Battle Mastery: All enemies destroyed within 3 player turns
TLI has lost contact with Langley Base, and the war seems to be going poorly. Not the Neo DC war here, though that's bad; some sort of alien force that teleports and uses stolen Earth mechs. Gilliam has warned TLI to evacuate two prototypes code-named Gold and Silver to keep them out of alien hands. Also, the Grungust Type 3 units are being evacuated.
In the hanger, Master Rishu asks Kusuha to escort the transport in her Grungust Type 2 while he takes care of TLI. Sleigh and Ibis come in arguing about the RAM (Rapid Acceleration Mobility Break) maneuvers and whether Ibis can pull them off. Filio explains Ibis's “Shooting Star” nickname, which makes Master Rishu think of Ryusei's name, which actually means that. In the middle of all this, the Inspectors arrive.
Nice to see a relatively easy BM. Sleigh casts Focus, Kusuha casts Guard, and they fly off to the northeast to intercept the Gunsects. Kusuha transforms into the G-Hawk for movement. She turns back on turn 2 to use the more powerful Boost Knuckle available to the Type 2. Kusuha's TK Barrier and Guard mean the enemy can't scratch her once she gets her Will above 110 and the only enemy standing when turn 3 starts has under 200 HP.
Now it gets tricky. Vigagi is here with his dragon mech. Suddenly, a mysterious black Huckebein appears with Trombe! playing. The pilot even calls the mech Trombe. It must be El- No, wait, it's some guy with goofy glasses calling himself Ratsel Feinschmecker, “the Mysterious Gourmet.” He seems to know Filio, and that disguise is fooling exactly no one. The TLI scientists decide to stay behind to safeguard their data, and ask Ratsel to take one Grungust Type 3 unit and a new Colossal Sword to someone, we all know who. Finally, Ibis takes off with a Tausendfussler that has reach the eastern edge of the map.
Vigagi brought friends: mostly Huckebein Mk II Ms with handful of tanks and jets here and there. Getting Ratsel a lot of kills here and one or two other stages is half of unlocking a not-terribly-interesting secret (the other half is leveling a lot of pilots I don't use much), but he has a good ace bonus that's worth working for here. He has a Graviton Rifle that's very powerful, gravity-based, and has no Will-requirement. I'm not sure if you get to keep it later.
It is of course grossly unfair that “allied” units' turns come after the enemy have had a chance to shoot them. The Tausendfussler has all of 677 HP left when it gets to move, but Ibis can patch it up with Faith. While the transport waddles on its way, Ratzel and Kusuha get pounded taking out grunts and dodging Vigagi. Kusuha takes Ibis's last casting of Faith, but the transport is well on its way with nearly no pursuers left alive. Even Ibis manages to kill something before the stage ends.
Inside, TLI, Vigagi finds none of the top-tier mechs he'd been looking for, and a bit of mess data-wise. It'll take two weeks to compile and summarize it all... and anyone trying to take it without the codes will just delete it. Or so the boffins claim and Master Rishu thinks no one's stupid enough to buy it. Vigagi at least acts like he does, though.
On the Tausendfussler, Ratsel advises the crew to head north, where the Hiryu will be coming down near Lake Superior while denying he has anything to do with Rai's brother. Sleigh argues with Tsugumi about their near-term goals and discovers that the latest Project TD Astelion protype isn't red, meaning it's not meant for her, and takes off in her Calion The stage ends with you receiving a Generator, Solar Panel, Hybrid Armor, and a Tesla Drive, along with a some weapons. One is a Mind Blast, which falls under my usual opinion of status effect weapons in this game. It seems to block the enemy from casting SP commands, but that is very rare.
I take the chance to teach Ratsel SP Regen and Attacker. His natural skills are very very good: Focus, Hit & Away, Gunfight 4, and Genius, which increases accuracy and evasion. The Huckebein Mk III Trombe doesn't need too many upgrades, but I'll give it a few points of mobility just to be safe.
Kusuha learns SP Regen and Attacker, with one skill slot left open. Her Grungust gets some energy and HP, but it's not a mech I should dump too much cash into.
Finally, Ibis learns SP Regen and Hit & Away, with one skill slot left open. The Calion and Astelion are very much built around mobility and I like units that can shoot and scoot.
