Chapter 4: The Ma-Non Manuvers
(Disclaimer! I own nothing of Xenoblade X!)
Cross came in from a mission with the soldier, H.B
"How did it go?" asked Elma.
"It was pretty good," said Cross, "I actually learned how to use Frontier Nav to earn money. One step closer to that cool armor I had my eyes on."
"Glad to see you're making a name for yourself," chuckled Elma.
"So guys what should I whip up?" asked Lin.
"What about some beef braised in wine?" asked Elma.
"Sounds good," said Lin, "I'll get right on it."
Tatsu was watching Lin cook.
"What's Linly making?" asked Tatsu.
"Beef braised in wine," said Lin, "Actually Tatsu, how about you make a nice bath before dinner?"
"Really?" asked Tatsu, "Linly is so kind."
"I got it all ready for you buddy," said Lin.
Tatsu smelled it.
"Such great bath smells," said Tatsu, "It smells almost like…."
Tatsu got a closer look.
"This is not bathtub!" said Tatsu, "This is pot of boiling wine!"
"Damn, he's a lot smarter than I thought he was," said Lin, "Guess I'll just have to use regular old beef instead."
"Linly is not funny!" said Tatsu, "Tatsu is NOT laughing!"
After a few moments dinner was ready.
"Man, your cooking is so good Lin," said Gwin.
"I second that emotion," said Irina, "Its even better than what I can do."
"No yours is good too," said Gwin.
"Well I'm glad you both like it," said Lin, "I hope it was enough, and I would've made more if I knew you were coming."
"Yeah, then maybe Tatsu could eat more portion," said Tatsu.
"What Gwin lacks in stature, he more than makes up for with his appetite," said Irina, "He's kind of a pig."
"Look who's talking," said Gwin.
"So did you guys just come here to argue or do you have something for us?" asked Elma.
"So there's an indigen mess coming up that's messed up a few outfitters," said Irina.
"And we were about to take on that job but then commander tank top shows up with another task," said Gwin, "I mean I know we're good for these jobs but honestly!"
"Well if it helps, we can take on the job that Vandham has," said Cross.
"That's much appreciated Cross," said Irina, "Check this out."
Thye saw images from Oblivia, a continent northeast of Primordia.
"Wait… I placed a Data Probe there," I said.
They saw a ship.
"Is that some kind of space ship?" asked Lin.
"Sure looks like it," said Cross
"Tatsu must help poor people on poor ship!" said Tatsu.
"Strange coming from you since you don't do much fighting," said Cross.
He high fived Lin.
"That craft on the right looks Ganglion," said Elma, "It looks like they're fighting them."
"Our enemies' enemies might be our pals as the commander puts it," said Irina, "If we're gonna settle on Mira we'll need all the friends we can find."
"Let's give our pals some help," said Cross, "But first…"
Cross went to find Lee.
"Lee what are you doing?" asked Cross.
"You're Cross right?" asked a lady, "My name's Regina, and it seems your friend has an interesting proposal."
"This lady's husband use to be a soldier for Blade bringing objects for this extraordinary shop," said Lee, "We asked to have it, but she turned down our offer but then came up with this idea."
"What's that?" asked Cross.
"Well, we hear from Tatsu that you've visited Oblivia," said Lee, "Coincidentally Regina says if you can discover over 30% of Oblivia, the shop is ours."
"Coincidentally, we're heading to Oblivia and we could use some extra hands," said Cross.
"Coincidentally we're in," said Lee.
He had strange guns on his back.
"We bought these at Armory Alley," said Lee, "We think these shall serve us well in our battle."
"Then come on," said Cross.
"Time to turn thise store into a smirk of heart," said Lee.
"Wha…." Asked Regina.
They started heading out in their new team car.
"So did you actually visit Oblivia before us Cross?" asked Lin, "Was it hot? What did you see? Is there an Oasis?"
"I'm not sure," said Cross, "I only placed the data probe at the entrance."
The weather started to become hot.
"Its getting a little hot here," said Elma.
"I'll say," said Lin, "It seems that we're here."
"Welcome to Sandy Bum Canyon," said Tatsu.
"A.k.a Oblivia," said Lin.
"Olivia?" asked Tatsu, "Did friends really name it that?"
"You know I said Oblivia," said Lin.
"Well Nopon have lived here for years and name place after a certain characteristic," said Tatsu, "Sands blow around this area and make giant bums, thus Sandy Bum Canyon."
"Ok…." Said Lin.
"Anybody seen that ship yet?" asked Elma, "It should have been big enough to spot."
Cross saw some new Xenoforms.
"What are those?" asked Cross.
It seemed like they were trying to speak.
Lin used her comm device to pick up their language.
"Its just not possible alright?" said one of them, "We can't do it!"
"We have to try see?" said another one.
"Good thing is they aren't Ganglion," said Cross.
"Sounds lik they're fighting against them," said Elma.
"Those are Ma-Non," said Tatsu.
Elma was thinking about something.
"Isn't it all strange how we're able to translate all these languages?" asked Elma
"Maybe they studied it," said Cross, "Right?"
"Tatsu is speaking Nopon language," said Tatsu, "And you do well with it."
"See?" asked Elma, "All these different anatomies, personalities and such, and yet here we are speaking with them."
"That shouldn't be possible," said Cross.
"You're right," said Elma, "But what if our words aren't being perceived as sound?"
"So are we going to stand around wondering about the works of the swirl, or help our fellow men?" asked Lee.
"Making Contact is a good idea," said Cross.
They started to approach them.
"More aliens?" asked one of the ma-non, "And they have Nopon Takeout?!"
"Tatsu not takeout," said Tatsu, "And these 'aliens' are actually personnel for Tatsu."
"Personnel?" asked Cross and Lin in unison.
"Jinx," said Lin, "You owe me a soda."
"Personnel favorites," said Tatsu.
"So human aliens are not working with ganglion?" asked another ma-non.
"Hell to the no," said Cross, "Those guys tried killing us too."
"We're from a planet called Earth which the Ganglion destroyed," said Elma.
"So that must mean you're friends to the Ma-non yes?" asked one of the Ma-non, "Our race is an advanced civilization. So you've come to save us?"
"I hope," said Elma.
The ma-non explained their situation.
"I see," said Cross, "So basically you're trying to escape from those Ganglion who are trying to force you to work for them."
"And you can't because of those 3 turrets in these locations," said Lin.
"Exactly," said the second Ma-non.
"Well we don't want them here anymore than you all do," said Elma, "We'll do what we can to stop them."
"Oh joy!" said the third ma-non.
"Well let us make 8 and send these turrets down with a blame," said Lee.
"Don't ask," said Lin.
Friction from Smoke+Mirrors
Get down with the victim
We both know you need them
You're stuck in the middle
Of all irrelevance
And your heart is beating
'Cause you know that you gotta
Get out of the middle
And rise to the top now
Cross and Lee got to the first turret.
To prevent the guards from detecting them, he shot them down.
"This should make things a little easier," he said.
The two of them took down the turret.
When you've made it
Won't ya tell me what to do
'Cause I'm playin' it all wrong
When you made it, when you made it
Won't ya tell me what to do
'Cause I'm playin' it all wrong
You can't fight the friction
So ease it off
Can't take the pressure
So ease it off
Don't tell me to be strong
Ease it off
You can't fight the friction
So ease it off
Lin and Elma made it to the second turret and managed to shoot it down with no trouble.
"We got lucky with that one," said Lin, "And it was close to a Ganglion Base as well."
"Well at least the turret is down," said Elma, "Let's meet Cross and Lee at the final one."
And get into the system
We both know you need one
The tip of the needle
Is taking over you
And your heart is beating
'Cause you know that you gotta
Get out of the middle
And rise to the top now
When you've made it
Won't ya tell me what to do
'Cause I'm playin' it all wrong
When you made it, when you made it
Won't ya tell me what to do
'Cause I'm playin' it all wrong
You can't fight the friction
So ease it off
Can't take the pressure
So ease it off
Don't tell me to be strong
Ease it off
You can't fight the friction
So ease it off
They made it to the third turret with had more fire power.
"Alright everyone you know the drill," said Cross.
They started battling it.
Lee's psycho launchers were strong against a bigger tyrant.
He then did some kind of tornado spin move toppling it.
"Nice moves Lee!" said Lin.
"We thank you for that Lin," said Lee.
Oh why can't you let go
Like a bird in the snow
This is no place to build your home
You can't fight the friction
So ease it off
Can't take the pressure
So ease it off
Don't tell me to be strong
Ease it off
You can't fight the friction
So yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah
Cross finished it off with a flame grenade.
"That wasn't so hard was it Lee?" asked Elma.
"We won that with our hands down," said Lee.
"That should be the last of them," said Cross, "Let's go talk to those ma-non."
As they headed back, they noticed the Ma-non weren't there like usual.
Lin saw an explosion from far away.
"That looks bad," said Lin, "We should head over there!"
They got in the car and drove over.
The ma-non were surrounded by 4 Ganglion mechs.
"Now for the last time!" said one of them, "Will you work for us and help destroy the humans?"
"And don't try to run, or we will break your legs!" said another one.
"Break our legs?!" asked a blue ma-non.
"It is a command," said the leading mech, "Like it or not you WILL assist us."
"Let's kill one," said another mech, "Then they will be persuaded to help!"
"You have a funny way of persuasion," said a red ma-non.
Lee shot one of them down.
"Nice shot Lee!" said Cross.
The ma-non saw them.
"You come to save us yes?" asked a green ma-non.
"That's right," said Cross, "Now run!"
One of the mechs aimed for Cross.
He evaded it and did the maximum edge weaking it.
He then did the assault hammer, but it didn't work.
"Shit," Said Cross, "Looks like I need to improvise!"
Cross started shooting at the appendages.
Elma and Lin started dealing with the other ones.
"These guys just don't know when to quit," said Lin.
She did a flip move and toppled one of them allowing Lee to finish it off.
After a long battle the mechs were defeated.
"That takes care of that," said Cross.
"Yes," said Tatsu, "Dance of victory!"
Cross saw one of the mechs about to fire again.
It charged up for one final attack.
"Damn it!" said Elma.
She started firing and Cross went in to save Tatsu.
The mech fired and Cross was forced to the other side.
He felt like he was in pain.
"My arm its…." He said as he looked.
He noticed it was sparking.
"What the hell…" he said.
Tatsu was surprised.
"Friend is…. Robot?!" he asked.
"I blocked all feedback to the nervous system," said Lin.
"Wait…. You don't remember anything about your body being a mimeosome do you?" asked Elma.
"Mimeosome?" asked Cross.
"Elma contact the matinence center," said Lin, "This can't be fixed here!"
"On it," said Elma.
Cross felt like his vision was fading.
"I'll have to take you offline for a minute," said Lin, "But I promise you'll be ok!"
Everything went black.
Cross woke up in some kind of capsule.
He came out with a new arm.
"How are you feeling?" asked Elma.
Cross moved his arm and it was working.
"A-ok," he said.
"Well first I'd like to apologize," said Elma.
"For what?" asked Cross, "I was the one who acted reckless."
"I should've told you about this when we met," said Elma, "The body you have is artificial, dubbed a Mimeosome."
"What's a Mimeosome?" asked Cross.
"They're designed to mimic human personality as close as possible," said Lin, "That way we can still enjoy what we love."
"I see," said Cross.
"Why would friends be robots?" asked Tatsu.
"Think about it," said Lin, "It could've taken years, centuries, or god knows how long to find a new home, and nobody wants to grow old while waiting."
"Tatsu sees Linly's point," said Tatsu.
"Our actual bodies are in stasis in the Lifehold core," said Elma, "Our mims are controlled remotely from here."
"Ok," said Cross.
"If the Lifehold stopped working, then our mims would be shut down," said Elma, "And that would've been the end of humanity."
"That's why we're looking for it," said Lin, "To make sure it doesn't happen."
"But it is possible to switch to another mim if one is severly damaged," said Elma, "But if they were smashed to pieces we wouldn't be able to come back, so its important to treat this mim like its an actual body so don't get reckless."
"Roger," said Cross.
"One more thing, that giant number on there," said Elma, "That's how much power we have until the Lifehold shuts down."
"So what happens if it does?" asked Cross.
"The mimeosomes will no longer sustain us and we'll all die," said Lin.
"Then I'll be extra careful," said Cross, "Let's go."
They met the ma-non and commander Vandham.
"You did good kid," he said, "These critters filled me in on everything. So you ok?"
"Thanks to Lin," said Cross.
"We were worried sick," said the green ma-non, "You're a great friend and it was way too soon to lose you!"
"So ma-non will live here too?" asked Tatsu.
"Correct," said Chausson, "We've reached an accord with their people."
"That's good news," said Cross.
"Well I wasn't sure how you'd react about this," said Elma.
"Well someone once told me that we didn't have to be the same species to recognize common ground," he responded with a smile.
"We just crashed here with our ship," said the red ma-non, "Which is strange because our tech is much more advanced."
"If you're gonna fight the Ganglion then you'll need our help," said the blue ma-non.
"We'll take all the help we can find," Said Cross.
"It would be much appreciated if you gave us all the information you know about the Ganglion and their higher ups, the Samaar," said Chausson.
"With pleasure," said the green ma-non, "Our ship is coming!"
They all looked at the ship landing in NLA floating above.
Everyone was surprised and amazed at it.
"Whoa," said Cross.
"Holy SHIT!" said Lin.
Thus, the Blades have earned a new group of friends in their war.
