Chapter 23: The Shade of the Night

Project X Zone 2
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Area:	Upper Deck, Battleship Balrog
Origin:	Strider (1989)
Previous Chapter:	Chapter 22: The Demons Within
Next Chapter:	Chapter 24: Beautiful, Dangerous Wood Sprites

Overview

"The Shade of the Night" is the twenty-third chapter and twenty-eighth overall chapter in Project X Zone 2. Hibana, the last solo unit and the last player unit joins the party.

Synopsis

Tower of Tarqaron, Rooftop.

Urashima meets with the group and gets a recap of the events that happened in the last chapter. She says that the golden chains are gone from the Tarqaron, meaning Ouma already left but she saw a small aircraft leave the area. It left for the Balrog, so the others decide to give chase. Yuri, Flynn, and Estelle join up with them to return the favor.

Future, In the Skies above Earth

After heading through the rift, they get close to the Balrog as they detect a heat signature from it's boosters. After seeing the Balrog on the screen, they're surprised to see how big it is. Hiryu suggests entering from the rear as there is a hatch that leads inside. Urashima is pretty confident in catching up to the giant battleship as they begin catching up. The Balrog suddenly picks up speed and the jets are hampering their movement, but the doctor has an ace up her sleeve: she can override the jet's output limits, but it's voice-activated so she calls X to unlock it but no avail. After which, she has Reiji come over and call out the password.

"Emergency boosters, activate!"

It lands on the rear deck, barely. They disembark and Hiryu shows them the hatch...where Tong Pooh and Solo come to greet them. Seems Bison didn't return to the ship, but they were instead expecting Ouma to return hence why the ship came from here. Not letting them destroy the ship easily, she calls out some Aragami but they remain unfazed as they begin their assault.

After killing Vajra, they decide to hit the development dock before more can be made.

As the battle wore on, Tong Pooh calls out reinforcements, including God Arc Soldiers, Tyrants, and Mets. After Marduk goes down, Alisa is surprised how they could recreate psions as well.

Just then, some Vectors appear along with Kurohagane α and Black Hayato. He still seemed evil the last time they saw him, but it seems that Tong Pooh was the one who helped him recover. They are targeting the Dragonturtle, but the engine's overheated from the emergency boosters and she's now a sitting Dragonturtle.

But then, KOS-MOS detects a heat signature approaching from behind. A stealth plane crashes into it and another ninja appears: Hibana, along with some enemies as well. She was on a mission when a rift opened up in her time and she somehow flew into the Balrog's airspace. Kurohagane somehow made the plane out of control, which caused her to crash. She explains that the cyborg was from her time, and it was made to retrieve the Akujiki. She decides to help out the heroes to make up for crashing the fight.

Tong Pooh retreats before Hiryu gets the chance to finish it. Kurohagane is destroyed after an intense battle, and though Hotsuma questions Hibana about it, he decides to just follow his own path for now. Solo retreats from the battlefield after defeat, but the heroes decide to keep fighting until they can safely infiltrate the ship. Hayato was beaten, but he was suddenly clashing again with his other personality and flees the battle.

They find the hatch, but decide to try and contact Urashima to see if she made it. She did, but wasn't too pleased about the unexpected crash. She's making repairs to the Dragonturtle and is below the battleship. She decides to make a call since she can't make it right now. They follow Hiryu into the ship's interior and the heroes get to work on destroying the Development Dock and the Engine Room. While it won't destroy it, it'll at least cripple it and make it unusable to anyone else. Segata gets out some explosives and they begin setting them up while the others do the same in the central engine room.

Basel, Cardinal Garigliano's office

The cardinal converses with Ouma about the chains appearing in Basel, and they agree to deal with them. He gives them a warning about the sprites appearing this time of year.

Balrog

After resurfacing, they wait for their contact but the bombs suddenly go off and their stuck between the sky and fire. Just then, a loudspeaker is heard and Miyuki shows up. She was the one Urashima called to help them out. She can't get any closer due to the Balrog's increased speed. Hiryu figures out a way to enter the ship: a catapult used to launch planes. He jumps up after launch and Miyuki's plane sucked him in. Crazy as it is, the heroes didn't have much choice as they got on group by group.

Air Inn

Everyone got onboard safely, and the Balrog is in an explosive heap. Urashima detected gold chain energy from below them, meaning that Ouma was likely headed there. They decide to do a bit of shopping while the repairs to the Dragonturtle are being made.

Party Members

Note: Only 10 Pair Units allowed

Pair Units

• Reiji & Xiaomu
• Chris & Jill
• Kiryu & Majima
• Jin & Kazuya
• Demitri & Morrigan
• Hiryu & Hotsuma
• Chun-Li & Xiaoyu
• KOS-MOS & Fiora
• X & Zero
• Kite & Haseo
• Akira & Kage Maru
• Dante & Vergil
• Zephyr & Vashyron
• Ciel & Nana
• Ryu & Ken
• Sakura & Gemini
• Ogami & Erica
• Chrom & Lucina
• Yuri & Flynn

Solo Units

• Heihachi
• Phoenix & Maya
• Natsu
• Aty
• Ryo
• Captain Commando
• Ulala
• Leon
• Ingrid
• Axel
• Valkyrie
• Leanne
• June
• Alisa
• Pai
• Felicia
• Segata
• Estelle

After defeating some of the enemies

• Hibana

Enemies

Note: Abaddon leaves after 5 rounds

Image	Name	Lv.	Amount	HP	ATK	DEF	TEC	DEX	RNG	M-RNG	SP-RNG	SP-M-RNG	MOVE	Block	Gear
	Solo	22	1	27802	465	151	153	142	2	2	0	0	5	25	-
	Carol	18	4	5476	406	113	103	103	2	0	0	0	6	30	-
	Brenda	18	2	6520	483	119	118	118	2	0	0	0	6	30	-
	Dreadpike	17	3	7456	388	171	95	95	1	0	0	0	5	35	-
	Ogretail	17	2	5468	388	108	90	109	1	0	0	0	5	0	-
	Fallen Ogretail	18	1	6780	445	113	94	113	1	0	0	0	5	0	-
	Zygote	17	2	3976	333	102	99	99	1	0	0	0	5	0	-
	Fallen Zygote (F)	18	1	6259	503	148	123	113	1	0	0	0	5	25	-
	Abaddon	20	1	5700	210	229	133	133	2	2	0	0	5	0	-
	Vajra	18	1	108832	663	115	84	89	2	2	3	3	6	15	Chimera Mane
	Marduk	18	1	92507	616	102	89	94	2	0	2	3	6	35	Mars Mane

After defeating some of the enemies

Image	Name	Lv.	Amount	HP	ATK	DEF	TEC	DEX	RNG	M-RNG	SP-RNG	SP-M-RNG	MOVE	Block	Gear
	God Arc Soldier	18	2	19147	552	134	89	123	2	0	0	0	6	15	-
	Rampaging God Arc Soldier	19	2	22293	668	113	123	118	3	0	0	0	6	15	-
	Tyrant T-002	18	2	21275	442	147	89	89	2	0	0	0	5	0	-
	Super Tyrant	19	2	27866	576	154	113	113	2	0	0	0	5	15	-
	Mettaur D2	18	2	3390	483	178	94	123	2	0	0	0	5	70	-
		19	2	3548	503	187	97	128

Some time during Player Round 4

Image	Name	Lv.	Amount	HP	ATK	DEF	TEC	DEX	RNG	M-RNG	SP-RNG	SP-M-RNG	MOVE	Block	Gear
	Vector	17	2	20243	528	140	109	95	3	0	0	0	6	30	-
		18	2	21275	552	147	113	99
	Kurohagane α	22	1	26538	594	128	165	165	2	2	0	0	7	15	-
	B. Hayato	20	1	50660	643	125	117	149	2	0	2	2	6	15	Plasma Gun
	Kyoukashinobi Kusa	18	2	4955	367	113	94	103	1	0	0	0	5	0	-
	Kyoukashinobi Oozutsu	19	2	6823	423	118	97	97	2	2	0	0	4	0	-
	Tong Pooh	19	1	57024	469	113	133	144	2	2	2	3	5	25	Green Chinese Outfit

Items

• Strange Coffee
• Omnipotent Soda

Transcript

Chapter 23: The Shade of the Night (Transcript)

Trivia

• The Flying Battleship Balrog is the setting of the 4th stage in Strider 2, a massive flying airship created by the followers of Grandmaster Meio and capable of flight through a mysterious energy (the original used an anti-gravity device). Hiryu infiltrated it, destroyed its Reactor Core and escaped on its captain's escape ship.
• Some of the characters in Project X Zone 2 show familiarity with the experience because Namco X Capcom featured the original Balrog from the first Arcade Strider, and the cast has to escape it using a similar method with the airship's catapults. Hiryu is the one suggesting this in both games.
• Hibana arrives at the Balrog on top of a black stealth plane surrounded by enemies from Nightshade, this is a reference to that game's first stage, where Hibana has to fend off several enemies while riding on top of a stealth plane in mid-flight.
• The explosives Segata got out were similar to the ones Kurt Irving used to destroy the Gain Ground statues in Project X Zone. These explosives are based on the explosives featured in Sega's 1989 Arcade game Crack Down.
• When the characters plant bombs on the Balrog, they briefly visit the airship's Development Dock and Reactor Core, the 4th and 5th areas from the Strider 2 stage respectively.
• Hibana is the last player unit to join the party.

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Project X Zone 2
Chapters
Prologue 1 - Prologue 2 - Prologue 3 - Prologue 4 - Prologue 5 - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22 - Chapter 23 - Chapter 24 - Chapter 25 - Chapter 26 - Chapter 27 - Chapter 28 - Chapter 29 - Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 33 - Chapter 34 - Chapter 35 - Chapter 36 - Chapter 37 - Chapter 38 - Chapter 39 - Chapter 40 - Chapter 41 - Final Chapter
Challenge Stages
Challenge 1 - Challenge 2 - Challenge 3 - Chapter 4 - Challenge 5 - Challenge 6 - Challenge 7 - Challenge 8 - Challenge 9 - Challenge 10