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Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 44 complete, I hope I get what I'm aiming for)


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Chapter 33 - 6/182

Spoiler

"Is it just me, or are we being followed?"  I was grateful for the roof over my head and three excellent meals, but I didn't feel like being useless all day.  Mrs. Noa had asked me to buy some paint from the nearby hardware store.  Since neither of us was allowed to go out alone, Hathaway had tagged along.
"Don't cross.  Wait for the light."  Sure enough, the black truck sat at the intersection, ignoring the horns of the angry drivers that wanted it to go through the green light.
"Why this light?"
"This one turns red for pedestrians several seconds before it turns red for the cars."
"I'll apologize to your mom for not picking up her stuff."
"She'll understand."  Hathaway smiled as we walked back the way we came.  Once we had turned a corner, Hathaway sprinted back home.
"W-wait for me!"

"Are you two alright?"  Sure enough, Mrs. Noa wasn't the least bit upset once we explained what happened.
"Just winded."  I glared at my friend, who didn't look the least bit tired.
"I get up early to jog," he explained with a big smirk.
"I'll get some water."  Mrs. Noa disappeared into the kitchen.
"We've gotta let Amuro know," I whispered.  "That's the black truck that the strange lady showed me."
"Or have someone else let him know for us."  Hathaway eyed the console.
"Oh right, those reports!  Next chapter it is!"

SR Point: Defeat Grand Master Gundam in a single attack.

Remember that Hero's Mark dropped a few stages back?  Slap that on one of Ryoma/Arcadia, then warm up on the fodder.  Once Grand Master Failure is close enough, activate Hero's Mark, then use your strongest attack.  Note that this is significantly easier if Harlock has his Ace bonus and Pirate's Strategy is unused until you're ready to flatten That Guy.  Tadashi can be used as a one-time Charge as well.

Do be careful of the second part of this stage, as you don't want to accidentally murder Allenby!  She doesn't deserve that!  Oh, and you get to keep the Berserk system, which will amp her damage further.  Repair this!

Spoiler

"What's this?" Tessa wondered aloud to herself.  She hadn't expected a report to come through during the semester break.  Something was odd about certain letters - why were they in an ever-so-slightly different font?  Her eyes widened when she separated them out.  Two curt orders and several minutes later, and the person she requested stood in front of her.
"What is the meaning of this?  I've been stuck here for over a week!  When can I go home?"  Not that Tessa could blame her guest for being cranky.
"Someone spotted your truck."  Tessa locked eyes with the irate woman in front of her.
"Really?  Does this mean I can leave?"
"No.  We still haven't recovered it, or the evidence that you claimed was in it."  The other woman's shoulders slumped.
"If they can blackmail me with it, it's probably not in the truck any longer."
"You're probably right, Beltorchika.  Still, we can't let you go yet.  They may decide to go after those close to you."
"You don't mean--"
"Yes.  Don't worry, we're keeping an eye on him as well."  A sigh of relief escaped the older woman.
"Good.  He's stood by me through the years.  I want to keep him safe."  Tessa let out a dry chuckle.  A sharp knock on the door interrupted her.
"Sorry to interrupt!  Uh, does she have to be here?"  Mao stood at attention, sweat pouring down her forehead.
"I can take a hint," Beltorchika grumbled bitterly.  She turned and vacated the office.
"Good, she's gone.  Didn't want her to get mixed up in this.  One of the nearby military bases asked for our assistance in tracking someone down."
"Why us?"
"They said that the person they're tracking was headed towards us."
"Where is the target?"
"In the infirmary."  Tessa wasn't sure why Mao's grin was so big, but now wasn't the time to ask.  A familiar silhouette waited down the hall.  Mao sprinted forward, slamming the person against the nearest wall.
"You aren't supposed to be wandering around."  Despite the force that Mao had used, Beltorchika hadn't flinched.
"Excuse me for getting lost!  Now why do you have HIM here?"  The blond woman pointed towards the infirmary.
"Wait!"  Someone limped from the infirmary.  "She gave me the--"  Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed.  Even after three years, some weight loss and bruises on his face, Tessa recognized the patient.
"That idiot," Beltorchika muttered under her breath.
"We're going back to my office.  Then, you're going to explain everything you know, starting with your relationship with Kamille Bidan."

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 33 complete, the next chapter isn't funny)
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Chapter 34 - 6/188

Spoiler

"What the hell?"  Though everyone had to clear out of their dorm rooms before the next semester began, we were lucky enough to get our old room back.  Except someone else must've known, because the mattresses were on the floor, all the drawers were open, the phone was unplugged, and Hathaway's desk was on its side.
"You guys are back already?"  I turned around with a start.  When did those two show up?
"Athrun?  Shinn?  What are you doing here?"  My roommate recovered his wits before I did.
"We can talk while we put your room back together.  We're not quite done."  I shot a questioning look at Shinn, who ignored me.  Athrun tipped my desk over, then gently peeled something off.  It was a small disk, almost the same color as the desk.  He withdrew something that looked like a black pen from his pocket, and jammed it in the disk.  The disk shrieked.
"That's a lot of effort for a couple of dumb college kids," I managed to spit out.
"One more!"  Shinn crawled out from the table that the computer normally sat on.  I winced as another ear-piercing shriek echoed through the room.
"That should be the last of them."  Athrun wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Don't just stand there, give me a hand with this!"  Between the two of us, we managed to get the box spring back on the frame.  When I looked up, Athrun and Shinn had put my bed back in order!
"What were those things?" I asked, while struggling with the other mattress.  Once we'd put it back where it belonged, I flopped on it.  Hathaway glared at me, no doubt unhappy that I was on his bed.
"Listening devices, seven total.  We haven't had a chance to take your phone apart yet."  Shinn emphasized his point by putting a small case of screwdrivers on my desk.
"Wouldn't it be faster to get a new phone?"
"He has a point," Athrun stated.
"Fine, fine, we can arrange for that," Shinn grumbled.
"Who sent you?"  My roommate could've said thank you instead of glaring at them!
"Someone who hates bugs," came the very curt reply.
"I'll make sure to thank Sayaka!" I replied brightly.  Hathaway punched my arm, much to Athrun's amusement.
"I'm curious about that game you guys are playing.  We'll help you with the TV, of course.  Right, Shinn?"
"Oh, fine.  It's not like there's anything interesting around here," the younger of the two grumbled.
"Dinner's on us!"  Before anyone could object, I left the room.  Much to my surprise, my roommate caught up to me.
"You were going to carry all that yourself?"

SR Point: Defeat all enemies within 5 turns then defeat Zagato.

While Zagato is a bulky guy, that other boss has a barrier and dodges.  Use MAP attacks to thin out the enemies, then do just enough damage to defeat the bosses in the allotted time, BUT make sure you have at least two uses of Foresee available.  Once Zagato goes poof, the real boss appears.  Triple action sucks, and you're going to eat exactly one of those.  Once the nightmare that is the enemy phase is over, use everything on the Real Boss - which may or may not include multiple Stoner Sunshines powered by Smash Hit.

Spoiler

"Athrun, are you okay?"  Once the ending played out, he'd fallen silent.
"Don't mind him, it's been a long day for us," Shinn explained hastily.
"We're staying nearby for the next couple of weeks.  If you need anything, please give us a call."  Athrun handed us a piece of paper with a number on it.
"After the phone is replaced, of course," Hathaway promised.
"What about Audrey?"  If we were being tracked this heavily--
"Like we'd be able to go into a woman's room unnoticed," Shinn spat out.
"We've made arrangements for someone else to clean her room out."  I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Athrun!  We're done!"  I wasn't familiar with the voice, but Hathaway seemed to be.  He retreated into the room.  What was his problem?
"Chris!  Rosalie!  How did it go?"  Weren't those two women with Ange's group?  They never talked to me!
"Look at what we found in the phone!"  The younger of the two held up another flat disk.
"It's clearly not the same model as the stuff tacked to the furniture," the older one explained.
"Nicely done.  I think their phone will have something similar.  If you don't mind."  Athrun picked up the phone.
"Let's go."  Shinn walked out of the room as quickly as he could.
"He's so rude, unlike Athrun!"  I could almost hear the honey dripping off of the younger one's words.
"That boy has no hope at all," the older one added.
"Thank you for dinner."  Athrun's voice sounded strained.  He waved and left, the two women in tow.
"I'm so glad they're gone."  Hathaway dusted himself off.  Did he hide under the desk?
"Why were there so many strange devices in our room?"  Never mind the odd visit from the four people that weren't from our Earth, what in the world was going on?

---

"No doubt about it.  These circuits are part of our missing shipment."  Hamada looked up from the dissected listening device.
"This design is based off of technology in my world," Nine added.
"Someone else is combining the three worlds, but for what end?" Shinn mused.
"Whatever it is, it's not good.  Not if the last report from Tessa is to be believed," Chitose answered grimly.
"I hope our input helped!"
"Chris and I reported it as soon as we could."  Rosalie looked quite proud of herself.
"It was a stroke of luck that you found a box of our missing shipment while searching for a group of swimmers," Hamada replied.
"Someone's using your resort as a drop point.  Please continue to monitor the activity there."  The two nodded at Nine's words.
"And until we figure out how the resort is tied in with these activities, please don't tell the others," Soji requested.
"Our lips are sealed!" the two women said together.

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 34 complete, Foresee rules)

Secret Scenario 2 - 3/191

Spoiler

"OW!"  I picked up the book that had been thrown at my shoulder.  Why couldn't my roommate shake me awake like a sane person would?
"Class starts in half an hour.  You're lucky I decided to wake you before I left."  Oh, right, my schedule changed!  Which means that my sleep-in day shifted from Wednesday to Friday.  I rubbed my eyes and rummaged through my shirt drawer.  Something metallic brushed against my hand.  I fished the odd disk from out of my shirts.  This wasn't mine!  It reminded me of the objects that Athrun and Shinn had collected before the semester began.  Weren't they supposed to deliver the new phone today, once my classes were over?

I grabbed a pen and wrote a hasty note to my roommate.  He had a biology class later in the day, and his textbook was still in the room.  I slipped the note under the cover, put the weird object back where I'd found it, and changed.  Today was going to be busy, and I hadn't even left my room!

SR Point: None

These guys look awfully familiar!  But my battleships are here, so all they did was get on board the nearest one.  Everyone else ran forward, while the enemy ran towards me.  Speaking of, the fodder goes down in two hits, and everything's fodder.  I spread the kills out for the sake of efficiency.  Unlocking the map is harder than beating it, and it's well worth it for the rewards.  Pricilla got the A-Adapter on steroids and Angela is the proud owner of the Skull and Crossbones Flag 2.0.

There's a second scenario in this vein, with equally good rewards.  Naturally, I'm going for it!

Spoiler

The timing was tight, but if he hurried, he'd have time to grab a quick lunch, pick up his books, then go to his next class.  His plans were interrupted when a piece of paper fluttered from one of his books.  Was this his roommate's idea of a prank?  No, this couldn't be a prank.  The idiot on the other side of the room was absent-minded and sloppy, but he knew better than to joke about such matters.  A device hidden in a drawer would only pick up sound from one side of the room.  Another device would have to be hidden on his side of the room, but where?

The usual spots came up empty, as did his own drawers.  He checked his books, but none of them had any sort of hidden devices in them.  He sat on his bed and idly stared across the room.  A splotch of blue amidst the white sheets of his roommate's bed caught his attention.  Of course, the book that he'd thrown across the room earlier in the day!  As soon as he opened it, something slid out from the spine of the book.  It appeared to be a paper-thin circuit board, roughly the size of his index finger, coated with something sticky on one side.  The force of the throw must've dislodged the device.

Unlike his roommate, he wouldn't need to hide his next note in a book.  His roommate was in the same biology class, and should be back any minute.  Sure enough, the idiot burst through the door, face red with exertion.  Instead of his usual greeting, he handed the note to the newcomer.  With a sigh, his roommate picked up his textbook, and they left for class.  Skipping school was a last resort, and now wasn't the time to invoke it.

Nothing said they had to return to their room once the rest of their classes were over for the day!  And a pay phone just so happened to be near their classroom.

Chapter 35 space - 6/197

Spoiler

"This isn't what I had in mind when I said that we had to meet," my ever-cranky roommate complained.  We were getting dinner for free, so there was no use whining about it!
"It's the best we could do on short notice!" Lunamaria insisted.
"This restaurant just opened, and it's not popular yet," Athrun added, as he unloaded the trays he carried.
"What the hell is this?!"  I peered over at Hathaway's plate.  It looked like a hamburger patty, an over-easy egg, onions and rice, smothered in gravy.
"Our orders must've been swapped.  Here, this one's yours."  Lunamaria took the gravy-laden plate and swapped it with something more reasonable.
"You're going to eat that?" I asked tentatively.
"Of course!"  She shoveled a slice of gravy-soaked hamburger into her mouth.
"Why did you order every single type of fried meat?" I asked Hathaway.  He looked at his own dinner and turned pale.
"I-it looked like a bento, okay?"  Athrun stifled a giggle.  He'd ordered a bowl of chili.
"How did I end up with the most vegetables?" I muttered under my breath.  I wasn't sure what "saimin" was, but the people in front of me sounded downright giddy when they ordered it.

SR Point: Defeat all enemies by the 3rd Player Phase

As usual, I went the weird route.  Had I gone with the Earth route, I would've picked up a power part that refills Angela's ammo every turn.  But instead, I decided that I wanted to deal with more route-locked nonsense.  Hence here we are with two battleships and four pilots to my name.  But that's okay, they're good at their jobs.  The first part involves killing off everything ASAP.  Fortunately, everyone has decent range, meaning that I could counter enemies on their phase, and then kill them on my turn.  Thanks to that, I was able to get a good amount of ExC on everyone, which meant happy fun Multi Action times!  I used my battleships to clean up on the third turn.

Part 2 involved Judau diving to talk to Ple Two, for a little something.  Then I wiped the map.  Ple Two can leave a dent in your battleships, so make sure to Intuition/Flash/Foresee before engaging her!  The other guy's there to remind you that not everything dies in two hits.

New thing:

Qubley - Follow the steps in this walkthrough, and Ple will join after Judau has a chat with Ple Two.  I went this route to guarantee that she shows up (I wasn't sure if I could get her to join if I went on the other route).  She's not on the team, but her Qubley is a serious upgrade for Roux.  Slap the Extra Arms on it, and things should melt until Roux gets the mech I really want her in!

Spoiler

"Those noodles tasted a little strange, but otherwise it was like a ramen."  I wiped my mouth.
"Why'd they fry everything?"  Despite his complaints, my roommate had cleaned his plate.
"Delicious, as usual!"  So had Lunamaria.
"This chili is growing on me," Athrun stated.
"Any ideas on who keeps putting weird stuff in our room?"  I didn't like the idea of some strangers going through my stuff!
"No, but maybe we can draw them out," Lunamaria suggested.
"How?"
"Drop something so juicy that the people on the other end react to it.  We'll be waiting on the other end," Athrun explained.
"Like setting up a meeting with someone important?"  Hathaway looked like he had an idea.
"Yes, something like that.  Next is the date, time, and location. . ."

"I can't believe I ate all that," Hathaway groaned, once we went back to our room.
"You'll have to run a marathon to burn all that fat."
"You're joining me."  I gently punched his arm, then wrote something on a piece of paper.
"I'd best get to work on the next chapter.  That secret scenario was a nice warm-up."  With my notes done, I turned on the computer.
"Banagher?  Don't you have school tomorrow?"  I held up the note I wrote earlier, which read "check the chat box, but keep talking".  Hathaway, who sat off to the side, began typing.
"The author did something incredibly stupid, and I just had to see it!"  Amuro's laugh was natural.  Good.
"Still, you should keep your grades up.  You passed the last semester, but barely."
"I'll be fine!  I have my own personal tutor.  Right, Hathaway?"
"You don't pay me enough to be a tutor!" he complained, while typing out a response.
"I'll pay you when I strike it rich!"
"As what?  You're too ugly to be a model."  Once again, Amuro's laugh was natural, even as he typed something on his end.
"I'm sure Banagher has other redeeming qualities.  He's good at talking to people, and I hear he's been close to Audrey."  My face flushed.
"Ah, right, about that.  She said she had something important to tell you, and it had to be in person.  She wants me to escort her."
"Tell her I'm free then, and that I'll be waiting for her."  A few other pleasantries later, and I shut the connection down.  Hathaway pointed to the chat box.  It took everything I had to keep silent.  I looked carefully at Amuro's typing, which looked unusually sloppy.  After pointing to a few letters, my roommate got the hint and handed me a piece of paper.  I wrote down all the mistyped letters, but it looked like gibberish.  My roommate peered over my shoulder, then rearranged the letters.  We looked at each other in confusion.  Without words, we left the room.

"Huh, what are you two doing here at this hour?" Audrey asked.
"We, uh, need to borrow your phone.  This idiot over here tried to wake me up with a thrown book, but he missed."  She smiled, then grabbed her portable phone and followed us to the laundry room.
"It's empty.  Good.  Can you call my sister?"  Audrey shook her head.
"Who do you need to speak to?"
"Athrun, but it'll look odd if your cell phone is searched."  She winked at me, and my heart skipped a beat.
"Hello?  Good, you're still up.  There's someone who wants to talk to you.  Just a moment!"  She handed me the phone.
"Uh, hello?"
"It's been forever, Banagher!"  I couldn't quite place the voice.
"Nice to hear from you too!  I found a strange message, and wasn't sure if you'd know what it meant."
"I can give it my best shot!"
"It's 'mithril mining at 0600 hours'.  What do you make of it?"  Silence answered me.
"Oh, that sounds like some sort of password!  I've heard of some computer games that require one in order to play them."  Why did the girl on the other end sound so familiar?
"Why couldn't those games use a bunch of random letters and numbers or something?"  I didn't have to fake the confusion in my voice.
"It's more fun that way!  Can I speak to Audrey again?  I wanna confirm something."  I handed the phone back to Audrey.
"Uh-huh.  Sure."  Audrey's finger moved to the pound key.  Hathaway must've figured something out, because he dug out the number that Athrun had left us.  For the next few minutes, the conversation shifted to games, something that Audrey seemed to have quite a bit of knowledge about.  Wasn't she just as busy as my roommate?
"Okay, I'll check that one out.  It's getting late.  Talk to you later!"
"Do I want to know what just happened?" Hathaway whispered.
"Message delivered.  But don't tell anyone that you talked to her."
"Who was that?" I asked.
"If you don't remember, that's even better."

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 36 complete, we got to see the strongest unit in action)

Chapter 36 - 5/202

Spoiler

"I'm glad the two of you are available."  Amuro's voice sounded oddly strained.
"Were you able to meet with Audrey?" I asked.
"I was, uh, called away at the last minute."  Why was he talking so fast?
"That's unfortunate," Hathaway mumbled.
"If you're here, I can do the next map.  The author wrote something interesting about her world."  The other man's expression darkened for a moment.
"She's a handful.  Very well, I have some free time."

SR Point - Clear the map in six turns, with all deployed pilots getting at least one kill before the map ends.

With my four deployed units and two battleships, getting the second half of this point was trivial.  I concentrated on finishing the map, which wasn't too bad thanks to three different MAP attacks.  On turn 2, you'll get a "helpful" NPC with an amusing line.  Don't mind him, he's literally immortal.  On turn 3, you'll get the true objective of this map.  Beeline towards there, have Intuition/Flash/Foresee ready, and go ham.  You'll get a shiny red To Be Continued, but that's okay.

. . .fine, the real reason why I went this route was because I didn't want to upgrade the Ichinana.  Really.

Stay safe, everyone.  Delta's doing a number on the world, and who knows how many more times this virus will mutate before this pandemic is over.  I, for one, never stopped wearing a mask - it hid all my pimples, even though I'm far too old for acne!  It's also kinda fun to match my mask to my clothes.

Spoiler

"How vain," Hathaway grumbled.
"Having fun in the middle of a pandemic.  Never going down, no matter how many times he was shot down."  Amuro's gaze was on something beyond the computer screen.
"Are you okay?"
"Don't mind me, I have a lot of work to do."  Something was definitely up.  Hathaway motioned towards the window, where a silhouette was visible.  But whose?
"Amuro, there's a--" I started.
"I need to go soon, but I haven't had a chance to brief either of you on what's going on.  The Federation has declared Mithril a terrorist organization.  If you happen to get in contact with any of its members, please let me know immediately.  Or if anyone else is harboring them.  The sooner we find them, the better."  His expression was pained.
"Understood."  Hathaway's voice was flat.  He hastily cut the connection.
"What was that for?" I demanded.  He put a finger to his lips, then opened the door.  I blinked in surprise.  So did the person on the other end.  Hathaway motioned for the person to come in, then scribbled something out.  The person nodded and added to my roommate's note.  He led her to the places where we found the listening devices.  She took out a small black rectangle, and touched it to the devices.  They hissed and steamed.
"That should be the last of them."  She smiled wearily.  Then, she slipped something between my mattress and box spring.  "That should stop all wireless transmissions out of this room."
"Thanks, Chan.  But what are you doing here?"
"I assume you spoke with Amuro?"
"Well, yeah.  Hathaway hung up in a hurry, though."
"How is he doing?"  Wouldn't she know, being his coworker?
"He was under a lot of pressure, no doubt from work."  Those two knew something that I didn't, and it was getting on my nerves.
"I suppose that's one way of putting it.  What did he tell you?"
"Something about Mithril being a terrorist organization.  That's it."
"He left out a lot, but I can't blame him.  Once Kamille was captured, he was transferred to our base.  No doubt the bigwigs felt that he'd talk if Amuro questioned him.  They underestimated Kamille.  He kept silent during interrogation."
"What the hell."  Surely whatever Kamille had seen couldn't have been that bad?
"A few days later, I was called to repair something near the prisons.  I decided to say hi to Kamille.  I caught a glimpse of someone in a Federation uniform using his fists on Kamille.  I reported that to Amuro.  He said he'd look into it.  A week later, I sneaked into the prisons.  Kamille had lost a significant amount of weight, and he had fresh bruises on his face."
"That's. . ."  Hathaway couldn't finish what he wanted to say.
"Then I ran into that blond bimbo.  Amuro had asked me to call the police if she ever showed up in his vicinity.  She stopped me and told me that she was here to visit a prisoner, one who was normally not allowed to have visitors.  I asked her to meet me after her visit.  Much to my surprise, she showed up, looking as angry as I felt."
"She knows Kamille?"
"More than just 'knows'.  Apparently, she had been working with him on some sort of personal project.  When he disappeared, she tracked him down to the terrorist camp.  That's how the Federation was able to shut it down.  After seeing how the Federation treated him, she wanted him out of prison.  I suggested that she take her story to Mithril."
"Is that why we had to temporarily move out?"
"I told Amuro what had happened with his stalker.  He wasn't happy about what I did, but what little action I did was more than the inaction from his higher-ups.  Thus, he agreed to help.  He got in contact with Mithril, and arranged for them to take Beltorchika into custody.  When she showed up at your dorm, the two of you were moved because we didn't want you to get caught in the crossfire."
"Crossfire?"
"That was the worst-case scenario.  Fortunately, that idiot insisted on inspecting your rooms alone, and Sousuke was able to capture her under the Federation's nose.  Meanwhile, Amuro gave me a peculiar repair request.  On that fateful night, the power in the prisons went out, and the backup generator failed to kick in.  That gave Kamille enough time to get out, steal a vehicle, and drive for his life.  Mithril picked him up."
"He's safe, right?"
"I guess?  Orders came down to capture all members of Mithril, on suspicion of harboring a terrorist.  Someone leaked the operation details, because when the Federation showed up, their base was empty."  I looked at my roommate in shock.
"Then that strange message was. . ."
"He put his faith in you.  I'm glad you didn't let him down.  Because of that failure, Amuro was suspected to be the leak.  However, they couldn't prove it, and a certain Federation member suggested leaving him alone because he was in contact with a couple of students who could gather intelligence from two other dimensions.  I think you two can figure out who would come up with that kind of plan.  The military liked that answer, which is why Amuro was placed under house arrest."
"My father," Hathaway whispered.
"And what of you?"
"I told Amuro to pin everything on me.  That way, I could get any final orders he had out to you, then disappear.  Whether he did or not, I don't know."
"In other words, you're a fugitive and Amuro's under watch," I concluded.
"Something like that.  The two of you have been a big help.  Thank you."  She turned to leave.
"OPEN UP YOU IDIOTS!"  Hathaway shrank back from the source of the voice.  Well, his loss.  I opened the door.
"So much for being quiet," Mari replied wryly.
"What are the two of you doing here?"  Chan froze.
"We came to visit, morons."  Asuka barged past me and grabbed Chan.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"We're on your side," Mari whispered.
"NERV has received weird orders, too," Asuka added, her voice no longer loud enough to rattle windows.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"It means that we think something's rotten at the top, and we need your help."  Asuka punctuated her words with a tug.
"Several Federation soldiers are outside of this building.  We're getting you out in the only way we can."  Mari adjusted her glasses with a smirk.
"You'll have to wear these for now."  Asuka produced a pair of handcuffs.
"I can pick those in two minutes," Chan muttered.
"That's the point."  Mari handed the now-handcuffed woman a piece of wire, which the latter palmed.
"Move!"  Asuka shoved Chan out the door.
"Tell Audrey we said hi."  Mari waved and closed the door gently.
"This is getting weird," I stated, once all our unexpected visitors had left.
"What's this?"  Hathaway picked up a sheet of paper that someone had dropped.  "You've got to be kidding me."
"Oh no."  It looked like the title page of a report.  "Resurrection of Mufti" was not a good sign!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Chapter 37 - 7/209

Spoiler

Three weeks of nothing.  We were back to being normal college students, and my biggest worries were the essay that was due on Monday and the math quiz on Tuesday.  All that had happened felt like a bad dream.  The computer beeped.  Tusk was on the other end, and he looked decidedly unhappy.

"Long time no see!"  My enthusiasm fell flat.
"Don't have time to catch up now.  Did anyone from my dimension contact you within the past two weeks?"  Like Shinji, his personality had undergone quite the change!
"No, sorry."
"That's fine.  Let me know if anyone does."  The screen went blank.  Then it flickered back to life.
"How COULD you?  Can't you at least stop and say hi?"  Vivian's smiling face appeared, alongside a deflated Tusk.
"Hi Vivian!"
"It's been forever!  Momoka said you'd gained some weight!"  Did she have to go there?
"College is, uh, busy."
"Where's that grumpy guy?  I heard he's your roommate or something."
"Hathaway has a late class today.  He won't be back for another half hour."
"Great!  I wanna see what that new game looks like!  Don't you, Tusk?"
"Not really?  Look, I'm kinda busy, and--OUCH!"  Tusk rubbed his arm.
"Quiz time!  What's worse, poring over the same numbers or being rude to guests?"
"He's not visiting!" Tusk insisted.
"We're visiting HIM!  Isn't that right, Banagher?"
"Uh, I guess?  But if I'm keeping you--"
"You're not!  Tusk needs a break and I'm happy to see everyone again!"  If anything, she'd gained energy since the last time I saw her.
"I heard something about a new game, so let me get that up."

SR Point: Defeat at least 40 enemies.

You're not going to get confirmation about this one until the map's over, so keep an eye on the Tactical Report.  The first two turns are a single unit, and he's not in a position to interfere too much.  Your goal is to insert yourself between the two groups of enemies and pick them off.  Ray is perfect for this, since his attacks have range that puts a battleship to shame.  Noriko/George will be able to rain down hell with their MAP attacks.  Try not to leave enemies injured at the end of your turn!  If you want to hurry it up, kill a cylinder.  This will trigger the boss.  You'll also want to flatten the two Armors, as one of them holds a Minovsky Drive, and Noriko wants that!

Managed to get Noriko and Black Mightgaine to ace status.  Didn't realize that the latter got such a cool ace bonus!

New unit:

J-Soldato - Thanks to @Excellen Browning I have another heavy sniper!  His range isn't quite as crazy as Ray's, but he'll dish out pain with his attacks.  He's the third MAP dot, which will be extremely helpful on a couple of future maps.  He comes with Accel, takes hits as well as Guy, and gets a copilot to boot.  Watch his EN consumption, and he'll do wonders.

Spoiler

"Huh, not bad."
"ANGE?!"  My roommate appeared behind me.  He still held his book bag.
"You're late, Hathaway."  She stood in front of the computer with her arms crossed.
"I could say the same to you.  Does it take that long to put your makeup on?"
"That's what you have to say to her after three years?" Tusk snapped.
"It's not my fault that you guys called while I was in class!" my roommate protested.
"Hey everyone!  We found out what happened to the shipment Lacus was waiting for!"  A redhead with pigtails ran into view.  She stared at the computer for a few moments before glaring.  "Why didn't you guys tell me that you were on another call?!"
"Hi there?"  She looked familiar, but I couldn't place her name.
"Oh, it's those losers.  I thought this was an important call."  The abrasive redhead turned to leave.
"C'mon Hilda, can't you stay?"
"Unlike you layabouts, I have work to do--HEY!"  Vivian forcefully dragged Hilda to the camera.
"We missed them last time!  I heard that they met up with Chris and Rosalie!"
"N-not for that long!" I interjected.
"They never told me that," Tusk muttered.
"They didn't have anything important to say," Hathaway shot back.
"Some reunion this is turning out to be."  Even if Ange and her cohort weren't overly friendly, couldn't they do more than bicker?
"Everyone's still here?  Dinner's soon!"  Yet another vaguely familiar woman appeared on screen.
"It's been nice talking to you, but I'm not missing Ersha's cooking!"  Vivian waved and shot off.
"I'm sorry, it's been quite busy lately," Ange explained.
"Those boys from the other dimension are on?  Can you keep them on the line?  I'll be right back!"  Ersha hastily departed.
"I wonder what's gotten into her," Hilda muttered.
"That's where you all went?  We've got guests!"  What was with all the new women?
"Hey Salia, keep 'em occupied!"  Hilda quickly departed before the other woman could get a word in edgewise.
"Do I know the two of you?" she asked.
"Maybe."  I stifled a chuckle at my roommate's response.
"You were the captain's kid on the Ra Cailum."  She smirked.  "He must've been very worried about you if he assigned you to play a game instead of pilot a mech."
"The hell?  Is this how you greet people you barely know?"
"She's flirting with you," I stated.
"I am not!" came the horrified reply from the computer.
"She's totally flirting with you.  Nudge her a little and she'll blush."  Ange winked at me.
"Why would I want to do that?!"  My roommate glared at me.
"You could really use a social life," I piled on.
"I'm sure we could spare a room for you, Hathaway."  The laughter must've done wonders for Tusk's mood.  It was a marked improvement from the beginning of the call!
"I'm studying to be a botanist!  I don't want to be stuck on an island!" he insisted.
"He's far too boring for my tastes," Salia added.
"What caught your attention Salia?  His hair?  The perpetual scowl on his face?  His barely-not-flabby figure?"  Ange chuckled evilly.
"I hate to interrupt such a touching scene, but I found what I was looking for!"  Ersha waved a piece of paper in front of the computer.
"You want us to type that all out?" Hathaway growled.
"No one told you about the screenshot function?" Tusk asked.  "Hey Ersha, hold that recipe up to the screen!"
"That'll be useful, thanks!"  The screenshot was surprisingly legible.
"Can you send this to Amuro for me?  He asked me for a good pulao recipe, but I accidentally sent him a raita recipe instead.  This one should be accurate, with no typos!"  I read the ingredient list and blanched.  Wouldn't the saffron clash with a purple sweet potato?
"If you say so?"  Hathaway must've caught the weird ingredient as well.
"Thank you!  Please stay safe!"  Everyone waved.

---

"Think they'll do it?" Ersha asked, once the connection had been cut.
"Definitely.  They'll probably decipher it, too.  Couldn't you have been more subtle about this?"  Tusk pointed to the suspect recipe.
"It was the best I could do on short notice!" Ersha insisted.
"We're having a dinner meeting?"  Vivian reappeared with enough trays for everyone.  Hilda, Rosalie, and Chris were on her heels.  The computer bleeped obediently.
"Make this fast, I don't know how long that suppressor will work."  Despite being under house arrest, Amuro looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep.
"I'll take care of delivering this message to those that couldn't attend," Maito added.
"Understood."  Nine waved.
"Is Nine familiar with what happened with Lacus?" Tusk asked.
"She was waiting for a shipment of some sort, and used your resort as a drop point.  Her shipment never arrived."
"That's the short version.  Lacus was afraid that someone would steal her shipment, which is why she sent it to us.  She would pick it up from us in person.  We tracked her shipment to a Federation base.  Meanwhile, a shipment full of parts from the Senpuji Concern was found in the ocean near our shores.  Given the time of year, we think that someone else tried to use our resort as a waypoint of sorts, but underestimated the weather.  Their transport sank before they reached us."  Tusk took a deep breath.
"And her shipment was stolen by the Federation," Nine concluded.
"Outfitting the Eternal with a jump drive was bound to catch someone's attention," Maito mused.
"Lines are being drawn," Amuro observed grimly.
"It's an almost even split between those who accompanied the Yamato and everyone else."  Ange held up a notepad.
"Why would anyone want those circuits?" Salia wondered aloud.
"Listening devices.  Lots and lots of listening devices," Rosalie answered.
"Uh, Rosalie, weren't we supposed to--" Chris started.  Rosalie put a hand over her mouth.
"It's okay.  I'm pretty sure no one here is on their side," Maito replied with a chuckle.
"There's no way those two idiots we spoke to could've been on their side."
"You mean your new boyfriend, Salia?" Ange poked.
"Which one?"  Amuro looked up.
"Curly hair, perpetual scowl, barely keeping in shape," Tusk recounted.
"HIM?  Don't you have standards?"  Hilda shook her head.
"I.  AM.  NOT.  INTERESTED IN HIM!" Salia squealed, her face as red as Hilda's hair.
"Though it would be a contentious start, I believe that Hathaway and Salia would eventually settle into a more typical marriage."  Nine smiled after her analysis.
"I'll inform Bright about this new development."  Amuro failed to hold back his laughter.
"We can plan their wedding after we resolve the incident that's keeping us on our toes," Maito reminded them.
"The company that was supposed to deliver the Eternal's parts suffered a security breach shortly before Lacus placed her order," Nine stated.
"That's shortly after we had a minor incident over here."  Maito put his head in his hands.
"Nothing interesting happened in this dimension."  Amuro shrugged.
"Why hello there."  Another face popped up.
"Tieria?!" several people shouted at once.
"Forgive me, but it seems that your connection leaks.  I've had fun listening in on the various map strategies."  The figure on screen adjusted his glasses.
"Which means--" Nine started.
"Yes, I'm aware of the situation.  I've decided to lend what aid I could."
"That's a relief," Ange muttered.
"You seem to know something about these breaches," Maito noted.
"Why yes.  But it just leads to more questions."
"Don't just stand there, spill it!" Hilda snapped.
"Very well.  Those breaches coincide with odd network activity detected from Veda.  In other words, I believe Veda was the one behind the breaches.  What I can't figure out is why."
"WHAT?!"

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 38 complete, the squad is shaping up)

Chapter 38 - 4/213

Spoiler

"Who were you again?"  Once again, my roommate minced no words.
"Kincade Nau.  We spent most of our time aboard the Yamato, so we didn't get to talk.  I brought some bread I baked, too."  I eyed the grocery bag on his arm.  It certainly smelled like fresh-baked bread!
"Uh, come in," I muttered.  Kincade produced a loaf of bread and what appeared to be two different containers of margarine.  Hathaway opened one, and frowned.
"This doesn't look like it'll spread very well," he grumbled, while tipping the container on its side.  Something small and blue sat in place of margarine.
"It's a new flavor I wanted to try, courtesy of Tieria."  Kincade walked over to the computer and put the device in.  The computer beeped.  "Now to test it."
"It worked."  Tetsuya's stern expression didn't budge.
"Hi," I stammered.
"This is good," Hathaway managed to get out through bites of bread.
"Where's my slice?" the man on the other end grumbled.
"I'll bake you guys a loaf when I stop by tomorrow," Kincade promised.  I gingerly took a bite out of my own slice of bread.  The crust easily yielded to the soft, white inner portion of the bread.  Though slightly salty at first, the bread left a hint of sweetness as its aftertaste.
"I could eat this for breakfast for the rest of my life."  Kincade looked pleased with himself.
"I didn't answer this call just to watch you guys eat."  Oh, right.  I shot an apologetic grin towards the screen, then booted the game up.

SR Point: Clear the map in 4 turns

There's exactly one wave of reinforcements, and they come from the starting point.  The bigger enemies have decent range, which means that you'll have to burst them down on your phase.  The little guys can be brought under control with MAP attacks, and this team has five at its disposal (I didn't deploy Judau).  Gunbuster will give itself a full ExC gauge, so have it chain some kills.  When the final turn started, four enemies were alive, and it didn't take long to burst them down.

Pricilla got her amazing ace bonus here.  It's as bonkers as Fairy Stab.

Things are bad when Dr. Hell's intermission message sounds tempting.  He can't possibly make things worse than they are now. . .can he?  With one of our hospitals out of space, and one of the smaller islands spiking their infections, this isn't a good sign.  Unlike just about everywhere else, we can't drive our patients to another state.  Never mind a certain member of Congress voicing her support for the wrong side of a certain conflict, and not being reprimanded by her party.  World's on fire, and in some places, that's literal.  Hang in there everyone, and get vaccinated if you haven't!

Spoiler

"Has she lost her mind?!  Dr. Hell will ruin her world!" Tetsuya yelled.
"She doesn't seem hopeful," Kincade replied grimly.
"She has to be exaggerating.  Right?"  Even my roommate looked pale.
"I fear she's not."  Someone else appeared.
"Seems that everything's working on our end, Tieria," Kincade told the newcomer.
"Same here.  Readings have been stable."
"The leaks are slowly being sealed, but it's not tight enough.  I'm sorry you two, but I'll need to rely on you for a bit longer."
"The game's fun, so it's no big deal," I commented.
"This idiot needs my help," my roommate added.
"I'm supposed to type something out.  Where do I send it?" I asked.
"I'll hang on to it for now," Tetsuya volunteered.  Kincade and Tieria nodded in agreement.
"Thanks."  Tetsuya waved curtly and disappeared.
"Do you need me around?" Kincade asked.
"You've done your part.  I may need you to run things to others, if you don't mind."
"Of course not!  I appreciate the free advertising."
"Free advertising?" I echoed uncertainly.
"Well, yes.  You've tasted how good my bread is.  Once I get my bakery off the ground, I want to sell it in all three dimensions.  Please let your friends and family know!"
"Uh, sure?"  Judging by the look in Hathaway's eye, he'd probably tell his mother the next time he saw her.
"See you later!"  Kincade quietly exited through the door.
"It's only the college students," Tieria stated to no one.  Someone else appeared.
"The audio was garbled but understandable."  The head of NERV looked displeased.
"An improvement.  Why did you need to speak with me?"
"Celestial Being has offered to dispose of our garbage properly."  What did this have to do with us?
"You couldn't send it directly to them?"  I silently thanked Tieria for asking the question on my mind.
"I trust that you'll deliver it.  I will need to use this connection.  Do not touch it until the transmission is complete."
"Y-yes sir," I replied hastily.

---

"You're in a physical body?" Setsuna asked.
"We need all the memory space we can get," Tieria answered absentmindedly.
"What are these numbers for?"  Lockon pointed to the piece of paper that sat next to the terminal.
"The source of an odd transmission.  Why would Celestial Being contact NERV out of the blue?  The same addresses were used when Gendou transmitted his garbage."
"Why would we want trash from NERV?"
"Garbage, Allelujah, not trash."  Tieria typed something into the terminal.  The screen showed lines of scrolling text, then abruptly stopped.  "Just as I thought.  The garbage data that NERV obtained from the angels matches up with the garbage data we received from the ELS."
"And?"
"See for yourself."  Tieria opened up the first image.  The room fell silent.
"This isn't from any world we're familiar with," Lockon noted.
"How could anyone say this?"  Setsuna emphasized his words by slamming his fist on the nearest flat surface.
"This is beyond recklessness.  It's straight malice."  Allelujah took a step back.
"The author wasn't exaggerating her claims."
"Yeah.  She was playing them down," Setsuna finished Tieria's statement weakly.
"We need this data in as many secured locations as possible.  We know what our enemies are working with.  It's time to strike back."  Sumeragi had held her silence the entire time.
"The hell?"  The person on the other end looked like he'd just woken up.
"It's good to see you as well," Sumeragi greeted.
"It's gotta be bad if you're using this channel."
"Just as you surmised.  As far as the greater populace is concerned, your ship is in deep space.  We need to you take some data from us, and disappear."
"We'll see about that," came the gruff reply.  It was the best they could hope for.  Tieria started the transfer.
"Is this some kind of joke?!" the person on the other end roared.
"They're the heart of the group we're fighting."  Tieria idly fixed his glasses.
"And you want us to turn tail and run?"
"Why don't you talk it over with the others--" Sumeragi started.
"Hey everyone, what do you think?  We're fighting, right?"  Five other people crowded around the speaker.  Their expressions ranged from shock to unbridled rage.
"We're not running," one of them stated, almost too calmly.
"That's both of us.  We're fighting.  Got a problem with that?"  Sumeragi allowed herself a small smile.
"Not at all.  Shin Getter Dragon's assistance is welcome."

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been exhausted lately.  Probably trying to do too much at once.  Weirdly enough, this game doesn't trigger a headache.

Chapter 39 - 8/221

Spoiler

"Huh?  YOU?!"  Hathaway's less-than-friendly words yanked my attention from my chemistry homework.
"I'm in the same dorm as you?!" came the equally unfriendly answer.  I peered around my roommate, and put a hand over my mouth.
"Well, uh, hi Lane?" I managed to spit out.
"At least one of you pretends to have manners.  I'm coming in."  Lane shoved his way past Hathaway, and slammed the door shut.
"Why the hell did you even bother?"  Lane put a finger to his lips and took out a device that looked suspiciously like a silver cigar.  He pressed it to his bicep.
"I'm supposed to keep tabs on you.  I have to wear a listening device, which has been neutralized for two minutes.  Whenever you guys play a map, let me know, and be careful of what you say around me."  I nodded.
"What's your schedule?" Hathaway asked flatly.
"Why?"
"School is your first priority, and we can't help it if Banagher's schedule is as weird as he is."  I ignored the insult, while Lane hastily wrote down when he would be out.  A low beep came from Lane's pocket.
"You were given instructions to send a report to Mithril.  Since they are a terrorist group, you will give those reports to me," Lane continued briskly.
"Why would we take orders from a loser like--OW!"  I punched my idiot of a roommate in the arm.
"Can't you think about this for a bit?  You're supposed to be the smart one."  Hathaway glared and rubbed his arm.
"I see.  Lane wouldn't be able to understand words with more than two syllables."
"I'M RIGHT HERE, YOU JERK!"

SR Point: Defeat all enemies within two turns

Which isn't too bad, since the enemies are made of paper and you are not.  Accel everyone that can do so, and have everyone else hop on a ship.  That will put you in position to nuke everyone on the second turn.  Watch a scene and get used to it, this map has too many of them.  When part 2 begins, take out a boss from Maito's universe to trigger the next part (not sure if the other bosses can do this, but they're further away).  Part 3 is hit the new guy for roughly a third of its health, BUT don't do this unless you have a battleship nearby with at least 2 ExC.  Once the next scene finishes, you'll need to bail Maito and ChoRyuJin with Emergency Retrieval.  Blast everything and the map should end.  It's definitely possible to do this in seven turns, but your squad will need to be on the move constantly (go right, then up, then left).

Spoiler

"I think I could've done that in six turns," Lane muttered.
"You keep telling yourself that."  Hathaway reached for a piece of paper.  Lane tapped him, then pointed to his eyes.
"I'm surprised the university let you in on such short notice.  Midterms are coming up soon," I mused.
"I switched from online classes to in-person.  The transition wasn't too bad."  Hathaway wrote something down, then handed it to Lane.
"That's our phone number.  Just in case you forget how to open your door."  I bit back a giggle.
"You sure you're not trying to ask him out on a date?" I teased.  The two of them glared in unison.
"Unlike the two of you, I'm interested in girls," Lane stated.
"Too bad they don't feel the same way," came the not-unexpected reply.
"You barely understand other people, let alone a woman's heart!" Lane snapped.
"Should I go for a walk and leave you lovebirds to your unbridled passions for an hour?" I volunteered.
"I'm leaving.  What is wrong with the two of you?"  Lane glared one last time before storming off.
"That was the most relaxed I've seen him," Hathaway observed.
"You're kidding."
"He was tense when he walked in.  Despite his mood, he'd loosened up when he left.  How bad are the things in the Federation if they managed to get under his skin?"

---

He'd only intended to use the gadget so that they'd trust him - that's what Amuro had suggested.  Then, he'd tell his superiors everything, including the jamming device and the request to forward the reports to Amuro.  Even though he'd spent his time trading insults with that other guy, he couldn't help but smile.  Amuro said that he wanted to change the inevitable future that lay ahead.  Hathaway was still a carefree college student, not the leader of a terrorist group.  But to change the future, he'd have to disobey orders.  Even if he did, would it be enough?  Was it worth putting his reputation on the line?  He put the contacts he wore back into their case.  They'd need time to recharge and they made his eyes itch.  Something on his computer chimed.  The report he'd asked for had been delivered.  With a few keystrokes, he sent it on its way.  Someone knocked on his door.  Banagher opened it, and sheepishly explained that he'd accidentally sent his literature essay, and that the report would be sent in a few minutes.  As soon as the other student had left, his phone rang.

"This isn't the report we asked for!" the voice on the other end snapped.
"My apologies, sir.  Banagher accidentally sent the wrong thing."  An idea slowly formed in his head.
"Make sure it doesn't happen again!"
"Permission to open the attachment to make sure that idiot sent the right thing, sir?"
"Permission granted."
"Thank you, sir."

Surely they wouldn't notice if he printed himself a copy and sent it elsewhere, like a certain drainage ditch that Amuro had specified.  After all, he had permission to open and read the reports!

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 39 complete, that's way too much story)

Hey, more free time~!

Chapter 40 - 5/226

Spoiler

A jog was best done right when the sun rose.  It was quiet enough that he could think, cool enough to be comfortable, and empty enough so he didn't have to worry about other people.  His roommate could sleep through a literal battle in space, so slipping out of the room was no problem.  A few other people also had their daily walks at this time, and it was easy enough to avoid them.  He'd found a nice back route, one that avoided most of the early morning pedestrian traffic.  The path was slick due to the early morning dew, which meant that he had to slow down.  Motion near a ditch caught his eye.  He casually jogged behind a tree, then peeked from behind it.  Someone cautiously looked around, then entered the ditch.  What business would they have there?  Before he could formulate an answer, the figure crawled out.  He caught a glimpse of the figure's face, and bit back any sort of vocal response.  The figure clutched something encased in blue plastic.  At first glance, it looked like the same bag that recycled cans were collected in, yet the bag was far too flat to contain anything like that.

When did Tobia return, and why was he collecting weird things from a ditch?

---

"You're far more awake than usual," I commented.  My roommate grunted.
"Your classes end early today," he stated.  His eyes never left the paper on his desk.
"What about it?"
"Lane's classes run late, and I can get out of my last class."
"You're cutting class over a game."  Wasn't I supposed to be the irresponsible one?
"Not just a game.  The stakes are higher now."
"We're civilian students at the end of the day.  We're not supposed to be caught up in high-stakes things."
"We're not supposed to have technology that connects three dimensions, nor are we supposed to have guests ranging from a former princess to a CEO."  My shoulders slumped.
"Why can't we just be normal?" I complained.  My roommate smiled.
"What's more normal than a couple of young men cutting class to play video games?"

SR Point: Defeat any Primeval with one attack.

Ryoma is forced for this map, and I still have the Hero's Mark on the Arcadia.  Since Ryoma has Valor, I had him go left and nearly killed him.  This was enough to get Stoner Sunshine online.  Couple that with Valor and Analyze, and the Primeval went boom.  As for the rest, sent a few things to the lower right corner to deal with the stuff there, while everyone else followed Ryoma.  Once the boss spawned, I had to peck it to death.  Said boss is a giant tank, and there's no two ways around it.  Once the boss goes down, four more enemies spawn, but stuff like Valor/Soul should be online, so beating them up shouldn't be a problem at all.  No ace conversations here, due to story reasons.

Whoever thought that the new Texas law was a good idea needs to have their empathy checked.

New unit:

Shin Getter Dragon - No more pilot switching, but it somehow hits harder than Shin Getter Robo.  I have the option to go back, but no one drafted me the other guys.  Thus, I'll stick to Shin Getter Dragon.

Spoiler

"Who sent this?" I wondered aloud.  My roommate shouted a warning just as I opened the massive attachment.  It was a bunch of pictures?
"Didn't anyone tell you to scan things from unknown senders?" he snapped.  I shrugged.
"This can't be real," I muttered, turning my attention to the pictures.  The signs made no sense.  The news articles had to be satire.  My roommate stared at them, his face white.
"Your door was open, so I let myself in."  Audrey stood behind us.
"What are you--" Hathaway started.  Audrey's eyes were fixed on the computer.
"I heard it was bad, but this is so much worse."  Hathaway roughly guided Audrey to a chair.
"Start talking.  If we're involved in this mess, we want to know exactly what we've gotten ourselves into."
"I don't have the full story!" she protested.
"Neither do we, but maybe we can put the pieces together and figure it out."  I sighed.  Lane had been right about Hathaway not understanding a woman's heart.
"If we're in danger, we'd like to know," I added.  She looked down at her hands.
"Very well.  Asuka overheard Gendou talking to Tieria.  She told Mari and Rei, and the three of them figured out that it had something to do with 'garbage data' collected from NERV's research.  Tessa surmised that the breach that NERV had suffered was to transfer that garbage data to Celestial Being.  While the garbage data was transferred to Tieria, NERV quietly downloaded whatever was on Tieria's side.  They put the two pieces together, and came out with what could best be described as propaganda."
"That stuff on the computer?"  Hathaway motioned towards the news articles.
"Yes.  It's hard to believe that any government would allow this sort of behavior, let alone encourage it.  Mostly everyone who's familiar with this has come to the conclusion that the walkthrough and the supporting material was to serve as a warning of sorts."
"So not everyone," I chimed in.
"Amuro seems to think that everything should be taken at face value.  I'm not sure why he's so insistent on it.  We think that his house arrest is making him less rational than he normally is.  The other dissenter is Nine."
"Nine asked me to research conspiracy theories three years ago."
"You never told me that!"
"And why would I do that?" my roommate snapped in response.
"Nine is ultimately an AI, which means that she'll see patterns more readily than most.  But sometimes a pattern is just a coincidence."  Audrey stood up and paced.
"Something on your mind, princess?"  I couldn't tell if my roommate was being caring or sarcastic.
"If Nine is right, and someone has somehow managed to get a large number of people to follow a conspiracy, this answers the question of 'how'.  If Nine is wrong, then we're reading far too much into a fictional event, and we don't have time for that."
"How?" I echoed.
"Something like this needs to be broken down into pieces.  The 'what', for example, is 'a means of controlling the population with no questions asked.'  The 'how' is through whatever this author is describing, which sounds more like a bad story than anything  We are still not sure of the rest of the questions."
"In other words, someone took this crazy woman's words as an instruction manual," Hathaway concluded.
"If you want to be blunt about it."
"In which case, Nine's conclusion is correct."  Audrey and I stared at Hathaway.
"I don't follow," I mumbled.
"It doesn't matter whether or not this is someone's bad writing exercise or a factual retelling of events.  The people who we're up against think that it's real.  Therefore, we need to approach it as if it's real."
"You have a point," Audrey mused.
"Looks like we're fighting again, whether we like it or not," Hathaway concluded.
"But we're civilians!"
"Not that kind of fighting.  This is a battle of hearts and minds.  If we can stop whoever this is from flooding the world with crap, we should be able to keep things peaceful."

---

Once she'd said her farewells, Audrey walked down a footpath to a small clearing.  Here, she could speak her mind freely.

"Hey, school treating you well?"
"Always!  I saw Banagher today."
"How's he doing?"
"He looks more tired than Hathaway.  I wonder if I should ask him out on a date?"
"Going out with two guys at once?  You're ambitious!"
"I'm not dating Banagher!"
"You're going to create a love triangle."
"I-it feels like someone else wants us together!"
"Hathaway wasn't my idea of a good-looking guy when I last saw him, but maybe he grew into it."
"When he's with Banagher, he's the same as he was three years ago."
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"It's a good thing, trust me.  He's still a little sensitive, but having a friend who understands him has helped."
"Well, if that's your thing.  I gotta go.  Catch you later!"

Between school and this new incident, she had very little time to herself.  The first tinges of a fiery sunset graced the clouds above her, while the birds called to each other.  A little quiet time was always welcome!  Someone ran in front of her, completely oblivious to her presence.  She quietly moved behind a tree, and observed the newcomer.  He quickly glanced around, then jumped into the ditch.  A minute later, he climbed out.  Though she wasn't on a first-name basis with everyone from the journey three years ago, she'd somehow remembered the man's red hair, and his frequent arguments with Hathaway.

What was Lane doing in this school?

---

"On the phone again?"  What better place to hide than right under the nose of the people who were looking for your friends?  Thanks to the backing of a certain CEO, they were able to live comfortably in a small apartment not far from the Federation base.
"Yep!  Audrey figured out another question!"
"That's gotta be better than retrieving stuff from out of a ditch."
"You got the hard part.  I get to talk to my friends!"
"Don't remind me.  What did she have to say?"
"She figured out who the other target is.  It's Hathaway."
"Bernadette, this isn't funny."
"I'm not joking, and neither was she.  This future holds an anomaly, one that NCC didn't have."
"Oh?"
"Hathaway has a friend in Banagher.  Maybe you should be his friend too, Tobia."
"We're not supposed to exist yet!  We still have three months before we return to Kincade and Berah."
"Then let's wrap this up in three months!"

Chapter 41 - 4/230

Spoiler

"That's too many late nights for you," I chided.  My roommate rudely gestured towards me.  One of the upsides of his cold was that speaking hurt.
"Fine, I'll grab some chicken soup for you on my way back from class.  Did you need anything else?"  He shook his head.
"Get some rest."

---

I had an hour and a half before my next class began.  The cafeteria was busy, but the soup line was mercifully short.  It was almost my turn when a muted boom shook the cafeteria.  People ran out of the building.  If there was an explosion, it wasn't a big one, and it would've been relatively far away.  I grabbed my own lunch along with the chicken soup and walked out.  Smoke poured out from another building.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked the nearest person.
"An explosion in the science department.  I think the lab was empty."
"Which department?"  I ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"Chemistry."  Didn't Hathaway have a class at this time?  It took everything I had to hold on to the food I'd bought.
"Thanks!"  I hurried back as best as I could with two cups of soup.  Fortunately, I didn't spill a drop of either.

"You look worse than I do."  His words were punctuated by a cough.
"Take it easy.  Got your soup as requested."  His pained smile was all the thanks I'd get.  Someone knocked on the door.
"Audrey?  You're free?"  Her face was far whiter than I remembered.
"It's not that.  It's that explosion."
"That what?!"  Hathaway's words triggered a coughing fit.
"Oh.  Uh, there was an explosion in the lab next to your class.  I wasn't sure why you weren't outside of class, so I came here.  Even if you were elsewhere, Banagher comes back to his room for lunch."
"Thanks?"
"Are you going to your last class?"  I blinked in surprise.
"Why wouldn't I?  Midterms are coming up!"
"But it's chemistry."
"Maybe they'll relocate it?"  I turned my computer on and checked my messages.  Sure enough, class was in another building.
"It's not that.  I think that explosion was targeted."
"At us?  Why?"
"Call it a hunch.  Do you still have the receipt from lunch?"  I took the paper in question out of my pocket.
"What does a receipt have to do with anything?"
"Time stamps.  You're pinning yourself to certain locations at any given time.  And if you play a map and send a report, that's another time stamp."  I wasn't sure why we'd need to prove something like that, but if it made Audrey feel better, then perhaps it would be worth it.
"I'll call someone as well.  That'll be another witness."  Audrey nodded enthusiastically.

SR Point: Within 3 turns, defeat Zaku III Custom, Jagd Doga (Gyunei), Jagd Doga (Quess) and Geara Doga (Rezin).

Motor Amuro and some helpers to the left, and everyone else forward.  Arcadia also needs to go forward.  The enemies will run at you, and they'll clump.  Beat up two of the bosses, and the scene changes for the better.  Once Van spawns, have him dive the enemies to the right - they can't really hurt him at this point.  Amuro needs to snag kills on Quess and Gyunei, which shouldn't be too hard as long as Fin Funnels are active.  The most threatening enemy here is Mashymre, and that's just because he's bulkier than everyone else.  Though the map looks like pure chaos, most of the enemies aren't too bulky, and they'll go down in two solid hits.  Or one hit, if they picked a fight with a ticked-off Van.

Spoiler

"This was a welcome distraction."  Amuro's smile looked as tired as Hathaway no doubt felt.
"You're working way too hard," I teased.
"It's better than deliberately cutting class to play a video game."  His harsh words were blunted by a mischievous grin.
"Since Hathaway is sick, I had to read the strategy to Banagher," Audrey added.
"You're a horrible influence on her," the older man scolded.
"This was her idea!"
"You're a horrible influence on him!"  Audrey giggled, while I rolled my eyes.
"I gotta pee," came a hoarse grumble from behind me.
"I'll walk you to the bathroom," I offered.
"I can get there and back, mom.  Oh, hi Amuro."  Hathaway walked out of the door before I could point out that he was still in his night clothes.
"You weren't kidding when you said that he was sick.  Now what was this call really about?"  Amuro held up something similar to Lane's silver jammer.
"Explosion on campus.  Hathaway's class was next door.  I think someone will try to pin it on him."
"Why him?" I asked.
"Remember how history panned out in another dimension?  Someone wants to recreate a part of it."  I swallowed hard.
"In other words, force Hathaway to become what he doesn't want to, in the name of what?"  Amuro sounded confused.
"Keep the populace under control.  They're using another world as a template.  One where part of the populace believes an alternate reality, to the detriment of all."
"That's quite a leap."
"Leap or no, we're starting to see those same tactics here.  Letters in the newspaper alleging all sorts of nonsense.  Messages passed around between people, discussing things straight from that other world as if it was truth."
"And how do you know all this?" Amuro asked.
"I talk to a lot of people."  Audrey didn't break eye contact with the other man.
"Even if they put everything together--" Amuro started.
"Cheimin mentioned that some of the students are arguing with the teachers using the same talking points."
"Leave my sister out of this," Hathaway growled.  He shuffled towards bed.
"You should talk to her more often."  Audrey was not in an apologetic mood.
"How much of that did you hear?" I asked.
"Enough.  I'd sooner die than take on the title of Mufti."
"That's a relief."  A low beep sounded on the other end of the call.
"Your lunch break is over?" Audrey asked.
"Sadly.  I hope to speak with all of you again."  The screen went blank.

---

Audrey's impressive social network reached into places that the bigger organizations couldn't hope to breach.  The thought of kids repeating those poisoned talking points made him sick to the stomach.  It was one thing to convince an adult, but a child who didn't know better?  He reviewed the news clips and banal conversations again.  Then, he checked his jammer.  He'd have just enough time to relay a single message.  Time to make this count.

"Huh?  Aren't you normally busy?"
"Sorry.  Someone relayed a 'how' to me."
"I'm all ears."
"The schools.  Keep an ear out for employees whose kids complain about strange arguments with teachers."
"I'll do one better, and talk to the teachers myself."
"Thanks."  The jammer gave one final beep and fell silent.

Perhaps it was too late for his dimension.  Maito might be able to stop it in his, if he could pinpoint who was spreading those arguments.  He wasn't sure how he'd get the message to the final dimension, but he'd think of a way.

For the sake of all the dimensions, he'd have to.

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 42 complete, it's either really easy or a headache)

Sorry, I'm barely coherent.

Chapter 42 - 4/234

Spoiler

My heart jumped in my throat when I saw two police officers in my doorway.  Hathaway was in class, and wouldn't be back for another four hours.

"We have some questions we'd like to ask you, sir."
"I've got class in half an hour, and I can't afford to miss this one," I replied truthfully.  Midterms were tomorrow!
"This will only take a few minutes."  Sure enough, the questions pertained to the explosion a few days ago.  I had no reason to lie.  The officers didn't ask me for things like my cafeteria receipt.  Maybe they were questioning everyone who was in the area?
"Do you know the whereabouts of Lane Aime?"  I blinked in confusion?
"What?"  Where did that question come from?
"Mr. Aime is a person of interest, and hasn't been seen since the explosion.  We would like to question him.  If he contacts you, please let us know."  The two officers turned and left.

What was that about?

SR Point: Within 4 turns defeat all enemies, saving A-Pys Art for last.

On Sagiri's route, this SR Point isn't too bad, due to how the map is laid out.  But on Saizo's route?  Think Chapter 16 of Awakening.  That's right, things spawn at inconvenient times, and they spawn to the left and right.  Thus, have the Arcadia, Nadesico, Tyranado Rex, and a couple of other units go down the center, and have your other units go to the left or right.  Make sure to split your heavy hitters, because there's battleships mixed into those reinforcements.  Your job is to get your ExC as high as possible, then spam Multi Action/Restore Action to wipe out the generic enemies.  Once the boss is all alone, pummel him using your strongest attacks with Valor/Soul.  Make sure Saizo gets the killing blow!

This will most likely end up being the mother of all clean-up operations on turn 4.  Shin Getter Robo can delete most of a battleship's health with Shin Shine Spark on Valor.  Your other units can take care of the small guys.  Don't underestimate the girls on this map - Pricilla and Angela can rip through enemy's health.  If Shiro has his Ace bonus and you took the Soul/Valor cost reduction in the customization options, his Valor will be 25 SP (read: amazing).  Hopefully Shiro is in Great Mazinger, because Thunder Break hits extremely hard.  Van makes amazing bait on this map, and he should be able to hit 170 Morale if he dives the enemy and uses Wall.

If you can deal with the reinforcements in a timely manner, you'll win the map.  Good luck!

Spoiler

"The police came here?"  Hathaway looked confused.
"Why wouldn't they?"
"They held my class over time in order to question us.  They said they would get to the dorms after they finished with everyone on campus."  I felt my gut drop to my feet.  Who were those people?  Before I had time to properly think about it, someone knocked on my door.  Lane was rudely thrown into the room, followed by someone who looked vaguely familiar.
"What the hell?" Lane protested weakly.
"This is what a traitor like you deserves!"  Something flashed brightly, and Lane cried out.
"Couldn't you do this somewhere else?" Hathaway snapped.  Lane held his arm and glared at the stranger in the room.
"For once, I agree with that idiot," the man on the ground growled.
"You're the one that wanted a show," the stranger grumbled.
"Uh, who are you?" I asked tentatively.
"Kids these days.  Can't be bothered to remember their betters."
"Better at being rude?  Definitely."  Leave it to my roommate to antagonize a stranger.
"The name's Yazan, you brat."  My mind drew a blank.
"He was part of G-Hound, and went with us to the Iscandar system," my roommate explained, annoyance in his voice.
"Oh.  Sorry."  Why would I remember someone like him?
"Why are the two of you here?"
"Need to make a phone call, and you guys have the phone."
"Doesn't Lane have a phone?" I asked no one in particular.
"Not that kind of phone!"  Hathaway rolled his eyes, and turned the computer on.
"This had better be good!" the irate lady on the other end snapped.
"Since when did they hire a blond bimbo?" Yazan demanded.
"Since when did they hire a pig?" she shot back.
"Is this how they normally talk?" I asked Lane.  He shrugged.
"And you had to get those kids involved too.  You're so rude!"
"I know how to do my job, unlike someone who was clearly hired for her figure."
"The two of you are acting like children," Hathaway interrupted.
"I apologize." Someone else had replaced the blond lady.
"About time I spoke to someone competent," Yazan grumbled.
"For the record, Beltorchika was hired for her aptitude, not her looks," the girl on the other end responded icily.
"Yes ma'am," came the insincere apology.
"What did you have to report?"
"Found the leak."  Yazan hauled Lane to his feet.
"He was the one providing us with the reports."  Tessa rubbed her eyes.
"He was also providing the Federation with the whereabouts of your drop points.  That thing they stuck in his arm had a positioning system.  I've neutralized it.
"
"They never told me about that!"
"Of course they wouldn't.  They had to have some recourse in case you disobeyed orders."
"It's, uh, nice to see that you're doing well, Tessa.  What's going on?"  I hated being in a conversation and not knowing what was going on.
"Long story short, the people who declared us a terrorist group are on the move, and they're trying to get you out of the picture."
"Me?"  I pointed dumbly at myself.
"The story behind that is horribly twisted.  Yazan can explain it."  Tessa's sharp look at the other man indicated that her words were more than a suggestion.
"Fine, I'll do it after we're done here."
"Has anything unusual happened since the incident on your campus?"
"Uh, yeah.  Two police officers came to my dorm during lunch and questioned me.  The last thing they said was that Lane was a person of interest, and to contact them if I saw him.  Except they didn't leave me a business card or anything.  Hathaway said that the police were questioning the people in class during that time, not the dorms."  Tessa's jaw set.
"You were lucky that they were idiot grunts.  If they had any sort of brains, they would've grabbed you right then and there," Yazan piped up.
"I think the 'police' were ordered to break into your room.  That plan was ruined when Banagher answered the door.  They had to make an excuse, so they used Lane's disappearance as their cover story."
"We had contact with him, though."
"Banagher, do you know the names of everyone on your floor?"  I shook my head.
"I didn't introduce myself to anyone else."  Lane's hand hadn't moved from his arm.
"In other words, they had to be people that already knew that Lane had made contact with us.  Like the people who sent him on his assignment."  Good for Hathaway, putting the pieces together.
"Close enough.  It looks you'll have company in fifteen minutes.  Now's the time to make your exit."  Yazan nodded and cut the connection.
"Story time will have to wait.  Catch you later."  Yazan quickly exited.
"Did he tell you anything about this supposedly twisted story?" Hathaway asked Lane.
"Something about how they're trying to make you play your role as Mufti.  Your existence will be the excuse needed to control the populace."  Lane shook his head.
"That makes no sense," I muttered.
"Neither did Yazan.  Why'd he have to kidnap me?  I need a bath.  Later."  Lane dragged himself out of the room.
"What the hell is going on?"  Hathaway swore profusely.
"Fancy spending the night with Audrey at my mom's house?"
"Excuse me?"
"Their ultimate goal is me.  You're in the way of their goal.  Which means that they'll find a way to get rid of you.  And what better way to do that than to go after Audrey?"
"You think she's in danger?"
"You don't?  I'll call my mom.  You get Audrey."

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone interested please join the SRW V draft, I look forward to obtaining the true ending with nothing but Jegans!  😛

Secret Scenario 4 - 4/238

Spoiler

The three of us stayed at Hathaway's house during midterms.  At least we didn't have to worry about meals!  Audrey was more than happy to explain a few things in my literature notes.  I returned the favor with some things I remembered from my history class.  Hathaway mostly kept to himself, because one of his midterms required "everything he had", in his words.

"And we're back," I greeted the empty room.
"Looks like we had visitors."  Hathaway pointed to the computer monitor.  The screen was nothing more than shards of broken glass.  I silently thanked our past selves for packing the computer, black box, and game console.
"So much for contacting most of our friends.  At least the television's intact!"

SR Point: None

This is another "inflate someone's kill count" map, and I chose Ray.  This map is plenty doable in three turns, but the extra turn was used to feed Ray more kills.  He didn't quite get his ace bonus here, but Joe did!  The golems can't move and fire at the same time, so use that to your advantage!

Spoiler

"Huh?  What are you doing here?"  The person at the other end of the door put a finger to his lips.  He took out what looked like a ruler, and narrowed his eyes when the device lit up.  He walked to my bed, reached under the box spring, and took out yet another listening device.  I rolled my eyes, while he broke the wafer-thin board in half.
"I heard that you had visitors, but I never expected them to leave such a mess," Tusk grumbled, motioning towards the broken monitor.
"We locked the door before we left."
"These locks are very easy to pick.  Want me to demonstrate?"  Tusk held up a piece of metal.
"We believe you," I hastily explained.
"Convenient for you to be in the area."
"After all you two have been through, I don't blame you for being suspicious.  Someone else noticed that your door was wide open, and called campus security.  We happened to intercept the call.  I came here to examine your electronic devices, but your monitor speaks for itself.  Whoever broke into your room was sloppy."
"We?"  Tusk nodded.
"You have more allies than you realize.  The two of you are civilians, which means you can't fight, officially.  Due to your unique assignment, you can communicate across dimensions."
"In other words, we're passing messages to your buddies," Hathaway concluded.
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"Not at all!"  If whoever-it-was already saw us as a target, then we were no longer mere civilians.
"Your door's open again?"  Lane stood outside.  From the blank look on his face, he wasn't familiar with Tusk.
"You were the one that called security?"  Tusk didn't know Lane, either.
"I saw those two leave.  They're not stupid enough to keep their door wide open."  Hathaway opened his mouth to say something.  I punched his arm.
"It's like something's keeping the door from shutting properly," Lane mumbled.  Tusk peered at something in the doorway.
"What's this?  A series of numbers?"  He removed a wadded-up piece of paper.  Lane tried the door again.  This time, it stayed closed.
"The first part looks like shorthand for a phone number on the base.  Not sure what the next four numbers represent.  The last part looks like today's date."  Lane looked at his watch.  So did Hathaway.
"That time happens in about five minutes," Hathaway spat out.  Lane looked mildly offended.  Tusk's attention was centered on a cord he'd yanked from the console.
"This is a weird-looking plug.  I wonder if it would fit in your computer," he muttered.  Before anyone could object, he plugged the computer in, then turned the TV on.
"We can use the TV as a monitor?!"  Everyone that wasn't Tusk looked just as shocked as I felt.
"I didn't know it was possible until now.  Let's try that number!"
"Just a moment.  Whoever stuffed that into the door frame will most likely expect Banagher and Hathaway.  The two of us should hide somewhere."
"Since when did you have reasonable suggestions?" Hathaway snapped.
"Save it for after our call," I responded wearily.
"Please enter the passcode," a mechanical voice on the other end ordered.  Hathaway entered four numbers, most likely the sequence we couldn't place.  We must've done something right, because the voice was replaced by ringing
"About time you two figured it out."  It was Jerid!
"Nice to hear from you too.  Were you the one that broke our monitor?"  My roommate didn't pull any punches.
"Yeah.  Sorry.  Was ordered to destroy your computer, but I couldn't find it.  I can be forgiven for being too stupid to tell the difference between a computer and a monitor, right?"  I shook my head.
"Yeah, we'll live.  Why'd you leave your number?"
"It's about Lane.  His job is to keep an eye on everything you guys do.  All that he sees and hears gets reported back to the Federation."
"You're a little late there."  Lane popped out from under my bed.
"What--" Jerid began.
"You're the last person on our project that hasn't been imprisoned or otherwise gone missing.  And what the hell happened to your face?"  Jerid did his best to hide the bruise on the left side of his face.
"It's, uh, nothing."
"The Federation was only given one device, and that was assigned to Amuro.  Why do you have it?"  Tusk did not look amused.
"Amuro's been kidnapped.  I managed to snag this device before the other Federation goons got to it.  No telling what they'd do to something like this."
"Back up a bit.  Amuro?  Kidnapped?"  Everyone else looked as shocked as I felt.
"The last surveillance footage we have is two people carrying Amuro out.  He apparently put up a fight, but lost."
"That's hard to believe," I muttered.
"It sounds like he was outnumbered."  My roommate didn't seem the least bit surprised.
"Who are you taking orders from?" Lane asked.  The connection abruptly cut.
"Someone doesn't want us to know the answer."  Instead of his usual sharp response, my roommate looked down while idly tapping his fingers against his cheek.
"If something had happened to Amuro, we'd be reassigned.  Jerid claims that Amuro is no longer in the picture, so there's no telling who he answers to now."  Lane's brow was furrowed.
"Jerid's answers felt forced.  Almost as if he wanted to help, but knew that he was being watched," Tusk added.
"Someone beat him up, and badly.  He doesn't seem like the type to lose a fist fight."  Hathaway looked up.
"That explains it."
"That explains what?"  I said at the same time as Lane.
"Jerid was imprisoned shortly after Lane was reassigned.  Meanwhile, Amuro disappears.  Jerid must've somehow convinced his superiors that he could get more information out of us than Lane.  Which he did."
"How?"
"Our reaction to the news that Amuro was missing.  Banagher made it clear that he had no clue what was going on."
"Thanks," I growled.
"Hey everyone, be quiet," Tusk snapped.  No one had bothered to close the program the black box used.  The words "Audio only" flashed on the TV.  Someone pressed down on a key.  Then silence for a second.  Then another press.  Lane looked at his watch and wrote something down.  Once the tones stopped, he nodded, and Hathaway shut the computer down.
"That's even weirder.  Why in the world would he do that?"  Lane flipped the paper around.  It was another phone number, along with another time.
"We call this number in two hours?" I asked.
"I need to do my laundry," Lane abruptly announced before leaving.
"I'm free for the rest of the day."  Tusk sat heavily on Hathaway's bed, much to the latter's displeasure.
"We have enough time for a leisurely lunch.  Did you like soggy tacos or overdone hamburgers?" I asked.

 

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  • 4 months later...

Have I been busy?  Of course.  But it doesn't mean I'm gonna forget this!  I have a story to finish dammit.

Chapter 43 Independent Action - 4/242

SR Point: Defeat all enemies within 3 turns

Spoiler

"You went with the stew that's almost thin enough to be tomato soup," my roommate complained.
"They were out of your other favorites."  I took a bite out of my own serving.  Despite its uninspiring appearance, the vegetables weren't too overdone and the flavor was more robust than canned tomatoes.
"Lucky me," Tusk commented.  He opened a lunch box, which contained everything from a couple of pieces of fried chicken to rice decorated with black sesame seeds to pickled vegetables.
"Now you're showing off."  Hathaway's words were muffled by his lunch.
"I'm not stupid enough to turn down Ersha's cooking!"

---

"Are you sure the two of you can skip class?"
"We're the ones in charge of this computer.  Even if we know that you're a good guy, Tusk, we can't just let you have free reign over it."  I nodded in agreement.
"I let my professor know.  He's been pretty understanding about everything," I added.  Someone knocked, and I rose to answer the door.
"Why do you look surprised?  I want to see this through, too."  I moved out of the way, and Lane brushed past me.
"If you guys don't go to class, why not get a job or something?" Tusk asked.
"Don't compare me to those slackers!"
"Excuse you, I'm almost done with the next semester," Hathaway shot back.
"Don't kiss in front of our guest," I reminded them.
"They kind of remind me of Ange and Hilda," Tusk muttered.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" the two in question yelled simultaneously.

The SR Point refers to the first wave of enemies, who go down fairly quickly.  I had Amuro and Judau bring down their respective sub-bosses after the scene change, because I don't remember how close I was to getting Best Zaku.  The good thing about Independent Action is that you don't lose points from either side.

Spoiler

"The hell is this?"  The person on the other end looked like he was two cups of coffee away from a good day.
"Aren't you guys supposed to be in deep space?" Hathaway asked slowly.
"Ryoma kept asking us if we were there yet, so we turned this ship around," Hayato teased.
"Oh screw you!" Ryoma roared.
"The communication shouldn't have ended here."
"C'mon Kei, say hi to them!" Benkei yelled offscreen.
"Um, hi," came a small voice, also offscreen.
"Hi Kei!" Tusk shouted.
"What do we do?"  I couldn't see Gai, but I could hear him just fine.
"Maybe we could--" Ryoma started.
"Plan B."  Must be the sixth member of the Getter crew.
"Go's right.  Still no response."  This time, Kei appeared on screen.  Was she getting enough sleep?
"It's as if the destination never existed," Hayato added.
"That sounds bad," I blurted out.
"Yes and no.  It means they had time to destroy their equipment before they disappeared," Benkei explained.
"Or haul it off.  Bah, who cares."  Ryoma shook his head.
"I've got a response.  Transferring everything over."  The four of us shot nervous looks at each other as Kei did whatever she was supposed to.
"Hey guys, it worked!"  Mondo waved, then motioned for someone else to come over.
"Uh, hi.  We're the next point of contact," Iino explained sheepishly.
"Really?  They couldn't have routed us to someone more competent?" Lane grumbled.
"Who invited that wet blanket?" Elle snapped.
"C'mon, we're qualified for this!  We've been briefed and everything!" Beecha insisted.
"This isn't going to end well."  Tusk buried his head in his hands.
"Don't touch that!"  The picture briefly flickered.
"Shinji?" I asked tentatively.
"Oh, hey, long time no see."  Shinji's features hadn't changed much, but he'd definitely hit his growth spurt!
"Mind explaining what is going on?" Hathaway snapped.
"Oh, you.  Alright.  First, this conversation is also being broadcast to the Jupiter base where your friends are.  They can't say anything, but they're listening."
"Hi!" I yelled.  Shinji turned away for a moment.
"Judau and Riddhe say hi."  The screen moved, and showed Beecha on the phone.
"Are you sure that this can't be intercepted?"
"Yes, Lane.  I built this one myself.  Back to what happened.  Because there's a Federation base here, it didn't take much for Kaworu to modify some equipment there, so Riddhe could listen in on things above his pay grade.  Once he learned of the latest operation to capture Mithril, he immediately informed me.  I relayed the message to Tessa, who was able to safely move everything well before the Federation barged in.  You were supposed to contact Tessa, but they're already gone.  Shangri-La is the next point of contact."
"That's pretty impressive."  Tusk let out a low whistle.
"I'm thankful that Jerid figured out the coded message Amuro left in case of an emergency, and relayed it to the two of you.  Yazan was sure that he'd pull it off somehow, and it looks like his faith wasn't misplaced."
"What happened to Amuro?" I asked.
"Mithril felt that his mental state had deteriorated too far, and was drawing up plans to break him out, but someone else interfered.  I'm not sure what happened after that."
"If I may."  Nine's face suddenly appeared to the side.
"How'd you get in?!" Shinji half-yelled.
"You did a good job of setting things up.  If I wasn't intimately familiar with this technology, I wouldn't have been able to break in.  Amuro is currently staying with Sanada."
"You guys were the ones responsible?" the four of us said more-or-less at the same time.
"We monitored Amuro's connection because it was the one leaking the most data.  The people who kidnapped him were the ones you're fighting.  Soji, Kodai, and Shima intercepted them, and brought Amuro to this dimension.  He should be safe here."
"What do we do about our reports?" I asked.  The walkthrough had a handful of sentences about the route split, and I had no trouble getting through it.
"Send them as you always would.  It'll be routed to the appropriate command hub."  I nodded at Shinji's instructions.
"I wonder what caused her to leave such a gap?" Nine mused.
"She's probably not a real person," Hathaway insisted.  Shinji nodded in agreement.
"Thanks for the info.  We've got a lot to think about," Tusk cut in.

 

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I don't know if I can do a chapter a day, but I'll damn well try!

Chapter 44 - 4/246

Spoiler

Car bombings.  Death threats.  Small, petty things that were far underneath Mithril, yet they stood accused of those recent acts.  This was what "they" used to control the narrative, and the public was eating it up like the good little consumers they were.  If "they" already had control of the press, then the battle may have already been lost in this dimension.  Who knows how long the others would hold out?  Fear always seemed to win in the end.  A group of cars pulled up in front of his building.  Just great.

He pressed a button under his desk and hoped that the people on the other end were paying attention.  A large group of uniformed soldiers graciously let themselves in.

"Gendou Ikari, please come with us."
"Why would I do that?"
"We would like to ask you a few questions about your relationship with Mithril."

SR Point: Defeat the Qubeley after defeating all enemies within 4 turns

It looks like a lot of units, but at this point your guys should one-shot most of them.  The line of battleships won't move for the first three turns, which IMO is the worst part of this map.  Luckily, a Soul-powered punch to the face will make them regret their decisions.  Make good use of Resolve, because you'll want to dance a battleship across the map and have them in range of as many of the enemy battleships as possible at the end of turn 2.  Meanwhile, use your MAP attacks to clean up and Multi Action your guys next to Haman.  She went down on turn 3 of this run.

The second part of this map is more of a formality.  Rush the boss and everything else will go boom.

Spoiler

"And that's what happened."  Asuka's usual arrogance was replaced by uncertainty.  They called while I was typing up my next report.  Thank goodness these maps were easy!
"Did you catch anything else?"  My roommate's demeanor hadn't changed.
"Whoever arrested him took his computer," Rei replied, quiet as usual.
"But they didn't find the microphone, or where it broadcasted to," Mari finished.  She also didn't sound particularly rattled.
"What now?"  It was meant to be a rhetorical question.
"Mr. Ikari suspected that he'd be arrested sooner or later, as bait."
"CHAN?!" both of us yelled.
"She can fill you in on how she got here later," Asuka cut in with a nervous wave of her hand.
"It's a story best told over coffee and donuts," the woman in question said with a wink.
"Okay.  But that doesn't explain anything," I grumbled.
"I promise I will, but is Lt. Aime around?"
"I'll get him," Hathaway volunteered.
"That was uncharacteristically friendly of him," I muttered.
"I didn't expect him to volunteer himself, but it works out.  You can relay the message to Lt. Aime.  Hathaway can't know about this."

The chain of events sounded plausible enough, but convincing Lane to do that?  All behind my friend's back?  Yet this was Gendou Ikari, someone who managed to let his "secret" arrest slip out, while keeping Shinji out of the way of everything.  It was an insane plan, but did we have anything else?

"All right."  The door opened.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"  Lane's reaction to Chan was what I expected.
"Long time no see, Lane.  Are you gaining weight?"
"S-shut up!"  I suppressed a giggle.
"Anyway, I wanted to let you know that you have allies in NERV.  I made sure of it myself."
"Like YOU get to take the credit."  Asuka sounded more like her normal self.
"It's more like you're an ally of NERV."  Mari's smile was unnerving.
"That means I answer to you?" Lane asked Chan with dismay.
"She's not so bad."  I wasn't sure if Rei's smile was meant to be reassuring or a promise of worse things to come.
"Easy for you to say.  I've got an early day tomorrow, so I need to get dinner now.  Nice talking to you."  Everyone waved, and Hathaway shut the connection down.
"Dinner?  I could use a bite myself.  You hungry?"  My roommate shook his head.

---

"That's insane."  Once out of earshot, I relayed the message I'd received from Chan.  Lane didn't seem thrilled by it.
"I don't get it either.  I'll play along, but there's no way that Hathaway would do this willingly."
"Even if he tried, it would be obvious that he was in on it.  He's a terrible liar."  I couldn't argue that.
"I hope Chan's prediction is wrong."
"Your classes run late on Monday and Wednesday?"  I nodded.  "Good."

 

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  • eclipse changed the title to Why am I playing Super Robot Wars T? Who cares, let's play it and attempt some creative writing along with a bit of a guide! (currently: Chapter 44 complete, I hope I get what I'm aiming for)

Chapter 45 - 4/250

Spoiler

Life went back to normal.  All the catching up I had to do kept me busy.  The news occasionally mentioned Mithril, but their supposed activities were now an afterthought, rather than the headline.  I hadn't expected my last class to run late, but someone in class had more questions than sense.  Still, the notes I took would hopefully make the next test easier.  After I dropped off my notes, I wanted to go to the cafeteria.  Tonight was coconut curry, one of the few things the campus cooks didn't completely ruin.

"RUN!"  It took a lot to make my roommate scream like that.  Instead, I froze.  Lane held a gun to my chest.
"Hands up."  Without a word, I complied.  My hands were roughly placed behind me and I heard the click of handcuffs.
"You said you'd leave him alone, you goddamn liar--AH!"  My roommate was silenced by a fist to the midsection.  He collapsed face-first into the ground, his wrists also bound by cuffs.
"If you cooperate, this will be quick.  If not, you'll end up like him."  Lane motioned to my prone roommate.
"What do you want?"

---

"That went according to plan," Chan muttered bitterly.
"It looks like they're headed to the base where you used to work," Misato noted.
"Good.  It'll be easier to rescue everyone."  The Federation IT department could learn a thing or two from NERV regarding old user accounts.  Or accounts created for testing.  The commands Chan typed in resulted in a blank screen with a cursor.  Even if someone checked the logs, it would look like a clueless user tried to send an email on a newly-made dummy account.

Chan silently hoped that the person on the other end of that account understood the message.

SR Point: Defeat Queen Mansa, α Azieru, Rewloola and Musaka within 4 turns saving Sazabi for last.

This one looks stupid, but only because the enemy is so spread out.  The other stupid part is that I need to feed Master Asia some kills here, and Roux didn't want to share.  Turn 2 was MAP attacks, because the enemies off to the right clumped together.  Two Homing Lasers and ES-Missiles later, and I managed to clear out most of the grunts.  From there, it was a matter of offing the bosses one by one.  Harlock has a conversation against the Rewloola, which in retrospect shouldn't be surprising.  Once Char goes down, you'll have to face him yet again, along with not-enough-fodder-for-Master-Asia.  I saved a couple of grunts for him, and along with the ludicrous amounts of ExC I had, was able to have him do his kill count thing between the end of turn 3 and turn 4.  Char is unreasonably bulky, so use System Seizure before exploding the SR Point objectives and have a spare Analyze when he returns.

Spoiler

Audrey had been caught in this farce as well.  I had a lot to say to her, but not in front of the guards that rode with us.  The thing that Lane had placed under my socks itched, and it took everything I had to keep myself from scratching it.  Hathaway spent his time glaring daggers at me.  What did he expect me to do, get into a fist fight that I'd lose?  It would've ended the same, except I'd have more injuries.  At least I had the option of running, should the opportunity present itself.

The truck stopped briefly, then started moving again.  After the truck arrived at its destination, we were rudely shoved out, then roughly guided towards another door.  We walked down a hall, then past a security camera, its red light staring back at me.  We walked for several more minutes through a maze of hallways.  I silently hoped that Hathaway had paid attention to where we were, because I was lost.  Something clattered down another hall.  Good to know that someone in this base was human and prone to error.  Smoke stung my lungs and obscured my vision.  A hand grabbed my shoulder and guided me down yet another hall and into a room.  Then something clicked, and my hands were free.  I hastily rubbed my eyes.  Audrey stood nearby.  Someone ripped something off my ankle, and I yelped in surprise.

"Hey, take it easy!"  I KNEW that voice!
"Kamille?!  What are you doing here?!"
"This patch was the reason why you were able to stay on your feet."
"Why would Lane do that?"  Audrey held her patch up.  She wore a frown.
"That other patch was supposed to go on Hathaway.  Why'd he put it on you?"
"Lane arrested the three of us, then put patches on Audrey and me, even though he was supposed to put it on Hathaway?  That means he was working with whoever you're working for."  Hanging around both Hathaway and Audrey had taught me to look at what happened before trying to connect the proverbial dots.
"It's complicated."  Not what I expected out of Kamille, but better than an outright rejection.
"No kidding.  Just who are you working for, anyway?"
"Mithril," Audrey answered.
"That means NERV really is working with Mithril."  Kamille laughed.
"NERV is interested in its own ends, and world supremacy by a bunch of lunatics works against that.  That's their only reason for helping Mithril."
"And Mithril's reason for doing all this?" I asked.
"Tessa wants to keep tabs on all three dimensions.  What better way than to cooperate with Nine?"
"I hate politics," I grumbled.
"How would you know that NERV and Mithril are working together?"  Audrey regarded me with a pointed look.  Oops.
"Chan asked me to relay a strange message to Lane.  Shortly afterwards, Lane arrests us."  It was close enough to the truth.
"That would explain why you were so calm on the way over."  I'd forgotten just how scary she could be once she felt that someone wasn't telling her the truth.
"He's a civilian, just like I was.  We're not supposed to get mixed up in plots to take over the world."  Kamille's words seemed to calm her down.
"What do we do now?"
"We wait.  These offices are supposed to be vacant, so no one should enter."
"Perhaps we should wait further back.  People take wrong turns," Audrey pointed out.  I nodded in agreement.

---

The good guys need to block every attack.  The bad guys only need to get through once.

Those words ran through his mind as he gave his report.  He recognized the old geezer on the other end, someone high up enough that few would dare to challenge him.  He was commended for his quick thinking, trading a worthless has-been princess for their prize.  Once his report was finished, he was dismissed.  He looked up at the security cameras, their green lights indicating that they were in working order.  Of course they would be, he'd done his best to get rid of all the alternate accounts his former superiors had put into place.  Even the ones they didn't know he knew.  One camera down the hall sported a red light.  Then another.  That was no good.  Perhaps that newly-made account was responsible.  He'd been asked to get rid of all accounts from his superiors that he knew of at the time, so it wasn't his fault if a more recent account slipped through.  It wasn't his business any longer.  His final orders had been to deliver Mufti to them, and that's just what he did.  After the fifth non-operational camera, he let the device he held on to slip from his fingers.  It landed on the floor with a clatter.  He walked until the sixth malfunctioning camera, and looked behind him.  The floor was empty.  Good.

The others may never forgive him, but giving the Federation what they asked for in exchange for the person pulling their strings was a good deal in his books.  He'd obtained the information that Mithril asked for.  Now it was up to them to change Hathaway's fate.

 

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