I'm about 60-70% through SRW K now and the game is the worst SRW I've played. It's a really BAD game. The maps have dozens of reinforcement events to make them long and the writing...oh boy.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
22. Confusion Carnival
Angelica is still in quite a state over seeing her father among the enemy,
and there's little Mist can say to comfort her. What he can assure her of is
that her "father" will appear before them again, and not in the terribly
distant future either. What they need to do is think on how to save Elric
when that chance arrives, and content themselves for now with the knowledge
that at least he's still alive. As Angelica's tears slacken, Mist can only
wonder what the hell Edax is up to, turning her father -- his beloved former
commander -- against them.
Kiriko is looking forward to getting a clear accounting of the fleet's
exploits as soon as they return to Dannar Base: even to someone with resources
like hers, information about the fleet's exploits in space is quite muddled.
Kiriko also has someone she wants the returning heroes to meet.
Meanwhile, Mist finally goes to check out that robot Sakon has brought
aboard. As Sakon suspected, it's an Atreemian mech that Mist recognizes: a
robot under development by Atreem's self-defense forces at the time of the
attack. Called the Selcelius, it seems to have been a test platform of sorts
for the Crystal Heart -- which would explain Espair's interest in it. Sakon
is now the beneficiary of all of Espair's Crystal Heart research, and since
the Gate stuff has plateaued for now, he plans to spend most of his energy
figuring out how the Crystal Hearts work next. He's already determined
that "rage" is a partially effective means of boosting their output, and also
suspects that Mist should be at the point where he no longer requires "rage"
to get the Crystal Heart going.
In the meantime, Sakon tells Mist he'll set the Selcelius up as Sheldia's
new mech, transplanting the damaged God Stone from the Celius II to use as its
power plant. Apparently these Stones were used to power everything on
Bezzard, and their fortunate affinity with the Crystal Heart is what allowed
Bezzardian technicians to adapt one to powering the Celius II. They seem a
lot like Area Zi's Generators, in fact, and both Sakon and Mist have to wonder
just why Atreem, Bezzard and the Earth seem to have so much in common...
Elsewhere, Veliny is waiting impatiently in her base for word from the rest
of the fleet. Gasm is the one who makes the call, obviously already clued
in as to Espair's defeat. Veliny tells him that some of Espair's men just
evacuated to her base with Espair's Gate, bearing tales of a mech called the
"Revlias" whose pilot Espair was trying to capture alive. The Revlias is also
what did Espair in, doing what the rest of the Earth forces ought not to have
managed. That, coupled with how secretive Espair was about the Revlias, means
it's definitely worth checking into further.
A better question is how Gasm is doing in his new body, which belonged to an
incredibly powerful Fragment-bearer. Veliny thinks that's a great thing,
since it means he's that much closer to Ru Cobol, but Gasm tells her it's too
early to celebrate. Only after all the personalities of the Fragments are
melted together can the party begin in earnest. He promises her he'll go
join her as soon as he's wrapped the fighting on Earth up. For her part, she
can find no Fragments on the planet she's on -- instead, she's found some
technology that might be of use to Ru Cobol. Gasm warns her that Espair
said exactly the same thing; if she doesn't want to dig her own grave like he
did, she should just concentrate on Fragment-hunting. She assures him she's
not careless like Espair was, and he hopes for her sake she's right.
Gasm has also been toying with the idea of disabling the limiters on the
Gates... limiters which were installed in the first place to avoid damaging
spacetime itself. That's a risk he's willing to take in order to find more
Fragments before Ru Cobol's awakening, especially since they can't use Planet
Crisis freely right now. It's a dangerous gamble: unlimited Gating might
accelerate Edax's plans, but should spacetime become permanently warped, those
plans could come to a screeching halt. Gasm hopes she isn't _disagreeing_
with him or anything, since he's been made the leader in Ru Cobol's absence.
Veliny agrees to disable the Gate's limiter, and Gasm tells her he means to
have a little fun with the Earthlings before toasting them for good. Rather
than simply teleporting them to the far side of the universe, he's come up
with a far more enjoyable plan. Thanks to Veliny's report, he's gotten
interested in the Overskills possessed by the Overmen, especially the one
called the Mexblade...
Kiriko digests the report about what the troops have been up to, wondering
like everyone else why the MARZ agents never seem to leave their cockpits.
Aslan wonders if the pilots have actually been virtualized as AIs and
permanently installed in the mecha, but Gou recommends not trying to dig too
deeply. He's been far too busy fighting to keep his hair cropped short, and
since Anna seems to like it that way Kiriko won't chew him out too much.
Kiriko's little surprise is the Fafner troops, who Makabe has dispatched to
help defending mankind as a whole. A mobile version of the Siegfried System
has been developed, so Soushi can go wherever the battleships are needed. All
told, the team has just grown by eight members, including former Federation
pilot Michio and the unsociable Kanon. There's also Shouko and Chizuru,
here at Tsubaki's insistence to keep an eye on the other pilots. The same goes
for Naoto, who wants to see what Daiya is up to firsthand. Under other
circumstances, there's no way that would fly as a reason to be aboard an
active battleship, but these aren't normal circumstances and there's no reason
to deny the guy his shot.
About this time Sakon calls up, having finally pinpointed where in the
multiverse the other worlds are. The era of inter-Earth commerce may be about
to dawn, but everyone should start by hearing Sakon's explanation first.
Good as his word, he's figured out where to send Van and the other Offworlders,
even cutting some time off the commit deadline thanks to a bit of help from
Kira and Joshua. His coordinates point to Area Zi, the last known whereabouts
of the taloned man, and once anyone from this world is Gated there, Sakon will
be able to calculate coordinates to anywhere else on that planet (such as
Yapan's Ceiling). Of course, the Gate isn't a detective, so Van and friends
will have to find out _where_ the taloned man is before Sakon could send him
directly there.
Before Sakon can Gate anyone anywhere, a massive dimensional distortion appears
nearby. Out of it comes... Yapan's Ceiling, of all things! Gainer and
everyone else rush to the scene, quickly filling in Gain and the other
Exodizers that they're now on a different Earth than the one they started from.
Gain has trouble believing this at first, especially when Ana claims to have
been to the moon, but the evidence quickly mounts that she's telling the truth.
Apparently the Yapan's Ceiling was Gated right in the middle of rumbling toward
Yapan, and the shock has left structural damage and numerous casualties in its
wake.
Imagine the surprise of the Exodizers to find themselves _in_ Japan (err...
Yapan, whatever). Too bad the place looks like a junkyard after all the
invasion that's been going on, but Beroux and the others are determined that
the time has come to remake it by their own hands. Um, what? One by one, the
team start losing their focus and devoting themselves to having fun,
accompanied by a rash of pink hippos that start popping up everywhere.
As Beroux starts rattling off all the events the Yapan's Ceiling festival will
contain (idol contest, eating contest, swimsuit contest...), a few of the
commanders keep their heads and wonder what's come over everyone. Gou isn't
among them: when Anna and Mira decide to compete against each other in the idol
contest, Gou bellows that both of them are his idols alone. Kya, what a
pleasantly embarrassing thing to say!
Van seems immune to the infectious mirth, as are the rest of the non-humans in
the team (including Lulu, interestingly). Mia's psychic powers apparently
didn't protect her, nor did Michi's age protect her. Kira's powers did
protect him, and he tells Kiriko that these delusions of festivals and such
seem to be somehow connected to visions of pink hippos. Whatever is going on
seemingly hasn't spread as far as Dannar Base itself, and Kira will be in
charge of figuring out what's responsible.
Soushi, still in possession of his faculties, is very much bothered by how
things are unfolding. If Yapan's Ceiling were sent here as a Trojan horse by
the invaders, he might have expected the debilitating effect to have a much
wider radius... say, all of Japan. And the fact that the victims are easily
identifiable by their visions of pink hippos is too obvious: is this some kind
of misdirection play? Kyou notes that this might just be a test case for a
wider-scale deployment, with the team as guinea pigs. If the effect really
does only affect normal Earthlings, it's clear that the Fafner pilots are
decidedly _not_ normal (though Soushi has no plans to tell them that it's the
Festoom DNA bred into them that's probably to thank for that). As for Kyou...
Hiroshi makes up the excuse that it's thanks to a medicine his father devised
that keeps Kyou (well over a hundred years old) young. Isn't that right?
*winkwinknudgenudge*
Veliny is pretty astonished at what the Mexblade's Overskill has wrought. Even
Gasm hadn't expected his foes to throw a full-fledged carnival, though it
serves his purpose well. He wants them at the peak of levity and mirth when
the ravening bad guys strike and tear them to bloody shreds. He wants to see
the smiles frozen on their faces when the tears of agony and despair start.
He wants to hear the joyful songs arrested mid-note as the screams of anguish
ensue. In short, he wants the moment when Heaven becomes Hell.
This guy is seriously disturbed, but Veliny can't claim to be any healthier.
Gasm will leave the actual assault to her, now that he's set the stage. She
asks why he didn't just extend the Overskill to the entire Earth, and he says
it would have taken the better half of the energy in his base... not to mention
wiping out all that Minus Energy that Espair so thoughtfully whipped up. He's
not so conceited that he won't give Espair's schemes a fair chance to prove
useful after all. That technology Veliny is pursuing might just solve Gasm's
energy problems, letting them use Planet Crisis as they see fit. It's all good
so long as Ru Cobol's interests are being served, right?
No sooner does Gasm hang up than General Gene from Digald gets on the horn.
Veliny isn't interested in pleasantries, only why Gene has been so busy making
overtures to Siberian Rail. It's for a good cause though: he's been able to
talk the good people of Sora City into giving him the tech needed to get
through the magnetic storm known as the Mountain of Death. That's all very
well and good, but Veliny thinks Gene is cut out for far bigger things than
just running Siberia. She wants to give him an entire planet...
The only way to find out what's going on is to venture inside Yapan's Ceiling,
and even Van gets drafted into helping look for clues. The remaining forces
aboard the Eternal and Archangel can only watch in dismay, bracing for the
enemy attack they're sure is coming. Mist actually wants to take Angelica to
the carnival on purpose, hoping to cheer her up while he can. Cagalli can't
authorize that of course, and Angelica assures Mist that she'll be okay -- she
knows she doesn't have to shoulder her burden alone.
One thing the festival is doing is making everyone more honest with each other.
Sara and Adette have renewed their longstanding rivalry during the relay race,
in a total dead heat despite the disparity in age, fashion sense, and
"endowments". Elsewhere, Shizuka is locked in combat with Monko at the arm-
wrestling match, once again in a dead heat despite the apparent physical
mismatch. If not for Pai's alien blood, she'd probably have thrown her hat in
the ring as well. Her teammate Mia wasn't so restrained about the Idol
contest, but to the group's astonishment they find her and Roll in the audience
instead of on stage.
How did that happen? Apparently the judges sexually harassed her with some of
the questions they were asking, and in a fit of rage Mia kind of knocked them
across the room with her TK. Result: first-round DQ. The normally demure Mia
is frustrated enough to want to blow the entire contest away, testament to just
how much she's been effected by this pink hippo business. On stage is Carmen
99, whose prowess in the swimsuit contest can't erase her difficulties singing.
Rosa then comes up to sing, dressed in kimono no less, and busts out a
heavy-duty enka about how hard it is to be a woman. She's singing from
experience, and singing convincingly.
Before the final entry, the winners of the relay race are announced: the Daikuu
Maryuu team! Apparently Sara beat archnemesis Adette, but it's Gainer who
seizes the mic for a little announcement. He bellows into the mic that he's
always loved Sara, even since long before the Exodus. The poor nerd goes nuts
trying to describe how much he wants Sara, and has to be dragged offstage as
the details get steadily more personal. That clears the way for the final
Idol act, a duet between Le Mii and Kotona that goes far better than it has any
right to.
Kira and the scouting party have struck out, but back aboard the battleships,
Milliaria has detected a faint microwave field blanketing the area of Yapan's
Ceiling. She radios the coordinates to Kira and the others, who have to
abandon the Idol contest before the winner is declared. As they head to the
origin of the transmission, a Gate opens and through it pour...
...Geolg and his men, who weren't expecting a blasted area like this. Nor is
he expecting a woman with cat-ears to be the one giving him orders, but there
it is. Veliny suspects he doesn't like taking orders from women, and offers
to return him to Digald... where he'll be brought up on insubordination
charges. He certainly doesn't want to go that route, and resigns himself to
following this strange woman's orders for the duration of his dispatch to
Earth.
What Kira's team find at the microwave origin are Biozoid, similar to Ruuji's
Zoid but made from a different alloy. These are Digald's footsoldiers, forces
bent on ruling Ruuji's world with force. Hiroshi and Kyou will continue
seeking the microwave emitter, and he tells the rest of the team to return to
Dannar Base to sortie. Hiroshi can't become Jeeg without Michi's help
anyway. Lulu and Sheldia are similarly powerless at present, so they'll also
help with the search.
It seems the non-Earthlings will have to hold the fort for a while, despite the
obvious dangers of sortying with only a partial force. On the opposite side of
the field, Zailin takes the opportunity to make contact with Geolg... who
isn't especially happy to see the long-lost pilot, but can't exactly refuse his
aid at present. Veliny sends in some extra troops to improve Geolg's chances,
just about the time that Hiroshi destroys the microwave generator. There's a
stampede of pilots heading back to Dannar Base, but Lacus wants to try to
handle things with just her forces for a change. It's the least they can do
for their comrades after all. Soushi doesn't mind, but warns that the longer
this battle wears on, the more dangerous it will get. He tells Kazuki to hurry
up and settle the score fast.
Soon after, Gain sorties in an Overman Gainer's never seen before, something
Gain calls the Emperanza. Gainer wonders if Gain stole it from Siberian
Rail, but Gain indignantly says that he built it himself. Gainer belatedly
realizes that it's got the Brunhilde's arm attached to it. Gain certainly
knows who these Biozoid goons are: they've been raising hell in his world
ever since Yapan's Ceiling left Area Zi. _That_ comes as quite a shock since
they're not from that world, but Gain has to save the explanation for later.
Zailin's losing streak continues, but at least this time he's got Veliny
fishing his ass out. Same goes for Geolg, whose miserable showing has not
made his feline taskmistress happy.
This whole fiasco seems to amount to Gasm's declaration of war on Earth, and
Kenji reckons the teams should just turn the tables and Gate themselves into
the enemy base in a preemptive strike. Of course he has no idea where that
might be, inspiring a certain lack of confidence in Soushi, but Muu says
that Kenji essentially has the right idea. All the Gate records Sakon snagged
in the lunar base ought to contain data on where the enemy have been coming to
and going from: data that should conceivably lead to the enemy's next
stronghold.
Interestingly, Kenji didn't sortie despite not seeing any of the pink hippos.
When questioned by Kyou, he and Tsubaki have to admit that Kenji was busy
being sick after overeating in the wake of the relay race. Tsubaki kind of
egged him on, and took responsibility by nursing him back to health on the
sidelines. Kyou turns very grave over the fact that they didn't see anything.
Obviously to him, Kenji and Tsubaki aren't normal humans, but they themselves
don't seem to realize how unusual they are...
Veliny is mightily peeved that Gasm's plan to toy with the Earthlings resulted
in her forces being soundly repulsed. She plans to chew him out when she
speaks with him next, but such thoughts get immediately back-burnered when the
alarm klaxons sound. Using the Gate has opened up dimensional cracks inside
the base, one of which destroys the controls for the #2 energy reservoir.
Unless someone does something _fast_, all that stored energy could well blow
the whole base sky high.
Veliny's assistant recommends that she and the Gate evacuate in case they can't
get things back under control, but Veliny asks first what the likelihood is of
fixing it. Maybe fifty percent? She orders the defective energy reservoir
vented into space, reasoning that losing half the energy (and delaying the
grand plan) is better than losing all of it and the base with it. The tech
hesitates because the repair crew is in the path of the escape valve, but
Veliny shouts at her to just shut up and follow orders. She adds in softer
tones the promise to give her tech the Fragments that get blown away in the
process, and the tech finally complies.
With the energy vented, the alarms subside. Working around the clock and using
the Gate to help at peak efficiency, repairs will take a full five days. Of
course, using the Gate that hard might make it malfunction again, but Veliny
is prepared to take that risk. As the tech rushes off to comply, Veliny pounds
her fist on the arm of her chair, growling that this is precisely why she
didn't want to cut the Gate's limiters. Gasm has a lot to answer for...
The good guys can all feel relieved that their ordeal hasn't left any
aftereffects... except the fact that everyone is now refreshed and reasonably
happy again after the long string of battling they've been doing. The
unexpected merriment is a reminder to create lots of memories while one can,
since they'll be very important later in life.
Meanwhile, there's a lot of debriefing to do about what Yapan's Ceiling has
been up to. It's become quite the tourist attraction in the Siberian area,
with several new (and eccentric) faces mixed in. Among them are Manson and
the beauteous Catherine, queen of her own private country and an accomplished
underwear^Wswimwear designer. AND leading metallurgist, oddly enough.
Cagalli has the bright idea of setting them up with lab space in Orb, so they
won't be quarreling aboard the Daikuu Maryuu all the time.
The flagships decide to return to Dannar Base to further correlate everyone's
information. En route, Soushi confides to his teammates that he's lost
confidence that he can fight here. Not because of a lack of firepower or
talent: this latest battle demonstrated both in spades. He finds some of the
pilots, especially Kenji and Van, to be far too selfish for his taste. He's
extremely afraid of them doing something ill-advised in battle, and turning
a sure victory into a defeat. And since there's no way to connect with them
using the Siegfried System, he has no way of knowing what's going on in their
heads. This scares him greatly.
Fortunately, his sister is on hand to set him straight. She cautions him
against judging others only by his own value system (in which predictable
execution in battle is high on the list). She admits that Soushi is correct
about Van as a disruptive influence, but that's not the whole story. The fact
that Van's other comrades believe in Van suggests that he's worthy of Soushi's
trust as well. Soushi agrees to go calm down and reconsider, allowing for the
possibility that all the new people he's met at Dannar Base may have made him a
bit confused. Tsubaki agrees to go back and rest too, and it seems that
Drama(tm) has been averted for now. Wendy admires how well Tsubaki looks after
her brother, wondering what her own brother is up to just now. Mihael is
hanging with the infamous "taloned man" just now, but that full tale can wait
until Tsubaki is safely back in bed.
Look how much text there is for a single map in an srpg that is 50+ maps long. WTF. The writing just goes on and on and on and even I start FF through it all and I hate FF through dialogue! This is an example of a SRW going waaaaaaay over the limit of what is enjoyable. These writers better not touch any of my console SRWs!
