Thank you to RedBurningDragon and LordOfTee for boosting my confidence a little. In response:
The intent was that because it is the titan that is swimming across the Cloud Sea I felt that the boat just needed a patchwork job, something that someone like Brandon could accomplish easily with scrap metal that he carries around. Plus Umon's related to Tora who needed THREE Bion connectors just to keep Poppi's hat in place. I feel like that's something the family would kind of have in common with excess parts. You're going to have to wait for the Artifice thing though, I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do with it. You're going to have to wait till chapter 4/5 though as that's when the story will branch off.
To LordOfTee: Sorry 'bout this but this chapter is going to be a little more copy paste other than the small side training scene. I just felt that even with Brandon the whole adventure with Vandham wouldn't have changed much. Don't worry, I intend on making chapter 5-6 completely original as Brandon goes and does his own thing before returning to the group. Hopefully my writing would have improved enough to actually change some dialogue rather than copy paste in fear of messing something up. Also I went and looked up some youtube vids, he would be more like 2000-3000 years + that 4000 years that Alrest existed, old, which won't matter because he was in cryostasis during that entire time so the only negative to come out of it is some memory loss.
Please leave a review and I will try to answer it in the next chapter. On with the story!
"Helluva story," Vandham grunted as they traveled through the tighter areas of Uraya. "So you headed to the World Tree to reach Elysium, but got swallowed up whole instead? You got some crazy luck."
Brandon sighed and nodded in response.
"So, er," Rex fumbled around with his words, "what were you doing back there, then?"
"Y'know, this Titan... It ain't too fussy about what it eats," Vandham said, "I went down there to see if anything we might need in the village washed up. But mostly I only found your sorry mushes."
"Yeah, sorry about that…" Rex said sheepishly.
"Here we are," Vandham said as he stopped, "welcome to Garfont. Ain't much but it's home."
"The village has a lot of children," Pyra noticed as she looked around.
"Lots of Drivers and Blades here too!" Tora added noticing the training ground.
"We're in the business of dispatching Drivers and Blades all across the world," Vandham explained, "also, most of the kids are war orphans. Took 'em in while on the job."
"So you're saying that you take them under your wing," Dromarch stated.
"Just till they're able to make it by themselves," one of the men next to Vandham said.
"Some of 'em might grow up to be Drivers, like ourselves. ...But then others might become tailors," the other added.
"It doesn't matter what they wanna do with their lives. We leave it up to them to decide," Vandham finished.
"Aye. Us "Justice Busters" just wanna help."
"Good eggs, huh?" Nia crossed her arms. Brandon chuckled at that comment.
"You said it. I've been called worse. Come on. Let's eat! All this egg-talk is making me hungry," Vandham gestured and walked over to an area with benches. The group sat down at various tables. Rex, Pyra, and Vandham at one, the rest at another. Vandham called over a cook and was brought plates heaping with food.
"I'm going to get some water," Pyra declared standing up, "Vandham?"
"Cheers love! Gimme a beer!" He responded.
"Beer? Coming right up!" Pyra wandered off, wondering to herself where to find a beer.
"What's up?" Vandham asked Rex who hadn't touched his plate at all, "the grub don't suit you?"
"So do you fight in wars too, Vandham?" Rex asked suddenly.
"You got a problem with mercenaries?" Vandham joked.
"Are you trying to get us to join up?"
"Hah!" Vandham laughed, "shrimps like you? We're not THAT desperate. Relax."
"Okay. Good to know."
"Hmmm… Rex, you're a salvager, ain't ya?" Vandham asked, noticing Rex's outfit.
"Yeah," he responded.
"You musta fished out your share of military supplies, right? And it looks like your brother over there," he nodded his head at the other table to emphasize his point, "he makes weapons right? You fine with that?"
"Nah. Neither of us want to get involved with it. Those weapons he makes are to defend ourselves. The stuff he sells are quality of life goods."
" It's all the same," Vandham waved a hand dismissively, "Compasses, valves for ether stoves... Armies need all these things as well as salvagers and… inventors. I don't know what kind of 'quality of life goods' your brother sells but I guarantee that some of it has found its way into the hands of the military" He crossed his arms, "that bread you're eating? It's made from ruska flour. Supplied by the Ardainian government. This world's full of war. Don't matter if you're a soldier or not. As long as you're alive… you're in the war, some way or another. Don't you think?"
"Um, I…" Rex stuttered, lost for words.
"Life can be cruel. Crueler than you know. That's why I set up this little band, so I could protect the people I care about," Vandham explained, "Rex. You're the Driver of the Aegis. The whole world's gonna try and scalp you, you realize that? How ya gonna live, when you got everyone gunning for ya? It'd be easy to run. All you'd need to do is ditch that girl… maybe your brother as well." He added as an afterthought.
Rex had no response.
"Hmmm…" Vandham brought a hand to his chin in thought. "C'mon!" He said suddenly as he stood up, "gotta get ready!"
"Wh-where are we going?" Rex looked up in surprise.
"Just follow me, kid!" He said jovially as he walked off.
Rex stood up to follow Vandham. Brandon and the others joined him.
"We're going to put you through some training!" Vandham declared as they reached a more open area a slight distance from the village.
He gestured toward the bird like blade beside him. "Roc here will guide you lot," he pointed at Brandon, Nia, and Tora, "while I'll take Rex, any questions?" When he received several shaking heads the group split up, Vandham took one scythe while Roc took the other.
"Alright Roc, what do you have in store?" Brandon challenged.
"Hm," the bird like blade thought for a moment, "I think we should have some of you fight each other. I'll observe to see what your strengths and weaknesses are. After I'll enguage you directly one on one."
"Sounds good," Brandon crossed his arms, "who do you have in mind to go first?"
"I think I'll go with you and Tora first," Roc responded.
"Alright," Brandon said taking a fighting stance as Tora got into position with Poppi across from him.
"Ready?" Roc said, "fight!"
Brandon made the first move, rushing at Tora, gauntlets crackling with electricity. Tora brought up his shield and countered the first couple swings. Brandon feinted to the left. Tora fell for the feint and moved his shield to intercept. Brandon, taking advantage, threw a kick at Tora's exposed side, only to growl in frustration as Poppi simply blocked, knocking Brandon back. Tora, seeing the opening, charged forward, bashing at Brandon with his shield. Brandon jumps and somersaulted to the side. He backflipped right after to avoid the metal arm of Poppi as he stood up. Tora continued to use the tactic of using Poppi to distract and try to run in with his shield to take a whack at Brandon. Brandon, quickly learning Tora's strategy, waited in preparation for Tora's next attempt. When Tora charged at him like a bull seeing red, he jumped over Tora, doing a flip and landed behind the Nopon.
"Good game!" Brandon exclaimed as he tapped a fist to the back of the Nopon's head. Tora collapsed in exhaustion as Poppi ran over to help him up. Roc and Nia gave a short applause.
"Brandon!" Roc exclaimed, "nice job. Your fighting technique leaves something to be desired…" Brandon frowned, "but I'm sure that can be improved with time. Now your strength comes from adaptability. Opponents can outskill you but I'm sure they won't be able to out think you. You took Tora's head on attacks and learned how to counter them." Roc slung praise at Brandon then turned to Tora.
"Tora," he sighed, "while it seems like you're able to take a hit and counter relatively effectively, you lack variety. You need to come up with something more than charge at them with a large shield."
"Brandon!" Roc continued, "you up to fight me now?"
Brandon grinned in challenge, "you're on!"
Nia sighed, "I suppose you want me to help the furball then. C'mon Tora, I've got some things to show you." The pair grabbed Poppi and wandered a little away from the two preparing to spar.
Brandon popped his knuckles in anticipation. The two took fighting stances and simply waited, each wanting the other to attack first. Roc decided to make the first move, flying over to the side rather than taking a direct line of attack. Brandon matched Roc, sprinting to the side, huffing in effort as he struggled to keep up. Roc threw the first swing, sending a gust of wind to throw Brandon off balance before moving in to try and hit Brandon with the scythe. Brandon simply used the wind to his advantage, propelling his backflip further away from the bird as he sent a small electric shock wave at Roc. Roc flew up, completely avoiding the attack then flung a small tornado at Brandon. Brandon, unable to react in time, got caught in the small tornado, flinging him across the ground. Roc, using gravity to his advantage, flew down, reverse gripping the scythe and stopped right before the blade could connect.
Rock held out a hand as he put the scythe away. Brandon panted heavily as he took the offered hand and got back to his feet.
"Nice going kid," Roc complimented, "we just gotta work on some predicting as well as adapting."
Brandon grinned and held up a fist. Roc tilted his head in confusion.
"Oh right," Brandon muttered, "this is a fist bump, you just make a fist and tap it to the other's, kinda like a high five."
"Ah," Roc said as he did exactly that.
"Hey Roc!" Vandham called, waving the group over.
"We just got a job to go check out some kinda crazy energy effect," he explained as everyone gathered up. "Somewhere up around the blowhole. Whaddya say?" He addressed Rex. "Fancy bein' a mercenary for a day?"
"Um, OK? But, I mean, we don't work for free…"
Don't worry, kid," Vandham laughed as Brandon swatted Rex, "you'll get paid."
The group set off to the back gate of the village.
"Hey Nia," Brandon said, walking up beside her. "How was training the furball?"
"Ugh," Nia groaned in response, "we didn't do much because he stopped every five seconds to stare at your battle." Brandon started laughing.
"Laugh it up, you actually had a good dynamic with Roc while I couldn't do anything with Tora."
Vandham suddenly stopped ahead.
"An ether miasma," he said, noticing Rex's eyes going wide, "take it this is your first one."
"Ether miasma?" Rex asked.
"It's a load of poisonous waste products spewed from the Titan's guts. Y'know when you get gassy? Kinda like that."
"Erm, is there a way through this thing?" Nia asked, "I can't see any way round it."
"Hey. No fear. Roc, mate! You're up!"
Roc flew above their heads and gave a mighty flap of his wings, sending a massive gust of air, blowing away the Miasma.
"Miasma's died down!" Rex exclaimed.
Vandham laughed, "yup, nothing to it. Let's roll!" The group continued walking along the path.
"An Ardun... Just what we need." Vandham stopped again. "Rex, any good with that anchor?"
"Yeah, I get by."
"Hand that here. Now watch." Vandham hit the trigger on the anchor, launching the grappling hook at the Ardun. Vandham maneuvered the hook skillfully so that the end wrapped around the Ardun's leg. He gave a harsh tug on the anchor, toppling the massive creature.
"Awesome!" Rex exclaimed, "I never thought of using it that way!"
"The trick is to pull it taut at just the right moment." He said, "Now you try!" He tossed the anchor back to Rex who strapped it back on his wrist. He fired again just as the beast stood back up, tangling up a leg and he pulled, toppling the creature again. Vandham moved forward and finished of the poor creature.
"You got it after seeing it once," he praised, "not bad, kid."
Rex chuckled sheepishly.
"Listen up, kid. Drivers use Arts. But that doesn't just mean using the powers your Blade gives you. There are Arts that use your own strength, or take advantage of your enemy's. There are all sorts. A Driver's job is to be smart with his Arts, and protect his Blade."
"Protect my Blade?" Rex looked over at Pyra.
"Yeah. It's a two-way thing, kid. You gotta be aware of the power comin' out of her. Don't waste it, channel it through your Arts, and protect her. If you can do that, then you're a true Driver, kid."
"'A true Driver'?" Rex mused, "I don't know... Am I ready?"
"'Course you are. That thing from before?" Vandham scratched his head sheepishly, "took me five years to learn that."
"Five years?!" Rex exclaimed.
"Yeah. But you saw it once, then you aced it like it was nothin'. And, you got Brandon, Nia,Tora in tow. Those guys are pretty handy. Kid, you got a bright future." Vandham started walking again, the group following.
"I think I'm gonna spew," Nia crossed her arms.
"Take the compliment," Brandon said as he lightly elbowed her.
"Biggipon has scary face, but he very nice!" Tora said.
Vandham let out a huge laugh, "Sussed me out, furrypon!"
"Like I thought…" Vandham said in a low tone.
"A Titan?" Rex gasped, "so that weird power effect they clocked… Maybe this is the cause?"
"Yeah, sure looks like it."
"I'll hazard it wasn't death by old age, either. Might have been an accident… On the other hand, it might have been attacked…" Gramps speculated.
"Hey look!" Vandham said as he spotted a massive monster heading their way, "seems like this Titan dying off has stirred up something else!"
"You sure it was the Titan dying that attracted it? Or was it this thing that killed the titan?" Brandon groaned as he activated his gauntlets. Despite Brandon's worries, they take out both the monster relatively quickly.
"The Blade returned to its core…" Rex noticed.
"So that monster was in resonance with the Blade…" Pyra added.
"Tora cannot resonate, stinky monster can resonate. Not fair!" Tora complained, stamping a foot.
"But Masterpon have Poppi." Poppi said striking a pose.
"Oh, Poppi!" Tora looked up gratefully at the artificial blade.
"If a Blade loses its Driver, it winds up like this," Vandham explained.
"So, is it, like...dead?" Rex asked tentatively.
"Nah! The crystal'll start glowing again after a bit of time. Then a new Driver can resonate with it. But…" Vandham trailed off.
"There's a but?" Rex asked.
"Its memory will be totally zapped. It'll be reborn as a new Blade. Won't remember a thing."
"Yeah? That's pretty rough. To have all of your past wiped out like that."
"But memories can be...painful as well. They can be a terrible burden. And, a Blade can live forever, as long as the crystal exists. It's just as well. Eternity is a long time to collect bad memories." Pyra said.
"Hmph," Brandon crossed his arms, "you're telling me. Although personally I would like to keep what little memories I've got left."
Pyra looked at him. "It's just, I barely have any memories left before the pod. The ones that I have may be bad, but it gives those that I remember a life you know. Makes me miss them less, knowing that they're kept alive in a sense, know what I mean?"
"I'm sorry," Pyra bowed her head, "I was just thinking, sometimes being able to forget is a… blessing."
"C'mon! Let's get finished up here!" Vandham suddenly exclaimed after having kneeled over the titan for a little bit.
"That's…" Rex said in shock.
"A Core Crystal!" Tora jumped up.
"What?" Rex asked, extremely confused.
"Well, that where they come from. Out of Titans," Vandham explained, "this one's brand new and ready to resonate. Like a big steak, right before you take that first bite. It'll probably end up buddying up with a bunch of Drivers… Every time the Driver dies, it'll forget everything and return to its core. Eventually it'll resonate with a new Driver. Drivers dyin', Titans dyin'... The Blade just keeps on livin' through it all… It's a never-ending cycle. An eternal history. As mortals, we'll never be able to understand."
"That's incredible," Rex whispered.
"It's really something, ain't it," Vandham agreed as he turned around and started heading back for the village, the rest following along.
"Ow!" Rex exclaimed in pain as Pyra tended to Rex's wounds.
Brandon elbowed Nia, "Déjà vu?" She smirked back.
"Hey, hold still. I thought you were a tough salvager, Rex!" Pyra joked.
"Gimme a break. Pain is pain, isn't it?" Rex complained then looked over, "how about you? Are you hurt?"
"Don't worry, it's just a scra—" she tried reassuring Rex then suddenly, "Ouch!" She cried in pain.
"That was on purpose! You were hurting me on purpose, weren't you? Well?"
"I wasn't, honest! I was just rubbing the lotion in…"
"Rex! You rubbed it too hard! It hurts, see!"
Rex tensed in pain as Pyra imitated him.
"Hey, you two!" Vandham called standing up, "gimme a look at that!" He scrutinized the wounds of the two. "
"What is this… Haven't seen this before… Dunno why a Blade would be stuck with a bunch of wounds…" He trailed off, noticing something even weirder. "
And they're exactly the same as Rex's!"
Brandon sighed. "That may be because Pyra saved Rex by sharing her life force. It would certainly explain why she's in exactly the same state Rex is in."
"Incredible. Never heard of such a thing." Vandham said.
"It's all true," Rex said.
"I just thought it was an accessory."
"Vandham, that's not my style."
"Blades are supposed to heal up right away, no matter what the wound. If the crystal's in one piece and the Driver's alive, nothing supposed to be able to touch 'em."
"That's just how the chips fell. It is what it is," Rex dismissed.
"What it is, is a problem. It means, if one of you kicks the bucket, you both do."
"You told me that a good Driver always protects his Blade," Rex said, throwing out Vandham's words, "so that's what I'll do. I'm gonna protect her."
"Easier said than done, kid."
"Listen. Pyra... She saved my life, brought me back from the dead. So I won't die again! I've got to live, for her sake! Until we get to Elysium, at least. We can make it together," Rex declared, standing up in his moment of passion.
"Rex, you mean…" A voice suddenly interrupted Vandham.
"Going to Elysium? I can't let that stand. It won't do. A bunch of amateurs stealing the show? The script exists for a reason!"
"Akhos!" Nia exclaimed. Brandon narrowed his eyes.
"Please speak only when you're spoken to, traitor," Akhos said arrogantly.
"Traitor traitor traitor!" A childlike voice taunted from above. A blade floated down to behind Akhos. "Nia, you're one of the baddies now. You villain!" The blade giggled.
"I didn't betray anyone!" Nia exclaimed defiantly.
"Then why do you stand with them? You think that is where you belong?"
"I'll say it is," Brandon said standing up.
"Hmph. Who are these goons?" Vandham crossed his arms.
"Torna," Brandon stated simply.
"Torna?!" Vandham yelled, borderline screamed.
"Akhos! Just tell us what you're here for!" Nia yelled.
"Well, the Aegis, obviously. I just had to come and see the leading lady with my own eyes."
"Jin put you up to this?" Nia accused.
"Well deduced. Oh, by the way…" Akhos's grin became even smuger, "his orders were to deal with you in whatever manner I see fit. So you know what that means."
"He wouldn't... You're lying!" Nia said in desperation.
"Why the surprise? Did you think he would still care about you? Oh, to live in your reality…" He shook his head dramatically.
Nia growled, no response coming to mind.
"Well, well. Your part in this play is coming to an end. So! Time for you to shuffle off the stage."
Vandham yelled in rage.
"What's wrong?" Rex asked.
"I know the name Torna. They've taken the lives of too many Drivers. Including some of my crew. Good people. Rumor says it's because they're collecting Core Crystals. So, if this Akhos is one of them…" He trailed off, eyes widening in fear. "Yew! Zuo! Get everyone out of the village!"
"Yes, sir!" The two reply in unison and run off.
"You ready?" Vandham looked to the rest of the group.
"To take on this Shakespeare wannabe?" Brandon smirked, "no one talks to my friends like that and gets away with it." He put a hand on Nia's shoulder.
"Thanks for this," Nia said.
Brandon nodded in acknowledgement.
"It'll be tough. His Blade, Obrona... She can manipulate the ether in the air. It lets him counter elemental attacks by generating fields of the opposing element!"
"Good thing I don't use ether," Brandon smirked.
"Finally, a decent opponent for a change! Let's go!" Vandham exclaimed, rushing forward.
That was a slightly shorter chapter and the next one probably will be as well but that's just the build up to the finale of chapter 3! Also reading some of the other Xenoblade fics on this website... jeez, they're so much better than me at writing and creativity. Feels bad. Also I'm pretty sure that small Brandon response to Pyra was done in a different, better, fic than mine but it's actually my own personal philosophy. If someone dies, think of it like they're still alive in you. You're memories of that person is what keeps them alive. That's why countries like México celebrate days like day of the dead. Now I'm not saying feel good because a person died. You can cry all you want, it does actually help you feel better, at least for me. Just keep that one Dr. Seuss quote in mind: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." (idk if that actually was Dr. Seuss) adding onto that, don't cry when this fic is over, I've got sequels in mind *wink*
Off of that depressing note. Brandon is slowly starting to open up about his own past. He hasn't said anything about it other than revealing that he knows what an Artifice is (Rex and the others seem to have forgotten with Vandham coming in and all, don't worry it will be addressed in due time Mr. RedBurningDragon.)
Please leave a review if you haven't, it would make my day knowing this is good enough for you to have some kind of response.
