Forewords
Its been a long time since I posted the previous chapter of Metal Slug: Mercenaries, so I'm going to make my MSA rant quick. Mind you, there's a ton of things to cover...
Mummy event - Mind you, Scotia Amundsen is an entirely original character made specifically for this event. You're not going to find her in any Metal Slug lores other than that she's the daughter of that archaeologist you find in Metal Slug 2/X Mission 2. The Cat Mummy and Warrior Mummy are also original characters, and so is the Pharaoh's Arc, the big bad of this event with his ridiculous Stun chance.
Sol Dae Rokker - MSA's version of Sol Dae Rokker has those aimed red needles as its Special Attack instead of those randomized yellow ones. However, Hyunwoo Choi of the Metal Slug Defense Guide blog called it a crappy boss unit, and even though I failed to obtain it, I can see why: I barely even see that thing turning up in POW Rescue, Battle, Team Battle and Online Battle, and the one time I did run into someone using it, I can see why Hyun called it a crappy unit (it attacks really slowly, which is very bad in a meta dominated by Stunning and Force-Knockback units). The only good thing in this event is the Japonese (sic) Assault Force, which can be deadly if you pair it at 4-stars with 4-star Mummy and 4-star Dog Mummy.
Ptolemaic Attack - Wow, turns out the guy everyone's been referring to as Ptolemaic Boss for a long time is actually called Ptolemaios by SNK. Unfortunately, he's just as crappy as Sol Dae Rokker due to his crappy damage output. Oh, and did I mention that the whole event is a huge shout-out to Star Wars, with Red Goblin - yet another original character, being the resident Luke Skywalker wannabe?
Pirate Attack - Big Shiee is back! And that's pretty much the only thing I have to say for this event, aside from the fact that the Pirates have ridiculous damage output for cheap infantry units...
Golden Soldier - Really? Aeshi Nero? Literally nobody in the Metal Slug community is expecting the boss of MS2/X Mission 2 to be playable. What's next? Tani-Oh? And we also have a new original character in the form of Iron Man... err, El Dorado.
Black Future - Kraken came a bit too late for MSA, because by this point, it will be easily wrecked by the combination of Leona, Ralf, Clark, Scotia Amundsen, Red Goblin, El Dorado and some other cheap units. For those of you who worked hard to earn it, too bad you've just got yourself another overhyped unit. And what's up with that Professor guy, anyway?
Code: Assault - At Level 40, I was able to breeze through Normal mode very easily, as well as Hard mode. But HELL mode? I'll get back to that later. The original character for this event is a Ptolemaic chick called Dragunov, and she's quite the powerful chick, I might say. Now back to HELL mode: "Eff! You! See! Kay! SNK Pay-more!"
And that's it. Looks like the next event (The King Of Weapons) is going to be focusing on Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami of The King Of Fighters fame duking it out... in Slug Armors. And I though there will be no KOF in MSA...
Chapter 15: Calling of Doomsday part 2
Time: 1800 Hours; 31st of December, 2040.
Location: [?]; Lima, Peru.
The Mercenaries (and the Regular Commandos they've just met up with) still have a long distance between themselves and the Ptolemaic Army's stone tower, and whatever occult ritual happening up there is already visible from here as evident of ominous thunderclouds gathering up there.
"Deja Vu..." Flynn makes an offhand comment on the ominousness.
"Did the Ptolemaic really summon a demon last time they were around?" Ash asked the others.
"Regular Command says so..." Jenny hangs a figurative lamp on the subject. "But whatever they're doing up there, we should destroy them to put an end to their world conquest."
As the Mercenaries and Regular Commandos make their way toward the stone tower, something seemed to catch Marco's eye.
"Is it me, or has the tower actually started to move toward us?" He said.
Fio pokes Marco on the back of his head. "No way, Marco! That tower has no legs..." She said.
The Italian SPARROWS sergeant is then interrupted by what felt like tremors... that increased in strength between regular intervals.
It is then that everyone noticed that the stone tower is indeed moving toward their direction.
"Uh... Should I say something about this, guys?" Trevor asked the others, with the fear in his voice very obvious.
What appears to be one of multiple giant feet of the stone tower smashing through an already half-destroyed skyscraper pretty much gave the group the answer they need. That, along with Eri and Tarma already running away from the stone tower.
"Run, you morons!" Eri shouted at everyone as she ran past them without slowing down. "Unless you want to become pancakes!"
A fuel tanker erupted in a huge fireball when a giant foot of the stone tower stepped on it.
BOSS BATTLE: Stone Turtle.
"Yeah, we should run..." Marco throws in a comment while dropping cold sweat. "This isn't David Versus Goliath, this is Bambi Versus Godzilla..."
As it turns out, the base of the stone tower is in itself an enormous turtle-shaped robot with four equal-in-scale huge legs.
Without saying another word, everyone started running away from the Stone Turtle.
...
"Oh, shit! Oh shit! Oh shit, shit, SHIT!"
Jason shouted the same profanity consecutively while running as fast as his legs could carry him. Having to dodge attacks that came from surviving Ptolemaic troops at the same time made the situation a whole lot harder.
"Why do all of our missions feel like they're stages in some kind of side-scrolling shooter?!" Marco said, while gunning down any Ptolemaic Guerillas along the way.
"To me, they're more like a fan fiction written in the middle of time constrains!" Ash added in.
A Claw Unit suddenly jumped out from behind a pile of debris and lunged at the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries. Flynn intercepts the Claw Unit and delivers a Berserk Punch straight to its faceplate. The Claw Unit didn't get blown apart, but the Berserk Punch did launch it a long distance away.
"Run faster! That thing's gaining on us!" Tarma shouted at everyone.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a very long distance before the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries found themselves running into a collapsed skyscraper that prevented them from going any further.
"Oh, damn..." Jenny cursed. "This is what I was afraid of."
Everyone turned to face the Stone Turtle, and swallowed hard at the revelation.
"Tasukete..." Mina uttered in Japanese.
"We don't have any choice, do we?" Trevor asked everyone.
"Not any sane ones, at least..." Marco said...
...Before raising and firing his handgun at the Stone Turtle.
"Even if we have to die here, we won't die without a fight!" Fio adds in before she too joins in on shooting the Stone Turtle.
"Die trying... I prefer that over surrendering." Jason said.
Left with no alternate options, the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries all raised their handguns and fired at the Stone Turtle.
The Stone Turtle shrugged off everything the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries could throw at it, as it continues advancing toward them. Detecting attempts to attack it, the Stone Turtle jettisoned some tiles from its left and right sides, from which missile launchers are revealed.
"Careful! I think it is trying to shoot back!" Leon warned everyone.
The Stone Turtle starts firing missiles in retaliation to the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries shooting it.
The missiles are easy to shoot down thanks to them having a large profile. Unfortunately, they also came in endless streams.
"How much ammo does this thing have, anyway?" Ash wonders out loud, while keeping his attention on the Stone Turtle and its missile barrage.
"Who cares at this point?" Flynn cuts in. "This big freaking turtle is trying to kill us, like its some kind of monstrosity right out of the Doom video games..."
Saying that made the American Marine remember something.
"Wait a minute..." He slapped himself on his forehead for having just remember it. "I have the BFG 9000!"
With that said, Flynn puts his handgun away, and whipped out the aforementioned oversized weapon (which still bugged the others as to how he carries it in his inventory) and points it at the Stone Turtle.
"Stand back, everyone!" The American Marine yelled at the others. "Because this is going to get nasty...for this Godzilla-sized bastard here!"
The warning given, everyone else ceased firing and crouched down as the BFG 9000 begins charging up for a full-power blast.
"Say hello to my little friend!" Flynn figuratively chews up the scenery before unleashing the full power of the BFG on the Stone Turtle.
The full-powered blast atomized the very air in its way, with the Stone Turtle's missiles disintegrating before their detonators can set off the explosive fillings.
However, the Stone Turtle is completely unscathed, despite taking the blast directly to what appeared to be its head.
"You have got to be kidding!" At this point, even Flynn was surprised by the outcome.
The Stone Turtle is now so close, every step it takes felt like a magnitude 3 earthquake to the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries.
"We are so dead..." Nadia, full of fear at this point, pointed out.
The Regular Commandos and Mercenaries watched helplessly as the Stone Turtle strides closer and closer to them. Its missile launchers can no longer function due to being obstructed by the skyscrapers at the sides.
But then, the Stone Turtle came to a halt. It stopped just half a kilometer short of the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries.
"Huh?" Everyone are confused as to why the Stone Turtle just stopped moving.
What appears to be a trapdoor on the Stone Turtle's belly opened, from which a pillar of light beamed directly downwards from it.
"What is it doing?" Jenny is confused about the scene.
It is then that everyone noticed something strange.
"Do you guys feel something weird?" Ash asked everyone.
What is happening quickly became evident when the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries noticed that, despite standing completely still, they appear to be slowly sliding toward the beam, slowly speeding up with every passing second.
"ITS TRYING TO PULL US IN!" Eri exclaimed loudly. "Everyone, hold on to something!"
Everyone reached for the closest lamppost or protruding rebar from the debris pile that they could reach, as the pull of the beam has become strong enough to completely overcome the Earth's gravity. The Regular Commandos and Mercenaries tightened their grip on whatever they are holding on to, hanging for their dear life as the Stone Turtle tries to suck them in with its beam.
Everyone are able to resist the pull of the Stone Turtle's beam. But the lamppost that Eri is holding on to suddenly gives way, causing the Japanese SPARROW sergeant to lose her grip.
"Eri!" Tarma cried out.
Eri managed to grab on to another lamppost before being pulled any closer to the Stone Turtle. Unfortunately, this particular lamppost happened to be recently polished, making it smooth enough that getting a grip on it is very difficult.
It wasn't very long before Eri loses her grip on the smooth lamppost and gets pulled toward the Stone Turtle's beam. Eri let out a scream before she came in direct contact with the beam and get sucked up into the Stone Turtle's belly.
"ERI!" Tarma cried out in despair as he helplessly watches Eri being taken by the Stone Turtle.
The other Regular Commandos and Mercenaries have noticed that the debris pile is about to give way too.
"Mina, release one of your mines!" Ash called out to Mina. "Or else we'll get sucked in too!"
Mina could not answer verbally, but she could hear Ash's calling out to her. Trying her best to maintain her grip on a rebar with just one hand, the Japanese Red Eagle mercenary reaches for her waist pouch and pulls out one Anti-Tank Mine, which she manages to arm before releasing it, letting the pull of the Stone Turtle's beam carry it the rest of the way.
The Anti-Tank Mine went off in a big explosion when it reaches the Stone Turtle's belly. The explosion did not do any physical damage to the massive monstrosity, but still did enough to short out the pulling beam.
Stone Turtle defeated...?
As the pulling beam died out, the Regular Commandos and Mercenaries could feel natural gravity taking over again. Everyone released their grip on whatever they held on to, and assess the current situation.
"It was all a trap! A gigantic one made specifically for us!" Marco exclaims.
"The Ptolemaic Army probably used the Rebel Army and Amadeus Syndicate as pawns, scheming up all those attacks and elaborate plans like hollowing out Mount Everest...!" Tarma continues the analysis.
"...And reactivating the Chrono Gate to bring in the Future Rebels!" Trevor keeps the analysis running.
And then all of the Regular Commandos finishes in unison, "Because they know Regular Command will send us in to deal with them!"
"So that they can find out how we do things, and prepare the right trap to use against us when we come here!" Fio added.
"The only spanner in the works is that Regular Command sent in the Red Eagles instead!" Nadia ends it all off.
The Red Eagles and Marines are amazed by what they heard.
"Seriously, the Ptolemaic Army did all those impossible stuff... Just to finish some personal business with Marco and company?!"
The Regular Commandos and Mercenaries are then interrupted by something smashing right through the debris pile from underneath.
It was the Ikari Warriors, with Ralf in the lead. Ralf may not be the brightest of the Regular Commandos, but he is still smart enough to notice that something has happened before he and his two partners got here.
"Sorry we took so long. Something happened before we got here?" Ralf asked everyone present.
Tarma loses it emotionally and runs up close to Ralf, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him.
"THEY TOOK ERI! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!"
To be continued...
Afterwords
Well, guys. I have to cut this Mission into three parts instead of two due to time constrains. College life has it pretty hard on my schedule.
Stone Turtle isn't really a boss fight in this context. That's why I wrote "Stone Turtle defeated...?" with a question mark instead of a full stop.
Marco, Ash... Please don't lean on the Fourth Wall, its pretty costly to reapply the paint jobs every time something manages to scrape some of it off.
And now, let's get back to my MSA rant...
The King Of Weapons - Nope, I was wrong. Kyo and Iori did not appear in the Event in any way. The Event itself actually isn't connected to both Code: Assault and Alice In MSA. Those KOF Slug Armors actually sucked... At least we get to use Crank Keys again (I got the goddamn Everlasting Summer Eri instead of Scotia Amundsen or Red Goblin).
Alice In MSA - Wow, what a plot twist. The Alice we see on the Event poster is actually the projection of an Artificial Intelligence, and that "she" is actually a cyan-hued SV-001 going by the name MS-ALICE. To be honest with you guys, Crablops just isn't worth all the troubles you will be going through. Despite its awesome damage, it attacks way too slowly. The only thing about this Extra Ops I find interesting is that it still has a subtle reference to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the sprite of its Event Points. Otherwise... CRABS! CRABS EVERYWHERE!
And I guess the next Extra Ops I'll be ranting about is Zombie Parade, which could be bringing Big John to MSA. Let's just hope Big John is worth the weight... uh, wait.
Shout-out index:
"Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh, shit, shit, SHIT!" - This particular form of swearing is first heard in Michael Bay's Transformers film.
"...Doom..." - If you don't get this reference, let me introduce you to Flynn's Berserk Punch.
That is all. "Dismissed!"
