Cross woke the next morning to discover that someone had set out a pair of basic casual clothes for her, a pair of cargo pants and a short sleeved shirt made out of a fabric she couldn't identify. After changing out of her dirty blood splattered armor; the clothes fit well enough, but she was definitely going to by some of her own when she had the chance; she walked into the kitchen where she found Lin, who was wearing an outfit similar to yesterdays, had made some breakfast. It wasn't as impressive a spread as last nights meal, but the waffles were nice and fluffy so Cross wasn't exactly about to complain. Elma had apparently made it back late last night judging by her yawn when she joined them for the meal, and was wearing what Cross assumed to be a spare set of armor given that the last time Cross had seen the woman's armor it had a gaping hole in the chest, and apologized for not having been there for dinner.
After assuring her that it was fine, Cross ate her breakfast in a contemplative mood while Lin and Elma chatted, although Cross didn't pay attention to what they were saying. What had that dream meant? Had that been from her past? How could she have destroyed so many cities? She supposed it may have been metaphorical, but it had felt so real. Like she really had been there and done that. Maybe Elma knew something about it. It wouldn't hurt to ask, Cross supposed. "Elma? Did Earth have any floating cities?"
Elma and Lin looked at her, and from there expressions, Cross already knew the answer. "There weren't any, no." Elma confirmed. "Why do you ask?"
"Ahhh…." Cross wasn't sure she wanted to talk about the whole 'destroying everything' aspect of her dream until she knew more about what that had all been about. "I just had a dream last night. There were these floating cities carved from pink stone in it. I was wondering if it might have been a memory from back on Earth."
Lin shook her head. "Nothing like that no. Sounds cool though! Like something out of a fantasy novel!"
Elma looked Cross in the eyes, concern present in her face. "I can understand wanting your memories back, but sometimes a dream is just a dream. Don't latch onto them as replacements. But at the same time, don't be afraid to ask if what you see in them might have happened."
"Yeah. Thanks." Cross took another bite from her waffles. "So, how'd the paperwork go Elma?"
Cross thought she saw Elma stiffen slightly before responding. But it was so brief she wasn't sure if it had actually happened, so she just ignored it. It was probably just classified stuff that was none of her business if it was anything.
"It went fine. I even got your entry paperwork through. All you need to do is sign a form and pick a division, and you'll be an official member of BLADE."
Cross nodded, and then finished off her waffles before replying. "Thanks! Where do I need to go to sign?"
Elma chuckled, and pulled out her little handheld device she had used to operate the elevators the other day. She pressed a few buttons, causing a holographic screen to pop up, tapped the screen a few times and then handed it and a small pencil sized stick to Cross. "You can sign right here actually. The list of divisions are up top with brief description of what they do. Once you've picked which one you want, tap the box next to its name, then scroll down to the bottom and sign your name. Don't get too hung up on what division you join though. You can take jobs from any speciality, so the division is more for helping other people know what you're best at if they are looking for help. You are expected to at least concentrate on your chosen division's jobs though."
Cross nodded, and began perusing the divisions, using her finger to manipulate the screen like she had just seen Elma do. The holographic screen was kind of weird, it made a tingling sensation on her finger when she touched it, but it worked well enough.
After some thought, during which time Elma and Lin and cleaned up the table, Cross was down to two divisions. The Pathfinders, who were the main explorers, and who she had met some of while at Shadow Rise base camp, and the Interceptors, like Irina and Gwen, who protected the other groups while they were outside of NLA. Sighing in defeat, both seemed to fit he well, Cross set the device down on the table and spun it. Hologram toward her for Interceptor, and away for Pathfinder.
It spun for a bit, before ending up in between. Cross rolled her eyes. "Oh come on!"
Lin peered over her shoulder. "Whats wrong?"
"I couldn't make up my mind between two divisions, so I spun Elma's thing. Away from me for Pathfinders, and toward for Interceptors."
Lin nodded, her face in a mock serious expression. "Well then! I have the perfect solution. I outfitted my PDA to measure angles and the like, helpful when I'm working on Skells and need to get the alignment juuuust right." Lin pulled out her, PDA they were apparently called, and pointed it at Elma's. After punching some buttons, sheet of light spat out and swept over the table. In a completely over the top voice, Lin announced. "Drummm roll please! The data is in! And it looks like you are aaaaaaaaaaaaan Interceptor."
Cross laughed, and picked Elma's PDA back up. "Thanks Lin." She quickly touched the box next to the Interceptor logo, scrolled to the bottom, picked up the stick elma had given her, and signed her name.
"Welcome aboard Cross." Elma said. "I'm happy to be the first to get the chance to say so." She then turned to Lin. "Do you mind showing Cross around town and helping her pick up some new weapons? She felt like the rifle and knife I loaned her wasn't her usual style. I'd go myself, but I have to get my armor repaired."
Lin nodded enthusiastically. "I'd love to! I didn't get to give her a proper tour at all yesterday."
"Wait. How am I going to afford anything? I don't have any money." Cross asked.
"It's fine. I've deposited enough from my account to yours to get you started." Elma answered. Cross was about to protest, but Elma raised her hand and shook it scoldingly. "I insist. I have plenty of money. Just consider it… your signing bonus."
"Thanks! I'll be sure to make it up to you somehow!" Cross said earnestly.
Elma nodded. "I'm sure you will." She looked around the room, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. "I guess the only other thing to talk about before we all head out is where you want to stay."
Cross smiled. "I'd like to take you up on that offer to stay with you two." She punched Lin lightly in the shoulder. "It look's like someone's bribe of food was a success."
Lin gave a goofy grin. "Yesssss! All according to plan. Muhahahaha!"
Elma just rolled her eyes at the thirteen year old's fake evil laughter. "We'll be happy to have you." She turned toward the door and started walking. "Have a good day you two."
Cross and Lin chorused. "Yes mam!" They then blinked looked at each other, and broke down laughing.
Elma laughed, and walked out the door.
Lin had given Cross a whirlwind tour of the city, showing everything there was to see. It had gone by so fast, she wasn't sure she had memorized everything, though she felt confident she had managed to get the important bits down.
They had gone through the administrative district first. The east gate out of the city was to the immediate right of the entrance to the barracks, which Cross now realized seemed to be built into the wall. The mission console, the best place to look for jobs was down the street to the left, while Division Drive, where most of the BLADE divisions had their headquarters, was past the gate to right, and Armory Ally, the only place to get new weapons and armor was across from the road to the gate. At the end of Division Drive Lin had showed her the elevators to the lower level of the admin district, which was where the skell maintenance bay was held, where the restricted hanger was, and where the roads to the rest of the city where. They hadn't opted to take those, since the walk would be much too long, and instead walked through Armory Ally to the front of BLADE tower, the main government building.
From there they had taken a VTOL craft to the residential district, where Lin had showed her around Deliverance Park, which Cross suspected she would be spending a good amount of time relaxing in, even if there was construction going on across the street to the east expanding the city. Then there were the sports fields past some houses to the south. Cross realized she probably hadn't played much sports, since she didn't recognize most of them. Lin had then pointed at large stone tower poking up over the houses, and said that they could go see the cathedral if Cross wanted to, but that it was really easy to find, since it was visible from everywhere in the residential district. Cross had said she'd pass, so the two headed back to the VTOL craft stop near Deliverance Park.
Next they had flown to the industrial district. They hadn't bothered to get off when the VTOL had landed to pick up more passengers, since the layout was simple and Lin could easily point out all the major places from the air. The Outfitters test hangar was an absolutely massive complex, taking up almost the entire southern third of the area and was were Lin herself normally worked. North from it, in the middle third of the area was the integrated production plant, which Lin explained was where much of the bulk good where made in the city, and the recycling center. Between the two buildings, toward the center of a city, was a restaurant called the Repenta Diner. The northern third of the district was almost completely comprised of storage warehouses and shipping crates and the like.
Then it was time for the commercial district. Cross was pretty sure she had forgotten where things were specifically there. It was full of shops and restaurants, selling everything imaginable, and Cross was sure she hadn't had a lot of the foods that were on display. She vowed to work her way through all of them, though it would be awful tempting to just stick to the small cafe Lin had taken them to for lunch. Cross had also picked up some more casual clothes to wear before they left. Some more pairs of pants, a couple pairs of shorts, the appropriate undergarments, and an assortment of shirts and a nice jacket.
Last, it was finally time for what Cross had been waiting for, to head back to Armory Ally and pick up some new gear. The main armor and weapons shop took most of the north side of the street, and was divided into four areas. One contained weapons meant for skells, and videos showing the weapons used in a firing range, since testing them out for yourself was obviously impractical. Not having a skell, and still being a bit freaked out over them, Cross skipped that section. The next was where the ground armor was sold, and it also had some changing rooms. Cross and Lin split up here, the young girl saying she had been meaning to get some new armor for herself. As she started looking around, Cross realized that despite the seemingly large amount of money Elma had given her, she wasn't going to be able to afford a lot of what was in here. The higher end gear was crazy expensive, so she was going to have to settle for the more basic stuff. She eventually got a set of goggles and a bracer-glove combination thing for her left arm. The goggles were supposed to have a basic computer in them that would assisting with targeting her attack, and the bracer-glove would apparently stiffen a little if the arm was held in place long enough, providing some extra stability when firing a gun. The outer layer was also composed of an alloy which apparently took laser shots well. Cross wasn't sure of the details, the description said something about energy dispersal, but she figured it could be a helpful thing to have. Who knew on this planet. After paying for her purchases and slipping them on, she went off buy what she had really come here for, new weapons.
The third section contained racks of weapons of all kinds. From bulky two handed blades to knives and from rifles like the one she was currently using to sets of strange floating things that followed mental commands, the area had so many weapons Cross was sure she'd find one that felt natural to her. After getting the go-ahead from an attendant to take on of everything to firing ranges and sparring areas the comprised the fourth section of the store, Cross went a picked up one of every single style and model of weapon in stock.
After taking a few trips to one of the firing ranges, Cross started working her way through the guns. The bulky ray guns were thrown out quickly. She liked being agile on her feat and they were much to heavy. She decided to toss away the shields and gatling guns on the same premise. Clearly not for her. The drones were the next to get the axe, they were neat, but she clearly had no experience with them prior to her memory loss, her aim had been abysmal compared to what she had done with her borrowed assault rifle. The sniper rifles were up next up next and were quickly dismissed. They hadn't been bad, she was accurate enough with them, but the recoil had been massive, and she clearly didn't know how to handle it, seeing as how she kept getting knocked on her rear whenever she tried to fire them. Then it was down to a pair of pistols and the assault rifles. It had taken her some time and many shattered paper targets, but she eventually decided she prefered the rifle better. She was about as accurate with each, but she could draw her melee weapon at the same time as she stowed the rifle, which would be important since she knew there was no way she'd be able to switch weapons as fluidly as Elma did. And, she admitted to herself, she may have gotten slightly attached to making things blow up with the assault rifles grenade launcher.
Then she realized she still had to choose between the four models of assault rifles for sale. Two of which apparently fired fired short bursts of lasers instead of bullets. After some more test firing, she settled on a slightly more sophisticated version of the rifle Elma had handed her. The laser shots had been cool, but she kept compensating for the fact the a physical bullet would fall. Cross vowed to come back to those models that once she had a nice long stretch to work that habit out of her system, since shooting lasers at things seemed really useful. Still, as satisfied as she was in the end with her new rifle, Cross felt that what she really wanted was something else. Something not on display.
She shoved the feeling aside to concentrate on the melee weapons. Having already decided no on shields, Cross decided to also pass on the knife, she'd been using one for a while, and hadn't liked it, though she would probably keep the on she had in her pack to make use of its ether focus. As shittily made as it was, the effects were useful. She spent some time swinging around the various models of two handed swords and the polearms, and even found herself falling into some basic forms with them. They weren't bad, but she felt there had to be something better.
Shrugging, Cross moved onto the next set, a trio of weapons advertised as "photon sabers". Cross wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but as she pulled the first from its strange 'v' shaped shaped sheath a shining palm width blade of light whooshed out and memories rushed back and it felt so right.
Cross was nine and she stood in front of a wall of swords. Not literally of course, but the painted metal wall could barely be seen behind the various weapons, primarily swords, that adorned it. She gazed at them in wonder. She had heard stories about these, about the adventures her grandfather had used them in. She could even identify some of them, having begged for details at the grandest parts of her grandfather's tales, asking him to describe the battles down to the smallest detail.
She reached out, her small hand drawing close to one of the swords hung lower on the wall. Here, for example, was the sword he had been wielding when he had first met her grandmother. She walked along, almost touching the hilts she passed but not quite managing to. These swords represented what she wanted to do. Her grandfather had gone out into the world and helped people. He'd been a hero. "I want to be a hero to." Cross muttered.
She jumped in fright, as voice called out to her from the entrance to the room. "Being a hero is a lot of work."
Cross turned, recovering from her fright, to see her grandfather standing there in the doorway. His hair, which he kept long enough to reach just past his shoulders was grey with age, and he wore a simple red tunic, black cloak, and black pants. Despite his years, he carried himself well, not being one to let age slow him down. His tanned face was stern, and Cross knew why. "Grandfather! I.. I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to come in here unsupervised." She said in a panic, barely holding back tears. She respected her grandfather very much and didn't want him to be disappointed in her.
He walked over her, knelt down, rested his hand on her right shoulder, looked her in the eyes and smiled. "It's fine. Your siblings and cousins might not understand how dangerous my swords are, and wouldn't treat them with respect. But I know you understand. You always hang onto every word of my stories."
Cross sniffled. "Thank you for not being mad."
Her grandfather grinned. "With you? Not for this. Now, what's this about wanting to be a hero?"
"Well, I'd..." Cross took a deep breath. She'd tried bringing up her dream with her father, but he'd just said that she was only nine, that she was still much too young to decide what she wanted to do with her life, especially if it was something as dangerous as learning to use a sword like her grandfather. "I'd like to be a hero like you were when you were younger. But I know father won't let me. He says I'm to young to decide what I want to do."
Her grandfather stood up and walked over to the far end of the room. "Well. You're father certainly knew what
wanted to do when he was your age. So if he objects, I'll just give him grief for all the grief he gave me back then." He spun around, and tossed a small simple wooden sword her way. Cross barely managed to catch it, and held it tightly against her chest with both hands.
Her grandfather then picked up another practice sword in his own hand, one appropriately sized for his larger frame. "Well come on them. Grip the hilt with your right hand. Let's spar."
Cross's grin took up her entire face. She'd never been more excited in her life. She was finally going to learn how to be a hero.
Cross was fifteen. She'd sparred with her grandfather weakly for the past six years, and liked to think she'd gotten pretty good. The fact that she still hadn't beaten her grandfather would have upset her if he wasn't a famous hero. As it was, she felt thrilled just to be able to learn from him.
Today, as they met for their weekly sparring session, her grandfather held out a metal sword hilt to her. She'd long since graduated to using real swords, and had used most of her grandfather's extensive collection, but had never used this one. It was very strange looking at first glance, having no blade and an oversized cross guard. But Cross knew what it was. "Are you sure grandfather?"
He nodded solemnly. "These are dangerous, to much so to train a beginner on. As for once you're not a beginner; well, then they are still too dangerous, because you've gotten used to the weight of a physical sword." He swept his arm across the swords lining the wall. "But you've learned how to instinctively compensate for blades of different weights and balances. Now you're ready for one that doesn't weigh anything. I think it will suit you well. Despite your training you still aren't the strongest, you can't get as much power behind your attacks as I could when I was young. And you prefer being light on your feet, making sure you're opponent never gets a clean hit on you. The lightblades are perfect for that. They don't need powerful swings behind them to hurt, and they barely weigh anything." He picked up a sword of his own and settled into a defensive stance. "Come on then. Turn it on."
Cross nodded, and flicked the switch at the base of the crossguard. A thick blade of blue light sprung up from the top. She gave it a few careful practice springs to adjust to the lack of weight in the blade, then leapt at her grandfather and unleashed a flurry of attacks.
This was it. Cross was sure. This was the weapon for her. She remembered that since that day when she was fifteen she'd stuck to using these types of swords when she was at all able. As her grandfather had said, they were perfect for her, letting her score dangerous hits without much strength behind the blow and being so light that dodging out of the way was a simple matter.
She grinned, and instantly launched into a blistering series of strikes, her body graceful contorting to allow her sword to come at her imagined foe from all angles. She kept at it, the pale bluish-green blade she held becoming nothing but a blur as she swung it through the air faster and faster. She started laughing excitedly. This was exhilarating! So much better than that stupid little knife!
Finally she stopped her assault, turning of the blade and re-sheathing it, only to hear a storm of clapping. She turned around to see that a crowd of other shoppers had gathered around to watch her. Cross blushed a little. Just how long had she been going, that this many people had been able to gather around to watch?
As she looked over the crowd, she noticed Lin off at one side, clapping louder than the rest of the shoppers. And the tall guy from dinner yesterday, Doug, was there too, though he was wearing some heavy looking blue and grey colored armor with a massive ray gun strapped to his back and a photon saber of his own at his waist instead of the casual clothes he was in yesterday. Cross walked over to them, not sure what to say.
Fortunately for her, Lin wanted the first word anyway. "Woooo! Cross, that was AMAZING! Where did you learn to do that!"
Cross scratched her head, "Well, from my grandfather actually. He was a master swordsman."
Doug smiled. "That must mean you remembered something about your past then! Good for you!"
"Oh! Cross! You should totally spar with Doug! He uses a photon saber too!" Lin suggested, clearly very excited at the prospect of seeing her test pilot and her roommate go at it.
"What? Why?" Doug asked, clearly not as enthusiastic about the idea.
"Awww come on. I bet you're just worried she's gonna beat you." Lin baited.
Doug gaped and spluttered. "I...what...no. Ok fine then. If that's how you're going to be about this I'll do it." Lin apparently knew exactly how to get under his skin. He turned away from the thirteen year old to face Cross. "You up for it?"
Cross thought about it briefly. She had only just picked it up, and wasn't sure if she had remembered all of her old skills. But it would be a good way to test herself, and if Doug was even half as skilled as Lin seemed to consider him, then they'd be no danger to each other with the deadly weapons. "I'm game. First hit?"
Doug nodded and began to take off his ray gun. "That's good with me."
Cross walked back out to the middle of the melee weapon practice ring she'd been using. Doug followed her, "The usual bet Lin?" He asked as he walked, then stopped once he was about twenty feet from her.
"Winner buys the loser drinks? Sounds good to me." Lin answered.
"Hey! What about me? I'm the one fighting here." Cross called out. Really, how was that fair that she'd end up doing all the work and Lin would get the reward?
Doug grinned. "I'll buy you both drinks." He drew own photon saber, a thinner blade than Cross's. "On three?"
"On three." Cross agreed, drawing and reigniting her own sword.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
Once they both said three, Cross sprang forward. Doug was taller than her, and thus had better reach than she did. It was basic technique to close so that he couldn't bring that to bear and would instead be hampered by her closer positioning.
Doug proved himself by not letting her do so. He brought his blade slashing toward her so quickly that she was forced to dive sideways rather than parry. She flicked her sword off as she tumbled to the ground, then back on as she sprang to her feat. No sense in risking it injuring her during the tumble.
As she returned to her feat, Doug was already there, swinging away again. His strikes were well placed and quick, but Cross was able to fend them off without to much trouble. But he was relentless and didn't let up enough for her to think of counter attacking. If he kept this up he could win by just tiring her out since Cross was willing to bet she had less endurance than he did. It was a smart strategy against someone whose capabilities you didn't know.
As Doug's assault continued, Cross thought back to one of the first lessons her grandfather had taught her. "Emotions have their place in a fight. Rage, fear, love, they can all be a source of strength. But the way I learned how to fight, and the way I am going to teach you, is one of control. Emotions can also cloud your vision, make you miss things. They can divert your attention. Instead, keep yourself calm. If your heart is serene in combat, you can focus all of your attention on the fight. With enough training you'll be able to pick up on your opponents patterns, and figure out a way to use them."
Cross took a calming breath between parries, settling herself into the flow of battle, and focused her attention on how Doug was attacking. To his credit, Cross couldn't see any patterns to where his attacks were coming from as they slowly circled each other, blades flashing constantly. He was skilled enough to realize that settling into a routine of attacks gave the opponent the chance to figure out that pattern and then use that knowledge against you. To get out of this, Cross realized, she was going to have to do something a little drastic.
The one thing Doug did have pattern for was his speed. He swung his blade at a fast but steady pace, the strikes coming just fast enough to force Cross to remain on the defensive, and not a moment faster. She could use this.
Doug's blade came whizzing toward her once again, this time from the side, forcing her bring her sword vertical to parry. Perfect. She did as he expected, but just before their blades made contact, she toggled her's on and off. As Doug's blade swung into the space her's had just occupied, it came on again, ricocheting Doug's up off of her extending blade. It was a minor disturbance, but enough to distract him sufficiently so that she could dodge with her body, and take a half step in closer to him.
Now it was her turn to attack. Her strikes flashed toward Doug faster than his had come at her, leaving him less able to block. He was good though, and it would take time to break his guard.
But he didn't give her the chance. On her next attack, after she had committed but before their blades locked once again, he swung his leg out at her, going for a trip. She swore internally. Curse his size. She couldn't have done the same to him, he had too much mass on her. She was going to have to dodge. Cross hastily sprung backwards, and Doug did the same. She briefly wondered what he was doing, before she felt the ether around them swirl and coalesce in his blade.
, she thought as she readied her sword to defend against whatever he was doing and readied herself to throw herself out of harm's way in case she couldn't block it.
Doug, as quick as ever, raised his sword above his head in both hands, and then swung it toward her. As the blade swung, the coalesced ether flooded into the swords blade, lengthening it out to more than five times its normal length, long enough that it could now hit Cross. She might be able to block it, but she didn't have the time to figure out what else Doug had done to the photon saber other than extend its length. Better to just dodge it.
Noticing that Doug's swing was coming down just slightly left of her center Cross made a diving roll to the right, wanting to put as much distance between her and the attack as possible. While her dive completed, she realized that Doug hadn't stopped channeling ether into his sword. Oh dear. This was going to be bad wasn't it?
As she started coming to a stand, she saw Doug finishing an upward slash into thin air, his sword leaving a glowing trail in its wake, which when combined with a strike trail he had apparently already made, left a large glowing x in the air.
Cross thought, impressed by the tactic. As she finished her thought and her stand, Doug finished his slash, and the glowing X lurched into motion, its side connecting with her almost as soon as it had a started moving. Fortunately it barely hurt.
Cross flicked her sword off and sheathed it, raising her hands in defeat. "I presume that last one would hurt a lot worse than just a sting had you not held back on it?"
Doug shut of his own sword and stowed it as well. He was momentarily prevented from responding by the crowd breaking into a long applause before they dispersed to resume their shopping. "Yeah." He walked forward and offered his hand, which Cross gladly accepted. "Damn good match. That stunt you pulled with turning your blade on and off was magnificent."
Cross rolled her eyes. "It only worked because you were using a photon saber as well. There's no way it would have worked against a conventional sword."
Doug glared at her. "Oh no. Don't get all modest on me. I couldn't have kept up that attack with a conventional sword. It would have melted straight through after all those hits. You parried exceptionally well. I don't think I could have ever got a blow in on you."
"Well, if we are talking impressive, you purposely angling that second to last attack off center to lure me into dodging the direction you wanted was a brilliant move." Cross rebutted. Doug was good, and she was going to make sure he knew she thought so.
"You actually dodged further than I was expecting you to. You started preparing to jump out of the way even before I started swinging. How'd ya manage that?"
"I felt you starting to pull ether into your sword." Cross explained. "I'd love to get a look at the focus you used for that at some point by the way."
"You could sense that?" Lin asked, wonder evident in her voice.
Cross responded unsurely. Was that not normal? "Uhhh. Yes? Why?"
Doug scratched his head. "Well, I'm pretty darn good with the stuff myself, more so than most people I'd guess. And I can't do something like that."
Cross was baffled. "Really? But, isn't that like a basic skill? One of the first things you learn? I mean, I still can't remember actually learning how to use ether, but I'm pretty sure that's one of the first things you get taught. It's pretty simple."
Lin shook her head. "Nope. Not that I've ever heard of. I'll admit I'm not that good, I've only got one thing I can do reliably, but I haven't heard of anyone calling something like that 'simple.'"
Cross just shrugged. "I dunno then. I'd be happy to try and teach you guys sometime."
Doug grinned. "I'll have to take you up on that. As for the focus you asked about, you can get one from the store. They are fairly expensive, you'll probably need to take a few jobs before getting one."
"Oh!" Lin chirped. "Speaking of, I got a message from Elma earlier. She said she had a job she wanted to bring you along on. A kinda 'show you the ropes' type thing. Sorry I didn't mention it earlier, I was distracted by that sweet fight. We're supposed to meet her by the east gate when we're done shopping."
Cross scooped up her rejected pile of weapons. "Sounds good with me. Just let me go ahead and pay for my stuff and put back the things I decided not to get."
"I'll see you at the counter then! I've got to pay for my own things." Lin said as she walked off toward the front counter.
Doug began walking away himself. "I've got to head out myself. Got a job clearing some indigens out from near the grieving pillars. There gonna set up a new basecamp around there."
"Good luck!" Cross called after him. She smiled contentedly as she began cleaning up after herself. She'd had a nice tour of the city, finally remember something about her past and gotten her hands on a fantastic new weapon and some other gear. It had been a good day so far, and it was only early afternoon. If the job Elma had lined up was a good one she could even work on starting to repay the debt she owed the woman. She was a bit wary about Lin coming along, the girl was only thirteen, but she supposed Elma new Lin better than she did. If she thought Lin was up for it, Cross would trust her judgement.
Authors Notes: Firstly, apologies about the brief delay. I had some issues with my internet connection. I really need to get a new computer, this one has been giving me so much grief lately.
Second: I couldn't find a name for those spire formations scattered around Primordia, so since by far the largest amount exist north of the Grieving Plains I decided to refer to them as the Grieving Pillars. Plus, well, I think it sounds pretty cool.
Third, unlike the canon-Cross whose background is that she/he probably doesn't even exist(how could their brain get to the mim if the Life Hold core was damaged BEFORE the mim was turned on?), this Cross actually has a backstory, as evidenced by her remembering some things this chapter. As such, she isn't going to go the route of switching between classes and picking up all the arts and skills, but is instead going to be more akin to the NPC party members. Specifically, Blast Fencer/Galactic Knight+. Following the convention of keeping art names from the first Xenoblade when the affects match, Cross' unique art for the Photon Saber is Serene Heart, replacing Geolibrium.
Serene Heart(TP, Aura): Grants Accuracy and Evasion up = art level. Buff tier increases when hp is under 15%. Secondary Cooldown increases Buff Tier & Duration.
Fourth, this is the end of Act 1. Thank you all for your follows, fave's and review!
