Duality
Series Summary: A side novelization of Xenoblade X sidequests that takes place alongside the main fanfiction Uncontrollable. As a member of BLADE, it is one's duty to explore Mira, fight off monsters, and assist citizens of New Los Angeles. Recruits Cross and X will do their best as new BLADE members to further the organizations cause, meet new people, and face threats against NLA from outsiders and citizens of the lone city. But most of all, they'll learn about themselves and each other, even though their pasts are out of reach...
1. Ideals - A Hero's Ride
Summary: With their first free time for themselves, the two new BLADE recruits wander the Commercial District to meet a man who has a deep attraction to the ideals of heroism and justice. One of them is flattered by such, but the other couldn't help but wonder what's truly behind the passion of those ideals...
Notes: It is highly recommended to read at least chapter 1 of the fanfiction Uncontrollable, as it ties in, describes and gives premise of the two avatar characters featured in this story. As mentioned in the other fanfiction, the two avatar characters Cross and X will maintain a studious and peppy personality respectively along with their respective voices. For their appearance, refer to my profile, the main story image, and the other fanfiction.
Very, very minor details in dialogue and description of scenes have been edited to add a bit flair, but the overall story and outcome of the sidequests will not change. Dialogue has been slightly changed to incorporate the fact that two avatars are present. Dialogue choices and responses that will be presented are the choices that most closely resemble the personalities of the given avatars. In such, sometimes they will have the same responses. And sometimes, they will not. The times when they will diverge in responses may or may not incorporate the two differing responses from NPCs.
To advance the pacing and prevent dragging of the plot of sidequests, the entire process of collecting items will not be featured and be summarized instead. There will be exceptions, however. Likewise with battles.
Lastly, this is the very first sidequest the avatars will undergo chronologically. After this sidequest, all other sidequests can be read in any order, except for the obvious ones that are continuations of others, and sidequests that can only take place after the story has advanced to a certain point. For reference, this sidequest takes place after the mission with Tatsu's recruitment.
X skipped her way across Armory Alley and made her way to the BLADE Barracks, unaware of the strange glances of passing faces. It is now the next day since she underwent a mission and met Tatsu, her newfound adorable Nopon friend.
Earlier, she took a stroll along the Residential District, which was one of the last few places in New LA that she hasn't explored yet. This was also the first free time period Elma granted her and Cross that would last for over 6 hours, so she decided to take advantage of it by exploring the city. It took about an hour and half of strolling to take in sights of the Residential District and to briefly say hi to friendly faces. (Unfortunately, she didn't remember names all too well.) She wanted to hit up some new places to shop. To make the trip more amusing, she'd had to drag the one person who'd be least interested in her little adventure, yet easily give in to her demands for some reason…
As she entered the Barracks, X walks right in and makes a left turn to find the one person she was looking for.
X had a smirk on her face as she makes her way near the lounge and bar of the barracks quietly, tiptoeing her way across the lobby.
Cross was sitting on the bar chair, looking down on his communicator as if he was in his own little world as he stared intensely on the small blue screen.
Ever since Elma gave him the communicator about three days ago, he would squeeze any idle time he had to read on the large archives that was available to all BLADE members. Usually, he'd be reading articles relating to Earth, Mira, BLADE, New LA, and other subjects relating to his current situation. For example, his first usage of the archives had him reading about Earth, and then he delved into specifics, such as the formation of its continents, oceans, and atmosphere, the evolution of mankind, geography, and geology. And he dove into more specifics, such as the rotation, magnetic fields, biosphere…
X approached Cross and stood behind him and knelt down to his eye level. She licked the bottom of her lips and touched her left index finger with it. With an evil grin and quiet chuckle, she moved her left index finger smothered with her saliva slowly towards Cross' left ear-
Until a sudden hand grabs a hold onto her wrist. X gasped as she saw Cross' left hand grasping her wrist while he was still in the same sitting position reading his communicator.
"H-Hey! How'd you-"
"I heard your footsteps even though you were tiptoeing across the barracks. And you were breathing down my neck and I heard you laugh albeit quietly… that's very unsettling. Try holding your breath next time." Cross bluntly answered X, eyes still glued to his communicator.
X forcefully swung her wrist to her left to remove Cross' grip from her. "Well, you dug your grave! Now that you told me what to do, I'll definitely get you next time!"
"Sure…" Cross mutters, resting his left arm on the bar table after losing grip on X's wrist. Completely changing the subject, he asks X, "Did you know that despite various results in research, there's a general consensus that it takes more muscles to smile than to frown?"
X rolled her eyes at his nerdy gesture.
If he needed a break from a specific topic in his reading, Cross randomly searches words to hopefully jog any memories and in the process, gain random knowledge. Despite learning many trivial facts that he habitually tells X whenever awkward silence occurs between them, to change topics whenever he felt uncomfortable in conversation, (much to X's annoyance at times) and to show off his newfound knowledge and impress X, he unfortunately was unable to trigger any past memories from his hazy mind.
X steps around Cross to his right side and places her right hand over Cross's communicator, making his right hand and the communicator lie flat on the bar table. She looks into Cross' eyes and mockingly replies, "Ohh… no wonder you're so angry-looking all the time… You're too lazy to smile!"
Falling into her trap, Cross retorts, "Not true." X didn't see Cross lips form a frown since the Survival Veyes covered his nose, cheeks, and mouth, but his brows arching downward and his eyes proved otherwise.
"See? Anyways, I guess you've been reading all morning. You need some fresh air, so how about you join me to visit the Commercial District? We haven't been there yet!" X tugged Cross's right sleeve as she steps back from the bar to prompt him to move.
"It's not like there's any air in here…" Cross muttered as he shuts off his communicator and places it in his pocket. "Okay... I'll join you."
"Great!" X cheers, tugging on Cross' right arm to move quickly. "Let's go! Let's go!"
—
"Ah! It's just like every girl's dream! Shops…! Cafes…! Restaurants…!" X squealed, her hands on her cheeks as she paced along the sidewalk of Melville Street, the main road of the Commercial District.
"Imagine what the commercial district of Los Angeles back on Earth looked like…" Cross muttered. "I should look it up later…"
"Ughhh… we woke up in the wrong time! Or if anything, terrible timing to forget our past…!" X groaned.
It had been about one hour of exploring most of the liveliest and most casual district of the five in New LA. Bustling with people and cars, there hasn't been a place in this city that X felt most thrilled to stroll through. They visited a few shops and the two bickered over their spending habits. X wanted to blow off her savings on an outfit, but Cross strongly demanded that she save her money for a while longer. She admits defeat after some time. After dragging Cross around, X decided he would lead the way to make things fair.
As they walked past Zalia Cafe and turned left, Cross noticed something odd to his left. Black smoke. It was rising a bit from a distance in a parking lot. Concerned, he stopped his advance.
"Huh-?" X noticed Cross wasn't following her anymore and sees exactly what he's been seeing. "W-Woah! That's not good! Let's check it out-!" She dashes towards the direction of the black smoke in the parking lot.
"X-! Wait…!" Cross runs right after her.
At the parking lot, the two see the source of the smoke. An expensive-looking silver car was emitting it from the hood, and next to the car were four men standing in a circular formation. Three of the men were dressed casually. A man with short hair and tattoos on his wearing a tank top and shorts, another with a bit long black hair wearing a sleeveless shirt and black pants, and bald somewhat darker skinned man with longsleeved jacket and pants respectively stood around a man in a BLADE uniform.
The man with the sleeveless shirt crosses his arms and asks the BLADE member, "Heh. This cars yours, buddy? Then it's your own fault! BLADEs ain't allowed to park here, see?"
The blonde man wearing a BLADE uniform replies, "Well, well. I heard rumors there were ruffians going about hounding BLADES, and now here you are. This is my lucky day. Let me guess- you rocket scientists used to be BLADEs yourselves, right? But something set you off, so you left to form this gang. How pathetic. And here I was thinking you'd be something special, when you're just a common pack of thugs. It's almost disappointing."
The man with the sleeveless shirt frowned and he spread his arms a bit, as if he was ready to raise them to a fighting stance. "You got a big mouth, pip-squeak. I bet it would look better if I knocked out a few teeth!"
"Please. I've no interest in low-level chumps like you. I fear I'm something of a traditionalist, you see. Either give me a great evil worthy of facing justice, or don't waste my time."
"Enough with the fancy talk! Put up your dukes before I END YOU!" The man threatens, his voice raised very loudly in anger.
A few yards away, Cross and X could clearly hear the commotion that was going on near the smoking car. X could feel the adrenaline rush in as she sees an opportunity to do her job as a mediator, hence her pace was quickening. Cross notices X's glint in her eye as she sees the trouble ahead and growls under his breath. "X… don't be stupid…!"
The blonde man was smirking. "Oh, I wholly encourage you to try… But be warned, agents of swift justice always step forth after a chump drops a cheesy line like that!"
With that prompt, X rushes into the scene, stopping behind the sleeveless ruffian with a big grin on her face. Cross groans quietly, bracing himself.
The blonde man notices the two unfamiliar faces standing behind the thug he was speaking condescendingly to. He examines the young man and woman and from their attire of the light Grenada wear and the mixture of light and medium Sakuraba wear respectively, he instantly knew that the two individuals were his allies.
"See?" He asks, prompting the three thugs to turn around to see the two new faces.
The girl with black hair wearing head armor that looked like a white crown of sorts with red-colored ends facing diagonally away from them was about five inches shorter than them. Her chest was mostly exposed but the rest of her torso was covered in black. She was wearing dark brown shorts and boots with orange outlines. What sent sweat down their foreheads was she was an evil smirk across her face as she had her right hand on her waist, right near the silver knife the was mounted in her sheath.
Behind her was a young man with slightly long purple-blue hair wearing a long sleeved purple shirt with a white vest and headphones around his neck. He was wearing a purple lightly plated pants and boots. The thugs had forced eye contact with him due to half of his face being covered. Hence, they gazed upon his glaring icy blue eyes, sending chills down their spine.
"M-More BLADEs? Pfft. This was supposed to be an unfair fight! Why you wussin' out on us like this?!"
The man turns away from the blonde BLADE and growls, "You got lucky today, BLADE. Might not be so lucky tomorrow, if you get my drift." He glances at his two friends with the the tank top and the longsleeved shirt and tells them, "…Come on, boys! Let's make like bananas and split!"
The three thugs dash away from the parking lot, disappearing in the distance. The blonde BLADE sighed and shook his head. "…Phew!"
Cross and X approach the BLADE member by walking a few paces forward. X tells him, "Good thing we came! You looked like you were in a pinch!"
The man nods. "Thank you. I think you both just saved my teeth. I heard talk about a gang that was causing mischief around here, so I decided to take a look. And believe you me, I didn't need to look for very long! But alas, those ruffians saw fit to wreck my ride. I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do about that."
Now concerned, Cross asks the young man, "Those men… could you tell us more about them?"
"What's to tell? I'd hope they were villains of vision and character, but they turned out to be common street thugs. Not to say this whole incident has been a waste, though. I met you both, and you both seem to be something of major players."
X's eyes were widening in intrigue at the commentary. Cross however, narrowed his eyes a bit. "Villains of vision…?"
The man introduces himself, "Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Justin, and I'm a BLADE. It's good to meet you."
X waves her right hand and does the same. "I'm X! We're new in town, nice to meet you too!"
Cross nods his head in affirmation. "My name is Cross."
Justin crosses his arms and smiles at the two fresh faces. "Well, you've both got yourselves a new fan. Since you both seem to be cut from the cloth of a hero, do you think you could help me find some replacement parts for my poor car? With the right parts, I'll have it repaired in no time! I'll just… stay here and think of some heroic questions for you two while you're gone. Look forward to it!"
"Of course!" X immediately replied enthusiastically. "We'd love to help, right Cross?"
She glances at him, and gets a nod in response.
"We'll do what we can."
"I knew you'd accept!" Justin happily exclaims. "You're the type to always say yes, no matter how absurd the request may be. It's because you're agents of justice! Such things are in your DNA."
Cross's brow was lifted at that assumption. "…Agents of justice…? What is he insinuating here…? And what's with the flattery…?"
He had to nod no to Justin's claim. "I-I'm not a hero…"
Justin shook his head at Cross' modesty. "The classic hero response- bold of action, yet humble of spirit. One such as yourself would never brag about your derring do."
On the other hand, X places her hands on each side of her waist and sticks her chest out with a large grin across her face. "But I will agree with you, Justin! I am an agent of justice! Stopping the bad guys and helping others is my thing, especially as a Mediator!"
"Haha!" Justin couldn't help but smile at X's response. "I like the cut of your jib! It takes that sort of determination to tackle each new evil that arises."
"Right on!"
"In any case, what I need is a pair of anhydrous radiators. Got it? Thanks a million, heroes!"
As they made their leave to fulfill Justin's request, Cross couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he looked slightly down to avoid his gaze directly forward of him. X was concerned and tapped his right shoulder, asking, "Seriously, what's been eating you, Cross? Did Justin rub you off the wrong way?"
Cross' habitual pose of his right hand covering his mouth and cheek took over despite them being covered by his mask. He replies to her, saying, "I don't know if that's way to describe it, but…. Something feels off about him."
"Off?"
"I can't quite put my finger on it…."
"Hmmm…. maybe you're just not used to that flattery? I dunno, he seems like a pretty cool and nice guy to me…!"
"Mm… Whatever you say…"
—
"Please, let me carry one of them at least! I feel bad for you...!" X begged as she was trying to get a grip on the radiators Cross carried with both hands. The radiators weren't too large, but they were heavy as Cross slowed down his usual walking speed when he carried them. At least the shape made it easy for Cross to carry as they had a rectangular shape and were able to stack on top of each other like crates.
"No, I can handle this, X. Let me carry it. And besides, it feels wrong to me to have you do heavy lifting..."
"But you'll break your arms...!" She retorted.
A few feet away, Justin could see his two new acquaintances approaching him with the items he needed. Now within arms reach of Justin, Cross lowered the radiators and placed them on the ground carefully. Afterwards, he sighed with relief, his arms a bit sore from the lifting. X frowned at the fact that Cross refused her help, but it was over and done with.
Justin asks the two, "So, I was thinking... A hero needs a strong, overriding will. You both must have some deep, personal motive for hating evil, yes?"
Before X could open her mouth to answer, Justin's eyes lit up in anticipation. "Wait! Let me guess! They killed your parents before your very eyes! No, wait... you were bitten by a radioactive scripo!"
X giggled at the wild guesses. "Oh I seriously hope not for those two! But yes... I admit, I have a bit, super secret motive for my hatred for evil!"
Cross had to raise a brow on that revelation. "What could that be...?"
"Aha! I knew it! You're so close to my vision of the ideal hero, X! You'll pass through all the trials laid forth before you! Overcome every craven trap! Weather each tragedy!" Justin's eagerness begins to rise from the sound of his voice. X's eyes were lighting up with excitement with Justin's enthusiastic storytelling. Cross, in the other hand, only lifted his brow, puzzled and a bit overwhelmed by his exaggerated speech.
"And then, in the grand finale, everyone- even your erstwhile tormenters- will come together to sing of your mighty praises! I've stripped all the unnecessary details away to create the perfect morality tale, and I love it! The whole reason I enlisted with BLADE was to find this story. I'd given up hope of becoming a hero myself, but I knew one or two would come along eventually. I just KNEW it!"
"Aww shucks... Thanks, Justin! But..." X elbowed Cross on his left arm. "Gotta give the credit to Cross here. He did the heavy lifting and searching for these parts!"
"X, no need to spill details..." Cross muttered to her.
After some asking around of some passing faces in the industrial district, Cross and X got information as to where to find those anhydrous radiators: Stickstone Rise which was northwest of Primordia. Afterwards with hours of trekking and fighting some indigens along the way, the two retrieved the parts. The entire journey back was a hassle. Cross refused to have X lift the heavy radiators, and X pleaded with him to help out, but refused. It was a constant exchange of "Let me help you" and "No thank you" the entire trip back.
"I see, I see! Thank you Cross for the transport of the parts! To sacrifice your sweat and blood to spare your lady friend to do tedious physical labor... Like a hero, indeed!"
"I think I'm doing what any other guy would do but, thanks...? X eliminated the majority of hostile indigens in our way back here."
"I see I see... Good job, X! And oh, pishposh! I'm just stating the truth for the both of you! So, now, I'll gladly take those parts from you both and reward you for your great work!"
Cross kneels down to his left and with a grunt, lifts up the two radiators with both hands. He sets them down near the front of Justin's car.
"Perfect. I'll have my auto fixed up in no time. You have given me so much more than car parts today, heroes. Please accept this as my way of saying thanks."
Justin removes from his back pocket his communicator. Turning it on, he begins to type in information for credit transactions. "So... Cross and X, I see you guys' IDs here... and here you go... Credit transfer completed!" He turns it off and also retrieves from his pocket a small rectangular device. He offers it to X. "And this is for you both to share. Holograms! You can display it in the BLADE barracks."
"Wow! Thanks!" X accepts the rewards happily, retrieving the hologram device and putting it in her pocket. Cross nods and acknowledges Justin's gratitude.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, both of you! And if you should come across anyone in need, be sure to lend them a hand. You're both paragons for justice for us now!"
Grinning, X salutes at her new title. "I agree! As Mediator, it's my job! And I love it! Makes me happy, makes others happy! We all win!" Cross chuckles at her formality, which he found to be amusing and unfitting for her.
"She has a point, though..."
Justin nods to her statement. "With BLADEs such as you two on patrol, the people of New LA have nothing to fear. Anyway, I should probably get going. I am a BLADE, after all. Nothing impressive like you two, of course, but a fellow seeker of justice nonetheless. I don't know when I'll see both of you again, but I feel like the hand of fate at work in our meeting. As long as you two continue to walk the path of justice, our destinies are intertwined. When we meet again, let it be as comrades in battle!"
"I agree! It's nice meeting you, Justin! Hope we see you around soon!" X waves. She begins to walk away from Justin, also prompting Cross to do the same. Cross nods in agreement to X's hopeful farewell. "Take care of yourself."
"Likewise with the two of you!" Justin waves back.
Cross increases his pace to walk alongside X. As they advance away from the parking lot, Cross couldn't help but smile himself at X's silly grin on her face. X couldn't see his smile, but his eyes lightening up a bit was not only refreshing, but invigorating her to smile wider.
"First Mediator job success! We did it!" X cheered, raising a fist up.
"You look like you can take on Mira with some encouragement from Justin."
"Of course! Agents of justice! Doesn't that sound great for us?!"
"A bit much, and that speech... It's like he plagiarized from a cliched fantasy novel..." Cross mutters.
X replies to his opinion with a giggle as she wholeheartedly agreed. Her raised fist was now a raised palm. She places her other hand on Cross' shoulder and uses her other free hand to move left to right, prompting Cross to look at her gesture. "But I like it! You can see this in the headlines: Newfound BLADE recruits Cross and X out to assist the citizens of New LA!" She lowers her hands.
"We rise in fame and before you know it, we become true heroes! Let's keep doing our best to help others, Cross!"
"Haha... Of course."
Swaying her head left and right and humming a random tune she made on the fly, X looks ahead and happily walks down Melville Street with Cross by her side. As soon as he noticed X no longer paid attention to him, he shifts his gaze to his left a little to avoid eye contact a bit from X and looks down slightly at the ground. He narrows his eyes a bit and frowns. Cross felt like something was getting caught in his throat and had this nagging feeling in his head as if he tripped onto a wire, triggering something...
"..."
A/N: I managed to squeeze this out after some time thinking of what sidequest to start writing. This was one of the easiest to write about so...
As you notice, the beginning and conclusion of scenes leading up to the sidequest are improvised and original. This will be somewhat common in each chapter. Hopefully I can get something fresh each time.
Additionally, since this fanfiction is tied with my other one, I will reference what time each sidequest takes place during the main story.
I won't be writing about ALL normal sidequests, but I will be taking some requests for some. Let me know via PM or reviews. Affinity missions will be more commonplace, however. Additionally, there will be hints of pairings of the avatars with other playable characters.
I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but it will most likely be an affinity mission. Until then, I appreciate reviews and criticism.