Forewords

Oh, hey! Metal Slug Attack is finally released! I immediately downloaded it, and was quickly hooked up to it! All those new gameplay mechanics are very difficult for me to explain, but let's just say that even the Regular Soldier can be incredibly useful in both PVP and PVE if you Power Release him to four stars. With the same Power Release mechanics, the four protagonists can also be extremely useful even into the late game.

As for Metal Slug Defense, I have decided to stop farming for stars after I got the Formor, Balor and Cabrakan (they're all from Metal Slug Advance) because the two Amadeus Computers are not quite useful, and all three of them are much more useless due to poor HP-to-AP ratio.

And so I downloaded Ver 1.40 as soon as it became available...

My comment for Ver 1.40: "SCREW YOU! RUGAL BERNSTEIN!" Yes! The infamous guy from The King Of Fighters shows up in MSD as a secret boss and unlockable unit! To unlock his stage first, you need to obtain the invitation from the KOF stage in Extra World 3, and it turns out to be an incredibly rare drop (I replayed the same stage a hundred times just to get it). And seeing on Youtube how even the experts have trouble even with the AP Level Max item, I decided to keep him immobilized with the Jamming item for the entire battle.

Shortly after beating Rugal with a whole bunch of Jamming items, I decided to retry the fight with no items... Well, he's difficult because he can reach your base in just 5 seconds, fires off an attack every half a second, with each attack taking 20% away from your base HP. And then his melee attack - Genocide Cutter - seems to do over 60000 damage (higher than even Tani-Oh and Hozmi's special attacks combined, as proven when someone on the Global Metal Slug Defense blog claims it OHKO'd a Level 40 Rebel Gigant) and automatically target aerial units as well! Oh, did I mention that he also has an estimated one million HP? Let's not forget that he is even worse than a projectile eraser, as his special is a projectile reflector! And when you do get him from the shop afterwards, he got nerfed so much he's only useful for his HP-to-damage ratio.

Only good thing about this update is that Sandmarine has been buffed. Her normal attack hits faster, and her special now takes just 8-10 seconds to cool down.

If you're still in Ver 1.40, better get Sandmarine as soon as possible, because the survival event is gone by Ver 1.41... which finally introduces the long-awaited Kraken! How awesome is the Kraken? So awesome that almost everyone I meet in PVP are running Sandmarine and Parachute Truck with the sole purpose of shooting it down. Because of that, I plan to replace my Slug Gigant with it.

Before I end off my comments on MSD Ver 1.41, let me give you a warning: do NOT run the Super Devils in PVP! Their HP-to-AP ratio is the most horrible in the entire game!


Chapter 12: The RAP's Master Plan, part 1

Time: 1445 Hour; 31st of December, 2040.

Location: RAP Joint Force Headquarters; outskirts of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Somewhere in the remote regions of Bolivia, an army base fully equipped to house ICBM launch platforms and large aircrafts was built by the RAP Joint Force for their war against the Regular Army, or rather the Regular Commandos. One could say that it is extremely overkill to use everything in this base just to kill a few individuals.

Rebel Soldiers and Amadeus Syndicalists lined up at the base's airfield as Morden and Amadeus arrived in the same emergency jet they used to escape from the Secret Weapon Of The Luftwaffe when it was shot down by the Red Eagles. The soldiers saluted their respective leaders as the two walked down the airfield toward the main structure of the base.

"Well, well..." Morden expressed his thoughts. "Even though it disappointed me that Abbul Abbas was defeated again despite all the new things we provided him with..."

The Devil Rebirth produced a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. Said piece of paper contained two photos: one of Abbul Abbas being taken into custody by Regular Army troops in Abu Dhabi, the other of the Regular Army hauling (with some difficulty) the wrecked Sandmarine and Huge Shiee out of their sandy grave.

"At least we distracted those government clowns long enough for this base to be built without being disturbed." Morden continued and then throws the piece of paper away. "And now, I can finally make the Regular Army pay for the death of my son!" He proceeds to do his signature evil laugh afterwards.

Amadeus, following Morden from behind. "And what part do I have in your plans?"

Morden stopped in his tracks, and turned to address the syndicate leader. "This base would never be possible without you, as is getting the Time Portal of my army's future selves reactivated."

"And the Ptolemaic Army?" Amadeus added another question.

Morden groaned at being reminded of the Illuminati-like organization. "I let them in on my plans because they too have a grudge against Marco Rossi and his gang. I never liked those demon worshippers, anyway..."

"So I assume that you will have them destroyed afterwards?" Amadeus asked one more question.

"Of course!" Morden gives a definite answer as he clenched his fist. "I only needed the firepower they have for my plans. After I destroy the Regular Army, I'm sending them and their cult 666 feet down under!"

...

Elsewhere in the outskirts of Santa Cruz at the same time, the Regular Hi-Do carrying the Red Eagles and Marines hovered above the jungle canopy as the Mercenaries fast-roped onto the jungle grounds. The Regular Hi-Do left the scene very quickly as this is considered enemy territory.

"So, the RAP Joint Force had a base built in the Bolivian wilderness, and they used Abbul Abbas to keep Regular Command's attention away." Jason noted, while making sure he has enough handgun ammo to go around.

"Well, more precisely, their Headquarters." Jenny corrected, as she checked her Taser. "But we'll be told to have it blown up, anyway."

Flynn punched a nearby tree hard to get everyone's attention, though he made sure the punch isn't so hard that it would knock the tree over. "Enough talk! Let's trash some RAP property and kick some RAP asses!"

...

Mission briefing

It was a good thing that you've put Abbul Abbas and his revolutionaries out of commission when you took out both the Sandmarine and the enormous land battleship called Huge Shiee. But I have only bad news for you right now...

Following an interrogation, Abbul Abbas had revealed to us that the RAP made his second attempt at a revolution possible with the sole purpose of distracting Regular Command from what they are really planning: a massive base housing several ICBM launch platforms. When we tried to get him to reveal more about this base, the Arabian warlord told us that the RAPs knew he would get captured sooner or later, and refused to tell him anymore about the base for good measure.

Although that didn't stop SPARROWS from locating the base. Satellite scans had revealed some strange, most definitely artificial readings somewhere in the outskirts of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, with the readings of the same unknown radioactive particles from the Mount Everest base but in denser amounts. We believe that might be where the RAPs have built the aforementioned base.

So here are your missions: locate and then infiltrate the base. Destroy all the ICBMs and launch modules, along with any other operations down there and as much of the base itself as you can, even if it turned out to be another distraction.

Finally, as this base may possibly be used as a Headquarters of sorts, expect massive resistance from the enemies the closer you get to it. We have also detected signs of what appeared to be the Rebel Gigant lurking somewhere in the jungle, but we are unable to track it, so watch out.

That is all. Godspeed...

...

MISSION TEN START!

The Red Eagles and Marines trekked through the jungle interrupted by nothing for a full minute, until something made them stop mid-trek.

"The voice may be different..." Jason pointed out. "...But that laugh sounded just like Allen O'Neil's."

"Yeah..." Jenny agrees. "But the voice is not the same one, so who could it be?"

The Mercenaries looked at the top of a short tree, and saw someone just as bad as the Devil Sergeant himself: his son, Allen Jr.

"So you are the second bunch of people to tae down my dad with your wits alone." Allen Jr. chewed the scenery.

The next comment to come from the Mercenaries was Ash's "Like father, like son..."

Mina then follows up with "Only difference is that Junior wears a shirt."

Allen Jr. stopped chewing the scenery in response to the Mercenaries' blunt response.

"That was not what I was expecting..." He said as he face-palmed.

"It sort of helped to get used to the father..." Flynn tosses in his comment bluntly.

"And after that, the son won't sound just as annoying anymore." Leon continues the sentence with just as much bluntness.

Allen Jr. groaned in disappointment, but then resumes chewing the scenery. "Never mind that! I want you to know that I'm not the same dumb muscle that my dad is!"

The Devil Sergeant's Son proceeds to fire a small burst from his machine gun into the sky. The bullets didn't hit anything, but maybe that was the point, as the shots were quite loud.

Allen Jr. then jumps off the short tree, and lands in the side car of an army motorcycle that popped out from the foliage. "Maybe you can send my dad back home to grandma, but you'll have to do better to have me meet him in hell!" As the Rebel Soldier driving the motorcycle revs up the engine, Allen Jr. grabs his last opportunity to add a few more words. "If you have your feet insured, then good for you! If not... Sucks to be you!" The motorcycle then quickly leaves the scene with Allen Jr. in the sidecar as he mimicked his father's signature laugh.

The Mercenaries just stood there as the dust from the motorcycle's wake is blown right in their face.

"Yep, not much different than his pop." Jason pointed out for everyone.

...

Shortly after their brief encounter with Allen Jr., the Mercenaries resumed their trek through the jungle. The first thing they encounter is an Iron Iso positioned in front of a Garbage Fortress (a makeshift watchtower literally made out of garbage), which are then joined by a squad of Ptolemaic Regimental Masknell.

"Piece of cake!" Flynn said as he rushed forward and delivered a Berserk Punch at the Iron Iso, tearing the cannon right off the chassis.

After avoiding the rain of bullets fired by the squad of Ptolemaic Regimental Masknell, Ash jumped high up in the air, "Say hello to my little friend!" and proceeds to drive his chainsaw into the lead Masknell, taking it out instantly along with the rest of the squad in a chain reaction.

The Mercenaries then focuses their firepower on the Garbage Fortress. The makeshift watchtower held on for quite a while, but eventually gave out and toppled after several hundred bullets have been pumped into it, burying the poor Rebel Soldier underneath the resulting pile of heavy garbage.

"Ouch..." Jenny winced at the thought that someone is buried under the pile of heavy garbage. "I don't think he can dig himself out anytime soon..."

...

The Red Eagles and Marines moved on afterwards, and ran into a fortification which consisted of... just a massive pile of garbage, or at least that's what it looked like.

"From what I learned in my previous sorties, the enemies will never leave a wall unguarded no matter how tough it was." Flynn said as he reloads his handgun. "Got the feeling that..."

The American Marine's sentence was interrupted when Allen Jr. suddenly appeared on top of the fortification, fired his machine gun at something above the Mercenaries before leaving the scene with his laugh echoing through the jungle.

The sound of ropes being severed is then followed by several huge barrels of TNT tumbling down toward the Mercenaries from above. As it is too late to shoot out the TNT barrels, the Mercenaries chose to get out of the way instead. They manage to avoid a fiery death, but just barely.

"Now I think I know how the US soldiers felt during the Vietnam War..." Leon remarked as he watched the aftermath of the booby trap that almost killed everyone.

"And I thought I have the biggest bombs..." Mina said while picking herself up from the ground.

Just as the Mercenaries are about to start attacking the fortification, a Claw Unit suddenly jumped out from behind it and lunged at them.

Jason quickly intercepts the Claw Unit with a well-timed Vulcan Chop, tearing it into pieces. "Whew, that was another close one. Who knows what other unfair move they might pull on us?"

A MG Unit popped out on top of the fortification and started firing its Gatling gun arms at the Mercenaries. But as it wasn't all that accurate with its shots, the Red Eagles and Marines were able to quickly take it out with their handguns.

"Now we just need to knock this wall down." Ash said. "Mina, do your job!"

Mina just smiled as she procured one of her anti-tank mines and threw it at the fortification. One mine alone was enough to completely annihilate the fortification, as well as the Future Girida-O and Future Bradley hiding under it.

"And that's what I'd call a big bad boom!" Ash announces as he gave Mina a pat on her shoulder.

...

The Mercenaries continued their trek through the jungle, after which they found themselves running into a Future MV-280C jeep... along with Allen Jr. on the same army motorcycle he got away on earlier, as he fires yet another burst from his machine gun at the treetops before leaving the scene with his laugh echoing all over the jungle.

The Red Eagles and Marines, having learned their lessons with the last trap, walks away from where they stood before a large pile of spiked girders fell all over that spot.

Saying nothing about the trap, the Mercenaries turned their attention on the Future MV-280C, which had just begun to fire its high-powered machine gun at them.

As the machine gun was obscuring its sights, the Future MV-280C could only fire in a straight line, and the Mercenaries easily dodges the shots by just stepping aside.

"Even decades into the future, it never occurred to these guys that such a design is utterly useless against pretty much anything..." Jenny lampshaded the utter impracticality of the design of the future gun jeep.

The Red Eagles gave the Marines the honor of taking out the Future MV-280C. Flynn and Leon did so by unloading entire magazines' worth of handgun bullets into it, after which it blows up, leaving behind only a burning shell.

Two more Future MV-280C jeeps appeared from behind the jungle foliage, and the Mercenaries takes out both of them just as quickly as they did the first.

"You... SUCK!" Jason taunted the destroyed jeeps, and proceeds to mock them further by flipping one over with just his bare hands.

...

The Mercenaries moved on, and soon encounters Allen Jr. again. This time, the Devil Sergeant's Son whipped out his Bowie Knife and hacked off one of the supporting struts of the wooden watchtower next to him, causing it to topple toward the Mercenaries with a loud creak.

"Look out!" Jason cried out as he jumped in and intercepted the falling watchtower with a series of Vulcan Chops, shredding it into harmless little pieces of wooden splinters. An intact Heavy Machine Gun is mixed in the pile of splinters.

By the time the watchtower was dealt with, Allen Jr. has already left the scene while (again) mimicking his father's infamous laugh.

"I do think that laugh is... getting on my nerves..." Leon pointed out, followed by him making a deadpan groan.

A bunch of Future Rebel Soldiers including a Jetpack Bazooka Soldier entered the scene, followed by a whole stream of modern Rebel Fanatic Bikers.

"Uh... do anyone of you guys have motor insurances?" Ash swallowed hard at the scene as he asked his fellow Mercenaries.

"We do." Jenny replies as she snatches the Heavy Machine Gun from the pile of splinters. "They don't."

The blue-haired Red Eagle proceeds to gun down the incoming stream of Rebel Fanatic Bikers with her new weapon, whilst the other Mercenaries covered her from incoming fire from the Future Rebel Soldiers.

When the Jetpack Bazooka Soldier flies too close to the Mercenaries, Mina jumped into the air and sliced him in half with her Katana.

A Future Rebel Soldier decided to lunge at the Mercenaries with his electrified glove charged, only to get caught by, and be thrown several feet into the air by Leon's Faux Argentine Backbreaker.

Two Future Bazooka Soldiers attempted to fire their laser cannons at the Mercenaries, but Jenny noticed them quickly and shifted her aim just enough to take them both out.

It took several minutes before the mob of Rebels was fully dealt with. By that point, Jenny's Heavy Machine Gun has only 25 units of ammo left.

"Wow. I wonder how they afford the gas needed for all these bikes?" Jenny lampshaded while looking at the large pile of motorcycle wreckages.

One last Rebel Fanatic Biker suddenly appeared without warning, and he managed to jump off his bike and fling it at the Mercenaries.

"Oh no, you don't!" Flynn jumped to the front and destroyed the motorcycle with a Berserk Punch, before pulling out his handgun to blow the brains out of the Rebel Soldier.

Jason and Ash gave Flynn the thumbs-up, while Jenny and Mina clapped their hands at the Marine's cool action.

...

The Mercenaries continued forward. They soon found something that could be very useful to the mission.

"Hey, its the Slug Gigant!" Mina pointed forward at the giant robot that was placed near two sets of platforms. "Wonder how it got here?"

Laid below the Slug Gigant's feet is what appears to be the lower half of a shipping container. That alone should clue in to how the Slug Gigant could show up in the middle of a jungle, of all places.

Just as the Mercenaries are about to approach the Slug Gigant, they are interrupted by the arrival of Allen Jr. himself.

The Devil Sergeant's Son jumped off his getaway motorcycle, and then dismisses the Rebel Soldier driving it. He then turns toward the Mercenaries, and let out the very same laugh his father was infamous for.

"Well done!" He told the Red Eagles and Marines. "For being able to get through all that, you have proved yourselves to be more determined than those two cadets from back at the Regular Army's training program a few years ago!"

"Well, you had it coming when Walter Ryan and Tyra Elson rallied the other recruits to storm the base you were assigned commandership with." Ash responded bluntly. "Also, you were pretty amazing for being able to pass yourself off as a Regular Army officer back then..."

"Enough talk!" Allen Jr. interrupted hammily, as he brandishes his machine gun the same way his father did. "Maybe I can't make mincemeats out of all of you, but I'll at least make you wish your mommy was here!"

BOSS BATTLE: Allen Jr.

Allen Jr. begins his assault with a series of suppressive fire from his machine gun - a move his father didn't pull on the Red Eagles.

"Well, that's something different..." Ash comments on the Devil Sergeant's Son's choice of tactics.

With that said, the Mercenaries went forward with defeating Allen Jr.

...Or rather, try to. Allen Jr. proved to be a different side of the same coin in comparison to his father. He would keep his distance from the Mercenaries while firing his machine gun or throw some grenades at them, and in the event someone does manage to get up close and personal with him, he would whip out his Bowie Knife and engage them in a one-sided CQC which forces them to back off, in which he then hops over to the opposite end of the arena and repeats everything.

"Okay, he may have the looks and mouth of his father..." Jenny pointed out, after having used up the last 25 units of ammo of her Heavy Machine Gun with only exactly one grazing Allen Jr. "But their brains are entirely different..."

The Mercenaries then spreads out to evade a grenade thrown at them, which is then followed by several more grenades simultaneously, making the evading much more difficult for each individual mercenary.

"Come on, boys and girls!" Allen Jr. taunted the Mercenaries. "I know you can do better than this!"

Flynn and Leon regrouped at one end of the arena while the Red Eagles and Allen Jr. are duking it out on the other end.

The two Marines analyzed the situation, then looked at each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, buddy?" Flynn asked Leon with a smile.

"Of course, friend..." Leon replied with a similar smile.

Without saying another word, Leon crouched down to let Flynn use him as a stepping stone, after which Flynn launches himself high into the air.

"Hey, Junior!" The American Marine called out to the Devil Sergeant's son with his fists raised as he descended toward him. "Gravity-powered Berserk Punch!" Upon landing, Flynn socked Allen Jr. right in the face with a really hard Berserk Punch.

Allen Jr. had no time to react to the Berserk Punch, and was knocked out by it instantly.

Even after Allen Jr. was knocked out, the Red Eagles still kept their distance with him, pointing their handguns at his direction.

"He's going to get up any second now..." Ash told everyone.

Flynn went forward to give Allen Jr. a poke. "Seems pretty dead to me. Don't think anyone could survive taking a Berserk Punch to the fa..."

Before Flynn can finish voicing his opinion, Allen Jr. suddenly got back up and yelled "Is that all you got?!" He immediately breaks his machine gun in half with his bare hands, and whips out his Bowie Knife which he slashes at Flynn with.

Flynn was surprised, not just by the fact that Allen Jr. survived taking a Berserk Punch to the face, but also that the Bowie Knife is actually sharp enough to slice through his body armor. The Marine jumped away in sharp pain as the Bowie Knife sliced into his back, just barely missing his spinal cord.

"Ouch! Another inch deeper and I'll end up like those guys I fought in my past missions!" Flynn exclaimed, as he recuperates and prepares himself for the next phase of the fight against Allen Jr.

"Now I WILL make mincemeat out of you!" Allen Jr. chewed the scenery even more than his father did, before charging straight toward the Mercenaries with his Bowie Knife.

The Mercenaries easily dodges his first lunge, after which they pelt him with as many handgun bullets as they can. Allen Jr. then turns around for another lunge, which Jason parries with a series of Vulcan Chops.

"You're better than your pop, but still not good enough!" Jason taunted the Devil Sergeant's Son, before letting Ash take over the parrying.

The grey-clad Red Eagle proceeds to parry Allen Jr.'s strikes with his Chainsaw. "This Chainsaw may be meant for zombies, but it works just as well on soldiers like you!"

Then with no warning, Mina appeared directly behind Allen Jr., and slashed at him with her Katana.

Allen Jr. had been drained of all his stamina by the Japanese girl's sudden attack. He yelled out "You win! Like my dad usually say: I'll see you in hell!"

Allen Jr. defeated.

"We Japanese still believe our katana to be superior to all other types of swords!" Mina boasted while sheathing her Katana.

Ash stared at Mina for a few more seconds, before asking her: "Are you secretly a ninja?"

Mina replied with a soft "Perhaps, Ash-kun..."

With Allen Jr. defeated, the Mercenaries turned their attention back on the Slug Gigant.

"Okay, we know we need that thing for the rest of our trek through this jungle." Jason pointed out to the others. "But who's driving that thing? Giant robots are not my cup of tea..." The Red Eagles' leader first looked at Flynn.

"I tried piloting a giant robot on one of my last sorties." Flynn denied taking control of the Slug Gigant. "I was that close to failing the mission, so I think I'll stick with my own feet..."

Jason then looks at Leon.

"I don't want to pilot something that has a Vulcan on such an embarrassing position..." The Chinese-American Marine denies as well.

Ash and Mina both shook their heads, with their reason for denying being the same as Leon.

With no other possible candidates left, Jason turned toward Jenny.

"Well, who else is more fit to pilot that thing than me: Jenny Wakeman, the engineer of the Red Eagles?"

...

"So, which one do you prefer?" A Rebel Soldier asked another in a conversation. "Sergeant O'Neil, or his son?"

"Well, its a really hard choice..." The other Rebel Soldier replies. "Senior's muscles are like heavy tank armor, but Junior is much more strategic with his attacks."

"Personally..." The first Rebel Soldier cut in. "I prefer Sergeant O'Neil over his son."

"Is it because Senior can stand out in the open wearing no shirts at all?" The second Rebel Soldier questioned the first's choice of answer.

"No, because while Sergeant O'Neil just Leeroy Jenkins his way through every battle, his son is just way too fragile in comparison." The first Rebel Soldier voices his reason.

The two Rebel Soldiers' conversation are soon interrupted by one loud noise, followed by another one, and another one...

...And they're getting louder too.

The Rebel Soldiers dropped cold sweat, as they slowly turned around to see what's coming.

It's the Slug Gigant, taken control by the Mercenaries.

The two Rebel Soldiers, knowing they can't beat the Slug Gigant, just screamed "Oh, SHIT!" Before running into the foliage of the jungle.

...

"I just hate it when there's only one seat in the ride and the rest of us have to keep our balance on the outside!" Jason complained to everyone as he tried to keep his balance on the shoulder of the Slug Gigant, as does everyone else aside from Jenny.

"Then you all should hang on tighter!" Jenny told the others from inside the cockpit. "Because things are about to get rough!"

A whole bunch of Girida-O and Di-Cokka showed up and started firing at the Slug Gigant. But as those are the modern variants, their shots aren't strong enough to dent the armor of the Slug Gigant.

Jenny proceeds to have the Slug Gigant squash the entire battalion of tanks by stepping on them.

"I feel like this is going to be like one of those giant robot anime!" Mina comments on the situation.

A squadron of Flying Tara took formation in the background, before turning toward the Slug Gigant for a bombing run.

The Mercenaries that are on the Slug Gigant's shoulders braced themselves for the bombing run. Luckily for them, the bombs missed the giant robot entirely.

"Time to swat some flies!" Jenny said, as she times the Slug Gigant's uppercut to knock down the Flying Tara squadron when they come back for their second bombing run.

"Awesome sauce!" Ash congratulated.

Moving on, the Slug Gigant soon runs into another group of Rebel Fanatic Bikers, whose intention can be known from first sight as being to fling their bikes at the Slug Gigant.

What the Rebel Fanatic Bikers had not, or forgotten to take account of is that the Slug Gigant can throw punches unusually fast for something its size, as demonstrated when Jenny makes it swat all the flung bikes out of the air. The Rebel Fanatic Bikers then get gunned down by the Mercenaries' handguns for all their troubles.

...

The Slug Gigant continued through the jungle, and soon encounters a contender in the form of Allen O'Neil piloting the Rebel Gigant.

"Allen?!" Jason exclaimed. "I knew we should've blown him up back at Alcatraz!"

Allen chewed up the scenery (as usual for him) before saying to the Mercenaries: "Do you really think you can kill me with mere bullets? Well, think again, because the same can be said for my boy!"

The Mercenaries looked back at the way they came, before turning back toward Allen.

"Well, Junior did put up a good fight..." Flynn responded. "But he said he'll see us in hell..."

"But that is not the first time he said it, so I think he'll reappear anytime in the future..." Leon added.

Allen continued to chewed the scenery before continuing with his speech. "You did very well in beating my boy, but you'll have to fight me again later!" After finishing his sentence, the Devil's Sergeant turns the Rebel Gigant around and walks back into the foliage (leveling every tree in his way) as his infamous laugh echoed all over the jungle.

Ash groaned in response. "The only thing I hate just as much as Morden's laugh is the O'Neil family's..."

...

The Slug Gigant encountered another enemy formation shortly after the scene with Allen. This time, its a whole bunch of Eaca-B swooping down and releasing their missiles at the Mercenaries.

The squadron of Eaca-B are easy to deal with, but as there's just too many of them, the Mercenaries soon found themselves being overwhelmed by the marine bombers.

"Good thing this baby has a way to easily deal with mobs!" Jenny said, before she has the Slug Gigant send out a shockwave from its fists to disintegrate the squadron of Eaca-B as they all dived down at once.

...

As the Slug Gigant moved close enough for the RAP Joint Force's Headquarters to be seen in plain sight, a bunch of Claw Units suddenly appeared and started punching the Slug Gigant's feet. Although none of them could even chip the paint before they were all flattened under its feet.

"Guess the Ptolemaic Army didn't take fighting a giant robot into account when they built these Units..." Jenny pointed out.

It wasn't very long before several Mortar Soldiers and Bradley took position in front of the Slug Gigant, while reinforced by Paratroopers coming down from the skies.

"Oh, jeez, like this formation would work..." Jason deadpanned about the Rebels' poor choice of tactics. "Do your work, Jenny."

"With pleasure..." The blue-haired Red Eagle answered from within the cockpit.

...

The rest of the trek in the Slug Gigant is easily described as a pile of mangled Rebel Soldier corpses and Bradley wreckages left in the giant robot's wake, as well as trees that are knocked down by the crossfire in the process.

The Mercenaries prepared themselves as the Slug Gigant walked into the airfield of the RAP Joint Force Headquarters, where Allen is just waiting for them on his Rebel Gigant.

"Alright, you muscular freak!" Flynn attempted to carry out his taunt first. "We're here in a giant robot, and so do you! You're looking for a fight?"

Leon elected to give the American Marine a slap on his back. "Of course he's going to pick a fight with us..."

The Red Eagles and Marines then turn their attention back toward Allen.

"Like I said earlier, you are going to have a rematch with me!" Allen chewed the scenery, as he warms up the Rebel Gigant for a large-scale fight. "Not mincemeats this time, but I'll make scrap metal out of your ride!"

Boss Battle: Rebel Gigant.

"Hang on, everyone!" Jenny told the others as she braces for the upcoming battle. "This is going to be the roughest part of the ride!"

Allen starts off the battle by firing five missiles from the launcher next to the open cockpit.

The Mercenaries on the Slug Gigant's shoulders shot down four of the missiles with their handguns, but the fifth managed to slip through the shots and blew the top half of the cockpit off.

"Okay. Maybe Allen's the only one that can probably knock the Slug Gigant down..." Flynn noted the damage done.

A hatch on the Rebel Gigant's torso then opened, from which gravity-defying mines poured out of toward the Slug Gigant. Unlike the original Rebel Gigant of the Garbage Island Incident, this version's gravity-defying mines can withstand Vulcan rounds quite well, and were only deflected by the Slug Gigant punching them.

"Take this, you clowns!" Allen shouted out, as he preps the Rebel Gigant for a bulldozing charge.

And then the Rebel Gigant charged forward at a speed that should be impossible for something of its size.

"Roadblock!" Jenny called out, raising the Slug Gigant's arm in a defensive stance to block the bulldozing charge.

The bulldozing charge is successfully blocked, but Allen quickly follows the attack with an uppercut, which slipped through the space in between the Slug Gigant's arms, opening a large and obvious crack on its chest plate.

The uppercut also struck close enough to the Mercenaries that they were almost knocked off the Slug Gigant's shoulders by the air displacement.

"You sneaky bastard!" Ash cursed loudly, as he starts firing at Allen with his handgun, with little success due to the Rebel Gigant's cockpit somehow causing fired shots to move around Allen.

"Wars are never fought fair, after all!" Allen replies with a taunt. He then fires an anti-bunker shell from the Rebel Gigant's left arm at the Slug Gigant.

Jenny notices the firing in time, and acts just in time to have the Slug Gigant intercept it with a punch. It resulted in something equivalent to a human's arm ending in a stub.

"Ouch..." Flynn winced at one of the fists being blown off. "That's why I don't usually punch projectiles right in the tip of their warheads."

Allen then repeats his attack pattern all over, restarting with the missiles.

This time, the Mercenaries knew how the missiles act, and shoots down all five of them with precision, with the fifth one getting detonated just a few meters away from the gang.

Allen then begins releasing the gravity-defying mines again. As with the last batch, these ones are totally resistant to Vulcan rounds.

Only this time, Jenny uses the Slug Gigant's intact arm to swat the mines back at the Rebel Gigant. "Return to sender!" She said while doing so.

The deflected gravity-defying mines exploded against the Rebel Gigant, doing enough damage to take out the compartment that deployed them in the first place.

"Why, you little...!" Allen became pissed at the damage his ride took. He attempts to retaliate by preparing for another bulldozing charge.

Jenny quickly took the window of opportunity to tell the other Mercenaries of her plan. "I hope none of you have motion sickness!"

The others immediately guessed what Jenny was about to do. They held on to the Slug Gigant's shoulders as tightly as they could.

Then Allen charged, the Rebel Gigant coming toward the Slug Gigant with as much speed as its last charge did.

"Okay, Allen, this might seem a bit unusual for a giant robot..." Jenny said, before making the Slug Gigant crouch...

...Which is immediately followed by the Slug Gigant jumping into the air, and then delivering a midair kick right at he Rebel Gigant.

The Rebel Gigant reeled back in response to the kick, with Allen flinching in a similar manner in response. The kick was enough to completely wreck whatever vital component that was under the Rebel Gigant's chest plate.

There's also what appeared to be a small dome of some kind flickering from transparent to translucent around the Rebel Gigant's cockpit, before sparks erupted around Allen.

"Now's the chance!" Ash told the others as he pulled out his handgun again and fired at Allen. This time, the shot didn't get deflected, and hit the Devil Sergeant square in his chest.

The other Mercenaries followed suit by firing their handguns at Allen.

Before long, Allen had taken enough bullets that it is simply impossible for him to keep going, added with the fact that the Rebel Gigant is no longer responding to his commands. "You're better than I expected, Red Eagles! I will truly see you in hell!" He yelled out before falling off the cockpit and hitting the ground with a bone-crunching thud.

Rebel Gigant defeated.

"Yes! We won!" Jenny raised her hands up excitedly.

"I do believe his trip to hell this time will be a real one." Leon said. "Let's hope it's one-way."

"In the end, the good guys' giant robots will always prevail!" Mina joined in on the celebration.

MISSION COMPLETE!

As soon as the Rebel Gigant and its pilot are knocked down, the remaining Rebel Soldiers and Amadeus Syndicalist ran back into the safety of the RAP HQ in terror. However, it should be noted that not one Ptolemaic operative can be seen amongst the retreating crowd.

"That's right..." Jason noted the escaping crowd. "Aside from those Units back there, we did not encounter any Ptolemaic soldiers during our trek here."

"Well, they're not our main concern right now." Ash reassured. "Right now, we need to get inside this base and destroy as many parts of it as we can."

That being said, the bulkhead sealed itself shut once the last Rebel Soldier went through.

"I got good news and bad news, guys..." Jenny told everyone. "Good news is: the Slug Gigant should be able to punch through that bulkhead in about a minute. Bad news is: the Slug Gigant is too big to fully fit inside that base, so we'll have to continue on foot."

The Red Eagles groaned in disappointment, and stood there for a full minute.


Afterwords

Whew, after that trip to Taiwan two weeks ago, I was glad I'm able to meet my schedule and update this as quickly as I could.

Right, Metal Slug Defense Ver1.42 is released as I was writing this chapter. Let's go over it for a moment.

Kraken is still in it, no nerf. I've also finally noticed that Kraken's normal attacks are able to eat projectiles much like how the Maggots can stop projectiles while attacking. Hitting it with non-piercing projectiles is going to be a pain in the ass, plus its Special being able to hit the entire field while doing heavy damage (looks like good ol' Donald Morden will be going into the refrigerator from this point on).

The new units introduced in Ver1.42? I wasn't expecting some of them. They're respectively Walter Ryan, Tyra Elson (protagonists of Metal Slug Advance), Gimlet, Red Eye (Metal Slug: 2nd Mission) and freaking Emain Macha! Emain Macha was actually quite good despite that blind spot it has, or rather, they have. Also, I'm quite surprised that SNK actually retooled Gimlet and Red Eye's 8-bit sprites to fit the 16-bit style of MSD, right down to their idle and victory animations...

Additionally, Metal Slug Attack also saw full release at about the same time. Hope to see (fight) you in it in the near future!

Boss buff list:

Allen Jr.: Aside from being much more tactical with his attacks, I don't think there's anything else that would qualify as a buff.

Rebel Gigant: Those mines that he releases from his torso are now immune to bullets, requiring the risky act of punching them to be deflected. Aside from that, Allen is also much more aggressive with the way he pilots this thing. That bullet-deflecting field around the cockpit doesn't count, since MS7 wise, shooting Allen does no more damage than shooting any other part of the Rebel Gigant.

Shout-out index:

*bullets moving around Allen* - This one should be familiar to those of you who played or watched playthroughs of Metal Gear Solid 2.

That is all. "Dismissed!"