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Chapter Twenty Three: Fulfilment of a Promise Music: Intermission I wind up spending all my upgrade money on the Justeen, enhancing its ZZ Grenade by two levels and the Handgun by one. Moving swiftly on… Music: Conversation with Friends : Yeah, I think so. Immediately preceding the final showdown, he concentrates his entire being to this one task...Man, I am a true Maintenance Superstar! : Always talking dumb crap, but he can get it together when it counts. Respect. Compared to other peeps I know... : Whuh! Why are you looking at me like that!? I helped out too! : What? Why are you smiling now? : I! I'm not! It's nothing! : Hee, hee...Oh, I see it now. Is that it? :... Yeah. Now that is what I would call the 'Tenno Mountain which divides ground and sky.' : Tenno Mountain? :…where outcomes and destiny are decided. : Destiny...hmm... Yukito suddenly whacks Cage! : Whoa! : You are facing a conflict! I sense it!! : Well, yes...I really would much rather not fight. To fight against Ares...But then again... : Hunh?...I don't know, someone who cares? : Not a bad answer. But this is how I see it. Anyone who's only around in happy times is not a friend. When you're really suffering, or struggling, just giving you a pep talk isn't enough either. A friend is someone who can tell you honestly all that's not good about you...don't you agree? : What's not good about you...a friend? : Between true friends, there is no need to watch how you act; see how they respond. A person who can't criticize you honestly doesn't deserve to be called a friend. That's just an acquaintance. What do you think? : I don't know...But I do want to tell Ares that what he’s doing is wrong. Even if it makes him dislike me... : Here's a tip. There are no absolutes in this world. If anyone says that he is definitely right, he's probably already wrong. Isn't that a pretty simple rule of thumb? : Heh heh...Well, he does tell me I suck all the time. : Twede, maintain this pace and pass over it. :...Understood. After it has passed that point, I will make Saoshyant retreat to outside the immediate battle area on auto-pilot. : I had been concerned about the volume of oxygen in the vicinity, but they themselves have limited plant function, to the point that fire hazard has been eliminated. It is highly likely that they did this in preparation for 'Marlblanke.' : All right then. Come on, everyone! : Hunh? We're going right over, right? How is that going to work? : At the closest point, we'll jump down. :…swing those acrobatics! : You're aware that Saoshyant has no defence mechanisms, right? Down there is the sea, and we don't have time to board the normal way anyway. : Yeah, I guess...but... : That's true...If we are surrounded by enemies like what happened a little while ago, it would be trouble. :…OFs on Caliburnus. : Uno, dos, tres...Hm? We're missing a frame? What about Calibur? Wait. Where is Ms...Robin? :... The sound of fists pounding against metal rings out… : No way...in there? : Please, do not let it bother you. : Er? But... : TwEDe!! TWEDE!! You're not going to get away with doing this to me! : Please remain quiet until this battle is over. : Traitorrrrrr!!!!! So yeah, Twede locks Robin up in a closet or something to keep her from fighting. To be honest I think it feels a bit out of place; Robin’s been fighting with us for a good while now and has already pointed out numerous reasons why her coming along is a good idea. This sort of scene would make more sense if it was placed earlier on in the story, in my opinion. :...Don't get me wrong, I knew it from the get-go, but you're not half as aloof as you come off. : No, it is my - : Er… : Regardless, she will stay here. All we can do is fight, but Ms. O'Connell is different. Take care of everything else. :... : Besides, no guy wants his girl dead. Come on you people, we should all support his love life. : Hmph! : What? Why is it so quiet around here? : So, shouldn't we get going soon? : Definitely! : Dana, we'll talk about this later, forgive me... :... The screen fades out and everyone leaves, but… …It looks like Robin has a plan… This should read, ‘Fulfilment of a Promise’. Music: Offense and Defence The Saoshyant enters the Oxygen plant, moves east a little bit, then the BIS units initiate their hard drop. : That frame has too much armour. Bullets should be DODGED. This design is so...cowardly. : Yeah, as much as humanly possible. Maybe it was that embrace I got from that lovely lady. : Oh? I thought you had no interest in women. I'm not within the parameters of eligibility for you. : How rude of you. I am an equal opportunity kind of guy. As long as the cuteness factor is there, what's the difference between a guy or an animal? :...You're...kidding, right...? :...Well, kinda. : (K-Kinda?!) : *Mumble*...Why do I have to be together with the ole man, when I could have been having passionate liaison with an older woman.... :...What did you say? : Yeah yeah. Why are you so grumpy, anyway? Jealous of Yukito?? :...Wh! What's that supposed to mean?! : Huh? N-No, wait! : You guys...Will you stop doing your routine during crisis times? : Ha ha ha... : Cage, something is coming from above us! : The enemy?! :…install it just in case something like this should happen! : R-Robin...How? : With this 'Miniature Lipstic Laser Saw,' something I made wayyyyy back when. The board didn't like it, but...see! It's actually very practical! : There you go again...Why do you always, ALWAYS... : Fine, I will no longer stop you, so please go and seek safety. :...You ARE stopping me. :... : Aah, she got you on that one, eh? Unfortunately the comedy comes to an end right about now… …Because Ned arrives with a squad of flunkies. : You gotta work on your originality. : Shush!! I heard that you took ole Zephyrs down, eh? : Hm. Are you saying that even losers like you will avenge your friends? : Heh heh! That's pretty funny. That was no loss. You came all this way and you're going already? No wonder! You're not close to winning over me, I'm immortal! : You have no intention of handing it over, do you? That's perfect. I'll just tear you all to shreds, then. Raptors! Pound all of them down, and don't stop until they've turned into dust! *Cackle* Let the party begin! The game gives us control here. Player Phase Music: Offense and Defence Enemy Phase Music: Impact Mission Map: Okay, so we start out a fair distance away from Ned’s forces. There are multiple stages to this mission, but for the first part it’s a good idea to head north, snag the Local Server and then wait for Ned to blunder into our guns. Ned himself has brought a new unit to the table, so let’s check it out before we start. The new foes are the Mummy Heads, another Raptor variant commonly seen throughout the ZOE series. As opposed to the Cyclops these guys focus on ranged attacks above all else and don’t even mount a melee weapon. Mummy Heads come in two varieties, Type A and Type B, with the only difference being that Type B’s mount the slightly more powerful but slightly shorter-ranged Halberd in lieu of the usual Phalanx. Overall they aren’t too much trouble; the inability to move and fire on the same turn really lessens their damage potential. We can’t reach the Local Server on the first turn but that doesn’t matter since it’ll take Ned at least two turns to catch up with us. Still, that much firepower might cause problems. Luckily there are plenty of buildings around to provide defensive bonuses. I cluster everyone together before having Nadia grab the Local Server. This is the last one in the game and provides a truly ludicrous ability for two of our units. Ned’s getting closer. Two of his Raptors will be able to strike on his turn, and after that things are going to get a little hectic. Only one of those Raptors manages to hit, thankfully. Ned’s flunkies are all nicely strung out in a straight line, which is good. Ugh, these little buggers are durable. Sweet revenge. Okay, now all three Raptors are down. That still leaves quite a few others, though the Beam Gun LEV’s aren’t really a threat to us anymore. Yukito ends the turn with a good old Handgun tap. The enemy Mummy Head opens up as soon as Ned’s turn begins. Its damage output is surprisingly low. Not that it matters since Warren evades the shot. Semyl isn’t so lucky, even with the terrain bonuses. That could have been a problem. Looks like Warren is Mr. Popular this turn. Anyway, here we are at the start of our next turn. We have plenty of targets to choose from, but I’m going to start by picking off the weaker Beam Gun LEV’s to save time. Have I mentioned how much I love Yukito’s pistol grenade? Because I love Yukito’s pistol grenade. These guys are basically nothing to us now. We won’t be seeing them again after this mission. And that’s the last of them. Now we can focus on taking down the unmanned units. Mummy Heads are pretty tough, but they also have a larger than normal critical hit spot. My final act this turn is to repair the Caliburnus with the Calibur and use the Vjaya’s resupply ability to restock Yukito’s ZZ Grenade. We all saw this coming. Since they lack melee attacks Mummy Heads will happily plink away at our units from a distance. It’s annoying since it means we’ll have to leave our defensive position in order to deal with them. The Mummy Halberd is essentially the same as Testament’s version except much weaker. Ow. Cyclopses are frighteningly accurate, despite being six levels lower than our average team member. And that’s it for Ned’s turn. Okay, let’s start by getting rid of those Cyclopses. Uh…one down I guess. I’m kind of running out of interesting things to say in between kills. Since this is the opening scene of a multi-part battle it’s a good idea to feed all your OF’s kills to increase their Spirit. Unlocking a few Burst Attacks will make the next parts go by much quicker. Alright, all that’s left is to heal up Semyl, crush the remaining Mummy Heads and then give Ned a good pounding and the next part of the mission will begin. Hmm. I think Ned might be programmed to target the current weakest member of your group, since Semyl would have been much easier to hit… If you look closely you’ll notice that those grenades don’t just appear from nowhere – they shoot out of tiny flaps that open on either side of the Mummy Head. I’ve never noticed that until now. Alright, let’s finish this. We should have just enough power to kill off both the last Mummy head and Ned in one turn. Alright, now for the final touch. Y’know…Mebius was the first one to really get on Ned’s nerves back when she was first introduced. So it’s only appropriate that she gets to put the boot in him once and for all with her shiny new attack. Awesome. : Gimme a Frame, I need one to make myself a new body! If there are no other enemy Frames present Ned starts to panic a bit. : What the…! There’s nobody here?! What am I gonna…Yikes! They’re gonna get me if something isn’t done! Rats! Then a Raptor appears from offscreen and scoots over. If there are still other enemies present then the above dialogue is skipped. : Whuh! Wh-what!! Stop! It's me!! Ned, the one and only! Can't you tell?! : Don't! It's only a communications device failure! C'mon...Good boy! Please! Be a goo...sto-stop! Stopppppppp!! : Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhh!!! And that’s Ned gone for good. He’s not coming back this time. : Is he...gone? :...Yes. : He was really persistent. : All humans are fixated on 'life,' and do whatever they can do to foil 'death'...I can appreciate this concept now. :...Yes. : Huh? What's that? :...Bada-bada-bada? : B...Bing...? : Aw come on. You didn't like my drum roll? Or are you holding the thingie about Phil-Phil and the old man against me? :...What ARE you? What are you trying to do? And, where are Myona and Ares? :…when people get all emotional like that. I mean, I can't even talk to people like that! :...Did you people not see that light? The 'Razor-thin beam that slit the heavens'...I was totally mesmerized...Just remembering it has such an effect on me, see, I'm already...Cage, you big pervert! I can't believe you tried to make me say all that! :...She shows no indication of wanting to communicate seriously. :... : Cage.... : I know. You're telling me not to lose my temper, right? : Battle mode has been set up. Let us begin quickly. Please give me a command at once! : Huh? Pharsti...? Are you feeling anger too? : I do not know. However, I cannot rule out that possibility. : What is this...? : These are 'unmanned Grafficanes.' Features had to be compromised, but it's still better than the one Phil was riding. Ares is out back...*Giggle* If you can get past me, you're welcome to go and see him. : If we can get her out of the way, the rest of the frames are all unmanned. They hardly pose a threat. : Okay, got it. We're going to make you get out of the way! Thus begins the second stage of the mission. The Unmanned Grafficanes can be a huge pain. Their specs are the same as Phil’s Grafficane but they’re better pilots than he ever was. Amante’s Scarmiglione is the same as ever. Thankfully we’ve got some time to heal up and resupply before her group gets to where we are. Oh, and the Raptor that spawned in to kill Ned sticks around. It’s not just for show. It can be a nasty surprise if you’re not expecting it. After healing up, resupplying and repositioning it’s time to face the Grafficanes. I love the fact that they’ve kept their formation. One good thing about these guys is that they give out so much money and experience. These guys are a menace if they manage to get their attacks in, so crushing them quickly is the best plan. The Caliburnus is running low on ammunition, so I move the Vjaya over to restock it. I wind up regretting this quite soon… Now imagine if there had been four of these guys all attacking at once. Their damage output is equivalent to that of the Raptor variants if not higher, and their huge HP pool makes them extremely resilient. I tore through two of them and mauled the third so quickly only because of the extra Spirit and Burst Attacks gained from beating all of Ned’s flunkies. Since Amante appears as soon as Ned dies, you can potentially find yourself facing down his remnants and the Grafficassholes at the same time. If you’re prepared for them though it’s possible to take them down before they can do too much damage. Just one more… Now it’s just Amante and her Cyclopses left to deal with. I cut out a few turns of Amante and her posse moving up. Annoyingly we can’t reach the last Cyclops. I’ll content myself with farming a few levels from Amante in the meantime. I’ll kill her if I do any more, so… She can still be deadly though. So can these guys. But that’s fine because we’re about to finish them both and begin the final stage of this mission. Almost there. Gotcha. : That's because we're not alone. Everyone is working as one. : As one...I guess I am a little jealous. : What? : I was always alone...I always had a lot of boyfriends, but they were only interested in how I look...I didn't choose to look this good...In all honesty, I... : To tell you the truth, I kind of liked you. So I didn't really want to fight. I wish we could have met under different circumstances... : Cage, don't be swayed. She is... : Cage, will you come here...I'm so scared... Oh come on. Even Cage wouldn’t be fooled by such- …Never mind. : Cage! It's dangerous!! : She's the same as all of us. Nobody would help her, that's all. :... : Ohhhh, shut up!! You talk too much. Cage, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. A truly desirable man will at times pretend to be fooled when a girl is lying to him. Hope you can become a more attractive guy someday...Adieu!! : Whoa! : Are you all right? : Yeah, kind of...O-Okay, now we have to look for Ares and Myona. : Yes, let us hurry. Okay! That’s Ned and Amante down for the count. The path to Ares is open, but we’ll be heading to another map to confront him. Yep, it’s another two-map mission.
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