Forewords
This chapter's Forewords have nothing to do with the storyline of Metal Slug: Mercenaries, but rather, my progress on restoring my lost Metal Slug Defense data.
My original deck consisted of, in order: Sandbag, Morden Bus, Regular Army Helicopter, Donald Morden, Leona, King, Parachute Truck, Slug Armor, Black Hound and Cyborg Allen O'Neil.
My current deck consists of, in order: Sandbag, Morden Bus, Gen Morden Ver Di-Cokka, Slug Gigant, Leona, King, Parachute Truck, Slug Armor, Black Hound and Slug Trolley.
I've replaced the Regular Army Helicopter with the Slug Gigant since there's no way to get it back again, Donald Morden with Gen Morden Ver Di-Cokka because that guy in a Di-Cokka is actually more useful and more resistant to knockback (but standard attacks are slower, much to my disappointment), and Cyborg Allen O'Neil with Slug Trolley because it is cheaper and faster producing (although not as fast moving, I admit).
But, hanging out around the Metal Slug Defense Guide blog by a Korean blogger called Hyun has taught me something else about my current deck: 1)Hyun thinks that the Morden Bus isn't that useful due to how weak the Rebel soldiers were (at least better than the other spawners, though), and 2) The Slug Trolley was only useful in Single-Player, it gets destroyed very easily in PVP, and 3)Hyun himself doesn't think this way, but in my opinion, the Slug Armor is completely useless against Huge Hermit (especially that upgraded version from Extra World 3 stage 7 which I dubbed Huge Hermit Mk2) because that thing is only capable of Close Quarter Combat, and Huge Hermit chews up melee-only units more than it eats breakfasts.
Chapter 8: Sinking Feeling, part 1
Time: 0500 Hour; 31st of December, 2040.
Location: Somewhere over the Indian Ocean.
After getting airlifted from Beijing, the Red Eagles took about two hours to recover as the cargo plane took them not eastwards toward Regular Army Command in Virginia, USA, but westwards toward the middle of the Indian Ocean. The Red Eagles just assumed that another mission will be conducted soon, and said nothing about it.
"Boy, was I glad to be away from that land battleship..." Jason recalled the battle with Big Shiee from back at Beijing.
"Yeah, do tell me..." Jenny took her turn to comment on the same thing. "...If the Regular Commandos have had a similar problem in the past decade."
"Can we all forget about that much hated battle?" Ash attempted to break up the conversation by complaining. "All we know is that this cargo tanker just suddenly appeared in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and Regular Command traced it all the way back to a RAP facility in Kamchatka, Russia that just self-destructed two hours ago..."
"The cargo tanker in question has somehow went through the maritime territories of Japan, South Korea, China and The Philippines without either countries detecting it on their radars." Mina explained the main point of the next mission to everyone. "It would've slip past the Regular Army's noses were it not for the crew of a Malaysian aircraft carrier seeing 'a suspicious civilian cargo ship' with their naked eyes."
"Yeah, it makes you wonder anyway how the RAPs were able to pull that off. Even the presence of the Future Rebels does not begin to explain it." The pilot of the plane, Flynn Taggart cuts in via the intercoms. "That being said, we should all get ready to HAHO Jump. We're nearing the cargo ship in question."
"Yeah, we should..." Jason agreed. As he was about to put on a parachute pack, something caught his attention immediately. "Wait a minute... 'we'?"
The door to the cockpit opened, and out came the man that was supposed to be the pilot of the plane. "President Drippiek suddenly told Regular Command that he wanted me and my buddy, Leon Chan to join the four of you in every mission starting with this one."
The Red Eagles looked at the rear end of the cargo plane, and sees the Asian-American mercenary they can only assume is the Leon Chan mentioned.
"I'll be honored to work alongside you." Leon told the Red Eagles.
The Red Eagles turned back toward Flynn, and all gave the deadpan look at the same time.
"I think we all better keep our mouth shut whenever we're around the Regular Commandos..." Ash commented with deadpan. "Marco and his friends are not gonna like having their spotlight stolen yet again."
...
Mission Briefing
I do hope you've took enough rest on they way from Beijing, Red Eagles, because you're going to be running some more within a few minutes.
As you know, the RAP Joint Forces have suddenly deployed a seemingly unarmed cargo ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where nothing of notable interest have shown up so far. Regular Army's SPARROWS Intelligence Unit traced its origins all the way back to the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, but the RAP facility there somehow self-destructed before we can even begin a UAV surveillance on it. Failing to identify the true purpose of the facility, we have decided to try and identify the cargo ship in question.
When the results came in, SPARROWS said they were surprised at the cargo ship being one usually used by Kanegawa Military Industries, the Japanese military contractor that funded the Super Vehicles program since the First Morden War. Apparently, KMI reported to us that one of their cargo ships went missing off the east coast of Japan a week ago, and we've hit a dead end on the search and investigation until two hours ago where it suddenly appeared where you were being taken to.
Your mission will be as follows: HAHO Jump and land on the bow of the cargo ship, where you will then proceed to fight your way through the occupying RAP Joint Force troops. You will then proceed to the bridge of the ship and find out what happened to the ship a week ago as well as where it is currently headed. But beware, the exterior of the ship may be guarded by enemy aircrafts including two massive ones we are currently unable to identify. Use maximum firepower against those big ones if necessary.
One last point: for some reason, President Balthazar Drippiek has decided that the four of you are better off being accompanied by Leon Chi-Ming Chan and Flynn "Mack" Taggart. Why he specifically named those two men is not something I am able to answer at the moment. However, you will soon learn that the two of them can be valuable to your missions, especially when you're in a tight situation.
That is all. Godspeed...
...
Leon Chi-Ming Chan and Flynn "Mack" Taggart joins the party!
MISSION SEVEN START!
Location: Stern Deck, Kanegawa Military Industries cargo ship "Orochi"; somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
The Red Eagles and their two newest teammates performed a flawless and uninterrupted HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) Jump and landed on the deck of the stern of the cargo ship, which is apparently named the Orochi, as the Japanese Hiragana on one of the nearby life rafts read out. There were no RAP patrols near the stern at the moment, but the mercenaries (although Flynn and Leon were technically considered as Marines) were being quiet with packing up their parachutes anyway.
The mercenaries double-checked their equipment just in case. The weirdness of Flynn "Mack" Taggart's equipment drew the attention of the Red Eagles.
"Okay, just how on earth do you fit that thing in your pocket?" Jason asked the over-equipped Marine soldier.
Flynn took note of the Red Eagles mercenary while the former was... somehow stuffing an energy gun that, including its power-supplying backpack, is bigger than the Marine himself into his pocket. "Maybe because I'm the protagonist of a First Person Shooter?"
"This isn't Call Of Duty, you know..." Jenny throws in a comment.
Ash looked over the guard rails at the back of the ship stern, only to immediately take a step back to avoid being seen by a passing-by Hover Vehicle. "Yeah, we better keep an eye out above our heads..." He told the others.
...
Getting to the bridge of the Orochi was no easy feat. First of all, although the Red Eagles and Marines' side of the deck is on an elevation only a meter below the deck where the bridge is, there is a gap between the two positions that are too far away for even an Ostrich Slug to clear; secondly, there are no shortcuts, not even improvised ones, which means the mercenaries will have to take the long way and face tons of RAP troops; thirdly and lastly, it would seem that one of the two "big ones" mentioned in the AI CO's briefing is sticking around above the bridge (the environment is too dark for anyone to see what the massive airplane looked like).
"Some lousy way to spent New Year's Eve..." Flynn complained as he walked down a stair that leads to a lower deck.
Of course, just like any military operations, the Red Eagles and Marines were almost instantly spotted by an enemy. In this case, a Pirate.
The Pirate took potshots at the mercenaries with his flintlock pistol, but none of them hits.
Jason was about to retaliate with his handgun when Leon Chan suddenly whips out a Shotgun and blasted the Pirate's head clean off.
"Holy sh..." Jenny exclaimed in surprise. "Where did you get that Shotgun?"
Leon cocked the Shotgun once, ejecting a spent shell before replying, "Well, Fio always carried a spare Heavy Machine Gun with her into missions."
There was no doubt that the ruckus has drawn unwanted attention. In this case, it was an Amadeus Syndicalist who freaked out before running off.
"Speaking of which, what were pirates doing around here, anyway?" It was Flynn who wondered about the question.
"Weren't you in the Intelligence Unit? The Amadeus Syndicate did get help from Pirates the last time they hijacked a cargo ship." Ash answers.
Realizing what the chainsaw-toting mercenary said was correct, the Marine slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, how can I forget about it? That slaps me on the head..."
...
The next thing the Red Eagles and Marines came across was a Patrol Robot... Along with a Rebel Walker that suddenly jumped down from the deck above, which then deploys a miniature attack satellite to fire energy shots at the mercenaries with.
"Incoming!" Jason dodged the shots of the Rebel Walker's miniature attack satellite (which seems to self-destruct after just firing a few shots), and then fires a bullet straight into the weaponized lens of the Patrol Robot before it can fire its laser beam.
Ash and Mina both rushed toward the Rebel Walker with their melee weapons raised, and sliced into the little robot as they passed by. Although the slices did not do in the Rebel Walker, Flynn rushed in after them and... somehow did it in with his bare hands (Ralf Jones can also do this, although Flynn's punch made his looked weak), smashing it into several pieces.
"Eh... I can't think of any comment on that..." Jason stammered at the sight of Flynn's punching the Rebel Walker to pieces.
The mercenaries, upon getting to the lower deck, were mobbed by a large number of Rebel Soldiers coming from every direction, some arriving via parachutes. The Red Eagles quickly finishes off the mob of Rebels, only to immediately be mobbed by Amadeus Syndicalists, then Ptolemaic Guerillas, and then Future Rebels. It took the combined efforts of the Red Eagles and the Marines to bring down the seemingly endless mob.
"Okay, I never have to fight this many enemies in all my previous tours of duty..." Flynn pointed out to everyone.
...
There were a lot of RAP patrols at the lowest deck where the mercenaries are now overlooking. Despite hiding behind cover, they still felt uneasy due to all the Masknell and R-Shobu variants frequently flying past this portion of the deck.
"One has to wonder just what is the cargo of this ship that made the RAPs place such a tight security all over the deck..." Flynn hung a lamp on the tightness of the patrols. "Granted, they wouldn't be much of a problem, but none of the three factions ever had so many men in one place."
All of a sudden, the megaphones placed all over the cargo ship blared out loud noises in an indeterminate sequence, followed by all RAP Joint Force infantries leaving their posts and retreating into the interior of the ship. All that's left on the decks afterwards were Pirates, Patrol Robots, Rebel Walkers, Masknell variants and R-Shobu variants.
"Now its even easier..." Leon pointed out to his fellow Marine. "However, this could be suspicious..." The Chinese-American added as he cocked his Shotgun.
"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right." Jason said. "Why would they suddenly retreat for no apparent reason? It definitely is fishy..."
At that moment, a particularly big tidal wave splashed over the deck, soaking the mercenaries all over. The same splash has even placed a wriggling fish on top of Jason's head.
"I resist the urge to make a fishy joke." Jenny joked about it as she grabs the fish and throws it overboard.
...
Location: Lower Decks, KMI cargo ship "Orochi"
Dealing with the remaining enemies was quite easy even with just handguns. The Pirates mostly preferred using their cutlasses despite having guns of their own. The Patrol Robots may have an indestructible casing, but their weaponized lens were too big of a target for any shooters to miss (not to mention quite fragile). The Rebel Walkers were easily dealt with due to their questionable combat tactics (that is, get as close to their target as possible before extending their impractically short knives, even though they have ranged weapons). The Masknell and R-Shobu variants were slightly more difficult to deal with, but for some reason only one of them attacks at a time (their best method were to attack in pairs and even that is easily dealt with).
It didn't take the Red Eagles and Marines too much time before they reached a wide open air portion of the deck. They looked around their current location to confirm that there are no more enemies at the moment.
"A very wide area with not a single hostile on sight." Flynn analyzed the location, and became suspicious. "My Marine sense is telling me that they have a big bad boy or two 'round here..."
Although Flynn pretty much tempted fate, the Red Eagles did not give him the look, seeing how he could be right.
"I agree. Not once did we ever come across a wide area that doesn't have a titanic war machine or one of the enemy leaders' lieutenants hanging around." Ash added in, whipping out his chainsaw in anticipation of an ambush. "Maybe its one of those 'big ones' mentioned in the mission briefing..."
The increasingly louder noise of a pair of jet engines confirmed everyone's suspicion. They looked up, and saw a massive VTOL bomber that has been modified into a dropship/gunship hybrid.
"Yep, just like the old days for me." Flynn threw in a comment while looking at the VTOL.
"It's the same for me too, friend." Leon told his fellow Marine.
"Well, I don't care what you've faced in your past tours of duty..." Jenny told the Marines as she points her handgun at the aircraft. "...We're going to take this bastard down..."
Boss Battle: The Kessi
The original Kessi deployed Arabian Soldiers and had two Rebel Bazooka Soldiers providing support fire from above it. This version deployed Pirates, and had Ptolemaic Bazooka Guerillas providing support fire.
But since the Kessi itself isn't directly attacking at the moment, all the Red Eagles and Marines needed to do was to just whale on the massive VTOL while occasionally redirecting their shots on the Pirates and avoiding the shots fired by the Bazooka Guerillas.
"The first phase may be piece of cake, but the second phase won't be so easy!" Mina reminded the others as she continues firing on the Kessi and the occasional Pirates.
Several hundred rounds later, the Kessi took enough damage that it entered the second phase of its attack in which two Bull Chan tanks somehow appeared on top of its wings for no apparent reason. The massive VTOL has also started using its jet engines as makeshift flamethrowers.
"Now this phase is much harder..." Ash pointed out as he narrowly evades a shell fired by one of the Bull Chan tanks.
The worst part with this phase is that the Bull Chan tanks upon running out of ammunitions will perform a last hurrah by driving off the Kessi and dropping themselves onto the mercenaries. This attack was quite difficult to avoid (especially with the Bazooka Guerillas and the jet engines firing at the same time), and the one that almost crushed Flynn was only stopped at the last second by the Marine's absurdly powerful punch.
"Oh, come on! I would rather fight the original Kessi!" Jason complained. In a fit of rage, the red-clad mercenary jumped into the air and Vulcan Chopped the lower hull of the Kessi.
"You call that a super punch?" Flynn mocked Jason's Vulcan Chop and, after punching out another falling Bull Chan tank, jumped into the air and punched the exact same spot on the Kessi's hull. "See what my Berserk Punch can do!"
The Marine's even more powerful super punch literally punched a hole on the hull of the massive VTOL. And it apparently struck something important too, because both of the Kessi's jet engines soon totaled, causing a chain reaction that caused it to slowly descend while bursting into flames, taking out the Bull Chan tanks and Bazooka Guerillas as well. The massive VTOL exploded once upon crash landing onto the deck, rendering it into an aircraft-shaped pile of wreckage. A few seconds later, it exploded again, this time into shrapnel that flew towards every direction.
The Kessi defeated.
"Not to be anti-climatic..." Leon throws in a line after having helped shoot down the Kessi. By that point, the Chinese-American Marine's Shotgun has ran out of ammo. "The Kessi itself did not receive any upgrades, it merely used a different attack strategy. I would rate it one out of five stars for the complete lack of its own weapons."
Flynn was about to say something when the wrecked chassis of a Bull Chan suddenly landed right on top of him, almost crushing him underneath. The Marine's sole response to being crushed was poking his right hand out from under the chassis, accompanied with a subtle "That didn't hurt."
The Red Eagles chuckled at the sight.
"This might be the most amusing hit I've ever seen someone take." Jenny comments on the condition Flynn is currently in.
...
Location: The Bridge, KMI cargo ship "Orochi".
Donald Morden was on the bridge of the Orochi, overlooking whatever operations the RAP Joint Force are conducting on the holds of the cargo ship. Amadeus was nowhere to be seen, and so was the Ptolemaic Boss.
"You never played fair, President Balthazar Drippiek, so why should I?" The Devil Rebirth said under his breath.
There was no one present to make a response to Morden's speech.
"I used to tell my son this: sometimes you have to fight fire with fire." Morden added to his speech. "Never have I believed that I would actually be doing it, even if it means going against the Geneva Convention."
After spending several minutes all alone on the bridge, the general turned around and walked toward the doorway that led to the deck, where the Hi-Do helicopter is parked. He stopped just in front of the doorway.
"If that is the case, then I will do whatever it takes to bring down the Drippiek Administration, the Regular Army, their precious Commandos..." Morden proclaimed with his right hand clenched into a fist. "...And their scapegoat, the Mercenaries..."
...
Location: Lower Decks, KMI cargo ship "Orochi".
The Mercenaries looked at the massive aircraft that is hanging out above the bridge of the cargo ship.
"No questioning now that the other 'big one' is the Kessi III..." Jason said as he identifies the aircraft in question.
"Only thing needed questioning is the upgrades they gave to it." Jenny adds in.
"No matter what upgrades they give to their war machines, we Red Eagles are gonna rip them all into pieces!" Ash boasted while brandishing his chainsaw.
"Nebāgibuappu!" [Never give up!] Mina cheered in Japanese.
"I understand little Japanese, but I'm with Miss Kabuto on this." Leon speaks up as he loaded his handgun.
"Whatever big thing's up there will soon join everything else in the junk yard!" Flynn boasted hammily while... showing off his abnormally huge energy gun.
"Hey." Leon warned his fellow Marine. "Watch where you point the BFG-9000."
That drew the Red Eagles men's attention, even if it wasn't supposed to.
"BFG-9000?" Jason exclaimed in surprise. "THE BFG-9000?!"
"You Marines seriously defictionalized the most iconic weapons of the Doom video game series?!" Ash joined in the exclamation. "What's next? The Rock-It Launcher?"
The Mercenaries stopped their current discussion upon remembering that it has nothing to do with their current mission. They carried on by climbing up a flight of stairs that leads to an upper deck, with the bridge of the Orochi at the very top of this set of decks.
The first thing they encounter on that deck was a Pirate Fighter, who didn't even get to swing his sword once before being Vulcan Chopped to bits by Jason.
Several more Pirates and Pirate Fighters appeared from around the corner as well as behind the Mercenaries and attacked en-masse. Despite the large numbers and the ambush they've had, the Pirates were quickly decimated by the Mercenaries.
"Even after all those tours of duty I've had in my past, I still don't get why a lone enemy infantry is much more dangerous than a whole mob of them." Flynn hangs a lamp on the phenomenon, scratching his head as he spoke.
"You should be glad that's the case." Ash told the Marine. "Mummies, zombies, mutants, aliens... everything seems to be incompetent when they are operating in large number. This unfortunately applies to the Regular Army too, for one Metal Slug has a higher chance of survival than an entire armada of them."
A Rebel Walker suddenly dropped down from the deck above and extended its knife, almost stabbing Leon in the process. The Chinese-American Marine retaliates by lifting the Rebel Walker up and throwing it overboard into the ocean.
Getting on with their current mission, the Mercenaries went up another floor and encountered a Supervisory Camera that was hung directly above an Ammo Box.
"I will handle this." Mina told the others before throwing a single Grenade that blew up both the Ammo Box and the Supervisory Camera guarding it.
The Ammo Box yielded a Grenade Launcher.
"Now that's something you don't normally see these days: a Grenade Launcher." Jenny said as she picked up the weapon.
As soon as the blue-clad female mercenary picked up that weapon, a Ptolemaic Regimental Masknell squad suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and started firing upon everyone.
"Look out!" Ash shouted out, calling for everyone to take cover as the Ptolemaic Regimental Masknell squad peppered the deck with bullets.
"Not on my watch!" Jenny proclaimed, and proceeds to fire the Grenade Launcher at the leader of the Ptolemaic Regimental Masknell squad. Five shots were fired from the Grenade Launcher, two missed and detonated somewhere on the starboard deck, one had hit the last member of the helicopter regiment (not doing enough damage to destroy it), but the two that does hit their intended target destroyed the leader of the Ptolemaic Regimental Masknell leader, which led to a chain reaction that took out the rest of the squad.
The rest of the Mercenaries watched in awe how the Grenade Launcher destroyed a Ptolemaic Masknell in seconds.
"Imagine the carnage if Kasamoto-san gets her hand on that weapon..." Mina shrugged, thinking of what she just said.
...
The Mercenaries moved on to the next floor. They were almost at the bridge of the Orochi, when a Future R-Shobu appeared and started dropping plasma bombs on them.
"Dammit, another one of these Future Rebels' future tech..." Ash complained while barely getting out of the way of a volley of plasma bombs.
"Well, nothing's more futuristic than THIS!" Flynn suddenly chewed the scenery, as he whips out the BFG-9000 and fired a single blast of destructive laser that pretty much made the Future R-Shobu cease to exist... along with the deck the Mercenaries first HAHO Jumped onto.
The Red Eagles once again dropped their jaws at such a sight.
Leon slapped Flynn on the back of his head, and berated him. "If Kanegawa Military Industries asks you to pay for the repairs, I won't help you, and neither will the Regular Army."
...
Location: Outside the bridge, KMI cargo ship "Orochi"
The rest of the Mercenaries' trek toward the bridge can be best described as such: a lot of R-Shobu, Masknell, Hover Units and Hover Vehicles went to feed the fishes, as do the same amount of Patrol Robots, Rebel Walkers and Pirates.
By the time they actually reached the bridge, Jenny's Grenade Launcher is already used up.
The Red Eagles and Marines arrived at the bridge of the cargo ship and found someone they weren't told by Regular Command would be present: Donald Morden himself.
"So, Morden..." Jason, not surprised one bit by this, tries to start a conversation he knew wouldn't last long (especially not when the Kessi III is on standby right above the bridge). "How does it feel like, knowing that Regular Army threw a very large spanner into your works by sending us instead of the Commandos after you?"
Morden's answer was surprisingly subtle. "I don't even care if President Drippiek is playing dirty anymore..."
"So why do you think teaming up with the Amadeus Syndicate and Ptolemaic Army would help you with your plans?" Ash threw in his own question at the leader of the Rebel Army. "Is it because both Amadeus and the Ptolemaic Boss have bones to pick with Regular Command too?"
"Why else did you think I chose to work with them?" Morden delivered yet another subtle answer.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the Regular Army really is partially to blame for everything in the past decade..." Jenny pitied the general. "Your son would still be alive today were it not for the intel-lacking mission he was sent on..."
This time, Morden said nothing. Perhaps the mentioning of his late son triggered something deep within him.
And then, Flynn Taggart, the trigger-happiness within him that Marines are usually associated with decided to wreck the emotional moment instantly by loudly proclaiming, "Enough talk! LET'S KICK HIS ASS!"
Leon Chan seems to have noticed something in the surrounding, and stopped Flynn by pulling his collar.
The Chinese-American was right to stop his fellow Marine, because the Kessi III suddenly slammed one of its propellant-lacking missiles onto the bridge, destroying it instantly and seemingly taking Morden with it.
The ensuing explosion sent the Red Eagles and the Marines staggering backwards. Mina was almost blown off the railing, but managed to hold on.
"Jeez! That's why I never joined the Marines!" Jason exclaimed, with the line directed straight at Flynn in anger.
When the Mercenaries regained their standing, they see that the Hi-Do has taken off, and Morden has somehow gotten on board without so much as a scratch.
"You government-supporting military types!" The general called out in a taunting manner as the Hi-Do flew higher off the deck. "Like Allen used to tell the Regular Commandos: See you in hell!"
With that, the Devil Rebirth got away... again.
"We'll deal with you later, Flynn 'Mack' Taggart..." Ash gave the Marine the look, before turning toward the massive VTOL that he and his teammates will be fighting in the next minute or so.
Boss battle: The Kessi III.
The original Kessi III fired its independent-aiming machine guns in a predictable manner and would focus solely on suppressive fire as it deployed Rebel Soldiers and readied its propellant-lacking missile which doesn't even have any explosives inside it. This upgraded version fires its machine guns at a higher rate in an unpredictable spread while deploying Ptolemaic Special Force Troopers at random intervals and, as demonstrated with its destroying the bridge, the propellant-lacking missile is now loaded with compressed napalm.
Evading the unpredictable machine gun spray was easier said than done. Many times, the Red Eagles and Mercenaries managed to dodge the spray of one gun only to immediately get caught in the spray of the other gun.
"There's very little opportunity to shoot at that thin when you're spending most of the battle avoiding its shots!" Jason said as he Vulcan Chops a Special Force Trooper while evading a spray of bullets.
Flynn attempted to jump onto the Kessi III and Berserk Punch it on its fuselage. Unfortunately for the Marine, the VTOL is agile enough to actually evade it, and Flynn ended up punching thin air instead.
In retaliation, the Kessi III readied a propellant-lacking missile and slammed it down hard on the deck. The attack wasn't targeting anyone in particular, but the missile actually produced a large fireball on impact which also sent out a shockwave that caused the Mercenaries to lose their footing and trip.
"What's with the RAP Joint Force and extreme pyrotechnics, anyway?" Ash complained as he got up, and offhand-slashed a Special Force Trooper that was about to backstab him.
"I'm thinking that Morden has become desperate enough that he started disregarding the Geneva Convention." Jason took the opportunity to reply before he had to evade a machine gun spray, which ended up friendly-firing a Special Force Trooper.
Flynn attempted to Berserk Punch the Kessi III again. This time, he timed his jump with the moment the VTOL descends to deploy Special Force Troopers, and managed to land a hit on it.
The Berserk Punch was enough to cause the Kessi III to enter its second attack phase as its fuselage bursts into flames due to the damage sustained. In this phase, the VTOL stopped deploying Special Force Troopers, but became a lot more aggressive with its two machine guns while using its propellant-lacking missile at every opportunity it gets.
"Was the original one this crazy with its attacks?!" Jenny exclaims in response to the Kessi III spamming the missile-slamming attack at the interval of every five seconds.
Shockwave after shockwave coming from the propellant-lacking missile practically gave the Mercenaries no chance to gain their footing and shoot back at the Kessi III. The Mercenaries' only way to avoid the spray of machine gun bullets that came at the same time was to roll out of the way.
"Someone please shoot this thing down from the sky!" Mina screamed out in anguish after getting knocked over several times by the missile attack.
"I'm not going to shoot it down..." Flynn said. The Marine managed to get back on his feet in less than a second. "I'm gonna punch that sonova' bitch down!" With that said, he jumped into the air just as the Kessi III was about to slam another missile down on the deck.
Getting a second Berserk Punch to its hull absolutely wrecked the VTOL. Its engines failed, causing it to crash onto the deck and explode into a non-functional plane-shaped wreckage.
The Kessi III defeated.
As if to mock the RAP Joint Force, Flynn pulled out the BFG-9000 and blasted the wreckage of the Kessi III at point blank range. The blast wasn't at full power, so it merely blew the VTOL overboard and into the ocean.
The Red Eagles got up, looked at what the Marine did to the Kessi III, and breathed a sigh of relief in unison.
"I'm so glad that thing was sent down to the seabed..."
"But now that the bridge is destroyed, what are we going to do?"
With that last bit of realization, the Red Eagles and Marines turned toward the now destroyed bridge of the Orochi. Now they are unable to determine how it was hijacked in the first place, nor where it is currently headed.
"Damn. Looks like Morden had it planned out early..." Leon remarked.
MISSION SEVEN COMPLETE!
Afterwords
Looks like there will be a new Event in Metal Slug Defense on October 6th. From the looks of it, there was going to be another crossover aside from The King Of Fighters...
Okay, I'm guessing that some of you may not get the buffs I've applied to the bosses, so I'll be listing the buffs in the Afterwords section from this chapter on.
The Kessi: not exactly a buff per se. This version deployed Guerilla Bazookas and Pirates while using the Bull Chan tanks at the same time. The original deployed Arabian Soldiers which were only slightly weaker than Pirates, and only deployed those two Rebel Bazooka Soldiers in its second phase.
The Kessi III: deploys Ptolemaic Special Force Troopers instead of Rebel Soldiers. Its also a lot more aggressive with its machine guns and missile-slam. The aforementioned missile-slam also now produces a huge fireball as opposed to merely acting like a disposable jackhammer.
Regarding the details of the previous chapter: no, Metal Slug 7 has no such thing as a Future Sarubia. That's another one of my self-made upgrades.
Although you can probably imagine how crazy it can be to fight a Di-Cokka and Sarubia at the same time. Maybe that's why both official games and fan games do not spawn those two at once.
The Grenade Launcher is not an official weapon. It only appears in the fan game Metal Slug 5 Elite.
Finally, Kanegawa Military Industries is an original faction created by Soldier Of The Future, as with Leon Chan and Flynn Taggart. Thanks, man!
Shout-out index:
"Maybe because I'm the protagonist of a First-Person Shooter?" - Interesting enough, Soldier Of The Future did base Flynn "Mack" Taggart upon the Doomguy from Doom. So in a sense, he's actually telling the truth.
BFG-9000 - see the above shout-out to get what I'm talking about.
That is all. "Dismissed!"
