Uncontrollable

Series Summary: A novelization of Xenoblade X with an additional avatar character. Humanity is being hunted down in the far reaches of the universe by unknown alien forces. Landing on planet Mira, their only hope is to find the Lifehold somewhere in the planet. Two amnesiacs, Cross and X, join up with the mysterious Elma to uncover the secrets of Mira as members of BLADE and to save humanity from total annihilation.

3. BLADE - New Appearance, New Experience

Summary: Now part of BLADE, their appearance will change as they prepare themselves for the upcoming dangers they will face. They will train with a new set of weaponry. They will embark on their first real and treacherous mission.

Notes: As I warned, the probe installation mission and the elimination of the first tyrant has been skipped and been summarized in the first few paragraphs to move the story along. The majority of this chapter are completely original scenes, emphasizing on the two avatar characters, but the end will follow the story once again. Because of this, the scenes of finishing the probe installation mission and starting the mission that recruits Tatsu will be separated as opposed to a continuous series scenes as shown in the game.

"Whew... what a beastie...!" X muttered, wiping the sweat that piled on her forehead as she stared at the corpse of the large insectoid beast that she, Cross, Elma, and Lin killed about ten minutes earlier. She was lying on the grass with all four limbs sprawled out and her eyes were closed. X was in such a lax position that even her assault rifle and knife were simply lying next to her on the ground, and a surprise attack would catch her completely off guard.

"What did I tell you about being overconfident...?" A familiar voice echoed in X's ears. It was obvious on who it was: he was the only male in the total party of four X was a part of.

"Argh... stop being right all the time, Cross... it's getting d-u-l-l duuuuullll..." She mockingly groans as she opens her eyes to see him towering over her, arms crossed and smiling.

"Then you should surprise me and prove me wrong next time. Here." The young man knelt down and offered his right hand to the girl palm upwards. "Elma and Lin are waiting for you especially to get up and get moving. We have to report back."

X raises her right hand as well and the two hold hands. With a gentle but strong tug, Cross made X sit up and stand up straight, and she was completely caught off guard by his strength. "Geez... lower the testosterone, will ya?" X joked in her head.

As the two begin to follow Lin and Elma who were about 3 yards ahead of them, X looked up in the sky and tells Cross aloud, "Those tyrant things are no pushover... it really does take it out on all four of us to really work together, huh? And good call about those legs... I didn't notice that!"

The insectoid tyrant was quite large, over 20 feet tall on four legs. Even with Lin to distract the enemy, Elma hitting the monster from behind and Cross and X flanking the sides of the beast, the monster was very resilient as it barely flinched from any attacks the four threw at it. However, Cross noticed the legs of the insect grew weak after each attack, and advised the party to focus on attack one of its legs at a time. In doing so, eventually the leg that was being attack gave out and was severely injured, weakening the attacks of the beast and even made it easier to topple and attack it as it was defenseless. It was rinse and repeat with each leg and it grew weaker with each appendage being destroyed. Eventually, the giant insect was killed, and no severe injuries were reported.

"R-Right. Thanks..." Cross mutters, scratching his head a little as he avoided a bit of eye contact from X.

"No problem!" She begins tug at Cross' left arm. "Come on! Before Elma scolds us for like the 100th time! We have to catch up with them!"

"I hear you, I hear you..." Cross mutters, now hastening his pace to catch up with X, Elma, and Lin.

—

Lin was first to dash through the barracks and head to the debriefing room. As soon as she entered, she spots a big, tall burly man standing before Nagi.

"Commander Vandham!"

"Well now, look what the cat dragged in..." The buffed man mutters as he crosses his arms and watches Elma, Cross, and X walk in and stand in their respective positions in the debriefing room.

Cross and X were surprised by the commander's looks. Towering Nagi, he had a big forehead and have short blonde hair with a big mustache. He had a large tattoo design on that covered his left arm. He was wearing a grey tank-top of sorts and green pants and black boots. Cross surmised that this guy could easily make a guy cry from a bit of scolding from his intimidating looks. X didn't seem to be too intimidated, strangely. In fact, she was more intrigued and interested as opposed to Cross, who felt his throat tighten a bit. She had a small smile at the corner of her lips... "If she manages to get on his good side and be close friends with him... Goodness..."

"Sorry we missed you last time- we could have come to meet you at HQ, you know." Elma apologizes to Nagi.

Nagi replies to Elma, saying, "Indeed, I suggested as much, twice."

Commander Vandham adds, "As we know how much I enjoy being told what to do." He glances at Cross and X. "Anyway, I hear you two tangled with a tyrant WAY out of your league. On a training mission, no less."

Cross was bracing himself for an earful of yelling, so he closed his lips tightly and even closed his eyes slightly.

"That was reckless. And goddamn magnificent."

X's eyes lightened up and she grinned widely. "T-Thank you so much, Commander sir!"

"W-Woah there. No need for thanks. You totally earned it. You too." Commander Vandham nods to Cross, who opened his eyes fully after his comment.

"Thank you, Commander..." Cross replies quietly with a slight bow.

"Don't be so uptight. Like I told your lady friend here, you earned it."

"Mm... Understood..."

After the praise from the Commander himself, Elma begins to ask him, "Say Commander, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit here today?"

"Well, I can't just ask Nagi to do everything for me- I'd be out of a job."

Nagi asks Commander Vandham, "Hey, I delivered you the two new recruits, didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah. You won the bet. Don't worry about it, all right? I'll settle up with you later- you know I'm good for it."

"The bet?" Elma asks, skeptical of the two higher ups. This was something new: she never thought Vandham and especially Nagi would agree on such a thing. Even Cross and X, who simply met Nagi hours earlier and recently Vandham, would put up with a wager.

Nagi with the ever serious expression avoids the subject and tells the two, "I'm sure I'm needed elsewhere. If you'll excuse me, Commander." He excuses himself and proceeds to leave the debriefing room.

As he walks out, Lin says aloud, "Well, that wasn't obvious at all."

Elma smirks, and replies to her, "Heh. Look at you two. I swear, you're like two children excited about a new toy." She glances at Lin and Commander Vandham.

Commander Vandham tells Elma, "Look who's talking. I don't recall ever seeing you file a request to personally train two rescues before?"

"Is that so odd?"

"It is before we'd even asked them to become BLADEs, Little Miss Stick in the Rear."

Cross and X glance quietly at Elma, who seemed to have not caught onto Commander Vandham's insult. She raises her arms in confusion and shrugging off the seemingly negative title. "Usually, I ask when I don't get your slang expression, but something tells me to just let that one go."

"Enough about that. Where are your manners, anyway? I still haven't been introduced to our new recruits here."

X raises her hand and waves it slightly. "Hello! I'm X! It's a temporary name until I remember my real one."

Commander Vandham had a large grin streak across his face from X's introduction. "Haha! Your name's like a codename for a deadly secret agent no one would suspect! I like that, little lady."

"Thanks!"

Cross had to sigh quietly, astounded by how X could easily communicate with anyone, even with a scary, brawny-looking Commander of theirs, let alone how she could address him so casually.

"And you?" Commander Vandham eyes on Cross, who was mostly silent the entire time.

"My name is Cross, sir." He bows down slightly again. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

"How interesting... Looking forward to what you'll bring to the table, kid."

"Y-Yes sir..."

Lin chimes in for the introductions. She begins to explain, saying, "Commander Vandham is BLADE's top officer."

"In a past life, I was Chief Engineer on the White Whale. Same idea, basically- someone has a problem, I fix it. You follow?"

X nods. "I got it!"

Cross, however, remains silent and nods only.

"...Not much for conversation, are ya, kid? Literal opposite of the little lady here."

X elbows Cross on his left arm using her right arm gently and tells Commander Vandham, "Oh... Cross could talk here and there. He's more of a listener. And he's just a bit spooked by you a bit."

Cross frowned and growled under his breath. He turns to his left and whispers angrily, "X...! Please stop putting words on my mouth...! And stop making false assumptions...!"

"Oh it's not like you'll say it up front...!" X replies angrily too, but she was clearly saying this aloud that Elma, Lin and the commander heard it. Lin was giggling at their bickering as Elma sighed and shook her head.

Commander Vandham was now laughing. A rare sight that even caught Lin and Elma off guard. "Hahaha! You got him there, little lady!"

X grinned widely while Cross sighed. "Damn it, X..."

Getting sidetracked, Elma had to change the subject, now asking Commander Vandham, "So you haven't told us why you're here. From the look of things, I'm guessing this isn't a social call."

"You don't think?"

"No, so let's cut the crap and get down to business."

Lin, Cross, and X all stared at Elma with surprise with her response. Moreso with Cross. "Elma is definitely not the type to speak with such vernacular... It doesn't fit her but it's amusing and interesting..."

Commander Vandham laughs again, his arms crossed and his eyes widened at the sudden response. "Hah! Sounds like you're learning my expressions just fine, Elma. Anyway, we first need Chatty Cathy and Sunshine here to choose a division and pull an assignment."

Before Cross could even begin to open his mouth to ask about divisions, X immediately jumped the gun and asks, "An assignment? Wow, we can jump right in? What's the details?"

Astounded by the rush, Commander Vandham had to reassure the time was coming and he tells X, "Whoa there, itchy-trigger! I know you're just chaffin' at the bit to run out there and grab the world by its tail, but you need to choose a division first. Once that's all hashed out, we can get into detail about what your first assignment's gonna be."

Elma begins to drop in on the explanation, explaining to the new recruits, "Pretty much everyone in New LA works for BLADE, in one of several different fields. Helping to explore Mira, or to maintain order in the city, or- well you remember Nagi's speech, right?"

The screen behind Elma that is also the right of Cross and X, to the left of Vandham, and in front of Lin began to light up, listing eight names and symbols that appear above the name.

"There are eight different fields in all, and each one has its own branch within BLADE. Officially, they're called "divisions". Naturally, you'll both want to choose one that best suits your personality and your talents."

"Let's start with the Pathfinders." Commander Vandham begins his explanation of the divisions. The screen changes to the image of the Pathfinders. "Pathfinders' number one responsibility... is planting data probes- like you did on your training mission. It may not be the sexiest job, but important? You bet your ass it's important... We've only been on Mira two months- we don't know jack about this place. The more probes we install, the faster we can get our bearings here and give ourselves a fighting chance."

Elma adds, "We've already detailed how important it is we expand the FrontierNav network ASAP. So for the time being, I'll just remind you of the highlights. It helps us keep BLADEs safe, it helps us keep the city safe, and most important of all, it's the key to located the missing parts of the Lifehold and recovering the rest of the human race."

The screen changes again to show the next division. Commander Vandham starts explaining again. "Okay, next up- Interceptors. You met Akulov and Evans, right? Irina and Gwin? This is their division. Interceptors have one main duty: protect New LA and everyone in it from the wildlife here on Mira. Right now, this is probably our busiest division. Interceptors ride shotgun for the research eggheads, they escort VIPs, and they help any other idiots who get caught up with their pants down."

Elma explains the next division, the screen changing from the Interceptors to a new one. "Next are the Harriers. Remember Doug Barrett? The Skell pilot conducting the test flight with Lin? He's part of the Harriers. If you think of the Interceptors as defense, Harriers would be New LA's offense. They specialize in preemptive strikes on clear and obvious threats. But ONLY on clear and obvious threats- they're not meant to go out and just blast on any indigen that moves."

As alternating, the new screen changes with Vandham explaining the next division. "Then you got your Reclaimers. These guys are in charge of finding the other pieces of the White Whale. Among other things, that is... including anything of ours left behind after a battle. Skell debris, weapons, personal effects... It can get morbid, frankly, but it's gotta be done. Until we're up and running here on Mira and have this place completely figured out, everything we brought from earth needs to be treated like it's irreplaceable. Also, the search for the Lifehold- that's mostly on the Reclaimers."

"Next- Curators. Curators are the first to scout ahead to unexplored territory, bringing back whatever they can get their hands on: fruits, bugs, sticks, and stones- you name it. It's not all picking berries, though- being a Curator also means being the first to encounter unknown indigens."

"Next- ah, right. Prospectors. Prospectors do... well, prospectin'. They poke around, looking for minerals, resources and what not- things we need for everyday life here. We packed all the essentials we could on the White Whale, but that won't last forever. We need to be able to replenish our water and fuel if we want to survive. And sooner or later, we're gonna have to figure out how to replace things from scratch- from the socket of a Skell's knee joint, right down to the frying pan in Lin's kitchen. Without these guys bustin' their butts, we'd have no future to speak of."

"Next up: Outfitters. All of our ground gear and Skell weaponry is developed in conjunction with private arms manufacturers , or AMs. Outfitters are BLADE's way of supporting these AMs. They'll seek out anything that might inspire new weapon ideas, and even assist with testing new prototypes."

"Finally, the Mediators. These are the folks who keep everything hunky-dory with Jon and Joan Q Public. Any problems a civvy has, they come to the Mediators. Fight with your neighbor? Mediators. Lost cat? Mediators. It's not a division for everyone. You need to be a jack of all trades and a people person. Someone with my charming personality? Probably not the best Mediator. But if you got what it takes, it's a clutch role, keeping things cool in the home front."

A total of eight. Elma concludes the explanation of the divisions, saying and later asking, "All right, so, I think that's all eight divisions. Any idea what you'd like to join? Don't fret about it too much- whichever you choose, you still have a lot of freedom in how you operate. Mediators can still get out there and mix it up, hunt indigens, whatever. And if a Harrier wants to take a break and settle an argument, that's there prerogative, too. To be honest? Even though it's sort of frowned upon, you can actually change your division whenever you like. So there's really no reason to stress out about this. All right, you ready to choose?"

"Of course!" X replied, her grin widening in anticipation to say her choice.

Cross only nods and answers quietly. "Yes. I'm ready as well."

Even Commander Vandham was at the edge of his seat. "Yeah, and...? We're on pins and needles here."

X nods her head in affirmation and declares aloud, "I'm going to join the Mediators!" A wide grin streaks across her face. "Obviously my personality fits perfectly! I can get along with pretty much everyone! And I love helping other people out! Sooooo... easy choice!"

"Haha! I guessed right!" Lin clapped her hands.

"Woahh, really?! I'm that easy to read, huh?" X asks. She also nudges Cross in the arm. "You guessed that too, right, smarty pants?"

Cross sighed and nods. "Yes. It suits you, perfectly. My second choices for you were Interceptors and Pathfinders."

"Wow! You're spot on! They were my second choices! Hmm... I'm going to guess yours, but you should say it aloud too. What are you joining?"

Cross takes a deep breath and answers, "I'll be joining the Reclaimers. The Lifehold is extremely vital to our survival here on Mira. We also need to help out the others who are trapped within it as soon as possible. With the threat of indigens and time, it's important that we make haste to find its whereabouts and retrieve it as soon as possible." He looks down on his fist for a second and squeezes it hard. "Hopefully in the process, I can find out about my past as well..."

"Oh... darn. I was wrong..." X mutters. "I thought you'd pick Curators and even Prospectors."

"I was debating on that, yes... You were close, X."

Elma nods at their decisions. "Then it's settled for you both?"

Simultaneously, the two nod. "Yes." "Yup!"

"All right! Thank God that's over." Commander Vandham sighs with relief. "By the power invested in me, yadda yadda: You're both officially BLADEs."

"Congrats, and welcome." Elma compliments the two.

Lin adds, "I know you both are gonna do great."

"Thank you all!" X clasped her hands together and smiles brightly. "It's an honor to be a part of BLADE!"

"Yes. Thanks." Cross nods as well.

Elma glances at Commander Vandham and asks him, "Before we get into the mission, I'd like for these two to get acquainted with new armor and weaponry. I promised them at least they could try out the different weapons we have available here, especially Cross."

Commander Vandham raises an eyebrow and nods afterwards. "Well... makes sense. New armor's good too. Get used to what you're gonna wear out in the field."

Elma turns to the two and tells them, "All right, I gave you both your communicators earlier. As I mentioned before, they are registered to your names. Keep them with you at all times. They also double as a wallet of sorts, so you use them in Armory Alley to buy anything you need. Lin and I will wait for you both here to change, then we can head out to the industrial district to try out weapons."

"Yes! Got it!" X excitedly replies. She was already hastily power walking and she tugs Cross' left arm. "Come on, come on! New clothes! And weapons too!" She begins to pull him with such force that even Cross was astounded by her strength as she dragged him out of the debriefing room and out of the barracks.

"X...! Stop pulling me...!"

Commander Vandham and Lin laughed as they watched the two jog out of the barracks as Elma sighed. Commander Vandham crosses his arms and tells Elma, "And you'll be babysitting those two. Good luck with that."

Lin grinned as well. "You can count on me to keep them at bay!"

Elma shook her head at their commentary. "This is going to be quite an experience..."

—

"Now this is the moment I've been waiting for...!" X squealed, as she initiated the panel in front of her with her right hand. The screen before her changes into a log in screen.

The two new BLADE recruits stood in front of the armor and weapon shop of Armory Alley. Along the way, heads turned as a loud X excitedly expressed her newfound wealth in credits to shop, with Cross angrily scolding her along the way in whispers to keep the tone down. Even now, the usual workers in Armory Alley watched the duo bicker as they work in amusement.

"Don't throw your credits out the window so quickly, X..." Cross advised in a mutter. "Why am I wasting my breath with such warnings...? I doubt she's going to listen to me..."

"Yeah yeah yeah... We worked really hard beating that tyrant up and doing that probe installation mission! Also, the monsters we killed before racked us up some bonus credits. We should be fine!" She replied, using the transparent keyboard panel before her to browse the selection.

The screen prompted her to scan her communicator as a log-in feature, so she held her communicator above the panel and it instantly accepted her information. As she placed it back into her pocket, X saw the new screen that appeared with various menus.

"Weapons... armor... Armor! Hmmm..." She grins, turns to face Cross who was standing to her right, and tells him, "Hey, how about this? Since we're getting new looks, let's make it a surprise for each other, Elma, and Lin! So... no peeking at what I'm getting! To keep yourself busy, go read up some stuff in the communicator like what Elma told us!"

Cross raised an eyebrow at her suggestion. "Why?"

"The suspense and thrill factor! Duh! Come on, pretty please?" She begs, her pitch moving up one octave.

Cross could see her eyes grow bigger. He could feel his cheeks grow warm as he stared into those purple eyes, and he immediately looked upward to avoid eye contact. "Okay... you win..."

"Thanks! Now, no peeking! Go do your nerdy reading!"

"Ngh... it's not nerdy, X..." Cross mutters as he turns around to have his back on X's right to avoid seeing the shop screen.

Cross reaches into his right pocket to retrieve the communicator with his right hand and taps the lower part of the communicator with his thumb. According to Elma before they set off in their mission to install the probe in the outskirts of New LA, the communicator not only acted as a communicator and operated Frontier Nav, but offered many more functions. It could act as a scanner for objects and biometrics, a wallet, an encyclopedia, a note-taking device, and others. The transparent blue screen appears with menus popping up. To the upper right is his name, ID number, and credits. The upper part of the left screen has the time and date. The center of the screen listed many menus in the following order: Frontier Nav, Collectopedia, Social, Communication, Information Archives, Text, Notes, Files, Options.

He confirmed the cursor at Information Archives. The screen changes into a search menu with additional refining features to narrow searches, such as exact, containing, excluding.

"What to search...?" Cross muttered, his left hand covering his mouth as he stared at the screen.

Cross confirms the cursor on the search bar, and a keyboard appears that covers search bar. He begins to enter the word PLANET EARTH. After confirming his search, a new screen appears, showing an image of the planet with a list of physical statistics to the right of the screen. Beneath the image are paragraphs of summarized information. Amazed by the large amounts of information that was presented, he was began to read the wall of text. Strangely, he was reading quickly and was able to process a lot of the information and remember facts.

He begins to read to himself in his mind, saying, "So that's where we came from... Third planet from the Sun in the Solar System of the Milky Way Galaxy... Was initially the only known planet to support life due its location from the Sun and years of the formation of the oceans and the atmosp-"

"Waaaaahhhhhhh-! What a bummer!"

Cross was interrupted by a loud groan and complaint behind him. Cross himself groans from the cut of his immersion, lowers his left hand and the communicator that was on his right hand and asks, "What is it? Something wrong?"

"The nice looking clothes and schemes are soooooo pricy! It'll take months or even years for me to save THAT much! Too many zeroes!"

Cross answers as he continues to read down at the text, "We only started recently, X. Give it time. We'll be making a lot once we start completing many missions. The payoff of more difficult missions would be greater too. So, let's just do what we can and save."

As X was confirmed an item on the screen, she faces Cross only to see the back of his head and asks him, "Right... oh, and could you keep it down with the nerdy text? I'll listen to the drabbles later!"

"You told me to read to keep me occupied, X... And this isn't drabble. And I'm not even reading out loud. You're hearing things." Cross replied, frowning a bit.

"Yeah yeah yeah... your turn's coming. Gimme a bit of time." She faces the screen again as she continues her transactions with, her smile growing bigger and bigger by the second.

"..." Cross continues to read on the sea of text before him. He knew that X would take her sweet time, so he decided to immerse himself in the archives, hopefully to get some answers...

—

"What's with Cross and X? They've been in our room for a while now." Lin asks as she wipes her hands with a towel.

"Patience, Lin. They should be out soon. I'm curious, since choices of clothing usually reflects a person's personality."

"Uh… right…" Lin replies, scratching her head as she places the towel to hang on a hook near the sink of the kitchen.

The two BLADE members heard the sound of the door opening faintly. It must be from the sleeping quarters considering its distance. Footsteps was heard, Lin was the first to get a glimpse of who came out first. Her eyes widened a bit from the surprising appearance.

It was Cross who was first to finish changing. Elma and Lin easily concluded that X was very conscious about her presentation, she needed all the time to look into a mirror to make herself presentable in her standards (which is spotless). And the general assumption they had that men mostly don't got too nuts on clothes.

Cross was surprisingly somewhat casual on his choice of clothing, which wronged Elma and Lin's conception of him wearing something formal like Sakuraba Industry's combat vest and pants similar to what Gwin would wear. Matching his hair color, his color scheme of his clothes was mainly purple. He wore a short sleeved white vest with purple outlines that had a hood that reached only up to the lower part of his chest, with a long sleeved purple shirt. The lower part of his shirt was a dark navy blue color. A purple colored circular gem accessory was between the ends of his hood that was on his chest, fastening the hood vest together that lit up and dimmed in intervals, seemingly in sync with Cross' breaths. Gray-black gloves covered his hands, and there seems to be leather on the backs of his hand to protect them. His leg armor was mainly purple and black with some metal plating on the front of his legs, but it seemed to be lightly plated for movement. There was a white set of headphones he wore on his neck.

And the most distinguishing feature upon looking at Cross was a white mask with diagonal blue outlines he wore over his face, covering his nose, mouth, cheeks, and chin. Simply looking at Cross causes forced eye contact with him because of this. This outfit was recognizable to Elma since it was the male variant of the armor she wore: the veyes, vestis, tecta, brog armor of Grenada. It was just in a different color scheme from the standard white and yellow.

Elma had a wide smirk on her face, placing her right hand on her hip. "Looking sharp there. You must be the only male BLADE that wears this armor perfectly." She complimented as Cross walked down the walkway towards the party in the lounge.

Elma laughed in her mind. She quickly remembered the time when she, Irina, and Gwin decided to pick out their clothes when they joined BLADE and Gwin tried this same outfit in the green and white color scheme. Irina and Elma quickly concluded that the look did not fit Gwin at all and advised him not to wear it. Gwin reluctantly heeded their advice. Even among male BLADES, this outfit was barely worn with only a select few men wearing it, let alone them wearing only the vest, shirt, and headphones only. Cross was literally the only BLADE member wearing the full armor set.

Lin approached Cross and examined the new BLADE by looking up and down to examine his whole outfit. "You look really tough! There's a "Don't mess with me or get your butt whipped!" vibe coming out of you! I'm getting the chills…"

Obviously Lin and Elma couldn't see Cross' lips form a smile, but his eyebrows elevating and his pupils were widening a bit that showed his appreciation towards their comments. "I was a bit worried that you both would be a bit weirded out by my look. I guess not then. Thank you both." He replied to both ladies, his voice very slightly muffled beneath the mask. His voice was still clear and audible.

Elma crossed her arms and asks, "What makes you choose this outfit? I'm a bit curious."

"Maybe I did want to stand out a bit so I decided to not wear something similar to what Doug and Gwin wore. Additionally, I thought about my state in battles: I can't wear something too heavy, as it'll lower my agility and mobility. Lastly and embarrassingly, I think I'm a bit self-conscious about the scar on my face… I noticed that you all keep looking at it instead of having eye contact with me..."

Elma lifted her eyebrow in his claim, but she realized that it was true. Every time she looked at Cross whether to talk to him or not, she always found herself looking at the scar cutting through the right side of his mouth. Likewise with Lin.

Lin raises her right hand and points her index finger upwards, touching the side of her right cheek. "Um, maybe we can do something about that…?"

Cross' eyebrows lifted up in confusion. "You can-?" Then his last remaining thought came to stop himself from asking how. "Wait… I don't exactly want to do that…"

"Why not?" Elma asks.

Cross answers as he touches the right side of his face that is being covered by the veyes, replying, "Every time I look in a mirror and see that scar, I feel like it's a hint of what may have happened to me on Earth or in the White Whale prior to landing here on Mira… Possibly a hint of who I once was. Hopefully after seeing it enough times when I look at myself, I'll remember who I am and what happened. I guess it's a bit selfish of me hiding this scar from everyone else but keeping it to myself…"

Elma and Lin looked at each other at his response and they both had their eyes widen a bit. Cross looked at them confused though and he could feel a bit of sweat forming on his forehead. "...Was my answer strange to them? I was being honest though..."

Finally, Elma answers him, saying, "No." She shook her head. "It's your scar. Show it or not, do what you'd like."

"I guess-"

"All right!" A cheerful, high pitched cheer interrupts Cross abruptly. Everyone turns around to face the hologram room as it was the source of the familiar voice. "Time for you all to see the new great look of me!"

"Oooh!" Lin gladly claps her hands twice in excitement. "What does X look like?!"

"This'll be quite a treat…" Elma grinned and chuckled.

Cross said nothing, but he swore he felt his heart rate go up a bit.

Footsteps grew louder and then eventually stopped as X revealed her appearance to Cross, Elma, and Lin at the lounge by standing at the border of the hologram room and the lounge before the walkway.

X was also casual in her choice of clothing. The shirt she wore was short sleeved and had two layers: an black undershirt and a dark gold vest-like design that only covered the sides of her torso. The torso armor she wore revealed her chest quite a bit to the point where her black undershirt, which only covered a part of her breast that should be covered downward, was showing. (Cross was definitely trying to keep his eyes away from them, but...) Her neck was covered by the torso armor too, but it was mainly the undershirt she wore that was covering it. She was wearing a set of gloves that covered most of her fingers, with only the nails of the fingers being exposed. Unlike Cross, she didn't wear the full matching set of the armor she wore, which was the medium combat wear of Sakuraba. Instead, she opted to mix and match the leg armor. X was wearing same boots and shorts as Lin was was wearing, but in a different color scheme. The shorts she wore was brown, with leggings mostly being white with the top being orange. The boots she wore matches her shorts, which are also brown with orange outlines. X was wearing two belts, with one being worn across her waist and the other in a diagonal position.

Elma recognized the head armor X was wearing: it was the armor that came with her own armor set. (Elma opted not to wear it though.) The female veyes variant was different as it didn't cover the face but the head itself. It was mostly white and covered the ears and about 30% of the side of the head. X's hair was covering most of the veyes, so the only visible portions of the accessory was the long upper part of the headwear that pointed diagonally backward and upward on each side and a much shorter horizontally aligned portion that covered the ears. The ends of veyes were colored red.

"Sooo…. how do I look?" X asks, raising her arms partially with her palms facing upwards flat after giving the party about five seconds to stare at her.

"WONDERFUL!" Lin exclaims, clapping her hands again, this time faster. "You look gorgeous, X!"

"Stunning. Beautiful and tough looking too." Elma complimented with a smile.

X faced Cross, who had a different reaction from the rest. X couldn't get a definite conclusion as to what Cross might possibly be thinking, but she narrowed it down to two reactions: a look of interest and intrigue or him teasing her. X for sure was leaning towards the conclusion that Cross was doing the latter. His eyes were slightly narrowed but his left eyebrow was raised with the right slightly lowered. Cross was relieved though that she, Elma, and Lin would not see the fact that his cheeks grew hot and red.

Cross sealed his ambiguous reaction towards X's appearance with a chuckle, causing X to frown at him.

"What gives? Seriously? I don't look good at all?" She pressed, marching down towards Cross. As soon as she got near him, she crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks slightly as she tightened her lips.

"You look good but…" Cross chuckled again. "The head armor you are wearing makes you look like… a rodent…"

X immediately unfolded her arms and made fists with both of her hands and she tries to withhold them from punching Cross in the face. "A rodent…?"

Cross took a step back in caution as he noticed X leaning and taking a step forward towards him. He raised both of his hands with palms facing towards X to show he didn't want to start a fist fight with her, though he felt like one would start anyway. "The most visible aspect of the veyes looks like ears…"

Elma sighed in disappointment, shaking her head on how stupid Cross could be in elaborating in pretty much any question that is raised towards him. Lin was giggling on the possibility of X is in punching Cross.

"Then…! You…! You look like…. a creeper! A stalker! A burglar! A creeperstalkerburglar!"

"What?" Cross frowned, his eyes narrowing further in how unnerving X shouted such negative connotations at him as he lowered his hands and closed his fists in frustration. "I'm neither of those...!"

X shook her head. "You look like one though! That mask totally shows it! Plus, are you trying to kill yourself through asphyxiation?"

Cross rolls his eyes. "No, I can breathe just fine, rodent."

"Don't call me that, creeperstalkerburglar!"

Groaning, Elma walks towards the bickering duo and places a hand on each of their shoulders. Cross and X fall silent and to see Elma shaking her head in disappointment. "Enough you two..."

"Sorry..." The two recruits reply in unison quietly.

"And anyways, you have a bit of free time to yourselves but if you'd like, we can start weapon testing in the industrial district."

"Free time? Sweet!" X smirked as she faces Lin. As usual, Cross and Elma were amazed at her quick demeanor change. "Hey, Lin. Mind showing me around the commercial district for a little bit before I go training?"

"Sure!" Lin gives a thumbs up. "What about Cross?"

Cross nods no. "I'll join Elma in the weapon testing. You two should enjoy yourselves in the meantime."

"Okay then! And uh, Elma... The Commander had to tell you something about your reports." Lin asks Elma as she begins to leave the barracks.

"Sure..." Elma follows Lin towards the exit as well.

Soon after, Cross and X were the only two people left in the barracks and they stood at the lounge, staring at each other. X's grin disappears and she begins to frown a bit with her cheeks slightly puffed up. Cross was growing unsettled by sudden change. Who knew that her being upset actually made him anxious? He scratched his head and tells X, "S-Sorry… was just pulling your leg…"

X immediately grinned after that nervous apology and lightly punches Cross on the chest with her left fist, saying, "Haha! Look at you. Seeing you like that is making me upset! Hey, no worries. But… if you do manage to call me that again, I'll keep calling you creeperstalkerburglar."

"Fine, fine…" Cross groans, admitting defeat, but he sighs with relief. "You do look good in your outfit though… It's… cute." He confesses, thankful for the veyes covering his cheeks and mouth for the embarrassing face he was making.

X obviously sees right through him, but she herself was turning red from his compliment, that she had to use her hands to cover her cheeks. "Oh shucks… This is all I can do for now until I get more credits racking in and I thought it was only okay. Thanks... You look pretty good yourself. It actually… suits you. You look tough. And… well…"

X moves in closer to Cross, her right hand suddenly touching his veyes on his left cheek. Cross was growing more nervous as she touched the side of his face indirectly. "…You look really awesome with this on… It brings out your eyes…"

"….X…?"

X removes her hand from Cross' veyes and steps and faces away from him, heading out towards the exit. "…Y-Yeah uh… I gotta go! See you later!" She immediately quickens her pace, leaving the barracks.

Cross touched the side of his mask where X touched it. "…Wh-What was that about…?" He muttered to himself, still red by that strange gesture and compliments. "That's… not like her…"

—

"Not bad. This is the weapon type for you. Of all of the other kinds available, this is the only one in which I could say... threw me off guard." Elma commented as she pointed one of her dual swords straight ahead towards Cross as the tip was a couple of feet away from him.

Cross was barely standing straight as he stared at Elma, short of breath and sweating. It didn't help that he was wearing long sleeved clothes and slightly heavy leg armor, let alone a mask over his nose and mouth as he tried to cool down. The adrenaline was fading and he could feel his feet about to give out. In his right hand, Cross gripped onto the javelin tightly using it as support to keep him up. "..." He couldn't even speak as he was trying to regain his composure from the exhaustion and tension.

Elma eyed at the spot in her tecta torso armor in which Cross managed to graze with the weapon: her left shoulder. Of all the other weapon types, he wasn't able to land a single hit on her, though he was close with a longsword. He took advantage of the large range the javelin had to keep distance and defend as well as attempt to hit her. "It suits him well... I'm sure after some battles, we'll literally be equals... Or he could even surpass me..."

The two heard footsteps behind them, and soon after, the familiar, high pitched lovely voice of a new recruit was heard.

"Hellooooo! Lin is coming a little later cause Doug called her out! I'm here for the-woah-!" X was interrupted at the sight before her. Elma watches the girl run towards Cross and lowers her blade. She then places both blades on the sheathes are her back.

X dashes over to Cross and places a hand on his left shoulder, asking, "Oh my gosh! Are you hurt again?! Lemme patch you up!"

She was about to ready herself to heal him, but she stops as a left hand holds onto her right. "N-No... Just... need to... rest..." Cross whispered, his voice barely audible from exhaustion, let alone the veyes he wore over his face. His grip on the javelin was slipping.

"Geez... take it easy, lower the weapon and sit down...!" X commanded, placing her hand over Cross' hand on the javelin to loosen up his grip on it.

In doing so, the javelin falls down to the floor on Cross' right while he himself falls into his knees. X uses her arms to soften the impact he had on the ground, as well as provide support as he himself couldn't sit up straight. "Yeah uh... you'll be sitting out for a good hour or so..." X muttered as she wiped the sweat out of Cross' forehead. Cross didn't say anything, but he felt his cheeks grow red as she removed his sweat.

Elma raised her arms out to stretch and sighed, shaking her head from the very slight bit of sweat that she even perspired. "Since Cross will be resting, I think it's time that you try the weapons here, X."

"R-Right... Uh... oh my, where do I start...? But uh, Cross..." She glances at him, still panting as he tried to regain his composure and strength.

"I'll be fine..."

"You sure...?" She asked. X only got a nod as a response. "Okay..."

X removes her grip on Cross carefully, making sure his posture won't give out and he wouldn't simply collapse on the ground. Thankfully he didn't, and so she stands up and faces Elma.

"I'll try your weapon, Elma. Your two swords." X grinned as she made her decision.

Elma smiles and moves her head slightly to her right, pointing towards the direction to the corner of the training area. On the ground at the corner, various weapons were lined up in order: a longsword, shield, dual swords, knife, photon saber, assault rifle, gatling gun, dual guns, sniper rifle, psycho launchers, and a raygun. There was a gap between the dual swords and knife, assuming it is the location of the javelin that Cross borrowed and used to test against Elma.

X approaches the weapons and picks up the two swords that were lying next to each other. She first underestimated its weight and her hands were nearly brought down to the floor as she held onto them. "Woah-!"

She picks them up and stands up, examining the blades. She was moving her right hand around to feel the weight of the blade as it moved. It was slightly heavy, but she knew after some time she would get used to the weight and force of the swings. She then began to move her left hand as well in a horizontal direction as her right hand moved in a vertical direction, swinging the blades. "Hmm... this feels strange..."

Turning around she begins to walk towards Elma as she continued to move her hands the swords around. When X was close to Elma, she stopped and lowered the weapons. "This is going to be weird but I'm excited...!" She squeals, a wide grin appearing on her face.

Elma had to smile at her excitement. She glances at Cross, who was now sitting on the ground as opposed to kneeling, looking up at the two ladies. "You fine resting over there?"

"Y-Yeah... I'll watch you two from here."

"Okay. Let's make some space from him, X." Elma directs X away from Cross by moving yards away closer to the exit of the training area. Eventually they stopped and Elma begins to distance herself from X as she stood in place.

"Dual blades are a bit difficult to use... You tend to deal more damage from attacking the enemy from either behind or its sides. Hence, you'll be relying on having your allies to have enemy's attention." Elma begins to explain. "Before we get into those specs, as usual, you'll need to wield the blades as if they are an extension of your body. It'll be quite different from using the knife since you have two blades, let alone the length and weight of the weapons differing."

"Got it!" X acknowledged Elma's advice. She begins to hold out the two weapons in front of her, the right blade raised higher than the left with the tips of the blades pointed to the sides and the edges forward. "I'll do my best!"

"Good." Elma draws out her own set of blades and points the sword on her right towards X. "Now let's begin!"

—

Lin placed her communicator in her pocket as she approached the training area of the industrial district. It had been about two hours since she last saw Elma and Cross, and about an hour since she saw X. She was called by Doug to do more testing work on the skell, but it ended quickly as it crashed again. As usual, she ditched him to do the dirty work to clean up after receiving the text from Elma to meet with them in the industrial district.

At the entrance, she could see Elma giving standard weapons away to some regular workers in the industrial district. Lin noticed that each were a different kind: a set of dual blades, shield, longsword, rayguns, psycho launchers... "Oh... then it must mean..."

Ahead to her left, she sees Cross and X standing next to each other awfully close, looking dead ahead at a paper target was a large circle and within it smaller circles, each layer a different color from outward to inward: blue, green, yellow, red, with red being in the center and small too. There were bullet holes scattered all over the target, with only 1 hitting the blue area. There was a second target two feet away to the left of the one that the two recruits were standing yards in front of, and it had 6 bullet holes in total: 5 on the red in close proximity to each other and 1 on the yellow. Lin notices X was holding a sniper rifle and aiming right at the target with the 1 bullet hole, and Cross was next to her to position her arms.

"Oooohhh..." She begins to giggle as she approaches the two.

"This is soooo totally not my weapon...!" X groaned as she was trying to center her aim as she stared at the scope of the sniper rifle.

"Well... yes... I personally find the assault rifle more difficult to use..." Cross mutters. He then shakes his head and tells her, "This is different from the rest. You can't go trigger happy on sniper rifles until you have a very steady aim."

"And it's so hard to do that...!" X moaned, her aim towards the center of the target swaying more than usual.

Cross uses his arms and hands to adjust X's grip on the rifle, placing his own hands over her own to guide her. "Here... you also need to relax and focus."

"Yeah..." She mutters, heeding his advice. She surprised herself as she noticed her aim was steadying, and the crosshairs of the rifle were aligning on the red circle.

"Got it?" Cross asks.

"Almost... my aim is almost there...!"

"Good. When you're close, you need to hold your breath. Simply breathing can cause you to miss the vitals."

"Okay... here goes..." X takes a deep breath and to her surprise, her aim was steady. And the crosshairs was dead in the center. Her index finger now closes in on the trigger and with a press, a loud bullet is fired. X was astonished by the recoil as felt the gun jolt backward as she fired. Letting go of her breath, she sees through the scope that her bullet hit the green circle as opposed to the red that she aimed at. It was only a mere few centimeters away from the yellow circle.

Lowering the rifle, she groans again and shakes her head in disappointment. "Dumb gun...!"

Cross shakes his head and places a hand on her shoulder as he saw where the bullet hit. "That's not bad at all. You're getting there. Not to mention that if you're targeting the monsters here on Mira, you're not likely to miss. There's a good amount of species we saw that are large targets..."

"Nahhh... I give. The sniper rifle is so you... I mean look at your target! You hit the center dead-on! If anything, you should be using this!" X complimented, folding the rifle into its compact form and shoving it into Cross' arms. Cross was surprised by the force that X applied while shoving the weapon into his arms that he had to take a step back. "She really dislikes this weapon, huh..."

Lin waves and calls out, "Yoo hoo! Cross and X! How are the weapons testing?" She jogs near the two after watching X test the rifle.

X's demeanor immediately changed as her eyes lit up at Lin's appearance. "Lin! Great timing! We totally got our weapons down!"

"Really? Really? What's the scoop?" She asks.

X scratches her head and embarrassingly tells her, "If you saw me just seconds before uh... totally not the sniper rifle. But look!" She points out at Cross' target, which was the target with the 5 bullets hitting the red center. "Cross is totally using it!"

"Woah, so cool... you're pretty sharp out there, Cross!"

"T-Thank you-" Cross was interrupted by X's excitement. She adds, "Yup yup. Cross is also using a javelin. Too bad I missed their little duel, cause it seemed intense with how exhausted Cross looked! And Elma didn't even break a sweat!"

"Don't bring that up..." Cross mutters as he frowns very slightly.

Lin was nodding to X's storytelling, but she had to wonder and ask her, "And what about you? You still sticking with knives as usual?"

X nodded. "Yes! I barely bothered trying the others but I tried all of the other guns except for the dual guns... like the ones Elma uses. Which reminds me-"

Immediately, she begins to sprint towards the direction in which Elma was standing, who was finishing up the weapon trading among the BLADE workers. Lin and She faces to her right as she sees X running towards her, surprised at her fast progress in attempting to try out the sniper rifle.

"I think I can tell from your expression, X... the sniper rifle isn't your type, huh?" She asks.

"Nope..." X groans, shaking her head. "It's totally Cross' weapon for sure. Since I tried out the others... there's only one left: dual guns."

"Right." Elma nods as she removed her own set of guns that were mounted from her back. "Here. Try mine. It's already loaded, and it'll save you some time from using the standard issue."

"Thanks! I'll be right back!" She nods as she holds one machine gun in each hand and runs back towards Lin and Cross.

When she arrived, she darted towards the same target she aimed at for the sniper rifle trial and held to the two guns straight ahead, the same way Elma held them from her observations. Cross and Lin watched X maintain her stance as she stared at the target before her in silence and anticipation.

"Okay!" She calls out as she begins to pull the triggers on the two guns simultaneously.

Loud rounds of gunfire echoed in the room as she fired the two guns. As she held onto the trigger, surprisingly, X maintained holding onto the two guns firmly despite the recoils. Before she knew it, the magazines were empty, and the room falls silent.

Before X could see the results of her aim, Lin beat her to the punch, saying loudly, "Woah, X! That's amazing!"

"Oh my..." Cross muttered in awe, his eyes widening at the results.

X sees her target torn apart with bullet holes, with the yellow circle nearly gone and the red center was about 75% riddled with holes. There were some scattered bullet holes on the green and blue circle, but not much. From this result, X's decision was made.

"WOAH! And that was my first try too! THIS IS IT!" She declares loudly, raising the two guns in the air in triumph. "I'm done! I found my weapons!"

"Right on!" Lin cheered, raising her arms up to celebrate.

Cross and Elma approach the two girls as her results signaled the end of their weapon testing. Elma, amused by X's happiness and accomplishment, laughed lightly. "What a way to end this activity. Now that you two found your preferred weapons, I believe it's time to begin our first mission."

"Yes! And thank you!" X bowed as she handed the two machine guns to Elma.

Elma accepted them and mounted the two weapons in her back. "I can teach you a few skills and attacks on the field itself later, X. Now, we'll return to the barracks to be debriefed. I just got word that the Commander has something for us four to do."

"Whooo, I wonder what the Commander has in store for us... Oh and what to eat after our mission...?" Lin muttered as she began to make her leave from the training area.

"Lin. Wait for us..." Elma raised her hand slightly to call her back over, but she didn't hear her and kept walking. Elma shook her head and pointed at the weapons still on the ground. She tells Cross and X, "If you used up all your credits earlier, you can use these weapons for your first mission."

"Uhh..." X blushed as she touched the right side of the veyes that was covering her right ear. "I uh... kinda blew it off... so I have to use them... oops..."

Cross sighed as he knew he wasted his time advising her earlier. He tells Elma, "I'm saving up so I might as well use them too."

"Very well. I'll wait for you both at the entrance to the facility."

As Elma walked away, the two began to walk towards the three sets of weapons that were laid out in front of them. As they picked them up and mounted the weapons on their backs, Cross complimented X, saying to her, "You're pretty good with the two machine guns. I was surprised on how accurate you were. I'll be honest, I thought you would miss by a mile from the recoil. I'm glad you proved me wrong."

"W-Woah... uh... thanks?" X blushed, rubbing her left cheek gently to cover it up. She quickly realized about his latter comment and frowned, growling, "H-Hey! Wait...! You think I'd miss by a mile?! Meanie!"

X elbowed Cross in the abdomen, but he didn't stagger from the surprise hit. He saw it coming and kept his ground, but was taken aback by the force she applied. "Hey, that was unnecesssa-" X runs off towards the exit of the training area. She was sticking her tongue out and winking at Cross. "But thanks anyway! Last one to Elma is a rotten egg!"

"X...!" Cross groaned, jogging to catch up with the lively girl.

—

Commander Vandham had to immediately chuckle and he saw the new BLADE recruits walk in with their new looks and weapons. Just like Elma, Vandham was astounded on how seemingly intimidating Cross looked in the Grenada light wear outfit that male BLADES could not pull off. "I like them icy look in your eyes, kid. Literally yours can kill."

"Thank you…" Cross nervously replied. Already getting compliments from the seemingly tough Commander was already a big feat, even though he and X only completed one mission.

"And you, little lady... Looks are deceiving. Could use more people like you."

"Thanks, Commander!" X happily replied.

The four stood around in the debriefing table, with everyone in the same positions as they stood when Nagi informed the two new recruits of their situation and joining BLADE. Commander Vandham crosses his arms and begins his debriefing.

"Now for the job- let's get down to the brass tacks. Nelson's team has gone missing. Last contact we had, they were installing a data probe out in eastern Primordia." Vandham unfolds his arms. "Then, nothing."

Elma crossed her own arms as she tried to recall details. "Hmm, Nelson... Pathfinders, right?"

Lin chimes in, guessing on the cause, "Are we talkin' indigens here or what?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. But they did have a Skell with them. You'd think they could hold their own- or at least run away."

Cross could see X's demeanor change slightly. She was no longer enticed by the mission details. Rather, she was frowning a little. He could tell that she was worried about the missing Pathfinder team, considering the fact that Vandham just told them. "This doesn't sound good... And it makes me anxious to see that that X is getting worried too..."

Elma nods to Vandham's information. "All right, we're on it. We'll head to their last known location and go from there."

"Report whatever you find ASAP."

"Of course." Elma turns to the remaining three members of her party. "Let's move out."

"Roger that." Lin replies.

"Understood." Cross followed his reply after her.

X's mood changed immediately. "Ready when you are!"

As the four made their way out of the barracks, Commander Vandham crossed his arms and chuckled. "That little lady is like an older and louder version of Lin... Haha. And there's something about that kid... Hmmm..."

A/N: Sorry for late update as usual. Though 85% of the chapter is improvised, I was constantly trying to think of ways to execute some scenes.

Cross will not be changing his style of clothes for the rest of the story, so he'll be stuck with the light Grenada wear, at most only the color scheme will change. As for X, her outfit will change after a certain chapter and that will be her main look. Until then, she will maintain the given appearance. Again, if you need to see what they officially look like, check out my profile for sketches, and even glance on the fanfiction image for their appearance.

It may be strange to some of you to show a lack of skill in some weapon types for both characters. Avatars in-game can use all weapon types sure, but to change things up, I limited the weapon classes for the two avatars here to only a few they can use... makes them more believable in my opinion. Likewise with their skill with the weapon of choice too. As much as I would like to make Cross and X instantly badass in javelins/sniper rifles and knives/assault rifles/dual guns respectively, I'd like to think they'd need to build their skills and abilities over time. (And yes, these are the weapon builds I use in-game for them.) Both avatars will develop a new preference for weapons, but the ones presented currently will be their main weapons of choice throughout the story.

Probably my only regret in this chapter is not writing the spars between Elma, Cross, and X as the avatars tried out different weapon types. I must admit that writing battle scenes is the biggest weakness I have, since I'm not very imaginative with fights and whatnot. Plus, it does involve some actual research on how to properly wield them. (I know the game shows the usual attack patterns and all, but there HAS to be some variety in fighting styles and stances, so...) I also want to save up my imagination of fight scenes for the actual story battles so sorry about that.

It may seem that Cross was a bit out of character with his teasing with X, but I'd like to think that he'd have SOME sense of humor, albeit a strange one. (Seriously, hearing him fight in a skell with those puns was the greatest hint of that. Kudos to Robbie Daymond for giving me a laugh on how funny the delivery is. Even moreso with Christina Valenzuela with her battle quotes in general.) When he gets in on a Skell later in the story, I'll definitely have his personality go into a 180 and start acting punny and corny haha... X will be enthusiastic as usual in a Skell, but not as crazy as Cross.

Whew that was long. The next chapter is in early stages of development and will take time to finish. The semester is nearing its end, which means I will definitely not have a lot of time to work on this and the other fanfiction that deals with the affinity/normal missions. As usual though, I will appreciate any reviews and criticism.