Cutscene Tractor beam: arrested by the Galactic Federation #
GEAR 3
Ralph then proceeds to fly his spaceship towards the destination planet. After a few minutes, a warning rings in the cockpit, with Stacy alerting Ralph: “Warning! Hostile ship approaching!”
Ralph smiles again, motivated: “Nothing we can’t shoot down and…” He turns the ship around and sees a gigantic spaceship almost in the size of Manhattan and loses the smile. He continues “Oh shit”. For a minute, Ralph, Dani and the alien woman freeze, both ships stop until Stacy says:
“Action suggested: activate hyperspace immediately”
“But how do I do this? Let’s see, I should do this, and this…” Ralph says while clicking options on the cockpit’s multimedia central, however, it’s already too late as the big ship points a tractor beam at it and starts dragging it towards a big gate. While they’re being pulled, each of them complains, starting with Ralph: “OH COME ON NOW, I NEVER HAD MY CAR TOWED!”
Dani continues: “Is that what you’re worried about? Have you considered what they can do to us? To you?”
The alien woman says: “They’re here to arrest us!”
Ralph asks: “Wait, what?”
“It’s the galactic federation; they only send ships like this one to arrest wanted criminals!”
“WHY?! WHAT CRIME DID I COMMIT?!”
“I don’t know, destroy my base?!”
“HEY, YOU INVADED MY PLANET FIRST! IT WAS SELF-DEFENSE!”
“Good luck trying to tell them that!”
“FUUUUUUUUCK!”
And then the Horse Power in its spaceship form is swallowed by the gigantic ship. Inside of it, they see themselves in what looks like a hangar, not too different from the one in Area 51, and the ship turns to its robot form without Ralph doing anything… But it’s surrounded by dozens of warriors mechs pointing their weapons at them. Ralph sees them all, gets concerned and asks almost whispering:
“Stacy… Should I fight back?”
“In no circumstances you should fight them back, driver” Stacy answers
“Thought so…”
“Come on Ralph, seeing this many mechs around you isn’t clear enough to know you shouldn’t do that?” Dani says
“Ugh… How dense can you be, human?” The alien woman asks
“Jeez, no need to be rude” Ralph says, then picks up the speaker and says “It’s okay! I surrender! Don’t shoot!”
Dani and the alien woman react by rolling eyes and facelpaming respectively.
Cutscene The court colony and the charges #
After that, we see a sequence of animations depicting Ralph driving his car through the ship with tanks around him, the three inside a jail cell, the ship activating hyperspace and a space colony in the shape of a spinning top. The frame zooms in and shows what looks like a court room, and indeed it is. Inside of it, we see several different alien races, some giants, some inside mechs, some on top of giant creatures, creatures made of stone, vegetation, water, etc. Thanks to the weirdness of the court, Ralph doesn’t seem to mind the fact he, Dani and the alien girl are inside his car on top of a pillar and surrounded by an electric chain globe that doesn’t let him escape. The judgement starts with the judge, a giant dark green male creature that looks like a mix of an orc, a dragon and a frog with four horns, two tusks and fins in place of his ears picks up a tablet and says:
“The defendant is accused of stealing a world defense unit model 302, ID HP500GTFM, invading and destroying a legally built base in Europa and helping a fugitive leave the place while bringing her to a non-federative planet. Mister…”
Ralph almost rolls his eyes, responding through the speaker: “Tsc. Ralph Durden” he then lets the speaker off and asks the alien woman: “Can you believe this guy? Didn’t even ask my name beforehand”
She responds: “Ahem… You better pay attention”
The judge continues: “Right. Mr. Ralph Durden, what do you have to say in your defense?”
Impatient, Ralph responds: “In my defense? More like in my whole world’s defense, because a meteor fell from the sky outta nowhere while I was buying parts in a junkyard, then it turned into a robot, called me planetary defense personnel and asked me to pilot it, how did I steal it if it asked me to pilot it? As for the Europa base, I was just fighting back, because aliens were invading my world, and according to my passenger-” Dani gets surprised and Ralph continues “Were doing so for months! My robot detected their signals and I went for it, it was self defen-”
“OBJECTION!” The opposing side’s lawyer said, inside his mech “This is preposterous! Self-defense? The only planet in the defendant’s solar system with life and civilization active is called Earth, and an agreement was reached with its leaders several decades ago to allow the Spekkle in and collect resources, it was a pact of non-aggression, not an invasion, therefore the attack on Europa was illegal!”
Ralph gets angry and responds: “What do you mean it wasn’t an invasion?! Nobody on Earth knows about life outside of it, that’s bullshit!”
The whole court gasps at Ralph’s word, and the alien woman is concerned. The judge stares at him for a few seconds before picking up his tablet and saying: “Mr. Durden, I’m afraid your statements are incorrect. The agreement to share Earth’s resources was signed by-”
Cutscene Pirates blow up the courtroom wall #
Suddenly, an explosion occurs, and the court’s wall is destroyed alongside the energy that kept the globe holding Ralph’s car in place. Mechs are seeing opening fire at the court, while some of the mechs inside the court fight back. Ralph sees them and says: “Well fuck it, I’m out”, and then drives off the place. Shortly after, one mech outside shoots at Ralph’s direction while saying “not so fast!” and makes Ralph’s car rollover while he and the girls inside get surprised by the crash. The car turns back up and Ralph looks at the mech, angry. “Okay, now that’s personal. I was just gonna leave peacefully, but you had to incite a fight huh? You girls got any objections?”
The alien woman responds with concern: “You know this will be more trouble for you, right?”
Dani looks away and answers: “Um… To be fair, they started it and they clearly want trouble with us. I don’t oppose you, Ralph”
Ralph smiles and says: “Hm. Good. I’m gonna teach this fool a lesson”
The mech who shot them says: “No loot left behind!”
Robot combat Plaza fight in front of the court #
The player is then sent to action. The background is the plaza/garden in front of the court, and all mechs are hostile to Ralph while attacking the mechs inside the court, and the objective here is to just survive and destroy as many mechs as possible, while some will leave the place. It’s a short action and Dani’s ult can be used. After the action, a cutscene will play where one mech accidentally shoots the Horse Power, making Ralph angry and going after him. The same mech will point its cannon to the judge, who is on the ground and defenseless, but before any action is taken, Ralph hits the mech with his rocket punch. The mech looks back and sees the hand docking itself back to the Horse Power’s arm with its middle finger pointing at it, and Ralph says through the speaker: “Don’t fucking shoot my robot again, asshole!”, making the mech go after him and fight.
After a few more seconds of chaos, the mechs that invaded the court stepped back, and a handful of them have their pilots afraid of the Horse Power and the protecting mechs, the leader of them is scared and says: “No way, this was supposed to be an easy job!” he then picks up the radio and says: “Boys, let’s scram!” and then the invading mechs fly off, leaving the place.
Ralph is still angry but satisfied with the victory. He looks at the flying mechs and makes the Horse Power do a taunting gesture, saying in the speaker: “FLY AWAY, YOU FUCKING COWARDS! NEXT TIME YOU’LL GET WHAT’S COMING TO YOU!”
Cutscene The judge: who signed the treaty? #
Suddenly, the alien woman says: “Ahem…”
Ralph freezes for a second, then turns around and sees the mechs of the court, the jury and the judges looking at him. He clenches his teeth in embarrassment and says: “Uh oh…”
The judge coughs as a mech helps him get up. He then says: “Mr. Durden…”
“…yes, your honor?”
He struggles to pick up, but answers: “Thank you… You saved my life… This will be considered for the next judgement…”
“Um… Your honor, if you don’t mind, can I ask you a question regarding today’s judgement? Like, right now?”
“Yes… What is it?”
“You said an agreement was signed so the aliens could come and take resources from Earth… Who signed this agreement and when?”
“Well… It was signed by George K. Steinberg in September 3, 1945 as of Earth’s calendar reads…”
Ralph frowns as he finds it weird, then he says without the speaker: “Who the fuck is George K. Steinberg?”
Cutscene Stacy’s hologram: the Nagharsz #
Suddenly, Stacy pops up and responds: “Driver!”
Ralph is surprised and says: “Stacy! You’ve been awfully quiet the whole time, huh? What happened, did you get hacked?”
“I’m sorry I was absent, but I promise, I was doing all I could do to help you here. I’m still connected to Bailey’s laptop”
“Is she alright? We’ve been gone for three days at least”
“She is safe and well fed, she knows you’re coming back”
“Phew. That’s a relief”
“Driver, please point your headlights at your right, tell the judge you have a message from your interface and turn your headlights on”
“Um… Okay” and then Ralph does as Stacy says. With that said and done, the Horse Power’s headlights create a hologram of Stacy, who starts speaking to the judge:
“Greetings, your honor. My name is Stacy; I am this unit’s interface. While the judgement is no longer taking place at this moment, I’d like to object to this fact. The person named George K. Steinberg was not the leader of any nation on Earth in the year 1945. In fact, Earth never had one single world leader, but nation leaders and the one you would be referring to would be Harry S. Truman, the president of the United States of America. In fact, the person named George K. Steinberg was not native from Earth, instead he, along with other notable figures in Earth history, were actually from the reptilian race called Nagharsz and they come from a distant solar system. My pilot is correct: no civilian on Earth knows about life outside of it, and those who knew died thousands of years ago. The Nagharsz hid their presence from humans two thousand years ago and humans still don’t officially know. The only ones who know about life outside of Earth are the governments of a few nations, but they never managed to reach contact with any of them”
Everyone inside the Horse Power is surprised. Ralph says: “Damn, when Charlie said reptilians ran the government, he wasn’t kidding”
The alien woman says: “It was all a lie??!!”
Dani says: “I knew it they were all hiding something!”
The judge, despite being tired, nods in surprise “Well that was unexpected…”
Stacy continues: “In fact, Mr. Steinberg is not only still alive but seen in this place with the pirates today. He is their leader”
Ralph then cracks a smug face and picks up the speaker, saying: “Looks like you owe me an apology, your honor!”
Cutscene Is the unit stolen? The favor #
The judge responds: “Watch your tone, kid… It’s true that we’ve been fooled for decades, but you still committed crimes. For one, you’re still piloting a stolen Planetary Defense Unit”
Stacy responds almost immediately: “Incorrect, your honor”
The judge looks at her confused and asks: “Excuse me?”
“This unit was sent to Earth five days ago and the destination was correct. A signal was sent from there and the federation responded by sending this unit, which chose its pilot on its own volition. Correct me if I’m wrong, but one of the codes of the Planetary Defense Arsenal is that autonomous units always choose their pilots wisely, isn’t that right?”
“Oh… So this kid was protecting his world?”
“Correct”
The judge sighs, then says: “Could this get any more disappointing? What should we do? Just let him go as if we didn’t make a mistake bringing him here?”
One of the jurors raised her hand and said: “Um… Your honor?”
“Yes?”
“While nullifying any sentence and changing everything would take time and he wishes to go home… How about we end this case by asking him a favor?”
“Asking him a favor? Is this your suggestion?”
“Yes, because the pirates attacked and he is the only one with a Planetary Defense Unit here… We are legally allowed to request him to go after them. Not to mention, the faction that just attacked us are in possession of an older PDU, that would spare us the time to send another PDU after it”
The judge takes a deep breath, puts his hands on his waist, looks at both sides, then says: “Fine. What do you think, Mr. Durden?”
Ralph shrugs with a smile on his face and answers: “Fine by me! You could say I’m just doing my job! Hehe…”
The juror says: “Okay, now we just need to locate them and-”
Stacy interrupts the juror by saying: “Already taken care of. I tracked their signals; they were all over the place. Their base is not too far”
The judge says: “In that case, the request can start immediately”
Ralph laughs and says: “Hell yeah. Leave it to me, your honor!”
Choice Who stays behind? #
The judge: “Before you go… You will have to come back and bring the destroyed PDU to us as evidence of your work, so to make sure, we will need one of your passengers to stay here. Who is going to stay?”
(this is the moment Ralph chooses between Dani and the alien woman, but the latter is the canon choice)
When taken the canon choice, Ralph asks: “Dani, can I ask you to stay here and make sure nothing shady happens when we come back?”
Dani gets surprised and says while upset: “But it’s my duty, Ralph! Let me go with you!”
“It’s your duty to protect Earth, not this space colony. You’re already carrying one world on your shoulders; you don’t need to carry another”
“But…”
Ralph pats her head and says: “You already did a lot and I’m thankful for that, you are a good heroine, you really are. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be back soon, so if I can ask you to stay here and wait for us, I’ll still be thankful to you, okay?”
Dani looks down and pouts, answering: “…okay… Just keep me updated, alright?”
“Will do. Stacy, can you keep her in touch?”
Stacy answers: “Yes, driver. She’s carrying her phone, and I can keep her in touch, so you know she’s safe”
“Sounds good. I promise we’ll be back, alright?”
Dani nods.
We then see Dani alongside the members of the court watching as the Horse Power morphs into its spaceship form and takes off, reaching the sky quickly as Dani looks up and says: “You better not break this promise, dork”
Cutscene In space: what is your name? Lin #
The camera shows the spaceship flying through space, while Ralph turns the radio on and plays more road music. The alien woman has her arms crossed and is looking at the window, Ralph notices it and tries to break the silence by asking:
“So, uh… What’s your name again?”
She blinks and sighs, asking: “Stacy, can you believe this guy? He didn’t even ask my name beforehand”
Ralph answers laughing in embarrassment: “Oh… Hehehe, sorry I didn’t ask your name before, I was too worried about the situation”
She sighs yet again and answers: “Æ'kςhδmειγη”
“Huh?”
“Æ'kςhδmειγη”
“How do I even pronounce that?”
“Æ'kςhδmειγη”
“Okay, how about I call you Lin?”
“Whatever is easier for you, human”
“You heard my name tho, why are you calling me human?”
“You are a human, are you not?”
“Yeah, but I have a name”
“You didn’t think about my name all this time”
“Well… Sorry?”
Lin sighs and says: “Whatever”
“Um… No hard feelings, right?”
“Not like I have any other choice”
“Really? It doesn’t bother you coming with me in this job even after I destroyed your base?”
“It was all a lie anyway. And besides, I didn’t care all that much about them. Even if I did, what would I get wanting revenge against you?”
“I mean, you don’t have your mech anymore either”
“That mech? I don’t, but I did catch another one of the same model while we were in the arrester ship” She then pulls a disc that looks like the one broken in the Europa base, which makes Ralph say:
“Wow… And you didn’t use it back in the court?”
“You saw what they were gonna do to you by accusing you of stealing a mech, but at least your AI proved it wasn’t stolen. Me though? Imagine getting caught with an actual stolen mech? I didn’t want that kind of attention to me. In this mission at least I can claim I got it from the pirates”
“Oh… Alright then. Since you’re working with me now, would you mind helping me with that mech?”
“Sure. It’s not like I can fight you back anyway, you proved you’re better”
“Thanks”
“…”
Cutscene Burgers and cows #
Both remained silent for a few minutes, until Ralph asked:
“So… What resources did you get from Earth anyway?”
“Granite, marble and arenite”
“I see… And what about the cows?”
“That was just a food resource”
“I see. So, you cooked cows too?”
“Yes. It was actually something my people learned from humans, they took some recipes, and we ended up liking them. Cows are rich in milk, and we can cook burgers with their meat”
“Burgers are very popular in my country”
“Evidently”
“Say, wanna come to Earth with me and we can eat some burgers when we arrive?”
Lin looks away, then feels a quick shiver, she’s clearly holding back from answering. She says: “Well… Um…”
“Are there burgers in that planet you wanna go?”
“I… Uh… No…”
“It’s dirty cheap on Earth, you don’t wanna miss that”
Almost reluctantly, she answers: “…okay, deal”
Ralph smiles and says: “Good. Glad you like our food”
“Don’t make me regret this decision…”
“I sure won’t”
Cutscene The pirate colony and what a PDU is #
A few moments later, they both see a broken Death Star-like space colony, but multicolored. Ralph stops near it and says: “So that’s our destination… Stacy, this thing can’t fire giant lasers at us, can it?”
Stacy answers: “No. It can, however, fire plasma blasts from mounted guns. The patrollers of this place have already detected our presence. Please get ready for combat”
“Absolutely…” Ralph then presses a few commands in the ship’s dashboard screen and prepares to engage.
Before proceeding, Ralph asks: “Stacy, what are we after anyway? They told us to destroy a PDU, is it like the Horse Power?”
“No. It’s an old model deemed obsolete by the galactic federation” a picture shows up on the screen, and instead of a giant mech, a picture of a little girl can be seen. “Model GX8008135L. Unlike this unit, she is completely autonomous, which resulted in most of her actions being ineffective, reducing her use to remote control, and even then, she didn’t work with the same efficiency as this unit. In the hands of criminals, however, she is a threat and must be eliminated”
Ralph is surprised and says: “Autonomous? So she’s just like a person?”
“Not exactly. She can speak like I do, but her AI isn’t as advanced as mine”
“She’s just a kid… They want me to destroy her?”
“Correct. Driver, mind you, she isn’t a person, she is a war machine”
“But PDUs are made to protect worlds!”
“In the right hands, yes”
“All we need to do is recover her! Reprogram her, I don’t know, there should be a way!”
“Driver, it’s important to know your mission. Do not let your emotions cloud your judgement”
“Tch… We’ll see about that”
Lin looks at him, concerned.
Shooter Shooter section, then ramming the wall #
From this point on, gameplay starts. Ship gameplay, nothing too different from the previous shoot ‘em up parts: enemy ships shooting, turrets on the walls of the space colony, a few mechs also shooting and blocking projectiles with their shields. Shootout goes until Ralph turns around and aims at the walls of the colony directly. Lin looks at him, worried and asks:
“Ralph, what at you doing?!”
“I need to make an entrance…”
“But… You’re gonna crash!”
Ralph just smiles and starts accelerating. Lin says:
“Ralph! Stop! No! STACY, STOP HIM! NO!!!”
As the ship accelerates faster towards the colony’s wall, we see inside of it as many mechs are walking inside. From the wall’s impact, we see the Horse Power landing like a superhero as the debris reveal it. The mech gets up and we see Ralph fixing his sunglasses with a smile on his face. Lin looks at him, clearly upset and says:
“You are such an irresponsible, spoiled kid!”
“At least I made it in style, right?”
“No time for this, we’re already surrounded!”
Stacy says: “Driver, engage in combat immediately”
Ralph keeps his smile and says: “Absolutely”
Linear level The neon town level #
Gameplay then starts. While not too big, this level has plenty of places to go, and visually it looks like an 80s Japanese town with alleys filled with neon lights everywhere, like Guardians of the Galaxy’s Knowhere. Everywhere the player goes has enemies and items to pick, which I’ll work on later, and there’s no stairs, just elevators since every enemy here is either a giant or a mech. Elevators are big and there will always be enemies inside them, at some point a joke about stairs will be made.
Cutscene The arena and Mr. Steinberg #
Despite this, the level if fairly linear, there are doors everywhere and the player will find their way to their destination: an arena in the center of the colony, where a large crowd is screaming. Ralph looks at them and says:
“Interesting… They prepared a party for us”
Lin says: “Can you take things seriously for once?!”
Stacy says: “Actually, driver… You weren’t expected here, you just broke in, they didn’t know anyone would be sent after them”
Ralph says: “Oh… So we surprised them, huh? Hehehe…”
Suddenly, a mech lands in the arena, not as stylish as Ralph did with the Horse Power, but the mech looks strangely familiar. A voice comes from the mech’s speakers:
“You… You ruined our mission in the galactic federation’s courthouse!”
“You mean, you wanted to kill the judge? Why? You had legal access to my world, what else did you want?”
“You don’t understand… You filthy humans! Always obsessed with your so-called justice and morals!”
“Wait, are you Mr. Steinberg by any chance?”
“Yes! You ruined ALL my operations, you white monkey! You think I didn’t intercept your signals?!”
“Woah there, that’s racism!”
“Regardless, I will end you right here and right now and my operation shall continue!”
Ralph cracks a smile, fixes his sunglasses once again and responds: “We’ll see about that, pal”
Then the first boss fight starts.
Boss BOSS: Mr. Steinberg #
BOSS: MR. STEINBERG
Mr. Steinberg is quite dangerous, as he constantly spawns his stinger kick move and it breaks the Horse Power’s normal shield, so it’s recommended to parry him when he starts stinging. Other than that, he pulls two punches and a high kick, sweeps (which can make the Horse Power fall on the ground), kicks the Horse Power’s leg (which staggers it for a second) and he can quickly dodge and grab the Horse Power in its normal hand combos. It's recommended to use the heavy sword and avoid combos against him. Rocket punch, charged shot, stinger and dropkick are a good idea to use against him. Shoryuken, while hard to hit him, if it hits, it’ll send him flying over the arena and will make the crowd scream. Most of Mr. Steinberg’s moves are based on Krav Maga. The fight will be finished with the Horse Power doing a suplex on Mr. Steinberg, which makes it break on the ground, lying face down. The crowd is screaming in awe as Ralph looks at them with a motivated smile and makes the Horse Power lift both arms, asking for more and then clap hands. Lin is looking at Mr. Steinberg’s fallen mech, also with a satisfied smile and says:
“Take this, you lizard bastard…”
Cutscene Steinberg’s reward: the war machine in the gate #
Ralph looks at him, picks up the speaker and says: “Looks like I’m the champion, Mr. Steinberg! I won fair and square! Where’s my reward?”
Mr. Steinberg leaves the mech, limping on his feet and his face is covered in blood, he has a speaker on his hand and says: “You think this is over, goy? You have seen nothing!” He then pulls a one-button remote controller, which opens the gate behind him, revealing the PDU he was meant to take down. Ralph looks at the PDU in shock and says:
“You… What did you do to her?”
Mr. Steinberg laughed and answered: “I did what was meant to be done! This is a war machine built to fight off dragons! What, are you gonna feel sorry for a tool? Hehehe!”
Ralph gets mad, clenches his teeth and says: “Son of a bitch… You got some nerve”
Lin says: “Ralph, he’s right, that’s a war machine, you know very well what it can do, just look at your mech!”
Ralph responds: “Look at my mech you say… That’s what you don’t understand, Lin: my car, my mech… It matters to me. I always cared deeply about my car, it’s my life’s work, it’s my masterpiece. I always cared about my car more than about some people. I NEVER treated it like a tool or just some machine. After it became a mech, that feeling only got bigger. Now my car talks to me and understands me… Isn’t that right, Stacy?”
Stacy’s model toggles a blushing expression and answers: “But driver, I am just your Planetary Defense Unit’s interface!”
“That doesn’t change anything, you understand me well enough to even pick a music for me to listen depending on my mood! Why should I treat her differently?”
Lin looks aside and says: “I hope you know what you’re doing, Ralph…”
Mr. Steinberg says: “Enough with this cheap emotional talk, RISE, MY BATTLE ANGEL!!!” and then he presses a button that makes the PDU open its right eye, hover out of its litter and starts morphing to its mecha form, which resembles a dark silver Gundam with angel wings and two swords. A female voice with white noise muffling it says:
“Target acquired, ready to engage”
Boss BOSS: Battle Angel #
BOSS: BATTLE ANGEL
The PDU spends most of its time hovering or flying, so it’s recommended to use ranged attacks when she’s out of reach, and when enough shots are hit, she will come down and fight the player face to face. Battle Angel is much more dangerous than Mr. Steinberg, as she reacts quickly, can dodge and has a fast double sword combo with 8 hits, which at least five can be blocked before the shield gets destroyed, but it’s recommended to dodge, since one hit stun locks the Horse Power. The sword combo can be parried, however, the window is extremely small and most players won’t hit it, but if they do, the counter will send the PDU flying to the wall and will hit the ground face down, giving the player room to attack. If the PDU is flying and gets hit with a shoryuken or a rocket punch, she will fall on the ground back down. It’s not recommended to try dropkicking her, she will always dodge it. After the sword combo is finished, she will stay vulnerable for three seconds, giving the player the opportunity to hit her with a combo or sting her, which will stun her. Overall, her defenses are low, but so are her attacks, she is a glass cannon modified by the pirates for destruction only. She can also pull a cross-sword attack that can be parried. Another attack she will pull is the stellar dash, which will trigger a QTE if the player pulls the stinger. She says things during the battle, so the fight ends with Ralph immobilizing her with a half-cradle pin and counting to three. The crowd gets less noisy and tries to understand what’s happening, Ralph then makes the Horse Power get up and celebrates, saying “I win, Mr. Steinberg! You’re coming with me!”
Cutscene The pin counted to three #
Mr. Steinberg looks in contempt and says: “What the hell are you talking about, goy?”
“I counted to 3 and she didn’t break out; the match is over!”
The crowd goes silent. The PDU gets up and says: “Cannot compute. Opponent, what does this mean? Why are you ceasing to fight?”
“That’s the rule of a fair fight: if I count to three and you didn’t break out, that means I win. I could’ve held you for as long as possible and you still wouldn’t break out”
The PDU gets confused, we see her eyes being filled with numbers. Mr. Steinberg gets angry and says: “Where do you think you are, goy?! This is not Earth, your rules don’t apply here! This is a fight to death! You must fight until-”
Suddenly, the PDU starts morphing back to her human form, and she’s still frozen in place. Mr. Steinberg is frustrated and starts pressing buttons, he then says: “Come on, I ORDERED you to fight! Morph back, morph back!”
The PDU then strikes Mr. Steinberg with a cross-sword attack, which doesn’t kill him, just leaves him unconscious, shocking the audience. Ralph laughs softly, looks at the screen inside his mech and says: “thanks, Stacy”, he then looks at the crowd and says: “alright, I’m here to arrest Mr. Steinberg for screwing over my home world, you folks hand over the remaining pirates to the Galactic Federation if you don’t wanna get arrested as well!”. The crowd is reluctant but accepts the deal.
Companion unlocked: battle angel
Cutscene Flight to the Galactic Federation HQ #
We see the Horse Power in its spaceship form going to the Galactic Federation HQ, while inside it, Lin still sits on the passenger seat and the PDU is on the backseat, still in trance state. Lin says:
“You sure have a lot of faith in your mech, that was a crazy and risky plan…”
“Not so risky when you consider what I said to Stacy. If she can learn about us humans, so can this girl. They’re advanced enough Ais”
“She’s still an old model, Ralph, this might’ve not ended well”
Stacy says: “Actually, this was safer than if this unit was the opponent. The PDU on the back seat was made from gathered data from one specific citizen, so some of her memories and behaviors come from a person. The driver knew what he was doing”
“Thanks Stacy. And good job putting her in stasis while also adding a bit of Earth data to her”
“You’re welcome, driver. I should warn you however, that she can’t wake up by herself and will need repairs, as some of her data and hardware are damaged”
“I’m sure we can fix her somehow, right”
“I believe the passenger has the knowledge and materials to do such thing”
Lin asks: “What, you want me to help you fixing this war machine?”
“Yes. Why? Are you afraid? Did you forget who the champion of that arena is?”
Lin sighs and says: “Again, I hope you know what you’re doing”
“You won’t be disappointed”
Ralph nods and silence remains for a few moments until Lin asks:
“Also… Was it really necessary to put Mr. Steinberg in your vehicle’s trunk? There are two back seats”
“Well, the back seats are too cramped for an adult, the trunk has more space”
Lin scoffs and shakes her head.
Cutscene Federation HQ: verdict and a deal for the PDU #
We see the ship landing in the Galactic Federation court, and we also see Dani noticing them and getting happy. As the ship lands, Dani runs towards it and welcomes Ralph, happy to know he’s safe and sound. After that, we see Ralph handing Mr. Steinberg over to the court and asks the judge:
“Now your honor, all my crimes were forgiven, right?”
“Due to Mr. Steinberg’s actions, none of your actions are considered crimes, and due to the favor you just did to the Galactic Federation, all your actions are now forgotten”
“Heh. Thanks”
Lin asks: “What about me?”
The judge answers: “You are free to go wherever you wish. Your involvement with the operations on Earth is now non-existent”
“Thank you” she looks at Ralph and asks: “The offer is still up?”
“Sure” he answers
“Okay, then I’m coming with you”
The judge asks: “Now, the PDU”
Ralph gets conflicted, then asks: “But your honor, what will be done to her?”
“She will be scrapped, all her parts will be used on newer models, and her memory drive will be eliminated”
“But you honor, she will die if that’s done!”
The judge takes a deep breath and says: “Look, Mr. Durden, it pains me to do so, but such is the legislation. This PDU is an old model, a defective one that never went to production. She must be discarded”
Ralph still disagrees, saying: “She can still be used, she doesn’t need to be destroyed!”
“It is not up to you to decide, Mr. Durden”
Ralph tries to think of a solution, he then realizes something and says: “Okay, how about this, I buy the PDU from the Federation and bring her home! Name the price!”
The judge starts losing his patience and says: “Mr. Durden, listen here…”
But suddenly, he is interrupted by Stacy’s holographic form, who says: “Your honor, with due respect, but this PDU is outdated in several ways and is considered harmless according to the Federation’s current specifications. My creators uploaded all the data from this PDU to my memory drive, so I can assure you that she is harmless to Earth. Besides, Earth is technically not bound to the Federation’s laws, and in any case, my driver can take responsibility for any damage caused in case she goes haywire. I plead you to consider a deal”
The judge shakes his head and asks: “Mr. Durden, what do you gain from this anyway?”
“I gain peace of mind knowing I didn’t send a poor girl to die. She gains the opportunity to live. That’s all I want”
“But that is a war machine, Mr. Durden”
“From what I’ve heard, she was built from a real person and her memories”
The judge gasps, then smiles and says: “Fine, Mr. Durden. Take the PDU with you”
Ralph is visibly happy and says: “Thanks, your honor!”
The judge nods and then we see the four getting in the ship and leaving.
Cutscene Back to Earth #
On the way back to Earth, we see them all in space while Lin says: “I have to say, I’m quite impressed how you easily convinced them to let you bring the PDU with you. How can you be so persuasive anyway?”
Dani squints and asks: “You say this, but neither of you told me how Ralph convinced you to come to Earth… What did you tell her, Ralph?”
“I told her we have burgers, that’s why they kidnap cows back home”
Dani is disappointed and asks: “Really? You came with us because of burgers?”
Lin is trying to hide her shame by saying: “We don’t have such tasty food in my home world, okay?”
“Ugh… And to think we feared aliens for ages…”
“Hey, I still served in the military!”
“If only you knew how disappointing that still sounds”
“Can you show a little respect?!”
“That will depend on your stay, miss”
By being called miss, Lin smiles and says: “Understood”
Dani is yet again disappointed and says: “You are so easy to convince!”
“It’s not my fault if you two are so persuasive!”
Two seconds of silence until everyone laughs. Dani then asks: “So, are you two not going to tell me what happened while I was waiting?”
Ralph answers: “Oh, sure, so…”
He then tells her everything while the screen cuts to Dani being surprised by everything. She says: “That was so good, Ralph! You did good! Both of you!”
Ralph nods and says: “Yeah… If I was gonna do it, it’d need to be done with style”
“You went so far for the PDU even if everyone was telling you she was just a machine”
“Regardless of species, I wouldn’t let a girl die like this”
Dani giggles and says: “You really are a gentleman, aren’t you?”
Lin asks: “Stacy, you said the PDU has memories of a real person… Who was she based on then?”
Stacy answers: “The PDU coded GX8008135L was based on the former judge’s daughter, who was a close friend of the current judge and she was built to defend specifically that colony we were in, but she had several flaws that couldn’t be fixed, so she was discarded right away”
Everyone is surprised, Lin then asks: “And how do you plan on fixing those flaws, Ralph?”
“You have the materials and knowledge to do it, right?”
She scoffs and says: “Ralph, I’m not a scientist, I’m military personnel!”
“Stacy can help you”
“Yes, driver!” she says.
She sighs and says: “You better pay me for it”
“You don’t even know Earth’s economy and currencies”
“Well… You can pay me with burgers”
Ralph looks at Dani and says: “You heard that, Dani?”
She is surprised and says: “Are you exploiting me now?!”
Lin laughs, shakes her head and say: “You’re really dodging the accountability, huh?”
“I’m not! I did say I’d take it should anything happen”
“There’s no way around you huh?”
“It’ll work, I promise”
Cutscene Home: Bailey opens the door #
The scene ends with Lin laughing again and shaking her head, while Dani looks away, pouting and with her arms crossed. We then see Ralph’s house at night as the ship descends until it lands on the car’s parking spot and morphs into the car. Everyone gets out, with Lin carrying the robot girl on her arms. Ralph rings the bell and says:
“Bailey, it’s me! I’m back!”
We hear something touching the floor, then Bailey opens the door with a smile on her face and hugs Ralph, saying: “Ralph, you’re back! Thank goodness, you took so long, I thought you wouldn’t return…”
Ralph laughs and says: “Come on, you really thought I’d left you and everything behind?”
She looks away, still with a smile, but sad eyes and says: “You… You wouldn’t, huh? Heh…” She then looks at Lin and asks: “And who are these?”
“Well, uh… How do I explain?”
Lin says: “I’m a homeless veteran who couldn’t afford a house, and this is an orphan, that’s who we are”
Bailey is a little confused and says: “Oh… That makes sense…”
Ralph asks: “And how are you? Sorry we took so long to come back”
Bailey smiles and answers: “I’m better now. Welcome back, Ralph”
Ralph pats her head and says: “Glad you’re safe” and then looks at the other girls and say: “Come on”
Everyone gets in.