
Gunfight L1
Spirit Commands:
Snipe
Focus
Mech Features:
Transform
Squad Bonus: Accuracy +5, Ranged weapons’ power +100 (Accuracy +20 Ranged weapons +200, Range +2, A in Air/Space)
Michel’s voice actor: Hiroshi Kamiya (other roles: Nozomu Itoshiki in Zetsubou-Sensei, Tieria in Gundam 00, Zeheart in Gundam AGE and a billion more)

Alto, once again, starts out above average but will be kicking ass by the time we’re done. The Tornado Pack already gives him sharper teeth than what he had at the start of L, but that’s offset by the fact that the Valkyries aren’t as absurdly powerful as they were in that game (still strong, mind). Once again, the game will force you to deploy him, so you might as well.
Ozma’s Alto but better in every way. He’s a great pilot, his attacks carry a hefty punch and he’s even surprisingly bulky with him stacking the Armored Pack, big Prevail and that squad bonus. That Command aura is always a plus, making Ozma, all in all, someone you could absolutely field as a leader for the whole game (I did, in L). He’ll always be good.
Michel’s gained a significant boost since L, having pretty much everything he’ll ever need right out of the box (except B-Save). He knows Focus from the start, too. That +ranged power already make him a good squaddie for ranged-oriented protagonists, but with everything he has, you could also potentially have him lead.
And Luca’s a support through and through, making him a great squaddie. The HP Regen is nice but that squad bonus as a whole will make him very desirable for a lot of people – especially those with big MAPWs. His special ability pretty much enabling him to cut the numbers of everything in a 5-tile radius around him by a third makes an already nice unit even better.

In summary, all Valkyrie pilots are all great, and you should always try and fit them inside your teams.


Queadluun-Rhea (Klan Klang)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Counter
Spirit Commands:
Focus
Alert
Fighting Spirit
Mech Features:
Gun
Squad Bonus: Crit +10, EXP +10% (Crit +20, EXP +20%, Mobility +10)
Klan’s voice actress: Megumi Toyoguchi (other roles: Aqua in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Junko in Dangit Ron Paul Dangan Ronpa, Miriallia in Gundam SEED and many more)

Eeeh, she’s fine. Good range coverage and stats means you can definitely field her but she’ll likely only ever amount to a squaddie. That said, she’s also been buffed so her priority as a squaddie is now way higher than it was before – keep her leveled up some, as she’ll get better as the game progresses.


VB-6 König Monster (Canaria Berstein)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L3
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L2
Spirit Commands:
Invincible
Strike
Mech Features:
Transform
Resupply Module
Squad Bonus: HP +500, Accuracy +5 (HP +1000, Accuracy +20, Barrier 1250)
Canaria’s voice actress: Houko Kuwashima (other roles: Chika (Shu’s bird) in many SRWs, Rim in OGs, Kurara in Dancouga Nova, Vivian in Cross Ange, Yurika in Nadesico, Yuki Mori in Yamato 2199 and sooo many more)

Big, bulky artillery unit with two forms: the shuttle, up above, and the actual artillery form with all the big guns. The König Monster’s a pretty dang good squaddie for a Super Robot – especially ones with good range. That barrier + resupply module combo is just too good to pass on, and it also packs a decent punch in its shooty form.

FINALLY, we’re ready to go.

:siren: SRW UX - Obelisk
And I’ve changed their BGM because The Target doesn’t really do much for me.

: Parallel universe or whatever this is, our battlefield is still the same! And so is what we do!

:siren: SRW UX - Obelisk

: (The Vajra went as far as traversing the dimensions to come after us…?)
: (No, this is more like they’re being led by someone. And if that’s true…)

:siren: SRW UX - Obelisk

: (I can do this… I’ll fight and protect my city, Ranka and all my friends!)

–

: How could these buggers chase us all the way into a different universe…?! But, fine, I’ll just have to shoot ‘em down until there are none left around!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-H9Ox9aV-U

And when you down three Vajra…

: Hrm… There’s no end to them!
: The bugs are just pouring in like an avalanche!

: What units are those? Where’d they come from?!
: We’re a civilian defense force from Earth. We’re here to assist!
: That voice…! It’s that spy woman from before?!
: “Spy woman”?! What’d you mean by that, Michel?!
: Ah, no, she just looked like one…
: That’s a vague answer, soldier. You want me to write you up?
: N-No, sir! My apologies! I don’t quite know the details myself, but I don’t think they’re hostiles!
: And what did she mean by “Earth”?! Why would a team from Earth be here, halfway across the galaxy…?!
: We’ll talk about that later. Those Vajra need to go first, or else…!
: What say you we take them up on their offer? Things aren’t looking too good right now.
: Fine… Troops, cooperate with them and take down the Vajra!
: R-Roger that!
: Well, color me surprised. That handsome man from before was a pilot…
: But what kind of enemy are these…? They look like space-dwelling creatures, but our databanks don’t have anything even resembling them.
: But we still need to fight them. The people inside the fleet’s ships are counting on us to keep them safe!
: She’s right… Everyone engage!

:siren: SRW UX - Obelisk

: The Vajra are approaching! Captain…!
: Hm. All hands, battle stations! We’ll now engage the Vajra head-on!
: And if we can’t tag them with a shot, we’ll just swat them down!
: E-Excuse me, Captain, but what do you mean by “swat them down”…?!
: Pipe down, observer! Macross Quarter, all turrets primed and ready!
: All sections are ready and good to go!
: OOOKAY!! Let’s go crazy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE6r6C-zlM4

:siren: SRW UX - Obelisk

: Vajra… the nemeses of mankind! But we will emerge victorious against them!

:siren: SRW UX - A Bird’s Song

Kill another three and…

Three of the new Vajra start heading south.

: Ah! The Vajra are swarming the Frontier!
: We need to stop them or…!
: Kch…! Get back here!!

Rennie closes in.

: Hrgh… Waaah!
: Rennie!
: That girl… all the people here have dreams they’re trying to fulfill! I won’t let these things destroy them!
: She…!

: Argh…! Joe… Give me some of your strength!

: Wh-What?!

:siren: SRW UX - Tobikage Appears!

: …
: That’s… Tobikage!

Tobikage goes after the Houraiou!

: Huh…?! Tobikage… are you going to help me?!
: …!

: Wha?! They c-combined?!
: Rennie!
: Thank you, Tobikage… Thank you for understanding what I want to do…
: Let’s get to it, then! We’ll show them just how strong we are!!

: W-Whoa…!
: Hahah… Talk about firepower.
: It’s beautiful… Like a phoenix dancing through the sky…!

Boop.

: This is…! We’re detecting two vessels entering the sector! Sizes are in the class of battleships!
: Battleships?!

: Is everyone safe?!
: Cpt. Scarlet! You’re all here!
: Rennie, you… What happened to your machine?!
: It was Tobikage! He came over when I needed help!
: What…?!
: Is that group also part of Earth’s armies?
: We’re a defense force from Earth, yes. Carry on your attack - we’ll provide support until the Frontier Fleet’s confirmed safe!
: We appreciate the help!
: You heard her, people. Team up with the Earth units and repel the Vajra!
: Yes, sir!


You can now lose units, except your ships or Rennie. That’s not going to happen, though, because she’s untouchable:


Kuuma
Like with the Kurojishi, Tobikage strapping himself to the Houraiou gives it a major stat boost throughout all stats. Furthermore, Rennie now has TWO Double Image effects: Tobikage’s Bunshin no Jutsu and the Squad Bonus 15% chance of special evasion.
As you saw in the event, the Kuuma has access to a MAPW, which blasts a 3x5 AoE ahead of Rennie - better yet, it’s EN based (60 per use). It’s not post-movement, but this is a game with Continuous Action, so if you give that and EN-Save, Rennie could well become one of your best mook sweepers. Her best attack also applies the Attack Down debuff and is pretty dang cheap to boot.

Let your newly arrived forces deal with the fresh Vajra batch while the Quarter team clears out the southern group. Rennie got fully restored, though, so have Saya give her Tailwind and send her up north to speed up the process.

:siren: SRW UX - Obelisk

: Yakk Meltran utomi:skes gastra:raskas! (Show them all what Meltran can do!)
: Esekes, sis! (Roger!)
: Formation ready! Engaging!

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: Are these living weapons…?! But…!


“Do I hear… a voice…?!”

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: These are… bugs?! Blah, you know everything’s going to crap when space is swarming with frickin’ bugs!

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: It’ll be a disaster if creatures like these decide to flock to Earth…! We need to put them down right now!

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpNviQ9kSI
And here’s Rennie’s best attack with her bird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41eF8wkhD6k
Plus the good old Macross Cannon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcT1tgqg-oc
And your daily dose of Vitamin Obari.

:siren: SRW UX - Tobikage Appears!

: All Vajra are confirmed destroyed. No further signals detected nearby.
: We made it, somehow…

Tobikage hops off the Houraiou.

: Oh… Tobikage!
: …

: There he goes again…
: So that’s the famous Ninja robot, huh? Wonder what’s up with him…
: (Thank you, Tobikage… I could protect that girl’s dream only because of your help…)


Ranka’s left the shelter and hopes Alto didn’t get hurt in the battle. She’s soon approached by a man, Elmo, who’d been looking all over for her. She’s the singer he’s been searching for all his life!
How would she like to sign up with him?! Sign up as…? As a singer, of course! Her music is going to change the world! Whaaaaaaaa?!


Cut to Howard’s office, Shirin brings bad news: the Frontier isn’t being given permission to land on Earth. It’s clear to the Federation that the Fleet’s being targeted by the Vajra, and they don’t want risk them being brought to our planet. Marina is very sorry but Howard is still grateful that they tried.
That said, the Federation’s decision does not mean that the Frontier Fleet is being kicked out of the Earth Sphere. And regardless of the Vajra and of them being from a different universe, Marina and Shirin will still try to intercede with the Federation government as a way to find a solution for this impasse.

As they leave, Howard is glad that, if anything, they don’t need to leave straight away. Mishima has a feeling the Federation nations’ are interested enough in their tech that they’re willing to overlook the risk of letting the Fleet hang around. And, in that case, he figures that’s something they can take advantage of.
Howard is more concerned with the Vajra, though: how did they know where to find the Frontier? Well, Mishima had people run tests on Vajra recovered after the last battle and the results are quite interesting: apparently the Vajra are capable of Folding on their own but, even more impressive, their “brain” is very small.
In other words, it’s safe to assume that the bugs are being controlled by someone – they’re very likely living weapons. Furthermore, Mishima posits that whoever is controlling the Vajra is already aboard the fleet and that person is the one calling the things over. He and Howard already have a prime suspect: Sheryl Nome, envoy of the Macross Galaxy.


Speaking of, by Sheryl’s hotel room, we find one Brera contacting Grace (Sheryl’s Manager) – a.k.a. G – and confirming that Fold Waves were detected within the Frontier, being emitted from his target. They’ve finally found what they were looking for, and Grace tells him to carry on observing said target and report any developments.
As the call ends, Grace ponders this new potential avenue in lieu of Fairy 9 – it might behoove them to speed up their project’s timetable. Sheryl walks in right then and Grace drops her creepy face.
Did she find her earring? Nope, she had to leave that for a later date; yet, she’s looking so very giddy. Sheryl just has a giggle at that – she really is in a good mood. Inwardly, though, Grace is scheming again: they’ll be testing Sheryl’s – Fairy 9’s – song next.


Back at the Quarter, Alto’s just been informed that they’ve been dropped near Earth… but it’s one in a wholly different universe from theirs. All as a result of the emergency Fold during their previous scuffle with the Vajra. That means that, yes, those people who helped them before were humans from a parallel dimension.
Only those attached to the President’s office and a select few individuals within the SMS know about it, so everyone’s to keep a very tight lid over their mouths.
Nearby, Luca’s wonders what’ll happen to the Fleet now, and Klan hopes they’ll be able to find a way back to their own universe… but Alto’s already over his shock. He thinks: the sky in this parallel Earth must be so wide.


Cut to the Elshank, Joe is NOT amused to hear that all the girls had to do for their “infiltration mission” was eat around and then come back. Rennie vehemently denies it, saying they were investigating the local culture! Care to give Damian an example of said culture? "Aimo, aimo… ♪” Rennie sings. “Huh? Are you messing with us?” Joe doesn’t care for it.
But Richard is satisfied with the girls’ work, as it showed that their culture is quite similar to ours… “And, moreover, they also managed to trigger the ‘event’ Ishigami spoke of,” Richard thinks to himself. Mike is very jealous of getting a mission that only requires you to go around eating good food, but Eida points out it was surprisingly difficult.
Take Saya, for instance, who had to pick up a new character on the fly: a cosplay-enthusiast spy woman. What? Arnie didn’t catch that. It’s about Saya’s “acting career”, Eida tells him: she said she’ll be wearing a catsuit when she takes to the stage for a play. “A c-c-catsuit?! Is that true, Ms. Saya?!” Arnie flips and the girl can only stare at him in disbelief.

In the meantime, Romina asks Richard what they’ll be doing now. Well, it’s almost time for WSO to get that operation underway and both Ishigami and the Celestial Being are on board to help, so we’ll be heading back to JUDA together.
Then there’s that whole talk about the kylhasium for the Elshank and Scarlet pointing out they might be able to refine something like it from a mineral found only on Machine Island.

#27
Click to see the mission


We open at JUDA, and WSO’s commander, Kojindani, is very surprised that Scarlet not only secured UX’s assistance but also that of the company itself and Celestial Being. He’s very grateful to Ishigami for his support, but the president understands that the crisis at Machine Island is a matter of utmost importance for the world at large.
Ishigami does ask that the WSO keep the Elshank’s presence a secret from the Feds, and that’s no problem as the organization is wholly independent from the federal army (they also wouldn’t be able to work with the UX if they weren’t, naturally). Still, Ishigami didn’t expect the situation with the Gravity Generator to be this dire – truth be told, it was only recently that the WSO pinged the Final Alarm broadcasted from the island.

The fact is that if something isn’t done soon the Gravity Generator will go critical and explode, dealing cataclysmic damage to the entire planet. Well, the Elshank and the Ptolemaios should be arriving at the Machine Island soon, so Ishigami says the WSO can start their operation whenever.
Kojindani is glad and wants to go right away: they’ll be deploying the Skull Force to Machine Island ASAP – they’ll be the spearhead for the operation to stabilize the generator.


Over by the Ptolemaios, Feldt reports that they’ll be within the island’s gravity well soon – Mileina asks everyone to fasten their seatbelts. Lockon notices Setsuna looking a bit pensive, and the boy asks if he’s heard any stories about the Machine Island.
A few, yeah, but the problem is that the whole problem with the island started back before Setsuna was even born; stories about it are now more like urban legends than anything else. Still, Sumeragi notes that the Gravity Curtain makes it impossible for anyone to see what’s going on inside the place, so we might find literally anything there.


And now, aboard the Elshank, it’s time to review the events of the other route. Seeing how we went through everything in person, I’ll just skip it. That said, here are particularly important or amusing bits:

  • Zhou Yu is already up and about, courtesy of JUDA’s treatment. He’s not fully healed yet, but well enough that Lu Xun needn’t worry about his wounds opening from him leaving the infirmary. Sun Quan did want him to get some more rest, but the Hyaku Shiki wasn’t about to sit idle with Lu Bu prowling about this planet. Ylbora has heard that he seeks to avenge his murdered lord, Sun Jian, and can certainly understand where Zhou Yu is coming from.
  • Some folks are really excited to have THE Gundam Meisters of the Celestial Being working with us, and Romina’s noticed that they seem quite famous on Earth – to the point of having a movie made of their battles. Izuna’s seen said movie, even, and is very much looking forward to meeting the real ones.
  • Speaking of the movie, Eida did the theme song for it and Kouichi was quite surprised to find out that this top idol is also a pilot and member of the UX. When Izuna asks, Eida explains that the Team D folks all had their memories reset after their battles ended so that they could lead peaceful lives again. Eida’s fighting on precisely to combat threats to said lives.


And with that done, Sun Quan asks what kind of place this Machine Island is. Richard relates that it was established after WWII, housing several weapons construction plants and a major scientific institute for the research of new energy sources. And the big discovery made there was what was dubbed Gravity Energy. Considering how gravity’ll always be there while Earth’s still around, that sounds pretty good to Kouichi.
But, as Yamashita reminds him, WWII was two hundred years ago; since that Gravity Energy was never put to use, it’s likely safe to assume that the research on it went nowhere. Actually, no, Moritsugu says things were making good progress: from what he heard, the researchers put together the Gravity Generator - a device capable of converting gravity into energy - using the island’s particular mineral, Odyssite, as a catalyst for it.
Then, one day, the institute was suddenly closed down. Why? No one knows for sure, but Eida notes that rumors say it was due to rather unethical research being performed within. As in, experimenting on human subjects and whatnot, Joe wonders? Eida figures maybe (while a dark cloud sets over Richard).

Whatever the case, the whole Gravity Energy project came to a screeching halt with the institute gone. Furthermore, civil war eventually broke across the island as people vied for control of the weapon plants and the Gravity Generator. But the worst was yet to come as, twenty-eight years ago, said generator went out of control.
It didn’t explode, but Saya figures that’d probably have been better than what happened: a massive amount of energy poured forth, draping the entire island and its surrounding waters in the Gravity Curtain. Thus, no one has been able to go anywhere near the place for nearly three decades. And what happened to the people of the island? Unknown, though Mike presumes the worst (punctuating it with a rather obscure reference that I don’t care to think of a way to translate. Rennie doesn’t appreciate his dark humor, though, and punches him).
Ylbora wonders if they can really get that substitute for the Kylhasium from a location in such a state. Possibly, but Richard says that’s a a treasure hunt best saved for AFTER we’ve managed to safely break through the Gravity Curtain.

: Gravitational anomalies confirmed. We’re initiating our approach to the AO.
: A-Are they really sure our ship can withstand the Gravity Curtain…?
: Something wrong with you, maggots? By the look on your faces, I’m guessing you’re about to piss yourselves and run home to mommy!
: B-But Cpt. Scarlet! You heard what happened to the Death Caprice Squad, right?! They were sent there a week ago and there’ve been no news since…
: Do you seriously think they would kick the bucket that easy?! And what you really should be worried about right now is the fact that, if this fails, the entire planet’ll go up in smoke!
: The honor of the Skull Force is on the line here, so we will stabilize the Gravity Generator! Now man the hell up and show me that marine spirit!
: O-Oorah…!
: I can’t hear you! Sound off like you got a pair!
: OORAAAH!!

Beep.

: This is the Gren Falcon Squad to the Ptolemaios and Elshank. Our ship will now engage the Gravity Plasma barrier field and break through the Gravity Curtain!
: Both ships are to take formation beside us, with the Ptolemaios engaging its GN Field to bolster our barrier.
: Roger that.
: Don’t screw things up, please. We’d take a real pummeling if you folks went down!
: We’ll watch your back once we’re in there, Lt. Yuki. I know you can do this.
: Y-Yes, ma’am! All my training has been in preparation for this day, so I promise I won’t disappoint!
: Hah, attagirl. Gravity Coil, charge! We’re going in!

BOOM! Alarm!

: Waaah!
: What happened?!
: Th-That was… We’re being shot at from the surface!
: From the surface?!
: Direct hit on the portside engine! It’s out of control! Preparing for emergency landing…!
: Lt, watch out!
: Wha—?!

BOOM!

: Urgh…!
: ?! Captain…!


Mission 9 – Death Caprice

: Argh… Th-This is…
: …
: Captain… Cpt. Scarlet!
: N-No… she shielded me…!
: This is the Ptolemaios speaking! Gren Falcon Squad, please respond! What’s your status?!
: Lt. Yuki here! Our carrier’s taken major damage and Cpt. Scarlet is gravely wounded! She needs urgent medical help!
: What did you say…?!

: Wh-What are those…?!

: Raaaaargh! Bow down before Lord Garan, Kiba’s whelps!
: Shut your trap and die, old man!

: Th-Those robots are fighting each other?!
: I don’t believe it… the civil war is still going twenty-eight years later?!
: Huuh?! Who’re those there?!
: Hmph… trespassers from the outside world? Great! Glory and riches’ll be ours once we bring back their heads!

: A-Aaaaaah!
: Shaff, are you all right?!
: Kch… They start shooting before even figuring out who we are?! These guys are crazy!
: We can’t take this much concentrated fire! Gameran, deploy Joe and the others!
: Th-The crash from the emergency landing has left our ship half-buried! We can’t launch them!
: Wh-Whaat?!
: Things are just as bad here! The hatch in the MS Deck isn’t opening!
: What, so our ships are now our giant coffins? You’ve gotta be kidding me.
: Repair teams are already working as fast as they can, but it’ll take several minutes before either ship can deploy troops!
: Several minutes?! Those creeps are rushing us down right NOW!

: …?! The Wingle…! Lt. Yuki, what’re you doing?!
: I’ll hold the enemy at bay! You go and get your ships operational again in the meantime!
: That’s insane! What do you think you can do against all those?!
: I know it’s insane, but it’s either this or us getting wiped out!
: Wingle, Tsubasa Yuki… engaging!
: Lt. Yuki!
: (Hold on, Captain…! I promise I’ll keep everyone safe with your Wingle!)


Kill everything, don’t lose any ships or Tsubasa. Unless you’ve really upgraded the Wingle, it’s far safer to hang back as Tsubasa getting mobbed is a quick way to get a game over. The Garan and Kiba forces will attack each other as well, and while losing out on money and kills isn’t the best, it’s the safest way to approach this mission – especially on a fresh game.

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: You won’t take any of my friends or Cpt. Scarlet’s lives on my watch!
: Women aren’t made to be warriors. You taking up a blade will do nothing but delay the inevitable!

Next turn…

: Haah… haah…
: (We need Lt. Yuki in order to stabilize the Gravity Generator. She’s too important to die here…!)

Beep.

: Saya, stay on this private channel. Can you still engage the Lepton Vectrers’ synchro-overdrive?
: The Lepton Vectrers?! Major, are you—?!
: Yeah, I’ll use the Hell Stringer and warp the Orphes outside the ship!
: You can’t! Need I remind you that your body is already—
: I’m aware – now do it! Pressure set, safety lock released!

Beep, beep.

: Haah, haah… Just a bit more… I just need to buy them a little more time!

: …?!
: Heheheheh! You’re selling us short, babe!
: Your life is now mine!
: Kch…!
: Lt. Yuki, run!
: (Cpt. Scarlet… please lend me your strength!)

: Lt…?!
: DIIIIEEEEE!

: Huh…?!
: Th-The hell was that?!

:siren: SRW UX - Roaring Deathblow

: Haah, haah… I made it!
: That’s… Maj. Richard! How did he get outside?!
: (Does he have something akin to a Machina’s warp system…? No, that was…)
: (This reading… I saw this before, back at the Center City battle…)
: (Is the Riot’s Proton Generator resonating with the Major’s unit…?!)
: Ge-Generator inner pressure, all green… no abnormalities with the accelerated particles… Hrgh!
: Major…?!
: I-I’m fine…! Lt. Yuki and I’ll keep stalling the enemies while you folks sort things out!
: Can we still not deploy?!
: It’ll take just another two minutes!
: Work in progress! Work in progress!
: Please hurry…! Something is clearly wrong with him!
: (M-Make it work, guys… because I don’t think I’ll hold out for long…!)


Losing Richard’s also a game over. He’s come in with max morale, but almost no EN and SP, so don’t go crazy there either. Keep playing it safe for another two turns.

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Hyaahahaha! A woman! We’ve got a woman here! Come and have some fun with me, girl!
: Underestimate me and you’ll be sorry! Cpt. Scarlet taught me how to fight and now you’ll see exactly what I can do!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: Haah, haah… Come on… Hang in there for just a bit longer…!

Next turn…

: Aah?!There are so many of them…!
: Psh, the hell is this?! Some outsiders making a mess around my turf?! (Kiba)
: Looks like their boss is here…!
: I dunno who you’re with, but you ain’t leaving here with your life!

: H-Hrk…!
: Major…!
: Th-This is… pretty bad…! Argh…!
: Major! Stay strong, Major!
: HYAAHAHAHAHA! You’re done! DIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!

: Hrm…?!Wh-What?!

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Gyaaaaaaaah! B-Boss, i-it’s that devil… the skull devil…!

: ?! “The skull devil”?!

: Heh… We come here looking for a good fight, and who do we find but little Yuki? (Kaido)
: Are you still alive in there, Yuki? (Magami)
: The Kaiser…! Lts. Kaido and Magami?!
: Do you know them, Lt. Yuki?
: Avatars of death and decay… Harvesters of skulls, Hades’ ferrymen…!
: They are the missing Death Caprice Squad, the ones WSO sent here a week ago…
: And that unit is Mazinkaiser - the devil!
: The devil… Mazinkaiser?!
: Here you are, Skull-face! Your head’s mine for the taking today!
: Didn’t learn your lesson last time, did ya, Kiba? Or are ya just that much of a masochist?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeAu3FOqnlY

: Gwaaaaargh!
: Heheh, how’dya like that?!
: Switch out, Kaido. I can’t take any more of your clumsy attacks.
: Aaw, come on, Magami!
: Don’t pout. I’ll educate you on how a real professional does things.

Switch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fYIIefeDU4

: A-Argh…!
: This is how a professional fights.
: That unit switches fighting styles in relation to the pilot?!
: Heh, heheheh… Not bad, not bad, Skull-face! But the fun’s just getting started!

: Hmph, as strong as a bull, and about half as bright! Switch out, Magami!

Switch!

: Alright, come one, come all! There’s plenty for everyone!
: Every single one of you will get to see Hell up close. Because…
: We are Hell!


And don’t lose the Mazinkaiser SKL, either.


Mazinkaiser SKL (Ken Kaido, Ryo Magami)
Pilot Skills – Kaido:
Prevail L5
Support Attack L1
All Attack L1
Infight L1
Pilot Skills – Magami:
Prevail L5
Support Attack L1
All Attack L1
Gunfight L1
Spirit Commands – Kaido:
Guts
Invincible
Spirit Commands – Magami:
Sense
Focus
Iron Wall
Mech Features:
Sword/Gun
Switch Pilot
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, Accuracy +5 (Mobility +20, Accuracy +20, Armor +125)
Kaido’s voice actor: Shintaro Asanuma (other roles: Toshikazu Asagi in MJP, Kyo Sogoru in Zegapain, Shulk in Xenoblade and several more)
Magami’s voice actor:Satoshi Hino (other roles: Sai in Naruto, Cyborg 004 in the Cyborg 009 movie and several more)

The SKL stands for SKULL. This Mazinkaiser is a lot more flexible than the other Mazingers we’ve dealt with in the past, and while it won’t get any game-breaking combination attacks, it’s still pretty dang powerful.
As you saw above, Kaido’s more of the standard Mazin pilot in that he’s melee and defense oriented, while Magami is, surprisingly, range and evasion specced. In fact, Magami has an Evasion stat on par with Alto.

As far as the bot itself goes, while the overall stats are the same between each mode, Kaido’s has a bit less range, chugs more EN and hits somewhat harder. Magami is the opposite: more range, cheaper attacks and is slightly weaker.
In truth, you can go with whichever you want, but the norm is usually to use Kaido for bosses and Magami to hunt mooks – when we eventually start facing Festum again, you want to dodge reliably. You don’t have to commit to one of them as your main pilot, mind, as upgrades and Skill Parts are all shared between Kaido and Magami, so you can switch out whenever.

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: And it’s showtime! Let’s see you dance!
: Impudent devil! On the honor of the Garan Forces, I’ll strike you down!

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Curse your ill luck for running into me. Now, I’ve a question: where would you like to be shot?
: Whaat?! You sonuva…!

And, finally, the next turn over…

: The Ptolemaios has been repaired!
: The Elshank is also good to go, Sir Ylbora!
: Good. Then deploy the combat machines immediately!
: Finally, we can get out there!
: The enemy’s coming at us in pairs. We’ll form squadrons of our own and engage them on equal footing.
: Form squadrons…?
: I’ll take care of it this time. All units, team up with your assigned partner and set out to the battlefield!
: Yes, sir!

: Are you alright, Major?!
: I-I’d never buy the farm at a place like this, girl…!
: Elshank, please recover Maj. Richard!

: Both the Major and the wounded WSO soldiers have been brought aboard!
: Send a medical team to the hangar immediately!
: Ms. Saya, I know you might not be too confident in working with me… but I swear I’ll fight to the best of my ability!
: …
: … I’ll put my trust in you right now, Ensign Berge. Let’s go!
: We’ll repay these villains in full for all that abuse!
: Shangxiang, please, don’t go too far ahead! We must pool our strengths together!
: Hey, Hayase! You better not hold us back, ya hear?!
: Right back at you! Make sure you keep up with the Linebarrel!
: Oh, wow, I got paired with Moritsugu! Now I’m really raring to get going!
: Heh… I’m counting on you out here, Yamashita.
: Watch my back, alright, Rennie?
: Well, I am the only one who can keep you out of trouble! Don’t worry about a thing!
: Mike, if things start getting dicey, just give the word and I’ll switch to the front whenever!
: Hey, now, I’m a real man here! You know how pissed my bro’d get if I sent a girl out ahead?
: You go plowing the front-lines, Setsuna! I’ll hang back and start sniping stuff down!
: Roger that… Engaging the targets!
: You punks need a lesson in pain! I’ll kill the lot of you myself!
: Your main target’s that unit! Take out the leader and the remaining forces should scatter!
: Hahah… Sorry, folks, but you ain’t snagging my prey!


And, finally, now we just need to kill Kiba’s Bakuryuki. But he’s so far back that you might as well kill everything else as well.
Squads work the same way they did in L: you can have your main and sub unit attack their respective targets in the enemy squad, or converge on a single one. Or you can have only one attack, and the other defend, evade – keep that in mind when feeding kills to secret-relevant characters.
As for Squad Bonuses, each unit in a pair will share its bonus with the other, and vice-versa. For example, in Joe and Rennie’s group, they both have S ranks in Air and Earth due to each other’s bonuses. Certain features, like the regen from Repair/Resupply Modules, will also affect the partner.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Don’t chicken out on me, now! Come and try taking the Kaiser’s head, why don’t ya?!
: Why, you! I’m gonna put you in your place, Skull-face!
: Hahaha, yeah, here we go! That’s the kinda attitude a fighting man’s gotta have!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bebY8Pleio

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Bring it on already! I’ll trash every last one of you!
: Insolent whelp! Neither of you’ll be leaving here with your lives!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ7X7VmSpHo
Chain attacks are still in the game in the form of the All Attack skill, but now you’re no longer limited to C-Weapons. Any attack can chain, so long as the pilot has the skill and he’s running solo.

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor


Bakuryuki (Kiba)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L3
Support Attack L1
All Attack L1
Mech Features:
Sword
All-Canceller
Kiba’s voice actor: Nobuyuki Hiyama (other roles: Gai in Gaogaigar, Haken in SRW OGs and EF, Shiro in 8th MS Team, Azrael in SEED and a ton more)

Bulky, bulky, bulky – Kiba’s got a ton of armor and defenses, so that 50k might just be enough for him to survive being killed in one round. All-Canceller means our debuffs won’t do jack, so you need to just throw whatever you can at him and start wearing the Bakuryuki down.
Its strongest attack is range 1-3, so try to attack from beyond that if you can. If you can’t down him in one round, that’s fine, as he’ll usually focus on high HP targets like the Kaiser and your ships – they can take the hit just fine.[/i]

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: You got the face of a demon, eh? Then get over here and show me what you got!
: Oh, I will! And what I’ve got is gonna blow your mind!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: So this is their boss? It’s like I’m looking at an animal running wild!
: Works for me, ‘cause I can never get of enough of ripping zippy punks like you to shreds!

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: We didn’t come here to fight anyone, so why are you attacking us?! This whole thing is ridiculous!
: Hmm? “Why”?! Because it’s fun, crap for brains!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: (I’ve to end this battle ASAP, or the Major’s body will…!)
: Heheheh, I see someone’s in a hurry! And that’s an express ticket to Hell in the battlefield!

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: HYAAHAHAHA! A woman?! You’re gonna try to take my head with those skinny arms?!
: Hrm… I won’t be beaten! Our defeat here would mean the end of the entire world!

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: Heheheh… I don’t pull my punches even when I’m up against midgets!
: Yet another foul Shura who seeks nothing but battle?! You are as bad as Lu Bu!

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: You dare waltz into my turf?! That’s gonna be the last mistake of your life!
: It’s impossible to talk to this man… And, in that case, I’ll also show no mercy!

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Hmhmhm… Yeah, this is it! I’ve been waiting for a battle like this!
: Think you can keep up with me, Skull-face?!
: Oh, boy, Kiba’s really let loose now!
: Heh… The three of us are men who only feel alive while fighting…
: So a friendly little fight to the death is right up our alley!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpCggE7Gmb0
Captions are available.
Our reward for beating him is a Kaido’s Hand-to-Hand Teachings (Melee +10, Defense and Evasion +5).

: Hrgh… If you think I’m going down from that, think again!

Bloop.

: B-Boss! The bulk of Garan’s army is on the move!
: What?! And Garan?! Is he coming over?!
: We’re pinging his mech! Looks like he is, yeah!
: Tsk, we could’ve rushed the Octagon if he’d just sit on his ass and watch things play out like he always does…!
: You guys lucked out – I’m letting you keep your sorry lives! If we meet again, though, you’re all dead! DEAD!

: The hell’s he smoking to take that kinda attitude? What a complete idiot.
: Hmph, look who’s talking…
: Eh? You wanna run that by me again?!
: Lt. Kaido, Lt. Magami! What has the Death Caprice Squad been doing this past week?!
: “What we’ve been doing”, she asks. What’s it look like?
: We all got dragged into this island’s war as soon as we arrived. Everyone but us is dead.
: Least it’s not a total loss like your Gren Falcon Squad, right?
: E-Excuse you! Cpt. Scarlet was wounded, but she’s still very much alive!
: What, she’s still kicking? Stubborn broad, that one.
: Wouldn’t you miss her angry shrieking if it was gone, though?
: Hah, maybe, maybe. Butch women like her ain’t too bad, I guess.

Tweeep.

: ?! This is…!
: Hm? What’s up, Setsuna?
: Something… Something’s headed this way!
: What was that?!

: That one? Is that the “devil from the outside” that Lady Aila spoke of? (Hurricane)
: It sure looks like it! But what about those other people? I’m sensing a very strong power coming from all of them – just like Shou’s!
: Ch-Cham, wait! You can’t just fly outside like that! It’s dangerous! (Flash)
: Wh-What the?! There’s a tiny girl flying around that bot?!
: I-Is that a fairy…?
: Heheh, all Overworlders think “fairy” when they see their first Ferario!
: I’m Cham! Cham Fau, a Mi Ferario!
: “Overworlder”? “Ferario”? Everything you just said made absolutely no sense to me!
: We’ll explain everything soon. But know that we are not your enemies.
: We’d like to ask that you accompany us back to Lady Aila… to the Octagon.
: “Octagon”… That man we just fought also mentioned it…


Over by Garan’s castle, the boss man has heard of Kiba running off in a panic and he tells Himiko that that’s good enough. They’ll carry on observing how things progress and biding their time – impatience is the quickest way towards defeat in war, after all.
After a while, Garan asks what she thinks the outside world will be like: does she want it to be a land where they’ll all find peace, or one of endless strife? Honestly, all Himiko wants is to find out the truth about the world itself. The truth? “Why were we born? Where are we headed…? We might just be able to find some semblance of an answer when ‘Sleeping Beauty’ awakens,” she ponders.
However, Garan’s vision, his dream, is one of a warrior: he’ll take up the burden of subjugating and restoring this hell on earth and, in due time, usher in a world of peace.


Location: Octagon – Aila’s Chamber

: So this is the Octagon…
: There’re only women in here… what a weird place.
: Oh? Do you have a problem with women?
: N-No, not at all… B-but please don’t hold me so close! Your boobs are…!
: Easy, cowboy. You’re gonna drool all over the floor!
: Hurricane, stop pestering our guests! (Misty)
: Ahaha… I’m just playing around!
: In any case, we’re all happy to have you at the Octagon. All these visitors from the outside have really helped liven up the place!
: By visitors from the outside, do you mean Cham as well?
: Yes, but there are also some machine-looking people, just like them.
: Your Highness, do you think she’s talking about us?
: “Gundam”, “machine-looking”… everyone keeps calling us nonsense, but do they care? Nope!
: But there’s no other way of putting it…
: Setsuna’s really gonna have to watch what he says around you folks, I think.
: …
: Regardless, could people that look like us be…

: Ooh, the food is great, the girls are all so pretty… This is the good life, bro!
: …
: Am I imagining things, or did that voice sound very familiar…?
: Hey, you feel like staying here for good? Because I’d be 100% on board with that! (Zhang Fei)
: There you go, making inane suggestions again… Why can’t you stop and think for five seconds before opening your mouth? (Guan Yu)
: What’d you say there, furface?!
: Settle down, both of you! We must all… (Liu Bei)
: Liu Bei! Zhang Fei, Guan Yu!
: …?! Why, if it isn’t Sun Quan! What are you doing here…?!
: Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu… the protagonist of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and his sworn brothers finally step into the spotlight…
: Hmm. I presume you were also transported to this world from the Battle of Red Cliffs, yes?
: Ack! That feather fan, that serene attitude… It can’t be!
: A pleasure to meet you all. I am Zhuge Kongming, chief strategist of Liu Bei’s army. (A.k.a. Zhuge Liang)

#28

Gravity Energy, you say? After World War 2, you say? How INTERESTING. It’s a pretty notable backstory element to the Byston Well works related to Wings of Rean, but not one noticeable up front.

And yep, Scarlet autolives in SRW’s version of UX. Which is neat - BX is post SKL, but has her as well dead.

I fucking love SKL’s design, because the entire OVA is basically an 80s death metal album with pretty animation and SKL itself is perfect for the aesthetic. It’s possibly the most broken Mazinger in any SRW up till UX, as well. Protip - Kaidou and Magami share skills, and that includes Mental Fortitude and SP Up. One gets Zeal, the other gets Hot Blood, and oh boy, there they go.

C attacks being on all pilots means that you should focus giving ships your C Power Up skills (Multipilot or w/e they’re called) since they’re always solo. Battleships that always do 90% or more damage to both parts of a pair hit pretty hard.

Also, here’s the best version across all fiction of Liu Bei’s squad, including a Kongming who doesn’t sit on his ass the entire damn time (ok, he does SOME of the time, but that’s a fucking improvement!) and a Zhang Fei who’s not a total asshole! And Liu Bei is voiced by Yuki Kaji, who actually sounds REALLY FUCKING GOOD in the role instead of… well… Amata. (No, seriously though. The fact that he ends up combining isn’t a spoiler since he’s in that form in the prologue, but his eventual combination sequence is fucking beautiful and Yuki Kaji managed it perfectly. When the time finally comes that we get it in UX, post th- goddamnit Youtube you removed all of SD Gundam Sangokuden! I was going to link to the video, but it’s not anywhere to be found, damnit. I might go grab the series and upload the blasted thing myself.)

#29
Click to see the mission!


The squad menu finally opened up and now we can start fiddling with our teams. Liu Bei and the WSO crew are all deploying as event units, though, so it’s simpler to just stick to the composition Moritsugu set up last battle. The only change I made was swap the Deceive, Yamashita, Eida and Lockon around, to better fit with their leaders’ ranges – here’s how we’re going:
Moritsugu/Deceive
Kouichi/Yamashita
Joe/Rennie
Setsuna/Eida
Sun Quan/Sun Shangxiang
Mike/Lockon
Arnie
Saya (set them apart only because both have battle lines in the next mission)

Off we go.


We open up inside the Octagon’s prayer room, where Aila ponders her vision. Every time she peers into the island’s future, she sees the devil with the skull. “Can this truly be the god that’ll deliver us from our plight…?” she wonders. Fancy (pink) enters the room right then, reporting that Hurricane’s group has returned with said devil and its companions.
Aila sets out to meet them, but inwardly ponders: if that devil is the one that’ll awaken Sleeping Beauty, then…


Back to us, Cham’s telling of how she’s originally from a world called Byston Well. Throughout many battles, she and her friends eventually had one last showdown with their enemies up here – in the Overworld. During it, Shou struck down his nemesis, Burn, and, at that moment, Ciela purified them all.
Kouichi understood precisely zip of all that but, as Lockon surmises, the main point is that Cham wound up here on Machine Island after it all went down. While Hurricane doesn’t know anything about the outside world, she and Misty were really surprised when they found Cham collapsed on the beach – a fairy, straight out of the stories!
But Izuna raises a good point: if Cham’s story is legit, that’d mean a huge battle would’ve had to take place, right? Problem is, there are absolutely no records, news, pictures, whatever, of anything like she described taking place in recent times. Joe figures we should take what she says with copious amounts of salt – this literal fairy tale makes absolutely no sense.

How rude! Cham doesn’t like him at all, and harrumphs that while his name might sound like Shou’s, his personality is about the exact opposite! Mike can’t well disagree with the Joe (ジョウ) x Shou (ショウ) comparison, earning himself a punch to the jaw. Why do Joe and Rennie always have to punch him over every little thing…?
Speaking of Shou, when Shizuna asks, Cham confirms that he’s been missing ever since the battle. She’s 100% sure he’s alive, though – that’s just the kind of man he is – and Liu Bei is confident she’ll find him again if she has that much faith in him.


As for Liu Bei’s group, he confirms to Sun Quan that they don’t know what happened: one moment they were at the Red Cliffs and, when they came to, they were in this world. As Zhang Fei and Guan Yu tell, the Octagon’s ladies found them wounded and passed out, and saved their lives. They have been fighting as volunteers to defend this fortress ever since to repay their saviors.
Kaido’s heard plenty about them, and even Kiba and Garan have learned to respect the Octagon’s mighty Volunteer Corps. Moreover, the rumors speak wonders about their strategist – a weaver of miraculous stratagems. Zhuge Liang is modest, though, and says the rumors about Kaido and Magami’s valor are far more impressive.
In truth, Liu Bei’s also heard plenty about them and how the Garan and Kiba Forces both building up their armies to try and stand up against the might of their devil.

Shizuna does notice that Shangxiang grew very timid in a hurry and Lu Xun explains why: she’s read Romance of the Three Kingdoms and saw that her counterpart married Liu Bei, so now she’s really nervous around him.
When Liu Bei raises his eyebrows, Shangxiang panics and yells LIES – all of it! Let’s not forget that, first, she’s a huge, difficult tomboy, and, secondly, think of how hard that’d be on poor Quan! “Well, you got one of those right,” Zhang Fei quips, but nobody asked him! Shut up!


But Shangxiang’s saved when Fancy calls everyone’s attention: Lady Aila, leader of the Octagon, has arrived. Inwardly, Setsuna ponders the unique waves of power he feels wafting from her – in fact, he feels it from every woman here. What could it be?


Location: Elshank – Infirmary

: H-Hrrgh…
: You’re awake, Major?
: Arnie, and Saya… I’m…?
: You passed out inside the Orphes’ cockpit.
: I did…? Psh… I must really be getting old if I’m blacking out while there’s a battle going on…
: Major, is that unit of yours, the Orphes, the reason that happened?
: …
: While I don’t know how any of it works, that mech is equipped with a system that allows it to warp, right? But I’m guessing making use of it is very taxing on the pilot’s body. Am I wrong…?
: And your point is? Are you suggesting I ditch the Orphes?
: That’s…
: Sorry to tell you, but that’s not something I can do.
: Besides, a bit of pain is nothing compared to the hell Saya and I’ve seen.
: …
: “Hell”?
: The Orphes’ name is based on a musician in Greek legend who managed to return from the Underworld. And true to its name, I saw hell on earth while in its seat…
: Do you mean particularly gruesome battles you’ve seen as a merc…?
: No, Arnie… No, I do not…
: Maj. Richard…


Back to the Octagon, Aila tells the story of how their mothers and fathers were imprisoned within Machine Island with the advent of the Gravity Curtain. The place has been mired in war ever since, with the island (with all its weapon plants and the Gravity Generator) an environment tailored for spawning an endless procession of robots and tools made for combat.
The Octagon, Kiba’s fortress by the coastline, and Garan’s castle in the mountainous region each control a weapon production plant, all of which are constantly powered by the Gravity Generator located at the center of the island. When Tsubasa asks, Aila says they are aware that said generator is on the verge of going critical. She believes Garan or Kiba to be the ones to blame for it: one of them is going nuts with their weapon plant, pushing the generator way past safe levels.
“Is that really the only reason for it…?” Setsuna wonders aloud. Flash asks if he suspects something more, but no, he decides to leave it at that. Inwardly, though, he senses that Aila is hiding something. In any case, if nothing is done and soon, Aila fears the Gravity Generator will erupt in a massive explosion – one which will have major effects on the planet’s magnetic field.

Romina wonders if they shouldn’t try and explain the situation to Kiba and Garan, but Flash doubts that’d get them anywhere. Those two care only about fighting, and Tsubasa’s outraged that they’d keep with that even with the threat of everyone being killed. Alas, their lust for battle surpasses any fear of death.
Sun Quan shakes his fist at these Shuras, but Kaido figures this is a real easy problem to solve: just wreck both groups! Magami sniffs at his childish approach to things, which doesn’t sit well with Kaido: “You want me to start with you, eh, hotshot?!” Tsubasa and Cham yell at both to pipe down as this is not the time for any of that.


Zhuge Liang speaks up right then, suggesting we go after Kiba’s fortress first, as assaulting Garan’s forces up in the mountains would require suitable preparation. Zhou Yu isn’t so sure, expecting an attack on Kiba’s HQ to be just as complicated and, as Flash notes, Garan is sure to launch an attack on the Octagon if they move after Kiba.
Certainly, which is why Liang says only our team and Liu Bei’s forces will handle things with Kiba and the Octagon women will stay and make sure their own base is guarded. Izuna and Rennie point out that the enemy has a weapon plant capable of creating unlimited troops – facing that by our lonesome is too dangerous!
But this is Zhuge Liang speaking and Liu Bei knows it: he has a plan. “Should ye lack an army, seize the forest. Should ye lack an encampment, seize the earth.” Indeed, there’s a way for us to prevail against such odds.


Cut to Kiba’s place, they’re already massing to attack the Octagon. They’ve been building up their forces precisely for this day, so Kiba declares they’ll set out during the evening – those women would never expect them to try another raid on the same day!
The mooks sing praises of their brilliant boss, and Kiba orders them to get to their machines. They’re gonna have a whole lot of fun today!
… Or not, as another panicky mook runs in: the Octagon’s Volunteer Corps is headed this way!


Mission 10 – Stratagems That Take the World by Storm

:siren: SRW UX - The Legend of Mirisha

: Let thunder’s roar fill your ears!

: Behold the ogre’s frenzy!

: My soul is one… with JUSTICE!!

: G-Gwaaaaaargh!!

: Wh-What… The hell are you up to?!
: Is it not obvious? We’ve come to exorcise the demons that haunt this island!
: Y-You three wanna take us all on?! Hah! I thought you were just a bunch of bodyguards, but you’ve got guts!
: Go and teach ‘em a lesson in pain, men!

: Oh…? I’m surprised they’ve amassed this many forces…
: But it confirms that their production plant is to blame for overworking the Gravity Generator!
: Are you clear on what you must do, Zhang Fei?
: I just need to make it over to the spot Kongming tagged, right?
: Correct. And said spot is…

: Over there!
: Head straight there, Zhang Fei! We’ll see to everything else!
: Heh, spare me the play-by-play! Back me up, bro, furface!
: Let all here behold the might of the Octagon’s Volunteer Corps! To arms!


Don’t lose anyone and get Zhang Fei over the spot by the end of turn 4. This isn’t complicated BUT one thing to keep in mind is that, true to the reputation, Kiba’s got an endless supply of units to toss against you. A new wave of enemies will show up whenever you reduce their numbers under 5, so take that into account as you make your approach.
Liu Bei’s kill count DOES matter for the SD Gundam secret (along with Sun Quan’s), so if you’re confident you can get Zhang Fei to the spot safely, feel free to take advantage of the extra mooks.


Liu Bei Gundam (Dragon Frame)
Pilot Skills:
Soul of the Three Sovereigns
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack L1
Command L1
Predict
Spirit Commands:
Focus
Sense
Mech Features:
Sword
10% HP and EN Regen
Squad Bonus: Mobility, Melee weapons’ power +100 (Mobility +20, Melee weapons +200, EXP +15%)
Liu Bei’s voice actor: Yuki Kaji (other roles: Amata in Aquarion EVOL, Eren in Attack on Titan, and a bunch more)


Zhang Fei Gundam (Thunder Frame)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack L1
Spirit Commands:
Guts
Strike
Mech Features:
Sword
10% HP and EN Regen
Squad Bonus: HP +500, Armor +100 (HP +1000, Armor +120, Melee weapons +150)
Zhang Fei’s voice actor: Masayuki Katou (other roles: Demiurge in Overlord, Yasu in Shin Mazinger, and a few more)


Guan Yu Gundam (Ogre Frame)
Pilot Skills:
Prevail L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack L1
Spirit Commands:
Guts
Strike
Mech Features:
Sword
10% HP and EN Regen
Squad Bonus: Crit rate +10, Accuracy +5 (Crit rate +20, Accuracy +20, Melee weapons +150)
Guan Yu’s voice actor: Hiroki Yasumoto (other roles: Ime Liard in SRW Z2, Asura in Asura’s Wrath and many more)

Sun Quan was already a good unit, and Liu Bei’s just as good. Survivability is still an issue against accurate enemies and he doesn’t even have a barrier but, in exchange, he’s got greater firepower with a combo with Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. His best solo weapon is post-movement, too.
Zhang Fei and Guan Yu fall in the squaddie category, but are way more combat-capable than Shangxiang (though her better upgrade path will offset that difference almost completely). Only Liu Bei can start the combo attack, too, so that diminishes the bang for your buck, but they’re still competent units for the early-to-mid game. Do note that Zhang Fei only ever learns Invincible as a defensive spirit (not even Focus!), so make sure to keep him around Command auras as a precaution.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: The blades of villains are but blunted sticks against justice! Oppose us and your lives are forfeit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHrzvzT6dyE

: The light of the dragon shall rend evil asunder! Gaze upon it and be blinded!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qENlFF5LCbg
“Bear my justice within, oh, blade!”

: We owe a whole lot to the Octagon ladies, and favors gotta be answered in kind! It’s only good manners!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnaTN8CCfHg

The next turn over…


By the Elshank, the rest of our team is watching as the mission carries on and Zhuge Liang asks everyone to get ready to deploy soon. Joe’s not too sure if this’ll work, but Yamashita points out that Liang is renowned as a genius tactician. Check any Three Kingdoms media: he’s always got max intelligence stats and his stratagems are feared by even the mightiest of foes.
But, Kouichi counters, Yamashita’s speaking based solely on mangas and games, no? Moreover, Damian reminds that the guy made his fame in a society where people fought with swords, bows and arrows. The present isn’t that simple. Lu Xun, however, says everything’ll be fine: “The weapons being used are a nonissue to true Art of War!”
And Zhou Yu adds: “Sun Tzu himself said: the three conditions that majorly influence the odds of victory in battle are proper timing, geographical superiority and troop unity. And what we need now is unity… We must bring our hearts and minds together, and trust in Master Kongming, Liu Bei and his companions.”
Hmhmm…

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G11F0LqxxU

Get the enemy numbers under 5, and…

: You think you’re tough?! Too bad for you, I can bring out as many troops as I want with this production plant up and running!

Another 6 mooks spawn


And there we go.

: Haah, hoo… I’m in position, bro!
: Good! Do it, Zhang Fei!
: Haaaaaaaah!!

: Wh-What’re they up to…?!
: Let’s see how you like this! Bakuretsu… DAIRAIJAAAAAAA!!

: …
: U-Um…?
: Did something happen, Zhang Fei?!
: N-No, I… I thought there’d be, like, a ton of land mines buried around here or something?!
: What?! I’ve never heard anything of the sort!
: Whaaa…?! Then why were we sent over here…?!
: Heheh… You got me worried there for a sec! Now it’s your turn to get a taste of that!

: Kch… There are so many of them!
: This does not bode well at all…
: D-Don’t blame this on me! I did exactly as I was told…!
: I still have faith in Kongming! He shall not fail us!
: B-But…!
: Rrgh… No, I’m a proud warrior too! My bro says he’s got faith, so I’ll do the same! I’ll stick with you all the way to the end, Kongming!
: Hmph, the hell do I care about some Chinaman?! Swarm them, men!
: Th-That’s… BOSS!!

: Wh-Whaaaaat?!

:siren: SRW UX - The Legend of Mirisha

: Heheh… That Liang fella’s pretty dang good!
: Hm. It’s hard to believe how perfectly he anticipated the formation the enemy deployed in…!
: S-Skull-face…?!
: B-Boss… Over here—!

: Y-You…?!
: Our surprise attack on the enemy’s flanks was a success! Half of the Kiba’s Forces have been destroyed!
: An absolutely flawless prediction of the enemy’s tactics… I guess I shouldn’t have expected any less from a legendary strategist.
: Hear, hear. The guy rivals even you and Gen. Mannequin, huh?
: Rrgh…! You think you’ve won yet?! You haven’t!
: Throw everything we’ve got at them! Crank out those robots nonstop!
: U-Um, Boss… the production plant ain’t doing what we tell it to!
: What?!
: Hmhmm… I believe it worked.
: Zhang Fei, pull back!
: Eh…?

Zhang Fei backs away.

: Waaaaaaah! Wh-What in blazes?!
: Y-You…! What the hell did you do?!
: Do you not realize it yet?
: Your production plant receives energy from the Gravity Engine via an underground pipeline… a pipeline that Zhang Fei’s attack cut down.
: I-It can’t be…! This war’s been going on for twenty-eight years and nothing like that’s ever worked!
: That pipeline’s too strong to get wrecked… and from a single attack, even?! That’s not possible…!
: Hmhmhm, we have you to thank for that.
: Your excessive energy intake left the pipeline overflowing to the point of bursting. The smallest of strikes would have been enough to obliterate it!
: …?! N-No… No way!
: H-he thought that far ahead…?! This is the Art of War at work?!
: Alright, I admit it, Kongming… you’re the real deal!

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: Set onwards, troops! Kiba’s Forces now lie as candles flittering in the wind – you have but to snuff them out!
: Aye, aye!

*+10 morale for everyone!

: You… My army… You sons of BITCHES!!

: I’ll beat every last one of you into a bloody paste!
: Oho, looks like the boss man got sick of hanging back!
: Your primary target is Kiba! All troops, engage!


Only need to wreck Kiba and keep your ships safe, but we’re not just going to ignore all these easy kills hanging out, are we?

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMT7-4DOmio
And here’s Guan Yu’s strongest attack, complete with finger poke of doom.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: Your army’s already finished! Just put down your weapons and surrender!
: Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?! I’ll build a whole trophy room just for your heads!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: How can fighting be your only purpose in life… Is there no justice in any of you?!
: You ain’t got a clue how the world works, brat! Just the sight of goody-goodies like you and your crew makes me wanna hurl!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGHRZIavAfQ
Finally got Kiba’s best attack on tape.

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: Why couldn’t you simply stop overworking the Gravity Generator? Did the fact that you’re endangering the entire world not even cross your mind…?
: And I’m supposed to give crap about the outside world?! Way I see it, all my life’s been building up just for today’s battle!
: Then you are yet another one who’d corrupt the world, who’d push it on the path to ruin…!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: I’m more of a to-the-point kinda guy, but I don’t mind winning with strats once in a blue moon!
: You wrecked my forces…! I’ll paint this whole island red with your blood!

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: You think you can take me with that tiny plane?! I see you ain’t taking me seriously!
: There’s more to everything than meets the eye. Now how about I show the size of your ignorance?

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: Your rampage has run its course, Kiba! And now my Ryuteiken will mete out your due judgement!
: This frickin’ stuffed toy…! You go on acting like some force of justice but then you crash other folks’ war?! Goddamn hypocrite!

: I’m gonna get you for this humiliation if it’s the last thing I do, Skull-face!
: Heh, a boy who can’t read the tide of battle got no business playing boss!
: It’s high-time time we hammered in the last nail in your coffin, Kiba!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEbXKHqZSJ0
And here’s Magami’s strongest attack.
We get a Magami’s Marksmanship Teachings from Kiba.

: If God gets in our way, he’ll get cut down…
: If the Devil does the same, he’ll be shot!
: Y-You… I’ll be waiting for you in HELL!!

: Hah… There’s no point in waiting there.
: Because… We are Hell!

: No enemy signals remain on radar!
: Any surviving soldiers of Kiba’s Forces have already scattered, it seems.
: Then I guess it’s over. Now to take over Kiba’s fortress and investigate the weapon production plant!

: Very well done, Master Kongming. Your commands were, as usual, flawless.
: Please, Zhou Yu. It hardly feels right to have a man of your stature address me as “master”.
: You honor me with your modesty. But, I must say, I was rather surprised to see you engaging so proactively in this world’s conflicts. If I remember correctly, you chose a life of seclusion precisely because you detested such battles…
: Hahah, “proactive”, hm? Perhaps. Though I presume my reasons are the same as yours.
: Mine…?
: Have you also read this world’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
: Aye, I glossed through it…
: Then I presume you understand the implications. If that text truly depicts our ultimate fates, then…
: … Your death is nigh.
: …!
: But I see in your eyes that you do not accept that. I do not either.
: Then you are fighting in order to overturn fate as it was written…?
: Aye. This world and Mirisha, us and our “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” counterparts…
: Our histories are so very similar, yet there are also subtle differences… and I can’t help but feel the presence of an unseen hand behind it all.
: An unseen hand…?
: And I believe the answer to that mystery will have significant impact over not just our future… but over this whole world’s future as well.
: Master Kongming, you…
: Man must never submit to the tides of fate…
: Do you not think that a struggle worth staking your life on, Zhou Yu?
: …


Meanwhile, by Kiba’s fortress, Tsubasa’s found what looks like the control center of the weapon plant. Can she shut it down? Easily, as while this whole structure’s pretty old, she can handle any of its standard systems. Well, ain’t she a clever girl?
… But it’s not quite that easy, as there are several traps installed in the system. Can she disable them? She figures she can, as they’re pretty basic, but something strikes her as odd. “Want some help there? Ya just gotta cut the red wire and—” Kaido starts joking before Tsubasa tells him to shush.
Upon further inspection, she discovers something about this plant’s systems…


Cut to the Ptolemaios, Feldt reports that the WSO has succeeded in fully disabling the production plant. That should keep the Gravity Generator stable for now – better yet, the Gravity Curtain has disappeared as a result and Lockon is so glad we don’t have to traverse that thing again.
However, Feldt says the investigation team has reported something else. Things have taken a bit of an unexpected turn at the lowest levels of the production plant: they found a life-sized girl robot stashed down there.
Ryusei Lockon is curious.


By Garan’s place, Himiko confirms to him that "Sleeping Beauty” has been awakened. Furthermore, with the Gravity Curtain gone, this island’s role as a cradle for its denizens is over. When Garan asks, Himiko relates that many of the survivors from Kiba’s gang are hiding throughout the island. Should they send teams to get rid of them?
Garan says no, preferring instead to add those soldiers and robots to his own forces. Himiko’s a bit ill at ease with that – those men are so very violent. Yes, which is precisely why Garan wants them: violent men will easily obey someone with greater strength, and what Garan needs now is to expand his army. Indeed, he’ll welcome any who wishes to support his conquest, regardless of their origin or past.


Isn’t that right, Burn? Indeed, and Burn says he never forgets a debt – his life and all of the Zwarth’s power will serve Garan’s cause. “I swear it by my blade, and by my honor as a warrior.”
Garan likes it and tells him to set forth. The time has come for the entire world to submit to his rule! Inwardly, Himiko tells Aila that she’ll be accompanying Garan in his quest – the truth awaits further down this path, and she will find out what it is.

: We can refine this Odyssite into an appropriate substitute for the kylhasium, then?
: Right. It’s used as a catalyst for the Gravity Generator so there’s plenty of the raw ore stored throughout this island – more than enough to solve the Elshank’s fuel issues for the time being, I think.
: That’s great news, Your Highness!
: Indeed. We thank you all for your assistance.
: Well, that’s the Elshank’s problem taken care of… but what about her?
: She’s what Lt. Yuki found inside Kiba’s fortress, hm…?
: …

Door opens.

: So this moment has finally arrived…
: It’s a pleasure to meet you, VR-14… Or, rather, Fei-Yen.
: …
: This robot is what you were hiding from us, wasn’t it?
: “Hiding”?
: I suppose I cannot fool you…
: Yes, it’s as you said. We have been watching over her seal…
: Her seal…? Just who is she?
: We do not know either. All I can tell you is that she has been asleep, dreaming, within this land for ages. She’s been there since before the Gravity Curtain emerged, since the time when this island’s research institute still functioned, even.
: For that long…?
: Then I guess we could take her to be another legacy from this island’s old researchers…
: Our parents spoke of her. They said her name was VR-14, also known as Fei-Yen… Hers is a soul that longs to soar free – or, perhaps, she is a vessel for it…
: And they said that her awakening shares a deep connection to this world’s underlying truth. What they meant by that, however, I do not know…
: The world’s underlying truth…
: Could I make a request? I’d like you to bring her with you to the outside world and, maybe, shed light upon her mysteries.
: Wh-What?!
: … Y o u.
: ?! That voice was…
: I-I t I s…
: A p l e a s u r e t o m e e t y o u…
: Fei-Yen…?
: I h e a r… m y f i r s t s o u n d… v o i c e s… w o r d s…
: I h e a r… I s e e… e v e r y b o d y ‘ s v o i c e s…?
: She sounds lovely… So this is the voice of Fei-Yen, the soul that longs to soar free…
: A p l e a s u r e t o m e e t y o u…
: W h o… W h o a m… I…?

Fei-Yen, as you might expect, quotes a TON of Miku Hatsune song lyrics. I’ll try and keep an eye out for those and do as much research on it as I can, but I’m honestly not familiar with vocaloid stuff at all. If someone here IS, though, and sees something I didn’t, feel free to get in touch with me through PMs on SA, LP.Zone, Youtube, wherever, and I’ll fix it.

#30

I wonder if Sun Shangxiang got to the part of the Romance where she left Liu Bei two years after marrying him, or the part where she killed herself after the events of Yiling.

#31

Remember that Yamashita told them to get their history lesson from the Yokoyama Mitsuteru Three Kingdoms’ manga, so I dunno if that played out there! :chuckle:

#32

No, they didn’t get to the part where Shiangxian married Liu Bei, because that never happened in SD Gundam Sangokuden BBW. It also never happened in BB Senshi Sangokuden, the toy line SD Gundam Sangokuden BBW was based on (think Zoids here with the various anime and then the Battle Story). This is because SD Sangokuden never had it happen early and then Liu Bei went missing after the Red Cliffs for a lengthy period of time, and they never got around to it. UX likes to bring up things like that though.

That also means they never did the thing where Liu Bei touchdowned a baby.

In my first run, I used all the SD Gundams all the way to the endgame, and found Liu Bei’s group to be really good. Liu Bei himself is fucking broken later in the game (you’ll get there EVENTUALLY, he takes forever and a half), but Guan Yu is fairly good at staying alive, and Zhang Fei… honestly I listened to his attacks almost every time because I fucking love the delivery on DAIRAIJAAAA and CHOURAIKOUUUUU! It helps that Chouraikou’s debut in the anime was fucking awesome. Also, expect this “Zhang Fei uses lightning to solve problems” bit to be used more often, because it’s in a game with Heroman, and lightning solves all problems.

And oh boy, the game’s introducing tacticians. Here’s where Zhuge Liang really comes into play - everyone upgrades to 2 abilities, and then 3, but Zhuge upgrades FIRST both times. And he’s the best in the fucking game - his 1 ability is alright, but his 2 is really good, and his 3 is fucking stupid, such that when they made it a thing you had to apply every turn in BX to a limited area it was still fucking stupid.

(I fucking love how Kongming decided to get off his ass because history portrays him accurately as a guy who sat on his ass the whole damn conflict. It’s amazing.)

UX unfortunately failed to show Guan Yu’s finger poke off properly - see, in the show, he actually grows twice his size before doing the poke, and it instantly takes down another quite powerful person. It probably should have been its own attack to mirror Zhang Fei, but…

#33
Click to see the mission!


I just realized I never took a look at the intermission’s bottom screen and the unit upgrade menu, so let’s remedy that real quick. As I mentioned before, your top aces are displayed right there and kills made with them generate 20% more cash. Below them is the number of unused Skill Parts, and you can see by that 489 that I’ve a lot of consumable stat boosts (maybe I’ll make a vote later and let you pick someone to chug all those).
Finally, right below that, and currently empty, is where the game would point out units that are currently unassigned to squads.


There wouldn’t be much of a point to repeatedly point out upgrades I’m making since the dozens of millions I’ve in my bank account allow me to boost everyone forever. But here’s a quick overview of what everything gives you – from top to bottom:
HP – self-explanatory
EN – Ditto
Armor – damage mitigation for incoming attacks
Mobility – big modifier in your chances to Evade attacks
Accuracy – same, only it’s your chance to hit
Weapons – provides a power boost to all of the unit’s weapons. The size of the boost depends on the unit’s upgrade path: units that follow Pattern A will get bigger boosts more frequently than those that follow Pattern B, which will gain more than those with Pattern C.

As a general rule, you’ll want your Reals to focus primarily on Mobility while your Supers take HP and Armor. Accuracy and Weapon upgrades are desired by pretty much any offensive unit and EN is, of course, significant for those bots with costly weapons.


And with that done, we move to our teams. Arnie, Eida, Fei-Yen and Mike are deploy as event units, so we adjust accordingly. Do note that this next stage will have a not-insignificant amount of water, so you’ll want as many people airborne as possible:
Moritsugu/Guan Yu
Kouichi/Yamashita
Joe/Rennie
Liu Bei/Deceive
Setsuna/Lockon
Sun Quan/Sun Shangxiang
Saya/Zhang Fei
Mazinkaiser/Tsubasa

Off we go.


We open up with the Ptolemaios having just arrived back at JUDA – and we’ve brought Cham and Fei-Yen along as well. One thing Lasse heard is that despite Fei-Yen’s very girly appearance, she’s actually packing some decent fighting capabilities. Of course, there’s the problem that she can’t even remember her own name.
Still, Mileina figures she might just be an awesome, centuries-old weapon. Sumeragi considers that possibility, too, which is why she wants JUDA to give her a more thorough examination and see what they can find.
Setsuna, meanwhile, is sitting in a corner and Lockon asks what’s up. His Innovator powers tell him that Aila was still hiding stuff from us. Moreover, he inwardly ponders this unease Fei-Yen gives him. What could it mean?


Cut to Ishigami’s office, Tsubasa’s been informed that both her and the Death Caprice duo are being reassigned to work with JUDA. The president figures her insight will be invaluable in their analysis of Fei-Yen. Magami won’t argue that, but why transfer him and Kaido as well?
Well, with Cpt. Scarlet recovering from her injuries, there isn’t anyone in the Skull Force that can keep the two of them in line. Put it simply, Magami sees, the WSO thinks they’re a headache best passed on to someone else. That works just fine with Kaido, though, as working with this gang’s looking to be a whole of fun. Plus, it’ll give them battles where they can just cut loose.
“If all you want to do is ‘cut loose’, then you should just go back to the Machine Island, you monkey,” Magami harrumphs. Kaido gets right in his face for that and it falls on Tsubasa to stop things from coming to blows.

As for Liu Bei and crew, they’ll also carry on working with our team; they still have no idea how they’ll get back to Mirisha, so Liu Bei figures they might as well carry on fighting for justice in THIS world until that’s sorted out.
Ishigami purses his lips at that, and Zhuge Liang admits they’re aware that the myriad powers spread throughout this world lead to just as many definitions for what “justice” is. That said, they at the very least believe our group to not be unjust. That’s all Ishigami wanted to hear and welcomes them aboard.
With that settled, Tsubasa wants to know how Scarlet’s doing and Ishigami tells her to rest easy: JUDA’s medical staff is already hard at work, and he’s certain both she and Richard will be fine.


Location: JUDA – Infirmary

: My body’s immedicable…?
: I’m not a doctor, so I can only explain this from a technical point of view… but the problem lies with the Orphes. Surely you and Saya had have an idea of what I’m talking about, no?
: …
: So it really was because of its ability to warp…?
: Though, if you ask me, the very thought of pushing accelerated particle engines into synchro-overdrive is extremely unreasonable to begin with.
: Huh? Accelerated particle engines?
: Ah, right, your Riot is also furnished with one of those.
: Well, the Lepton Vectrer which powers the Lyras and Orphes could very well be called a variant of your unit’s Proton Generator.
: I-Is that true?!
: Yes, though the Orphes’ engine is far more extreme in terms of output, difficulty of control and just overall riskiness.
: But I digress. Major, you must stop piloting the Orphes immediately and our recommendation is that you get absolute repose.
: Because the next time you get in that pilot seat… you’ll die.

Maki leaves.

: …
: Hahah… One more and I’m dead? Seems I’ve really done it now…
: Which is precisely why I was so against it… What will you do?
: What, indeed… I guess I’ll need to leave our missions in your hands, for starters…
: Carrying those out without the Orphes will rather difficult, though…
: Major… Would you allow me to take up the Orphes?
: …?!
: What did you say…?
: I think I’ve the necessary know-how and experience to control it and its engine, and in that case…
: Ensign Berge! Do you understand what it is that you’re asking?!
: Yes, but I don’t think it was pure coincidence that the Riot was equipped with an accelerated particle engine like the Orphes’…
: …
: It’s fate… Is that what you’re getting at?
: I don’t like the idea of chalking up everything in a person’s past, present and future to a single word. Still, I…
: I just feel like there’s something of an unseen hand pushing me towards the Orphes…
: Ensign…
: …
: (An unseen hand, huh…? I guess I was right. The “events” Ishigami spoke of are…)


Some time later, by JUDA’s lobby, Damian finds Mike humming along. What’s he listening to? Eida’s newest single! Shizuna sure didn’t take him to be a closet-Eida fan, but Mike says it’s not like that. You remember how he was teamed up with her back at the Machine Island? Well, the girl liked working with him and later gave Mike a disk with a yet-unreleased song as a show of appreciation.
Joe is proud of how good with the ladies his friend is, and knows what he needs now: a crash course on how to put the moves on her. First, imagine that Joe is a girl… and Mike’s quickly irked as Joe starts strutting over to him, telling to take that stuff elsewhere.
Fei-Yen’s watching nearby and has a question: does Joe love Mike? Does it make it hard for him to breathe (More song lyrics)? Thankfully, Shangxiang is there to explain things to her. “Blah, Joe’s silliness is confusing Fei!” she and Cham fume. The girl-bot’s just woken up, so he should exercise some common sense when acting in front of her… though Damian questions if a Gundam and a Fairy should talk about common sense.

Fei slowly tells that her head’s still all jumbled up from her recent reboot but, while she can’t speak too well yet, says she’s fine. Shangxiang is glad to hear that, and knows she’ll fit right in with our crew.
As for Mike, Rennie warns that he won’t be getting anywhere with Eida: apparently the singer’s already together with her manager. We dunno if he’s aware of her UX gig, mind. “O-Oh, I see… I-I mean, I wasn’t even thinking about that, ya know!” Mike protests, and Rennie just nods along. And on the subject of Eida, does anyone know where she went?
Back to her other life, Izuna says: she’s recording a video for that new single over by Yokosuka. One day, she’s off fighting, the next she’s having a recording session… life as a merc/singer ain’t easy, Kouichi sees.


And on that subject, Johnny’s calling Eida to the location where they’ll record the next scene. He’s set quite the tough schedule for her today, but Johnny says she only has herself to blame, with all the time off she’s been taking. He’s got to make Eida’s work fit the amount of time she gives him – which, by the way, hasn’t been easy.
Eida understands, and says she’ll work extra-hard to wrap things up here quickly. That way they can go elsewhere together. Shopping, maybe? Johnny tries and fails to stay grumpy as she makes faces at him.
Inwardly, she really doesn’t like having to keep secrets from Johnny, but knows that he’d jump right back into the battlefield if he recovered his memories – as would Aoi, Kurara and Sakuya. But Eida wants them all to live in peace. She’s the only one who should be fighting.


Location: Yokosuka – Union Base

BOOM!

: W-Waaaah! They really did it?! (Sakuya)
: I can’t believe it…! I thought we were being pranked when they called us about a terrorist attack …! (Isabelle)

: Yaaaaahooo!
: We did it, Rouri! (Kanamoto)
: Hell, yeah! Apologies to Aesap and all that, but this is one for the history books!
: Hey, look! The press is here!
: Were you the ones who made that call?! I’m Isabelle Cronkite, a journalist!
: Sakuya Kamon, her cameraman. I can believe you actually shot a bazooka at the Union base…
: Get the hell off our country, Union Imperialists! Japan can handle its own defense!
: Make sure you get all this, camera guy!

Sirens!

: You! Don’t move!
: Uh-oh, here come the jarheads! Get in the jeep, Kanamoto!

Vrroooom!

: Sakuya, we’re going after them!

: … (Aesap)

: Now it’s time for extreme motorsports, where the F01 Shibuya Grand Prix has just been won by the legendary, undefeated queen of the race track: Aoi Hidaka!
: Ms. Hidaka, it wasn’t long ago that you announced your return from retirement and it’s like you never even stopped. Your driving is as superb as it’s ever been!
: Well, as it turns out a life of modelling and TV ads was too boring for me. So, I figured I’d jump back into this.
: But, on the other hand, there just isn’t anyone that can actually challenge me… I might just retire again, way this is going.
: Hahahah… a very confident statement, but one the Queen is entitled to make. Carrying on—

Knocking on door!

: Hm? Who is it…?
: Got a delivery here for you, Mr. Suzuki!
: A delivery…? Someone hired a courier, I guess…

Opens door.

: Aesap Suzuki? Assistant Inspector Kurara Tachibana of the Metropolitan PD, public safety division.
: Th-The police…?!
: You are currently a suspect of engaging in the illegal trade of Union weapons. Come with me, please.
: (?! Rouri, Kanamoto… you didn’t…!)
: W-Wait just a minute! What are you accusing my son of doing?! (Toshiko)
: His ID was used inside the local Union base. Your son’s also under suspicion of being an accomplice to the terrorist attack that just happened.
: Terrorist attack…?! My son’s been here all day, how can he be involved in an attack that happened minutes ago?!
: We share this tenement with a bunch of bad sorts. I’m sure one of them took his ID and—
: Urk…!

Aesap runs off!

: Aesap?! Where are you going?!
: Stop right there, Aesap Suzuki!

: Damn it… What did Rouri and Kanamoto do?!

Drive over!

: Yo, Aesap, you saw the news?! How’d we look?!
: Kanamoto, Rouri! Did you really…!
: We blew up a Union base with a bazooka, yeah! The explosion was huuuuge!
: And they’re coming after me because of that! Just how are you even thinking of getting away with this?!
: Chill, we got a boat right at that harbor over there—

BOOM!

: Uwaaaaah!
: Wh-What the hell?!


Mission 11 – The Uninvited

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate
:siren: :siren:

: R-Rgh…!

: I-I’m flying…?!
: This blue sky… this light, it feels… This isn’t Byston Well?! I’m at the overworld?! (Lux)
: W-What the… there are wings coming out her shoes…?
: Did you call me…?
: Huh…?
: Fine, no matter. We must find a place to land…!

: Eida, look! Robots!
: (Those aren’t MSs… What are those things…?!)
: Is that the princess…?!
: Your Highness, are you well?!
: Murassa Mein, of the Aura Battlers?! What is the meaning of this?!
: Some phenomenon occurred between the Aura Ships and the manifestation of the Wings of Rean, I believe! It’s brought us to the overworld!
: The Aura Ship?! Then, the Kintoki is also inbound…?!
: Yes, but our vessel isn’t the only one! The Rebels’ Aplogene is also traveling the Aura Road!
: The Rebels as well…?!
: Could you stop for a second?! Who the hell are you all?!
: I am Lux Sakomizu, of Byston Well – the realm located inbetween the sky, the land and the sea…
: “Byston Well”…? Sakomizu sounds like a Japanese name, though…
: Correct. My father, the king of the nation of Hojo, is Shinjiro Sakomizu… a Japanese man.
: Your father is a king… and he’s Japanese?!

#1: Calling all the unidentified mobile weapons! Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately!
: The overworld’s army…?!
#2: No, never mind that! The brass just sent word to bring them down!

: Urgh…!
: What?! How can they start shooting just like that?!
: Hrm…! So this is how you overworlders do things?!
: Murassa, stop!

: Gwaaaaah!!

: A-Aah…!
: W-Why…!
: You…! Are you trying to turn this world city into a warzone?!
: N-No! I…

:siren: SRW UX - A Bird’s Song

: Hm…?! More overworlder troops?!
: That’s… the red Dancouga?!
: Dan… couga?
: What’re you thinking, starting a battle right in the middle of a city?!
#1: Hmph, big words coming from a terrorist!
: …?!
#1: All troops, the red Dancouga is a member of the Unknown Xtrikers! She’s an international criminal!
#1: Take her down along with all the unidentified forces!
: W-What…!
: This is the overworld… King Sakomizu spoke much about it…
: However, as a warrior of Hojo, I cannot stand down!
: (Hrm… Why did it have to come to this? But I still need to keep this city safe!)
: (Because this is the city my dear Johnny calls home!)


Kill everything, don’t lose Eida. As you might expect, sending her straight into the front is a risky proposition as you don’t want both sides ganging up on her. Moreover, the plot will soon draw her right back to her starting point, so just hang back.
The Hojo guys are our first encounter with Aura Battlers, characterized by their exclusive Aura Power skill, which raises evade % as well as the power of Aura barriers and weapons in proportion to the skill level.
These guys, however, are absolutely no threat: their weapons are weak and all mooks have pathetic amounts of HP and Armor, to the point where pretty much anyone (except the Deceive) can oneshot them rather reliably. Their small size can make them dodgy-ish, but if you use your SP and Command auras wisely, you’ll shred them.

As soon as the enemy turn starts, the plot carries on…

Alarm!

: Hm…? What’s this alarm for?!
: Everyone, we’ve an emergency! Some unknown mobile weapons appeared by Yokosuka and are fighting the Federation…!
: Yokosuka… isn’t that where Eida’s at?!
: Yes, it is. She deployed with the R-Daigun and is under fire from both groups…!
: Wh-What?!
: Eida is…?!

Mike takes off.

: Heey, Mike! Wait!
: The hell’s that dumbass thinking running off by himself?!
: We should set out as well, Moritsugu!
: Hm, I’ll talk to Mr. Ishigami. Get ready to deploy on the double, people!

And the battle carries on, but both sides are too far away to do anything. The next turn…

Vrroooomm

: So the red Dancouga’s one of those Hell’s Executioners terrorists?
: Right. Are you getting all this?!
: ‘Course I am!

: Hey, you in the wagon! How about you watch where you’re driving?!
: Ah, crap… An undercover cop?!
: Driving while running a camera? Are you kidding… huh?
: Ah…?!
: (Do I know this man…?)
: (Huh… I’m getting some real déjà vu from her…)
: Sakuya, look!
: …?! The surface of the water is foaming… Wait, is that—

: Ack, even more robots! How many of those are hiding underwater…?!
: And where did Eida run off to with this whole mess going on?!
: That’s… Kasumi’s Raiden?!
: You decadent Japanese people… behold now the might of Hojo!
: Aah— Waaaaaah!!
: Johnny…!

Eida flies towards him.

: U-Urgh…!
: I-It’s…!
: That robot… it protected the civ?!
: But why would a terrorist…?
: (Th-Thank goodness, he’s safe… Rrgh!)
: Your end is come!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: Eida, get back!

: What…?!
: I-I made it…!
: Mike… What’re you doing here?!
: Heh-Heheh… I can’t just leave a teammate hanging when she’s in trouble, right?
: Mike…!
: Hmph, a new fighter… However—!
: Kasumi, stop! We are not here to conquer the overworld!
:Your Highness, what are you suggesting?! King Sakomizu has told us much of the corruption festering within the nation of Japan, hasn’t he?!
: We must display the might of His Majesty to the overworlders! They must learn that we are not to be trifled with! Such is the way things are…!
: Kasumi…!
: Tsk… Looks like they’re really set on attacking us!
: What’ll you do, then?
: Gonna help you drive them out, of course!
: My bro and Rennie might not be here right now, but I’m still gonna keep this town safe!

]You can send Mike up ahead, as him being underwater all but makes him invincible here. Most of the Hojo and Fed mooks will still fight each other anyway, and the GN Field proves awfully effective at keeping the GNX-IVs alive.

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate

: Your rabid barbarism just now was a crime in and of itself! And you will pay for it with your lives, overworlders!


Not against the midbosses, of course.

The next turn over…

: ?! More Federation forces…!
: (Union Mobile Suits… Are those the base’s defense platoon?!)
: That’s one of the alien combat machines, no question about it! They’re with that ship, the Elshank!
: Fire! Fire! Their invasion will meet its end today!

: Gaaaah!
: Again, they don’t even try talking things out before shooting…! Dad, what are you thinking?!
: Rrgh, damn it… I’m not going down like that!
: Mike, you need to escape!
: ?! Eida…!
: I got myself into this battle, so forget about me! If you stay here, you’ll…!
: Heheh… Bit too late for me to play it safe, no? We’ve been on the Feds bad side from the get-go anyway…!
: And, still, the folks of the UX and JUDA didn’t think twice about falling in with us…
: But…!
: Besides… Like hell I’m gonna run off and leave a girl hung out to dry! Th-That’s what my bro would say…!
: Mike!
: (Ain’t that right, bro…?)
: DIIIIEEEEE!!

: G-Gwaaaargh!
: I-It’s…!

:siren: SRW UX - Tobikage Appears!

: …
: Tobikage…!

Tobikage runs towards Mike.

: Y-You’re accepting me… just like you did Rennie and my bro?!
: …!

: What…? The overworlder machine and that unit combined…?!
: And now I can keep on fighting…! I can fight just like my bro does!
: Haaaaaah!!

: I-I did it…!

: Are you two alright?!
: G-Guys…!
: Eida, Eida, you know taking on the whole world is our bread and butter. How could you leave us out of this, huh?
: And we haven’t done some volunteer fighting in a long while! It’s always been on someone’s payroll lately, so we’re really raring to go!
: Thank you, everyone…!
: Hey, Mike… is that?!
: Hahah, yeah it is! Tobikage’s recognized me as a real man too!
: He did…?!
: (And with that, Tobikage’s fused with all three machines… What does any of this mean? Just what power do Joe, Mike and Rennie possess?)
: Oh, look! Those are Aura Battlers!
: As in, the mobile weapons from your Byston Well…?
: Right! But those are looking a bit different from the ones I’m familiar with…
: Whatever, it doesn’t change the fact that they hurt our friends!
: I w a n t t o h e l p y o u t o o!
: Are you sure about that, Fei?!
: I a m… I t ‘ s a b i t s c a r y , b u t… I w i l l f i g h t.
: I t h i n k d o i n g s t u f f w i l l h e l p m e f i n d m y t e m p o a g a i n…
: If you say so, I’ll allow it. But don’t do anything crazy, okay?
: It’s Feds and those Aura Battler things today, huh…? Master Kongming, you handle our tactics, alright?
: As you wish. I’ll take charge today but there are plenty who could do the same for our next engagements.
: Hmhmm. Other than the two of us, we also have General Zhou Yu, Mr. Moritsugu, Maj. Richard and Cpt. Scarlet, once they’ve recovered…
: We’ll let whoever is chosen as our tactician choose how we fight, yes?
: Aye. And on that note, to battle!


Kaima
And the Bakuryu fulfills its destiny by transforming into a goddamn robo dragon. This is the strongest of the Tobikage fusions and it comes packing a ton of range, bolstered by the addition Range +1 in its Squad Bonus (it loses ranged weapon attack+ and takes up crit+, too). Better yet, its strongest attack is a post movement +1-3 attack which applies mobility AND attack down – very mean.
Finally, it also gains Tobikage’s Bunshin no Jutsu, making it extra survivable. And if the Kaima has a puddle to sink into that S rank means it’ll take a lot of bad luck to bring it down.


Fei-Yen HD
Pilot Skills:
Diva (歌姫) L4 – raises the special effects of weapons in proportion to skill level.
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Counter
Spirit Commands:
Focus
Sense
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, Accuracy +5, Money +10% (Mobility +20, Accuracy +20, Money +20%, EN +75)
Fei-Yen’s voice actress: Saki Fujita (other roles: Miku Hatsune’s official voice, of course, Lorelai in Shin Mazinger, Shia Kijima in Build Fighters Try and some more)

Why couldn’t we have my boy Temjin here as well?! He deserves better than having K as the last SRW he’s been in!
Blah… Whatever the case, Fei-Yen is mostly built as a debuffer but doesn’t have a whole lot going for her right now: just two attacks, the strongest of which will reduce the enemy’s morale some. Considering that usually only matters on big bosses, and those often have All-Canceller, she won’t help us too much yet.
Her stats are good overall, but she absolutely can’t take a hit – dodging is the name of the game with her, so be careful when sending her out (though this game’s AI seems to prioritize high HP pools, just like in L).
But, at these things go, she’ll go on learning more and more stuff and might just be a solid, if nothing else, unit later on. The plot will auto-deploy her several times, so make something useful out of her.

And with all that done, we can charge forward and go to town. Spam Saya’s Tailwind and get your troops up to the dwindling Federation troops – wreck them first to stop the Hojo forces from stealing your kills, and then thrash the rest.

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: More travelers from a parallel dimension… What are you after that you’d go so far as to further twist our world?!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: So Tobikage reacted and reached out to Mike, too…
: Just what is up with that guy…?

:siren: SRW UX - Tobikage Appears!

: Ookay, come on, Tobikage! We’re gonna blast all these guys to kingdom come!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1VGSR9bbPc
And here’s the Kaima’s strongest attack. Never send bugs to fight a dragon.

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: So you’re another group that goes wrecking a whole town like it’s nothing… just the kind of people Champions of Justice would never put up with! You’re going down!

:siren: SRW UX - A Bird’s Song

: You can go right ahead and tag me as a terrorist, it doesn’t matter…
: I will put my life on the line and fight without a second thought in order to protect those I love!

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate

: My blade will run you through, foolish overworlders!

As the battle progresses…

: What’re we gonna do, Rouri?
: We’re gonna steal one of the jets over by the Union base, is what!
: What?! Can you even fly one of those?!
: Yeah, the sim taught me pretty much everything I needed!
: Aah, that program you had Aesap steal for us…
: Yeah, exactly! Now let’s get outta here!

:siren: SRW UX - LOVE 14 ver. HD

: Don’t push yourself too hard out there, okay, Fei?
: D o n ‘ t w o r r y ; I ‘ m f e e l i n g f i n e!
: I j u s t w a n t t o h e l p e v e r y o n e a s b e s t a s I c a n!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nwqwxtvms
I’ve the sinking feeling getting killed by Miku-bot’s leeks is cause enough for a pseudo-samurai to commit harakiri.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: These bug-like Aura Battlers… Are they the same as us, yet another group of visitors from a different universe…?

Kill more things…

: It’s true that my father always hoped to eventually return to Japan…
: But not by way of a military assault! This is…!
: Lux…
: Aesap Suzuki… There’s something I must do! I’m certain us meeting one another has some sort of meaning, so I ask that you help me!
: “H-Help”… And how do you even know my name? I never told you!
: You did, no?
: Huh…?!

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: The hell? There’s a buncha katana-toting bugs buzzing around town!
: Hah, then these are absolutely the perfect prey for you.
: What’re you getting at with that, huh?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXwcmxCSZNk

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: Generator internal pressure, all green. Particle acceleration shows no abnormalities… (Arnie’s got a new jacket!)
: Are you certain about this, Ensign Berge…?
: Absolutely. Being chosen to pilot the Riot, getting shot down in Arkham City…
: I just have the feeling that all of it was for this day.
: Very well. If you’re so sure, I won’t try to stop you…
: However, I absolutely forbid you from using the Hell Stringer!
: I trust you don’t want to end up like the Major, yes…?
: … Aye, aye!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Bo0JrvoSA

: Kch, my Aura Battler’s movements have grown sluggish after coming to the overworld…! I should retreat for the time being…!

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: I won’t allow you to cause any more destruction through this town! Its populace is now under our protection!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r40FCHgCOuM
And here’s the Liu Bei crew’s best combined attack. The weaker one is pretty much the same, only simpler.

: What’s going on?! Wasn’t the Aura Engine supposed to grow stronger in the overworld?!
: Damn it all… Much as I am loath to do it, I must wait for the Kintoki’s arrival…!

: Whew… Looks like it’s over.

Beep, beep!

: No, it’s not! We’ve more energy readings very close to us…
: Wait, these are… battleships?! They’re rising from the ocean!
: What…?!

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate

: F-Flying boats… No, those’re warships?!
: That’s our vessel, the Kintoki, and the Rebels’ Aplogene…!
: Wh-What in blazes?! The princess opened the Aura Road…?
: Did she use the Wings of Rean?!
: Amalgan!
: Princess, the Wings of Rean shoes are not something you should be using!
: Your actions will only ruin the natural order of the world! Hand them over to me!
: Wh-What nonsense! The Wings of Rean shoes were originally bestowed unto my father, King Sakomizu!
: And if you hadn’t incited revolt against him, the flames of war would never have spread as they have!
: Wh-What… their words are…!
: (The meaning of what they’re saying is resounding through our minds…?!)
: (Is this some type of Quantum Brainwave communication?!)

: Look at that… flying warships!
: Wh-What are they?!
: What’re you all doing?! The Aplogene, the Rebels’ flagship, is right in front of us! (Kotto)
: The Aura Engine’s been restored! Ready to fire the main cannon!
: Good, then target the Aplogene!
: Kotto?! Stop! We mustn’t harm the overworld any—
: FIIIRE!!
: Evasive maneuvers!!

The Aplogene dodges!

: Wh-Whoaaa!
: Hrm… Kiki, Hebi, can the Gim Ginens launch?!
: We’re trying, admiral, but the engine output isn’t rising! (Hebi)
: Wh-What’s going on?! Why aren’t they moving…?!
: This is our chance! Ready all gun batteries!
: Kotto, listen to me…!
: S-Stop…! If you don’t, everyone’s Aura will…!
: E m o t i o n s a r e o v e r f l o w i n g… c a n n o t s t o p…!
: Cham, Fei?! What is happening…?!
: FIRE EVERYTHING!!
: STOP!!
: I-It’s…?!
: Aah, the Wings of Rean…!
: The Aura Road… is opening…?!

Whooooooosh!

: Aa-Aaaiiiieeeeee!
: Your Highness!!


Cut to the California base, and Novel brings news of the UX appearing in Yokosuka… and pinning the attack on us. Apparently we were accompanied by the alien combat machines and some mysterious ships – both the city and the base suffered major damage. “Kch, so much for the vaunted ‘Hell’s Executioners!” Jin spits. “What they’re doing is no different from base terrorism!”
Graham, however, isn’t so sure if that intel can be trusted: thinking back to their previous encounters, he never took the UX to be the kind of group to engage in such villainy. Why change now? “But, at the end of the day, they were just terrorists. And I’ll make them pay! I’ll avenge Arnie with my own two hands!” Jin fumes.
Ronin’s hearing everything and, inwardly, tells Joe that he knows they’d never turn to terrorism. Ronin still believes in him and his friends. But, setting that aside, Graham asks if the attack is what he wanted to speak to them about.

Actually, there’s something else: their Alien Interception Squadron is being reorganized. Novel’s Riot C has been running tests for a while and will soon be ready to be rolled-out, so the brass would like to use this opportunity to put together a proper strike team comprised only of Riots. And it’ll be Lieutenant Jin Spencer who’ll command that team. Jin stammers at the sudden promotion, but tells Ronin that he absolutely can handle it.
As for Graham, he’ll be taking command of the Sol Braves, a newly formed squadron of MSs. Graham confirms, and says that while their team names may change, their duty remains the same. “Lt. Spencer, I pray for your success as you brave these new horizons. But don’t let your anger blind you…”
As Jin confirms, Graham thinks to himself that he’ll need to look into what really happened at Yokosuka. The base’s assigned commander was one Alex Glem, right?


Speaking of, Alex is hanging out with Dog Tack. Alex isn’t sure if he should have lied in his report, as it was the local Union forces who fired first. But, no, Dog says it’s necessary in order to keep the people from starting to sympathize with the aliens, thinking they can be reasoned with. Crazy talk.
Surely he can see that Director Hazard is cut from whole other cloth and a far better man to side with than those “moderates”, yes? Alex doesn’t seem to inclined to agree, but a mook runs in and says he’s got a call from his wife. Dog leaves him to it, hoping they’ll have Alex’ cooperation in reforming the Federation Army. Again, Alex is silently doubtful – they say this reform is in the best interest of the army, but…
As he takes the call, though, his wife has something to say about their son, Aesap.


And now for something completely different. We move to Byston Well, where King Sakomizu is very surprised to see the Aura Road open twice in one day. He turns to Shot Weapon for his opinion, and he thinks that while the first time was due to the Wings of Rean and the Aura Ships, the second was caused by the Aura Power of an overworlder. In other words, it was caused by a Holy Warrior.
Sakomizu posits that this warrior is Japanese like him and, if so, would like to meet him. One of his mooks steps in and declares that they’ve captured some people who literally came falling out of the sky. They believe they are overworlders!

: Aah, very well done! Bring them in!
: Yes, my lord! Here they are!

Door opens.

: Wh-What…?!
: Th-These are overworlders…?!
: What… What in heaven’s name has happened to Japan… to the overworld?!
: H-Hellooo.
: Ahahahah…


And, on that note, let’s make a quick stop by the newly opened Tactician menu. As Sumeragi said, you can only choose one person to be your Tactician for the following mission and that person will provide varying bonuses. Initially, everyone only has one bonus to give but, as the game progresses, they’ll get two and then three.
Here’s who we’ve available right now:

  • Zhuge Liang: +10% attack power during the player phase.
  • Reiji Moritsugu: +25% chance of defensive skills (i.e. Mirror Image effects, etc.) activating.
  • Sumeragi Lee Noriega: units loaded onto a ship now restore 50% HP/EN per turn, instead of the regular 30%.
  • Ylbora Saro: +10% attack power when counterattacking (read: when the enemy attacks you on its turn).
  • Zhou Yu: +10% attack power to all ranged weapons
    Now, this may surprise you, but Zhuge Liang IS the best tactician in the entire game. Right now, he’s good but nothing game-breaking – that will change. Up until that point, you’re free to use whichever suits you. I’d recommend either Zhuge Liang or Ylbora, depending on when you like to kill stuff the most.
    Do note that there are some secrets that will require you to have a specific Tactician set before the mission starts, so keep an eye out for that.

Finally, as a warning: from this point on Tobikage will be gunning for your money. If the Elshank or any of its machines drops below 50%, he’ll show up as an NPC (complete with Double Movement) and go to town; any of the machines drops below 30% and he’ll combine with it, which is the only way of getting him to go away.
Be wary.

#34

Goddamnit Joe, stop being an asshole to Mike, he was the one likeable character in the whole damn show.

It’s “Asap”. As in, ASAP. That’s legitimately his name. Also, his two friends are the fucking worst, which is sort of the point - they’re WoR’s equivalent of Jeryll or the various other assholes who got summoned to Byston Well.

So, Dancouga Nova. It’s mentioned multiple times during the show that when each group who pilots Dancouga is done, their memory gets wiped. The Nova squad from the show chose to do this at the end of the game for… various reasons, which will come up later, but partly because they thought the fighting was done. This ties into one of UX’s central themes, that being MEMORY, which will come up more later.

Also fuck yes it’s the great Sea Demon. I love this fucker, and used it all through my UX run, where it was an absolute bomb. It IS technically weaker than Juuma, but not by much, and its much better at handling long range. Plus it’s basically UX’s version of BX’s Big Volfogg in that it’s utterly incapable of dying. Now, if only the show ever used the fucking thing…

No Temjin, no. However, in one of those odd twists, SRW is the first medium where we’ve ever gotten a voiced In The Blue Sky, or the lyrics even. You’ll get that WAY later though. And yes, Miku is a great unit later, although not a truly top tier one. She’s a great partner for Lockon once both get going apparently. I had her with Zhang Fei though.

As an aside, Tobikage is a true danger because of the Elshank, which will be targetted. 90% of the time, if something hits Kurojishi or Houraioh and doesn’t kill it, the end result will be Tobikage is summoned and immediately combines. Bakuryu is a bit stickier, but you can usually rely on Mike’s defense to take two hits if he lives the first at under 50% but above 30. But the Elshank has a massive target painted on it and it can also summon Tobikage, and WILL NOT make it disappear at 30%. This is where 90% of Tobikage/Ranka related incidents happen, although not where most Ranka incidents happen (I’m reminded of that one major VA - might have been Midorikawa? - accidentally double-overkilling Ranka with Atlantis Strike at some point.)

Also, just a fun-off - UX had a combining robot component named Bakuryu, and BX had a combining robot component named Bakuryu-Oh, and neither was related to the other, but both were blue dragon robots.

#35


It was Jin Haganeya, Demonbane’s creator.

#36

Sounds about right.

#37
Click to see the mission!

We’re back and, whoops, I forgot to take pictures of the intermission. Just know that Joe and Mazinkaiser are deploying as event units. We’ll be heading out with:
Kouichi/Yamashita
Arnie/Saya
Mike/Lockon
Moritsugu
Setsuna/Fei-Yen
Zhang Fei/Eida
Liu Bei/Deceive
Guan Yu/Tsubasa
Sun Quan/Rennie
Tactician: Ylbora (Zhuge Liang will have plenty of fun later in the game).

And I forgot to mention this in the last mission but Arnie taking up the Orphes has permanently retired his Riot B – you can’t even switch back to it if you wanted to. That said, any upgrades you made to it are fully refunded.

Off we go.


Our folks find themselves somewhere real strange. Last thing they remember is being engulfed by that huge light during the previous battle and traversing some passage. Cham immediately recognizes this as being in Byston Well, but somewhat different what she’s familiar with. A girl shows up, saying this is Wahlerkahrain, the land of the Ferario, that exists between the Overworld and the rest of Byston Well.
She is a Ferario herself, called Erebos. She’s got the wings to prove it but, as Eida sees, is also a whole lot bigger than Cham. Is she an E Ferario, one of their elder sisters, Cham wonders? No, Erebos is still just a Mi Ferario like her, and Joe has absolutely no idea what’s going on with all this Ferario talk.
Regardless, Erebos sees that we are overworlders and figures we came in from the Aura Road (the passage of light we traversed) that opened not long ago. More important to Sun Quan, where are Shangxiang and Lu Xun? No one sees them anywhere, and Zhou Yu fears they got separated from us while we were inside the Aura Road.


But an old Ferario speaks up, saying our comrades are currently being held captive within the castle of Hypp Kurene at the land of Herikon. Cham is shocked, certain of who this is, despite her looking nothing like the person she remembers: this is Jacoba Aon, leader of the Ferario.
Cham is very confused, as not only was Jacoba supposed to be long dead, she also looks so different. The answer, however, is simple: “I am the Jacoba of this world, but not the one you know.” Seems to Shizuna that it’s the whole “parallel universe” thing again, and Jacoba laughs at the curious things us, overworlders, say. As for Shangxiang and Lu Xun being captive, Erebos says being able to see something like that is a simple matter for the leader of the Ferario.

Indeed, and that is not all that Jacoba’s seen. She proclaims that the world is now beset by a crisis, with us caught squarely in the middle of it all. What does she mean? The Aura Road opened – twice, even – something not even the Ferario could do by themselves. The first time it was due to the Wings of Rean manifesting themselves, the other by the power of a Holy Warrior.
That is to say, Zhuge Liang surmises, this Holy Warrior person is the one who opened the passageway that brought us here? Indeed, and his name is Aesap Suzuki – an overworlder like us.


Cut to Hypp Kurene, where Aesap is waking up. Lux is there with him, and explains that this is her father’s castle, in the land of Herikon. They are in Byston Well. Big Daddy Sakomizu is also there, who introduces himself and extends his gratitude to Aesap: had Sakomizu not found him, he would have mistakenly presumed all overworlders had changed to look like Shangxiang and Lu Xun!
Speaking of, he’s got them both tied up and Shangxiang demands they be freed now or he’s in for a pummeling (only it’s this attitude that got them tied up in the first place, Lu Xun sighs)! Aesap freaks out at the living, breathing robots, and Sakomizu sees that he does not know them. Those aren’t Aura Machines, though.
“Aura Machines are those bug-like weapons, right?! Well, we are bona fine humans and nothing like those things, okay?!” Shangxiang yells.


Queen Codour does not appreciate her attitude when addressing the king, and blames all this on Lux running off with the treasured Wings of Rean shoes. Sakomizu tells her to focus not on that, but on the significance of the Aura Road being opened twice in one day. At that, he turns to Aesap: he can cause the Wings of Rean to manifest at will, can’t he?
Aesap doesn’t understand, but Sakomizu declares: what Aesap manifested is the power that’ll save the world, the power of a Holy Warrior! Lux sees that her father wants to use Aesap for his purposes and vehemently speaks against it.

Codour frowns, asking if she’s siding against the king, but Lux tells her to shut up. She calls Codour’s a moron with absolutely no grasp of politics, as seen with her building a stupidly huge warship and calling for massive troop deployments all just to put down Amalgan.
But Sakomizu silences her with a slap, earning himself a wag of Shangxiang’s finger – he had absolutely no reason to do that! Sakomizu, however, warns Lux that Codour is both his wife and her mother; she’d best respect her, or, by rights, that’d be grounds for execution! Aesap and Shangxiang are appalled that he’d speak to his own daughter like that, but Sakomizu calls in his Royal Guard and orders all of them locked up – Lux as well.


Back to us, Jacoba’s told of the chaos Sakomizu is bringing to Byston Well. He’s working together with overworlder scientist Shot Weapon to build mighty Aura Machines, one after the other, with the plan of eventually invading the Overworld. Cham can’t believe Shot is not only alive, but also building mechs even in this other Byston Well.
Sumeragi’s concerned about him and a potential invasion, but thinks our priority should be to rescue our captured friends. And we should get Aesap too, as Yamashita fears we won’t be getting back to the surface without his powers.

This all sounds annoyingly complicated to Kaido: why not just wreck the king and his castle and then we can look around for our folks? Tsubasa doesn’t like it, as that’d make us the invading force in this story, but Zhuge Liang figures he has a bit of a point. “We may as well have Kaido, as he says, ‘cut loose’ – the man needn’t worry about any overly complex plans,” he suggests.
Kaido likes that Zhuge Liang gets him so well, but there’s a catch: he’ll have to do it on foot. Huh?


Over by the Elshank, Damian’s doing some studying on Tobikage. He figures if we can figure out what conditions cause him to appear, it’ll be some useful info for our upcoming battles (Damian keeps a tight grip on our wallets).
Sounds good to Mike, but ARE there actual conditions for that? Damian doesn’t know, which is why he’s looking into it – this is about the only way he can be useful to us, seeing how he can’t pilot those machines like the other three can.

: I’ve met with the new Holy Warrior.
: With Aesap Suzuki, my lord?
: Hm. And what I found the most curious about him is the fact that he has absolutely no knowledge of the Shōwa period.
: Oh…?
: When I first came to Byston Well, the Overworld was mired in a great war…
: And during these past seventy years, Amalgan and I went on to conquer and unify this land of Herikon…
: However, in the Japan he calls home, it has already been two hundred years since the war in the Pacific ended.
: It’s possible that time flows at a different pace in the Overworld…
: Regardless, that is a matter for another time. What I must do now is verify whether that child is a true Holy Warrior…
: And if he is…?
: Then he will be of good use to us when the time comes to assault the Overworld.

Crash!

: Intrudeeeer! Seize him!
: What is the meaning of this?!
: Your Majesty! A suspicious man has invaded our castle and is headed this— urgh!

Dead.

: ?! Who–…?!

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Heheh… King Sakomizu, yeah? I’m here for your head!
: You are mighty. A man guided solely by his thirst for battle… I have found an overworlder with all the qualities of a Garow Ran!
: “Garow Ran”…? Whazzat, some Gundam pilot?
: Nah, the name’s Kaido – Ken Kaido! And don’t you forget it!

Sword clash!

: King Sakomizu…!
: Fret not… Remember that your king is a Holy Warrior!
: Oho… ya didn’t even need to move your body to stop my sword! Not bad!
: Hmhmhm. My skill in the Jikishinkage-ryu kenjutsu was honed to its apex during the war to unify this nation…
: And I will not hesitate to make use of all my strength if the one who sets himself before me is a Garow Ran-esque overworlder!
: Hah… So you’re made of stronger stuff than your average guy with a sword, eh? Sounds like fun!
: Then come, Kaido! Kiaaaaiii!


Mission 12 – The King of Hojo

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: It’s time, Joe!
: Right. We’ll get in there and rescue Shangxiang and the others while Kaido’s got their attention.
: Can you find where they are, Erebos?
: Leave it to me! Even I can sniff out Aura…!

: We’ve got a message from Joe; he’s starting the rescue!
: Copy that. Then we’ll go and keep them backed against the wall: launch all squadrons!

: K-King Sakomizu! Surfacer forces have been spotted!
: What?! So you were no more than a diversion, Kaido?!
: Heheh… So what if I was? What’re ya gonna do now, chief?!
: Hmph, that needn’t even be said! You and any who stand against me will share the same fate…!
: Launch the Aura Battlers!

: You damned overworlders!
: Now we’ll repay you for our previous defeat!
: It’s those bug machines again!
: What is your command, Your Highness?
: We shall follow our plan and head towards the point where we are to rendezvous with Joe’s group. It’s…

: Right there. Understood, Ylbora?
: Yes, Your Highness. Gameran, give me full power to the engine!
: Aye, aye!
: Our time limit is four minutes! All troops, secure a path for the Elshank! I’m assuming tactical command!


Like before, you have until the end of turn 4 to get the Elshank in position and losing either it or the Ptolemaios is a game over. Unlike the assault at Kiba’s place, though, the Hojo troops are garbage and will still drop like flies.
Set forth and slaughter them, but remember that, while Damian is still working on figuring stuff out, Tobikage is already hanging in the rafters, waiting to show up either the Elshank or any of its machines drop below 50%. With how weak the Hojo mooks are, he’ll quickly tear through them and we don’t want that.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

And on the next player phase…

: This isn’t working… I’m wearing the shoes, I’m praying as much as I can, and the wings just aren’t coming out…
: Pull yourself together and try harder! Aren’t you one of those Holy Warriors?!
: You need to call out those wings or neither we nor our friends will be leaving this place!
: I-I know that… but I’m just a regular kid. The most significant thing I’ve done with my life lately was study to retry my college application…
: Princess Lux, could you perhaps explain to us how these Wings of Rean shoes work?
: It takes a Holy Warrior to make full use of the shoes, and, with them, one is able to attain powers beyond the reach of human knowledge.
: Powers, hm… Do you speak of those wings that opened the Aura Road?
: There’s a theory that says the Wings of Rean manifest themselves when a world gripped by chaos needs to be set back on the right path… But the truth is no one knows what they truly are.
: Furthermore, the Wings do not empower just anyone: only those they themselves have chosen.
: Hmm… It sounds quite like our world’s own Yùxǐ.
: My father once wielded the power of these shoes and, with them, built the nation of Hojo onto this land… He was a Holy Warrior in every sense of the word.
: But he is that no more. Now my father is a man bound by his own ambitions… and if he isn’t stopped, I’ll have no one. I’ll be all alone…!
: Princess…
: A man who’s focused on nothing but his ambitions wouldn’t have slapped his child, though. Someone like that wouldn’t even care enough about her to chide her behavior…
: …!
: Trust me, I know. I don’t get along with my dad either…
: Aesap…
: Everything’ll be alright – you’re not alone. You shouldn’t worry so much.
: Heh, maybe you’re right. Thank you, Aesap…
: Huh? Is it me or did the mood around here change…?
: D-Don’t ask me…

: Seriously, couldn’t you two save that for your alone time?
: A Ferario?! Where did you…?!
: I’m here to save you guys! Now stand back a bit because it’s about to get dangerous!

Door blows open!

: Hey! Everyone okay?!
: Joe!
: Wh-Who…?!
: You’re Aesap, yeah? We need you to come with and help us get back to the surface.
: Get back to the surface…?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW48XOgbE1c

: Curses… Again you disgrace me so…!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6zd3JWBODk
Carrying on up top, over half the enemy troops got trounced in the previous turn, and whatever’s still alive gets wrecked now.
Might as well show more of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei’s tricks.

: I-I can’t go on?! Retreating!

Kill everything and the Elshank automatically gets in position.

: Sir Ylbora, we’ve reached the specified point!
: Good, now recover Joe’s group!
: A-About that…!
: Did something happen?!

: You’re heading to the castle’s underground…?
: Yes. There’s a workshop down there, where we’ll find the newest model of Aura Battler.
: Aesap and I will steal and escape with it!
: B-But…
: You have nothing to worry about. If Aesap is a genuine Holy Warrior, then we’ll be fine…!
: Lux…
: Fine. In that case, we’ll go on ahead and plow the road. Make sure you get out in one piece!
: Joe, wait! The Rebels are attacking too, looks like!
: What…?!

: Those units…! It’s Amalgan and his rebels, the group Jacoba told us about!
: Hey, look there! That overworlder ship’s right by Hypp Kurene castle!
: What is going on here?!
: I do not know, but our offensive welcomes any confusion in the castle!
: Kiki, Hebi, our targets are only the Hojo troops! Don’t engage the overworlder forces!
: Aye, aye! Take care of the old man, Hebi!
: Of course. When have I ever let him down?
: I-It’s the Rebels! And we’re being informed that the captured overworlders have escaped…!
: Damn it, what are our guardsmen doing?!
: Hmph, I must commend your troops, Kaido! I’d thought they were using you as a diversion while they assaulted my castle…
: Little did I expected, it was all a feint for your true objective: freeing my prisoners! I see the armies of the Overworld possess rather skilled strategists!
: Heheh… and we ain’t even done blowing your mind!

: Jump in, Kaido!
: Ya kept me waiting, Magami!
: What?!
: Come on, KAISEEEEEEER!!

: Pilder On!!

: What…?! You had such a weapon hidden away?!
: Yeah! What’s it gonna be now, chief?!
: I always appreciate a challenge! I’m setting off with the Oukaou!

: That’s King Sakomizu’s own Aura Battler?
: And they got that warship, too…! Oof, this might be tough!
: My liege, all preparations are complete for the Fukaku’s launch!
: Overworlders! Rebels! It’s high time someone taught where you all stand, and I shall carry out that task myself!
: Y - Y a a a h…! H e l o o k s s o s c a r y… A r e w e r e a l l y g o i n g t o b e f i n e?
: Sir Ylbora! Joe and Shangxiang are deploying!

: Shangxiang, you’re safe!
: Of course I am! And I’m also ready to give “His Majesty” there a pummeling!
: Joe, where’s that man, Aesap? You didn’t bring him with you?!
: They went after the castle’s underground workshop! Said they were gonna get out by themselves!
: Joe, listen here! I’ve figured out the conditions where Tobikage’ll show up!
: Whaat? So there are actual conditions?!
: Yes. He’ll show up whenever damage on the Elshank or any of the three machines passes 50%! If damage passes 70%, then he’ll combine with whichever machine is hurting the most!
: I never thought stuff like that would be what calls him over…!
: So he shows up at 50% damage, and combines at 70%… Then I guess we better get him to combine quick in case he does turn up!
: Yeah! We can’t let him show us up, right?!
: Thanks, Damian. You were a big help here!
: And all that’s left now is to kick the King’s royal ass! Let’s get this party started!


Only need to shoot down the Oukaou to end the mission, but those kill counters ain’t gonna boost themselves. Take note of Kotto’s Fukaku battleship in that it’ll retreat at 22650 HP, meaning shooting it down on a fresh game is a real pain (best to just ignore him).


Oukaou (Shinjiro Sakomizu)
Pilot Skills:
Aura Power L5
Holy Warrior (聖戦士) - +10% damage done to the enemy. Activates at 130 morale.
Prevail L5
Support Attack L1
All Attack L1
Command L1
Mech Features:
Sword
Oukaou’s Wings – reduces all ranged damage by 2000 + Aura Power level x100
Ultra-High-Speed Evasion
20% HP and EN Regen
All-Canceller
Sakomizu’s voice actor: Rikiya Koyama (other roles: Clouseau in FMP, Wolverine in the X-Men TV series, Duke in Tales of Vesperia and a bunch more).

That’s a big bag of tricks for a very buff enemy. As is standard to main villains, Sakomizu has great stats all around and high-powered attacks, but he is not without weaknesses. For one, his Oukaou is S sized, meaning everything but our SD Gundams gets a damage boost against him, whereas he takes a damage penalty against us.
His strongest attack does ignore size difference, but its only range 1-2. His range ain’t the greatest but neither is ours, so you’ll at least be facing his second best attack at 1-3. Sniping at him isn’t advised due to his shield taking a big bite out of your damage, but it’s nothing you don’t know how to handle after Master Therion and Lu Bu.
Save your SP until it’s go-time and he’ll go down soon enough.

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: Behold the might of an Aura Battler piloted by a Holy Warrior!

: I commend you for being capable of connecting a blow against me. HOWEVER!!

: Wh-What strength is this…?!
: This… This is the Aura Power of a Holy Warrior?!

Kachunk

: It… It moves?!
: (H-He…!)
: So you control it like this… Wow, this Aura System is quite something.
: (The nameless – nanashi, in the language of Japan – Aura Battler… No one in the castle could get it to take flight, and he made it move so effortlessly…!)
: Aesap, you really are…!
: Aah, again with that? Is calling me a Holy Warrior a national pastime around here?
: But, Aesap, you…!
: You’re the Holy Warrior here, Lux.
: …?!
: The Wings of Rean didn’t appear back then because of me. It was because of you, the daughter of a Holy Warrior…
: But that’s…!
: Nuh-uh. Aesap is absolutely a Holy Warrior.
: Erebos?! Why are you here…?!
: Well, Lady Jacoba told me to help the Holy Warrior.
: So where Aesap goes, I go. I’ll be his loving companion forever and ever and ever…
: U-Um… What are…?
: Aesap, this Ferario is trouble! Don’t let your guard down around her for even a second!
: H-Huh…?!

Back outside

: What’s the matter…? Are you finished already, overworlders?!
: Kch… His spirit is overwhelming!

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate

: Hm?! The new Aura Battler…?!
: Father!
: Lux and young Suzuki?!
: You escaped for captivity only to set yourselves against me…? How deep does your contempt for your king run?!
: The princess is only worried about you! So much so that she’s here with me, aboard the so-called nana—
: And you’ve named it Nanajin?! After the Seven Gods of Fortune?!

(This whole convo’s a big – and rather forced, if you ask me – “play” on words and I care not to think of a way to rewrite it. Sakomizu mishears 名無しに (Nanashi ni – nameless + ni particle) as 七神 (nanajin – seven gods), figuring it’s a reference to the七福神 (seven gods of fortune))

: Na-Nanajin…?!
: (Oh…? That boy’s able to control my newest Aura Battler so easily…?)
: (His Aura Power reminds me a lot of Shou Zama. He really is one…!)
: Managed to get out without a hitch, eh, Aesap!
: Huh? Are you that guy from…?
: Yeah, and we’ll all need your powers if we’re gonna get back to the surface! Help us out, will ya?
: Okay… Lux, put on the Wings of Rean shoes, please.
: M-Me?! Why…?
: I’m recreating the situation we had before. You wear the shoes, I’ll pray to them.
: But before we do anything about that… we need to deal with this hardheaded king!


Nanajin (Aesap Suzuki)
Pilot Skills:
Aura Power L3
Holy Warrior
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack
Spirit Commands – Aesap:
Focus
Adaptation (順応) – turns the squadron’s units and weapons’ terrain ratings into S for a turn.
Sense
Spirit Commands – Erebos:
Scan
Tailwind
Mech Features:
Sword
Ultra-High-Speed Evasion
10% HP and EN Regen
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, Crit rate +10 (Mobility +20, Crit rate +20, Movement +2)
Aesap’s voice actor: Jun Fukuyama
Erebos voice actress: Yui Horie (other roles: Hitomi in the DoA series, Chie in Persona 4, Sala in Cross Ange and a billion more)

What I said about previous Real Robot protagonists applies here, only Aesap hits harder thanks to stacking Aura Power and Holy Warrior, while also being extremely dodgy with the Nanajin’s raw stats and Ultra-High-Speed Evasion. It can take a hit no better than an SD Gundam can, but it should never be getting hit in the first place.
Range is a B-, with only his second weakest move reaching up to 2-5. His two best are, respectively, 1-2 and point-blank. Still, that high movement will let him quickly close the distance and the AI isn’t too keen on low HP targets. You can get a lot of mileage out of Aesap, against mooks and bosses (especially as the game goes along and he grows).
Having Erebos along, who’ll eventually learn Enable (!), as a free sub-pilot is just the cherry on top.

:siren: Secret Alert! :siren:
Wings of Rean secret - 1st step: shoot down Sakomizu with Aesap.

Not a problem, since he won’t run away at any threshold – just build up enough morale that you can use the Nanajin’s best tricks. Also, as these things usually go, Aesap’s kill count is also tied to this secret and you need 100 kills by mission 39.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAjZZ0K91Ac
Let’s get to work.

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: This Aura Battler… Amalgan Ludle?!
: I see you’ve found me, Shinjiro Sakomizu!
: My comrade, we once shared many-a-battles as we fought to unify our nation… And it is precisely because I respect you so that I’ll make your death quick and painless!
: Prepare to meet your end, Amalgan!


Ah, well.


Oh, and I saw an opportunity to speed thing up against Sakomizu. While he can’t be debuffed, our folks certainly can be buffed!

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: This energy emanating from him… Is it the Aura Power Jacoba Aon spoke of?!
: Ah, I see you have the makings of a Holy Warrior. I wish we could have had a chance to sit down and speak face-to-face, but alas…!
: Shut up…! All your powers are doing is twisting both our worlds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx9DCa594e4
Bam. Now we have +20 to all our stats (this applies to our allied forces too).

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: Why don’t you stop and consider your daughter’s feelings for a second?! And you call yourself a father?!
: Indeed, and it is because I’m her father that I must discipline her! I must educate her on our cause, and what it means to serve it!


Shangxiang: “The princess is crying, you knuckle-head!”

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Alright, let’s continue where we left off, chief! Only this time we’ll see who’s the better pilot!
: You wild man, servant to no cause but your wild urges. Were you to submit to me, I’d easily proclaim you a samurai!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: How can someone who calls himself a Holy Warrior want to invade the surface?! Is that title just a fancy way of saying “murderer”?!
: If you seek to deny my justice, then you must first showcase your own!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTAW3MLKOIY
Turns out giving Magami that stat boost allowed him to dodge the counterhit, so it fell on Lockon to help me show off Sakomizu’s best attack.

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: If you are king in this land then you should only take up the sword to fight in the defense of your people!
: I am Japanese first, king of Hojo second!
: Ignoring the reality of my motherland would be a disservice to the dead that I could never apologize for!

: You’re hailed as a heroic king who united his land, so why do you oppress your people?! Why do you seek to invade the surface?!
: Japan is my motherland! I seek no more than to return it to how it is meant to be!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: And all we gottta do now is bring down the head-honcho. Buckle up, King Sakomizu!
: Death awaits any who oppose me. Now fall to ashes before my grand cause!

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: Aren’t you a Holy Warrior?! Those’re supposed to fight to protect the lives of others, no?!
: You understand nothing! Merely giving to those who cannot earn for themselves is the way of destruction to any nation! Accept it!

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate

: Father… You were a Holy Warrior in your youth, so why won’t you act like one now?!
: I don’t want to see my father be enslaved by delusions born of his old age!
: My wish to cut down the evil that remains in this land, to crush America… is not a delusion!
: King Sakomizu! If you consider yourself both Lux’ father and king, then please use your power for what’s right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cySIpTRnd3o
Sakomizu drops a Teachings of Jikishinkage-ryu Kenjutsu (Melee +10, Evasion and Skill +5)

: Hrrmm…! How could I be brought to this point?!
: Please, father, ask yourself why you couldn’t reach the Overworld when you had the Wings of Rean shoes!
: Yet, when I used them, I could not only travel to and back, but I took a fleet along with me!
: That was only due to young Suzuki’s presence!
: Aesap Suzuki, I see quite clearly that you, indeed, have the makings of a Holy Warrior! Would you be the prince of Hojo?!
: Wh-Wha…?!
: Th-The prince…?!
: Yes! I’d like to you take charge of our nation’s government as the new Holy Warrior! Inherit my crown and the nation of Hojo, you and Lux together!
: F-Father… what are you?!
: Are you trying to make me lower my guard with all that talk?!
: Heh…
: MAYBE I AM!!

Slash!

: G-Gwaaaah!
: Aesap…!?

Flash!

: Huh?! Th-This is…!
: The Aura Road is opening again…?!

Flash! Whooooosh!

: (It’s happening again! I’m wearing the shoes, Aesap’s crying out and the Wings of Rean are manifesting…!)
: (Which means Aesap is…!)


Cut to JUDA, Cagalli’s being told that the UX and Celestial Being are still missing. The company’s doing everything it can to find us (especially considering we took their Machinas along), which disappoints the girl. She wanted to recruit our help again.
Ishigami asks if the Federation’s search crafts are still flying about the island of Tatsumiya and, indeed, they’ve been at it pretty much nonstop. Cagalli fears they pinged something happening there during the previous battle with the Festum. The entire island is currently hidden away behind the mirror camouflage as they try to avoid the Federation’s detection.

Ishigami can’t help but point out the irony of in order to protect mankind from the menace of the Festum, the folks there must first keep themselves hidden from said humanity. The whims of fate have given the Arcadian Project quite the crummy hand, that’s for certain.
But grumbling about it won’t help them, and Cagalli says they’ll deal with the Festum with the forces they’ve available at the moment. With a reminder for Ishigami to be careful in regards to a certain matter, she signs off.


Ogawa then brings the Federation government’s answer in regards to their inquiries on the previous battle at Yokosuka and… yeah. Ishigami’s aware of what the “official” story says, and Cagalli also smelled fish around everything that happened there. It’s pretty clear to Ishigami that a rather unsavory group is quickly rising to power within the Federation – yes, the Martian Development Bureau.
Still, the Federation is currently in a daze trying to figure out how they’ll deal with the Skrugg and the Frontier Fleet, so Ishigami figures JUDA should also work on a plan of their own.


Location: ALVIS – 1st CDC

: I see… so we shouldn’t expect any reinforcements.
: I’m so very sorry. I’d established contact with the Unknown Xtrikers precisely for moments like this, but…
: No, don’t worry about it. The Arcadian Project was always expected to make do without any outside assistance… we should consider ourselves lucky that we even have Orb’s support.
: But if you’re going to field not just the Mark Elf but the other Fafners as well, then…
: …

SRW UX - Separation
:siren: :siren:

: Hm. It’s for that purpose that we’ve these children…

Beep, beep

: … ! (Hazama)
: Cmdr. Makabe!
: This is a list of the children with the highest Synergetic Code values… (Toumi)
: P-Please, wait! Shouko is… her health is!
: I’m sorry, but her physical condition is irrelevant to her Synergetic Code values… You know that, don’t you?
: …
: (We’re deciding our children’s lives with a bunch of numbers. I understand the reason why, but, as a parent, I can’t bring myself to accept it…)
: (I wish no one but me had to go through this…)
: (Shouko…)

: Hmm… this one’s from the last class tournament, right…? (Shouko)
: You’re so lucky that you can take all these pictures with everyone.
: Everyone, huh… Sure you don’t mean “with Kazuki”? (Maya)
: Ah…?! M-Maya, please!
: Heheh… Still, we’ll now have plenty of chances to take lots of pictures together.
: Hm, you’re right. All thanks to us being chosen as Fafner pilot cadets.
: Now I have to work extra-hard! The sooner I’m ready to help Kazuki, the better!
: Woooow, this place is awesome! It’s like a secret base! (Mamoru)
: Well, it’s a base and it’s secret, so I’m pretty sure it is a secret base. (Kenji)
: (So this is where you worked, dad…) (Sakura)

: Those are the new Fafner pilot cadets, huh?
: They’re all around Kazuki’s age… a full bunch of kids who haven’t even made it through school.
: All children in Tatsumiya were born to be tuned with the Fafners.
: It is very difficult to find an adult with the necessary Synergetic Code values…
: I know that. Still, the idea of deciding people’s lot in life from the second they’re born is…
: Folly? Is that what you’re implying…?
: …
: I guess I am…
: Shinn…
: Once there was a man who studied the people’s inherent abilities by way of their genes. And he tried using that knowledge to decide everyone’s destiny…
: But, in the end, humanity rejected his Plan. Do you know why?
: Because destiny isn’t something that can be decided at birth…?
: Right. People will keep on growing their flowers, even when they know those might get wiped out the next day…
: Because that’s the kind of creature humans are…
: …

: Hey, Soushi! Get in here! (Koyo)
: We’re taking a little celebratory picture!
: A picture…?
: And we even got Kazuki to join us, too!
: U-Um…
: Okay, everyone gather ‘round!

: Go on now. You’ll be fighting alongside all of them, right?
: …
: All right…

: And here we go! Everyone say “cheeese”!

Flash!

: …

: (Everything with a beginning also has an end. Sugarcoating isn’t what we need right now…)
: (Folly it may be, but if we yearn to fly, even knowing our wings will bleed…)
: (All we need is a little more time, is that so much to ask…?)

Miku hasn’t a monopoly on quoting lyrics from her series, you see. Soushi’s lines here, while not identical, were all twists on the original lyrics of Shangri-La and Separation.)

#38

FUCK YOU JACOBA FUCKING AON. Goddamnit, I’m having bad PTSD about Tales of Neo Byston Well just looking at her, even if she looks totally different in Wings of Rean, because even in other universes Jacoba is a lying fucking bitch who does stupid shit as easily as she breathes. Goddamnit. Her death was the best part of Dunbine, but even then she fucked everyone over from the grave as it turned out. IIRC they actually bring up a bit of that bullshit in this game even though Neo Byston Well isn’t in the game, although fortunately none of the aftereffects show up.

Ah, yes, Shinjiro Sakomizu. Tomino shooting across the bow at Imperialists yet again.

That Garou Ran line always gets a giggle out of me.

One of the things UX did to Wings of Rean that really helps is it straightened out the plot a lot. In WoR, Asap is on the enemy side for half the show, which wouldn’t have been a thing if it had its full episode count (Was supposed to be 13, and got cut to 6, so everything is rushed as fuck with no time for development.). In UX, he leaves pretty quickly.

Petition to always use Zhang Fei for BAKURETSU DAIRAIJA and CHOURAIKOU purposes. (And Daunt, but shhhh!)

Nanajin is pretty good, and its upgrade is better, but Asap unfortunately suffers from the issue of the secret he unlocks being much, much better. He’s a particularly broken unit though, so no worries! The real value though is his song, because UX’s My Fate is fucking beautiful.

But oh boy, buckle up, there’s no breaks on the Mark Destiny train. Though unfortunately the titular unit is out of business… but still, we always can remember what it looks like through these three expert drawings!

#39
Click to see the mission!


Here we are again, with Aesap still deploying as an event unit. Everyone else is free, though, so we switch folks around:
Joe/Moritsugu
Kouichi/Yamashita
Sun Quan/Rennie
Arnie/Saya
Mike/Lockon
Setsuna/Fei-Yen
Zhang Fei/Shangxiang (her Assail will really help get more usage out of his best attacks)
Liu Bei/Deceive
Guan Yu/Tsubasa
Mazinkaiser/Eida
Tactician: Zhuge Liang

Off we go.

: These are the coordinates? They said the island of Tatsumiya’s here, but…

: Something moved?! Is it API-1… Tatsumiya?!

: …
: A-A Festum…?!
: Mayday, mayday! This is Youngster 2! I’ve spotted a Sphinx-type by point N-02!

The Festum closes in.

: Th-The Sphinx is coming after me!
: Step on the gas and break away from it!
: I-I’m trying… I-I can’t shake this thing!

Closer still.

: Are you there…?
: Aa-AAAAAH!!

:siren: SRW UX - The Gate of Neidhöhle Opens

: Th-That’s…!
: Kazuki, stand down! This isn’t a rescue operation!
: I… I have to save him!

: …!

The Festum backs off.

: Whose unit is that?! Did it actually come from API-1…?!

: The Sphinx has switched its target to the Mark Elf!
: I told him to keep his distance from the Federation jet…!
: Him saving that soldier will make for later headaches, you know. (Kariya)
: And? Could you honestly sit back and just watch as someone is killed?!
: …
: The Mark Elf’s engaging the enemy above Tatsumiya’s airspace!

BOOM!

: P-Projectiles are hitting the island!
: We don’t have a choice now… disable the mirror camouflage and engage the Welle Shield! It’s better than letting the whole island get destroyed…!
: We’re deploying our MS as well! Impulse, coordinate with the Mark Elf and bring down that Festum!

: …?! Wh-What… That island isn’t on the map!

: Kazuki!
: Mr. Asuka…! Back me up, please!
: I’m on it! Haaaaah!

: Now, Kazuki!

: Haah, haah… We did it! We did it, Soushi!
: Kazuki…
: That’s it, I’m sure of it…! Youngster 2 to command fleet! I’ve located API-1! Repeat, I’ve located Tatsumiya!

: Secretary-General Hester, images from the coordinates sent by Youngster 2 are coming up on the monitors now.
: Hmhmhm… At long last, I’ve found the Island of Giants…

: Why did you ignore your orders and save the Federation jet?
: I take full responsibility for everything, sir…
: Saving someone’s life is a bad thing now?
: Depending on the context, it may be.
: …?!
: Kch… Excuse me.

Kazuki stomps off.

: Do you think I’m too soft, Ms. Kariya?
: Not really…
: …
: Cmdr. Makabe, the Federation’s fleet trying to get in touch with us.
: Understood. Put them through.

: …
: Come on, chin up. Ask anyone around here and they’ll say you did the right thing.
: But Soushi and my dad…
: Don’t worry about them. You saved someone’s life today – if that’s not something you can say with your head held high, what is?
: …

: Ah… Kazuki! Welcome back!
: Shouko, everyone… Why are you here?
: They gave us a break from training when your fight started. We all saw you guys in action.
: You and Soushi were so cool out there!
: And you, Mr. Asuka – your piloting just screams ‘ace’! You’re in a whole different league from us!
: Hahah, thanks. But I could do much better if the Destiny’s repairs were finished…
: No way, dude! You were already great out there!
: We need to dedicate ourselves to our training… and become fully-fledged pilots too…
: Hey, Shouko… Are you holding out okay?
: Yes, I’m fine…
: Are you really? You’re not looking to good.
: N-No, I really… am…

Faint.

: ?! Shouko…!
: H-Hey, Hazama! Stay with us!
: …


Location: ALVIS – Infirmary

: Looks like some light anemia. She should be fine now.
: Aah, thank God for that…
: I’m so sorry that you kids had to go through this…
: Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure she’s been having fun doing this, so it’s no prob…
: Fun…?
: Because Shouko’s health always kept her from going to school, yeah…
: She really wants to do this with all of us, so I think she pushed herself too hard…
: …
: Ah…
: Back with us?
: Oh, honey, I told you not to overwork yourself…
: I’m sorry…


And the Federation’s demanding ALVIS hands over a Fafner. And, much to Tamotsu’s surprise, Makabe’s actually agreed to it: they’ll be giving them the Mark Sechs. Tamotsu points out all the years they’ve spent putting the bot together, but they’ve no choice here.
The Feds’ fleet will picking the Mark Sechs up soon and Makabe asks that Tamotsu make sure the bot is good to go. Cagalli is confused about all this: the Federation won’t even be able to activate a Fafner without one of our kids, so why do they care?
Kaname and Makabe have an idea of what going on and, when Cagalli asks, he says it’s very likely we’ll find one Mitsuhiro Bartland with the Federation.


Cut to Hester’s ship, she’s already counting the minutes for when she’ll get to see a Fafner Nothung Model in person. Mitsuhiro and Hazard are also very eager, and Hester is grateful to the latter for all his help. She’s certain ALVIS wouldn’t have capitulated this easily if the Federation didn’t have the support of all the Martian Development Bureau’s forces (including the Famir Warship they’re currently in).
Ah, but Hazard is so very willing to help considering the multitude of threats – like the Skrugg and the Festum - besieging Earth at the moment. If they can stymie those threats even a little, then they won’t hesitate to assist however possible.
Mitsuhiro, meanwhile, reports that they’re ready to initiate research and mass-production of the Mark Sechs as soon as it arrives. It’s almost time for the reform of the Federation army. But their scheming is interrupted when the radar pings Festum appearing on top of them!

: Hey, mom.
: What is it?
: Do you think I could pilot a Fafner like Kazuki does…?
: Someday, when you’re not sick anymore…
: … And will I ever stop being sick?
: Of course you will! Your mom’s a healthy person, no?
: Yes, you are…

ALAAAAAARM!

: …?! This alert… Solomon’s issued a warning?!
: There’s going to be another battle…?
: Don’t worry – you’ll be safe here! I’ve work to do at the Burg, so please stay here and rest.

Hazama leaves.

: …

: Response from Solomon! Festum determined to be Sphinx-types but there’s some ambivalence!
: Commander, the Federation fleet’s sending a request for help.
: Letting them get sunk would be best for us…
: But we can’t simply turn the other cheek. Deploy the Mark Elf.
: Yes, sir…
: We’ll have the Impulse provide support, then.
: Thank you, Rep. Athha.

: Haah, haah… Hrgh…
: What’re you doing here, Hazama?! Aren’t you still feeling sick?!
: I-I’m fine. I’ve a job to do too… Help Kazuki… that’s my job…
: …
: Hazama… Isn’t there anything I can do for you?
: Kasugai…

: Shouko…!
: Kazuki! You’re going out again…?
: Yeah, but never mind me. Are you feeling better?
: Yes, I’m already good. Just focus on making it back to the island safe, okay?
: When you do, I’ll help you with all this. So please come back…
: …
: That’s a promise between us, alright, Kazuki…?
: Yeah…
: This is your island. It’s the place you’ll come home to. So I’ll keep it safe for you…


Mission 13 – Pledge ~ Promise

:siren: SRW UX - The Gate of Neidhöhle Opens

: U-Uwaaaaaaaaaah!

: Escort ship, sunk!
: We’ve come too far to give up on getting the Nothung Model!
: (Tsk… If I knew this was going to happen, I’d have brought The Boom Army along…!)

: Gch… Are reinforcements from API-1 still not here yet?!
: Are you there…?
: Eeek…!

: Aah…! They made it!
: Th-That’s… the Fafner?!
: This one is a rescue operation. Move in and support the Federation fleet!
: We’re going in to save them all, right?!
: …
: No time for questions, Kazuki! We’re going!
: Y-Yes, sir!

ALAAAAAAARM!

: Th-This is…! Another warning from Solomon?!
: What?! Where’re the Festum appearing?!
: 10km directly above Tatsumiya! (Kondo)
: Deploy the second Welle Shield immediately!
: Targets are crash-landing into the island’s mountain range! No time to measure mass!
: Brace for impact!

CRAAAAAASH!

: H-Hrrgh…!
: The targets landed at the island’s central block!
: Sending out the Impulse backfired on us…!
: Alex, can Lunamaria deploy?!
: We’ve a Gunner ZAKU Warrior she could take, but…
: Tsk, if only the Destiny’s repairs were finished…damn it!
: There’s no more time! Have her take the ZAKU and intercept the enemy!

Booom!

: Stop this! Please! Don’t… don’t destroy Kazuki’s island!

Run over.

: ?! Shouko, what are you doing?!
: M-Mom…
: Why are you in a Synergetic Suit?! What are you up to?!
: I’m going to fight them…
: Don’t be stupid! There’s no reason for you to risk your life for the island—
: I’m not doing it for the island! I’m doing it for Kazuki!
: Shouko…
: …
: Shouko, your body’s too weak. This was never something you could do…!
: Mom… We were always meant to fight, no? This has been our destiny from the second we were born, hasn’t it?
: Then, at the very least, I’d like to be fighting because it’s what I want to do. And you can let me have that, right…?
: After all… I’m not even your daughter…
: ?!

:siren: SRW UX - Shangri-La

: Kazuki, we’ve an emergency! New Festum have been sighted at Tatsumiya!
: The enemy’s at the island?!
: How many of them?!
: We’re seeing several Sphinx and Grendel-types. Lunamaria is on her way to intercept them with the ZAKU Warrior, but against that many…!
: Luna’s…?!
: Kazuki, you need to get back to the island right now! Can you do it?!
: No, it’s not happening! I’m finished the second I turn my back on these things…!
: But… No, wait! I-Is this…?!
: What is it, Soushi?!
: A new connection’s been established with the Siegfried System… It’s the Mark Sechs… Hazama?!
: Shouko…?!

: Rrgh… You’re not winning this that easy!

: I’ve brushed up my shooting skills some, you see!

The Sphinx charges after her.

: A-Aah—!

: Seiiyaaaaa!!!

: Y-You’re…!
: Haah, haah…
: Hazama, we need you to hang in there until Kazuki’s group makes it back. Don’t bite off more than you can chew!
: Thank you, Minashiro… but, I… I made a promise to Kazuki, so…!
: Hazama…!
: This island is our home… it’s Kazuki’s home! And I’ll keep it safe!


Kill everything, don’t lose any of our girls. You really don’t wanna risk sending Luna out to the frontlines, not only because her ZAKU is kinda “eh” and will likely get assimilated, but because the game, once again, tosses a Sphinx with Mind Read L4 at you (it’s the one Shouko pushed back). If that guy goes after Luna on top of the little Grendels, she might just get killed before getting zapped.
Just let Shouko handle it as she’s more than well-equipped for it, while Luna sticks to the nearby positive terrain and shoots from range (she now knows Strike, and it’s decently priced!).


Fafner Mark Sechs (Shouko Hazama)
Pilot Skills:
Synergetic Code L2
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L2
Spirit Commands:
Alert
Focus
Mech Features:
Gun
Repair Module
Norn System – Reduces all incoming damage by 1500. 5 EN per use.
Siegfried System
Squad Bonus: Money +10%, Mobility +5, A in Air (Money +20%, Mobility +20, S in Air, Spec Down Debuff Immunity)
Shouko’s voice actress: the late Miyu Matsuki (other roles: Minaki in SRW Alpha 3, Choppy in Precure All Stars and some more).

Yow, now that is a great Squad Bonus – had she a Resupply Module instead of Repair, she’d be a perfect squaddie. Regardless, Shouko is still great and that’s mostly due to the Mark Sechs because, as a pilot, she ain’t all that. The game is clearly pushing her into a support role, but all Fafners are good enough that you can play them however you want. Having an S in air does do wonders for survivability, of course.
The Mark Sechs has its ranges covered nicely (second best is 3-7) and packs a decent punch, too, which will help you with this:

:siren: Secret Alert!
Fafner Secret #1 – 2nd Step: Shouko must down at least 5 enemies by the end of the third enemy phase.

Simple, but it require you to play aggressively. You’ll want to send Shouko up front and keep Luna back, so that the little Grendels will all focus on her and you can wittle down the five kills you need.
Ignore the Sphinx as it has too much HP (plus regen) for you to kill without really expending your resources. Just go for the Grendels.

:siren: SRW UX - The Gate of Neidhöhle Opens

: Minashiro, please, stop her!
: It’s our mission to protect the island…
: Minashiro!
: Plus, Shouko Hazama is the one best suited as the Mark Sechs’ pilot.
: You knew this would happen, Ms. Hazama…
: B-But…!
: Hazama, the enemy’s closing in!
: I see it. Get out… GET OUT OF KAZUKI’S ISLAND!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1wL-1W5Tyk
That’s four kills she gets on the very first turn. With a bit of morale, a crit from her Mine Blade is just enough to oneshot the Grendels.
Might’ve gotten all five here, but one bugger got clever…

:siren: SRW UX - Life Goes On

: I can’t just dump all this on one girl’s shoulders…! Time to plant my feet into the ground and hold this line!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB_zUE6rEVE
Throwing your tomahawk after you’ve already left the screen is very rude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piVqA7oIw4w
And here’s the fifth kill. She’ll get another two as a bonus during the enemy turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C955qCA1Ds
Seeing how this Grendel cared so much, he gets blasted by the ZAKU’s best attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYu_fLJgc_0
And Shouko’s best move, just for kicks.

Now fast forward a turn and…

: Haah, haah…!

: Rrgh-RAAAAAAAARGH!!

: Grrr… UAAAAAAAAH!
: Hazama…?!
: HAAAAAAAAH!

: Haah, haah… I-I’ve got it!
: What do you think you’re doing, Hazama?!
: I’ll… I’ll drag it out the island!
: What…?!
: Th-The Mark Sechs… is capable of flight, so…!

: The Fafner’s flying away…

Engine noise.

: That’s good enough. Let go of the Sphinx.
: …
: What is it, Hazama?
: I… I can’t…

: …?! It’s assimilating you…?!
: Are you there…?
: Gch… Hazama, eject!
: …
: Minashiro… I’m engaging the Fenrir…
: Hazama?!
: Code accepted. Activating Fenrir.

Beep.

: Shouko… Why’d you activate the self-destruct charge?! What the hell’s going on, Soushi?!
: …
: Kazuki… I said I’ll keep your island safe… and I will…
: Shouko, that’s ridiculous! Stop this!

: Shouko…!

Koyo runs off.

: Pilot cadets are all on standby! You’re not to leave your posts without permission!
: Shouko…!

She goes too.

: Hey! Stop!
: Mi-Minashiro… Give her back… Give my daughter back!
: SHOUKOOOO!

: Mom… I’m sorry…
: I should never have said I wasn’t your daughter…
: I’m so sorry…


Mommy… Why is my name Shouko?


It’s because I wanted you to soar high – that’s what your name means.


”Soar”?


It means to fly through the sky.


I’ll soar right through this sky, then…!

: Kazuki…

BOOOOM!

:siren: Angela - Separation (Piano Version)
:siren: :siren:


I kept my promise, right…?

: SHOUKOOOOOOO!!
: The Mark Sechs and the Festum have… disappeared…
: …
: A-Aah… Aaaaaaaaaaah!!
: Th-This can’t be real… Tell me this is just a bad dream, Shouko…
: The enemy’s destroyed… as is our precious Mark Sechs…
: …?!
: N-No…!
: We… we were too late…!
: Rrgh… Uwaaaaaaah!

: …?! We’re detecting heat signatures where the Mark Sechs disappeared! I-It’s…!
: What… What is that light?!

: That’s the Celestial Being’s ship…! The UX are also there, then?!
: The Unknown Xtrikers…?! But where did they come from…?!
: Th-This is…?
: That light was the Aura Road opening, I’m sure…!
: Then we’re back at the surface?!
: We should be somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but…
: Yeah, this island isn’t on any of our maps!
: This is the island of Tatsumiya…!
: I s l a n d o f T a t s u m i y a…?

: ?! What are those creatures…?!
: The Festum…!
: “Festum”?! The things that attacked Japan thirty years ago…?!
: Do you hear me, Unknown Xtrikers?! This is the Representative of Orb, Cagalli Yula Athha, speaking!
: Orb, the neutral nation…?! What’s their Representative doing here?
: We can explain the particulars later! The Festum are attacking and we’re having trouble pushing them back – we need your assistance!
: Roger that! The UX will engage and eliminate them!
: Then I believe I’ll take command of this operation. Troops, make sure not one of these creatures is left intact!


Alas, poor Shouko; we hardly knew you.
Now we just need to close in and destroy the new wave of Festum without losing either of our ships. Lead with your dodgier guys until morale gets going to make sure no one gets assimilated and you’ll be good.
And remember that Kazuki’s kill count is tied to two secrets and his first one requires 100 kills by the end of mission 26. If you haven’t raised those flags in a previous game, he should be given priority on mooks.

:siren: SRW UX - Envoy from Jupiter

: (This is… I feel something within them, but what is it? What are they after…?)

:siren: SRW UX - Shangri-La

: Shouko, why…?! Why’d you have to do something as stupid as that?!
: Festum…! You’re gonna pay for taking her from us!

:siren: SRW UX - Life Goes On

: I came along to keep others from dying, but I couldn’t stop anything…!
: And now another young girl lost her life. All her hopes and dreams for her future, gone… Damn it, why is it always like this?!

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: Something echoes inside my mind…? What is the meaning of this? Just what are these foes…?


I question the safety of having Izuna Nerve Crack a Festum…!

:siren: SRW UX - My Fate

: So this is the Overworld… I’d love to take in the sights, but it’s really hard to move around with three people inside the cockpit.
: And who was it that insisted she come along, huh?! I swear, this is precisely why the Ferario—
: Could you two shush?! I’m fighting here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZI3C30gGSQ

:siren: SRW UX - Future-Bound Fighting Spirit

: What are these things?! Are they a different kind of alien, or…?

:siren: SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness

: (It’s only been a few weeks since our last battle with the Festum…)
: (How can they have already grown so active…?!)

:siren: SRW UX - The Eternal Soldiers

: Eh?! The hell’s up with these gold freakazoids?!
: Well, if anything, it’s pretty clear they’re not friendly. Hold nothing back, Kaido!

:siren: SRW UX - Tales of Mirisha ~ The Brave Legend

: Every day we’re faced with another new enemy… What in heaven’s name is happening with this world?!

:siren: SRW UX - Linebarrel

: There’s no one piloting these things, right? Then I guess it’s A-OK not to pull any of my punches!

:siren: SRW UX - Love Survivor

: First a bunch of bugs, and now monsters made of light? Earth’s really gone off the deep end while we weren’t looking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhAnenvgWGU
Aaay, I FINALLY managed to get the combo attack with the Elshank machines on tape (I think Rennie’s line cut off at the start, but I dunno if that’s a problem with Citra or a bug in the game)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEe83A-cdsA
Also, here’s Kazuki’s strongest attack…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88YoRkZ9x3s
And Zhang Fei’s best one. :supaburn:

: All Festum confirmed eliminated. No signals in the surrounding areas either…
: It’s over…
: But this victory came at a very high price…!
: …


A bit later, an angry Makabe tells Hester that, no, she won’t be getting her Nothung Model. They lost a Fafner defending the Federation’s fleet, so they’ve no units they could give them anymore. Hester tries objecting, and Makabe asks if the Federation’s thinking of using this island as sacrificial lamb. Well, he isn’t – they’ve lost too much already and he’s done talking with her.
As Makabe shuts the call, Yumiko wonders if the Federation will give up on this. Hardly, Makabe thinks they’ll only get worse. Furthermore, he turns to Cagalli and says that while they’re so grateful to her and her people’s help today, there’s now a problem.

She understands: the Federation is now aware that Orb and the Arcadian Project are working together, and that she’s got ties with the UX. It’s probably best for everyone if they distanced themselves from one another for a little while, Cagalli figures.
Makabe truly regrets it coming to this after all Orb has done for them, and says they’ll at least take care of finishing the Destiny’s repairs. That’s hardly enough to repay ALVIS’ debt, but Cagalli says the thought alone is plenty.
But ALVIS also has another urgent problem to take care of: figure out what they can do in regards to the Fafners and the kids after this.

: KAZUKI!!

Punch!

: Grgh…!
: You could’ve saved her! You were out there with your Fafner, weren’t you?!
: Stop, Kasugai…! Stop it, please!
: Kazuki, you could have…!
: That’s enough, Koyo! It was impossible for him to help her back then!
: No, there must’ve been something, anything, he could’ve done!
: You guys get to survive, but not her… Does that seem right to you?!
: …
: How can you expect me to believe that saving her was “impossible”?!
: Shouko was in pain throughout the whole thing… She died in pain!
: Shouko went out fighting… I think she was content to die while doing that…
: …?!
: B-But…!
: No one’s to blame for this. Hazama fought magnificently until the end…
: Kch… And they expect us all to do the same thing?!
: …
: No… no, you can’t tell me dying was expected of her! She dies, and the rest of us live on…?!
: Kasugai…
: Shouko’s… gone… she’s gone…!
: Aah… Shouko… Shouko…! Uwaaaahaaaahaah…!

: …
: Shinn…?
: Born to do nothing but fight… and, then, die doing so…
: As much love was poured into raising those flowers, as beautiful as they may have bloomed… they are, once again, wiped out by people…
: Shinn, that’s…
: I know, Luna. I won’t go down that road again…
: All I’ll do is make sure I never forget how beautiful those flowers used to be…
: …

: (A promise is a tie that binds people forever, both those who keep that promise and those who break it…)
: (We felt no joy over having survived the battle…)
: (No, what we felt was the realization that we’d lost someone. And coming to terms with it was all any of us could do…)

#40

Shouko’s pilot stats are as irrelevant as any other Fafner pilot’s are, but we’ll get to that later. But basically - every Fafner pilot EXCEPT the one who actually needs it the most has absolute bullshit stats if you’re trying to field them.

And ah yes, her death. So, one of the things UX didn’t really get over (that I feel is necessary) is that Fafner pilots in the cockpit show off intense repressed emotions, and hers manifests as berserker rage, which is why her attack lines are the way they are. She comes out of that for the suicide, to twist the knife further… of course, there’s a picture I could post that is absolutely relevant now, but is also spoilers as shit. I’ll link to it instead. SPOILERS.

Did you know Zhang Fei first manifested Bakuretsu Chouraikou while on a bridge, having fought Cao Cao’s generals for most of the day, using literally everything he could in the process, and needing one last push to win the fight and destroy the bridge, all so that they could recover the Ryuteiken? Fun stuff. It’s one of SD Sangokuden’s best episodes.

On the discussion of Heroman’s kills, just grind for a day or so on THE SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH. You can probably bag him ~30 kills a run.