Ptolemaic Army

**The Ptolemaic Army** serves as the main antagonists of *Metal Slug 5*. Their motives are unclear, but are likely to center around world domination. Despite their technological capabilities, they are presumably trying to achieve their goal through the use of supernatural forces, given their large involvement in mysterious practices. Their sect-like structure and the great amount of cultists and wizards in their ranks seems to confirm this.

Their specialties are espionage, sabotage, incursions, wizardry, dark rituals and guerrilla warfare.

## **History**

It is unknown how long the Ptolemaic Army had been around, but their first notable operation was to raid a Regular Army facility responsible for the creation of Metal Slugs. During this operation, a disc containing data on the Metal Slugs was stolen and the Ptolemaic Army became the first faction to utilize Metal Slugs besides the Regular Army. This disc also contained information on the Rebel Army's vehicles, which they used and modified for their own personal use.

The Regular Army tracked down units of the Ptolemaic Army to a place known as the "Corridor of Fire". Ptolemaic soldiers were spotted in the area, and it seemed that they had allied themselves with local natives. The P.F. Squad and the S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. attack the Ptolemaic's position to recover the secrets and destroy the paramilitary syndicate in one fell swoop.

After the "Corridor of Fire" mission, a few of the natives come across a cultist mask, which fell from the sky. Confused as to what to do, one of them puts it on, and gets struck by blue lightning, which apparently grants him special abilities. During the third and fourth missions, the group continues to encounter a masked shaman with red hood, wearing the same mask, who is seen commanding the lower ranks. As to whether or not he was the same native from before is unknown, but it seems he gains power, and soon controls the Ptolemaic Army. The short cutscene after the first mission does not make this clear.

The following missions take both squads to other four locations where units of the Ptolemaic Army are stationed. These include a Ptolemaic Slug production facility in Brazil, a secret underwater production facility, and an abandoned warehouse in New York that the Ptolemaic Army was using as a battle armor production facility.

In the squad's final mission, they attack the remaining Ptolemaic forces in the besieged city of Osaka, Japan. Both squads come across a tower, which can be seen from the highway, where on top, some kind of ritual is being presumably performed by Ptolemaios. The final showdown takes place at the top of the tall structure, against a great ethereal demon known only as the Avatar of Evil. The conflict ends with the demon being defeated and forced to retreat. He flies back to its dimension before any clue about who or what he was could be unraveled. With this, the Ptolemaic threat seems to be at an end.

However, in Metal Slug Attack, it is revealed that scattered groups of soldiers and cultists have survived the siege of Osaka, and banded together once again under the command of their supreme leader Ptolemaios.

The Ptolemaic Army possesses three branches; the cult, an army and a navy. The cult is the commanding organ of the organization and is led directly by its leader Ptolemaios together with his aide Mira, while the army is led by Dragunov. Due to the secrecy of the cult plans, and their often immoral conduct, Dragunov has recently started a rebellion, though its outcome remains unknown. Virtually nothing is known about the navy, outside of several generic commanders who often squabble with the army commanders. The navy also possesses customized hover units.

Anastasia's sect is different to that of Ptolemaios'. Originally the sect was at war with the Ptolemaic Army, but eventually came to a truce and became allies by name only. This eventually changed, but like Dragunov, Anastasia IV is suspicious of Ptolemaios' intentions after being shown a vision by a Dark Monoeye.

## **Vehicles**

### Combat

* Black Hound
* Ptolemaic Slug
* Units

### Support

* Utility Van
* Mammoth Tower

### Aerial

* Hover Unit
* Hover Vehicle

### Bosses

These are the unique vehicles developed by the Ptolemaic Army designed to take on large armies. They usually cover a vigilance or assault role.

* Metal Rear
* Shooting Ray
* Wall Crawler
* Sandmarine
* Stone Turtle
* Land Blowfish
* Quadro Jumper
* Rock Mole
* D-GU

## **Upgraded Rebel Army vehicles**

The data on the stolen disc also contained data about the Rebel Army vehicles, that the Ptolemaic Army used to bolster their military.

* Girida-O (Ver P.M)
* Di-Cokka (Ver P.M)
* M-15A Bradley (Ver P.M)
* Flying Tara (Ver P.M)
* Eaca-B (Ver P.M)
* R-Shobu (Ver P.M)
* MH-6J Masknell (Ver P.M)
* Nop-03 Sarubia (Ver P.M)
* Landseek (Ver P.M)
* Mini-Sub 88 (Ver P.M)