Chapter 8: New Allies

Uh… it's been a while huh. I know I said I wanted to finish "The Faerie Courts" first but of course after I decide to take a break from this story, I immediately start wanting to work on it again. I really do apologize for having such a bad upload schedule. I need to just buckle down and get to writing but I seem to like procrastinating. I thought that I'd be able to write more now that I'm on break but it seems to make me lazier.

Also… HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT XENOBLADE 3! I want to spend just a billion years speculating on everything. I'll just put my rambling at the bottom A/N if you want to read it. It's very long. Hopefully this reinvigorates my writing so I can actually finish this story.

RedBurningDragon: Eh, I'm mostly just applying my headcanon here since there are a few things that aren't fully explained.

…

"What's going on?" Brandon poked his head out of the forge he had rented at the feeling of something massive moving through the Cloud Sea, something he could tell by how the store was rumbling as if there was an earthquake, except Titans didn't have earthquakes.

"I don't know," the large Gormotti who owned the forge responded from the front as he set down his own tools from working on Aux Cores as well as maintaining his shop, "it looks like an Ardanian warship," he gestured towards the massive Titan ship that had just docked at the Ardanian military base, "but that could mean anything from a new deployment of soldiers to the Emperor himself arriving." He crossed his arms with a frown.

"Something wrong?"

"The Empire's been getting real pushy lately. They've been sending in more and more soldiers, giving us the 'it's for our protection' type shit even though we all know it's to quash any rebellion that may pop up." He let out a gruff breath as he wiped sweat from his brow, "though I suppose I can't complain too much since they're a steady source of income."

"Aux Cores for their Drivers?" Brandon asked, more rhetorically than anything.

"Yeah. The Praetorium's been even stingier with their resources recently. Not that I'm complaining since it brings me business and delays the war."

"Do you think they'll draft people?"

He shook his head, "nah. Nothing you'll have to worry about at any rate. If you aren't compatible with a Blade, they're not going to be interested and the Empire's hardly going to force every citizen to try to bond with a Core Crystal. They'd lose almost all of their citizens if they tried that. You wouldn't happen to be able to bond with a Core Crystal would you?"

Brandon shrugged, "don't know. Never tried." He honestly didn't know if he could bond even if he did have the aptitude. He didn't spend his entire life in an atmosphere with Ether in it unlike the people of Alrest.

"Good enough. I hate to watch the next generation die in a war that's meaningless to them. Unless you actually want to go and fight, in which case you'd have to go to Alba Cavanich to sign up. Anyways, you'd better get back to work. I'm still charging you by the hour."

"Got it," Brandon chuckled as he sat back down. He looked down at his work with a sigh. It was frustrating working with such limited tools. Even when he was fighting in the middle of nowhere he still had access to better technology than he did now. Obviously that was due to the technological differences between the civilizations. Though he could swallow his pride and say that Alrest's technology was more advanced than his in some ways.

That advancement may have been due to Ether energy but advancement was advancement, no matter how it was achieved. While basing all of your energy technology on a single resource wasn't the best idea, Ether was an auto-renewing resource that simply could not run out. Not to mention that Alrest was a fraction of the size of Earth so even if it wasn't a renewable resource, it probably wouldn't run out for tens of millions of years.

Of course he didn't like using anything Ether based on his own technology. It was just too fundamentally different from anything he had used before. Not to mention that a lot of things don't even use electricity in Alrest, opting to simply run the Ether energy itself through the device instead of converting it into electricity first.

Even their weapons mostly used Ether.

Brandon preferred electromagnets and occasionally gunpowder. The issue with that preference was that it looked more and more like it was holding him back. He couldn't stack unlimited gunpowder in a limited space, nor could he increase the strength of the electromagnets without a stronger power supply. Ether would actually be the perfect solution here but he locked himself out of that option simply by how he first constructed his weapons. He could just stuff it as full of gunpowder as he could and hope the shrapnel when the thing explodes doesn't kill him. That was a last resort option though.

He had been hoping he could enhance the electromagnets for more power. It would cause it to overheat almost instantly but if he could drop it in time, it would give him the power he needs without any real injury. The problem was that he just couldn't increase the power control system to handle that. From a technical perspective, his circuitry had too much resistance to supply that much power at once and he couldn't just shell out for some copper or silver to replace the iron wiring. It was unfortunate that copper was rarer on Alrest since it just wasn't used in large chunks in Earth technology.

Most of it was rusted away and anything that wasn't was basically unusable since it was mostly in small circuits and wire. Silver is silver, relatively rare even before the loss of the old world.

Gah. Everything was so frustrating. He was so far out of his depth here it wasn't even funny. He would take fighting the Coalition over whatever this was any day of the year. At least he had the resources and knowledge to deal with simple armor. He didn't know how hard he would have to hit a Core Crystal to break one.

As far as he knew, they could take the force of an antimatter bomb and not break. Well break from the explosion. Even Core Crystals would be deleted if they came into contact with antimatter. He wondered what the scientists in the Coalition were high on sometimes to make something like the Core Crystal.

Ultimately though, his prejudice against Cores was due to his own trauma. The humans of Alrest had no idea what the original purpose of Core Crystals was and it seemed like they never would.

He only had to kill two living things today, and neither were innocent.

He chuckled as he worked, remembering when he was much younger. He had always loved superheroes and one of the stand out hero games in his memory was the injustice series. He would always choose to be on Batman's side, the one where justice prevailed and even the villains would be spared.

He wasn't that naive now.

Whatever his morals and ethical views were as a child, he was a different person now, with different problems.

A knock on the doorframe interrupted his thoughts, "hey kid, your hour's up. You're going to have to pay more if you want to keep working."

"No, I'm good. Thank you for letting me use your forge." Brandon bowed his head respectfully before gathering his things. He stepped out with a deep breath before cringing internally. He wasn't ready for this. Even so, he said his goodbye to the forge owner and slowly made his way to the city exit, sticking to crowded areas but making sure he kept his face lowered to avoid detection.

He cursed as the front gates came into view. Absolutely crawling with Ardanian soldiers, it looks like no one could get in or out right now without identification. He should have expected as much, with both him and a Tornan roaming free in Torigoth, of course security would be increased.

Wait… was that military ship from before…? No, it came within the span of a few hours, too soon for a ship of that size, or any size really, to have been dispatched from Mor Ardain on account of him. More likely it was something that was already scheduled for a while given how long it would take to supply a ship of that size.

He made a deliberate right turn, trying his best to make it look like it was where he was intending on going. He made it a few steps only for him to feel a hand come to rest on his shoulder. He turned around slowly and swallowed as he came face to face with the Jewel of Mor Ardain.

"I admit, I wasn't expecting it to be this easy to find you."

Brandon sighed, "am I under arrest?"

"Technically no. Your presence at a crime scene is not a crime in and of itself and a member of Torna trying to kill you clears you of most suspicion. However, fleeing a crime scene and the nature of a Tornan trying to kill you does mean that I need to bring you in for questioning. If you try to run here, then you'll be under arrest."

"I take it that this is the witness." A new voice said. A taller woman dressed in a high ranking military uniform approached them, two stark blue floral swords at her belt contrasting the whole professional look.

"Lady Morag. Yes, this is the one. No sign of the Tornan but I suppose that's to be expected."

"Hm, unfortunate. Very well, stay on the lookout," Morag said. She unclipped the swords from her belt and handed them to Brighid who dismissed them with a flick of her wrists.

"You, what's your name, boy?" She said addressing Brandon.

"Uh, Brandon."

"Well then, Brandon, come with me."

He nodded and followed along to wherever she was taking him.

As it turns out, he was taken to a rather pleasant office in the massive Ardanian warship that arrived earlier. He was seated on a couch, his backpack confiscated by Morag who placed it by a simple office chair at a small desk. He waited uncomfortably as Morag took out a few files and papers and pulled a pencil out of a mug pencil holder.

"Okay, I'm just going to ask you a few questions. Try to answer as factually as possible. First off, why exactly is Torna trying to kill you?"

"Aren't you supposed to like, make me state my name for the record or something?"

"Mouthy aren't you. There are regulations that I'm supposed to follow but I don't much stand on ceremony. Now, the question?"

"Oh… uh, that's a bit of a story."

Morag shrugged, "we have time."

"Well, to start with, I work security for the Argentum Trade guild. The guild was hired by Torna, though we didn't know it was Torna at the time, to salvage something. We didn't even know what that item was but once we got it, they tried killing everyone on board to get rid of witnesses. We barely survived and escaped with the thing they wanted."

"And you didn't immediately contact the authorities?"

"We just arrived in Torigoth. Some of us fled through a different Titan than the Salvager ship Maelstrom. We just came in to pick up supplies before going back to the Argentum headquarters when we were ambushed."

"I see. You said 'us', where are your companions?"

Brandon coughed, "about that. Can I make a request?"

Morag raised an eyebrow, "you are aware of the position you're in… correct?"

"Well yes… but one of the people I was with… she's, uh, a former member of Torna. Nia, the Gormotti Driver and her beast form Blade, Dromarch."

Morag blinked, "you're… serious?"

"Yeah… she saved our lives and turned against Torna when she saw them trying to kill civilians."

She sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand, "you're asking a lot for someone who's just admitted to associating with known terrorists." She slid her hand down her face in clear exasperation, "you realize that the only reason I'm even considering this is because Brighid saw enough to prove that you're absolutely innocent. Alright, if you're telling the truth and you continue to cooperate, we'll question her then I'll see what I can do."

Brandon nodded, "thank you."

"Now then, the question?"

"Uh, I don't know where they are. I told them to run and I'd buy them time. They're probably on their way back to Gramps right now. They'd have had about half a day at this point."

"Gramps?"

"Oh, uh, he's the Titan who carried us. His name's Azurda but everyone who knows him calls him Gramps."

"I see." Morag sighed, "and where exactly is your… 'Gramps?'"

"Somewhere in the lower forest areas of Gormott."

"Lower levels? That area is like a maze. We've been sending out expeditions to map it out for years and we've only been through a small percentage."

"We uh, did have a guide."

"Yes… And said guide is currently gone." Morag moved her head slightly, emphasizing her point.

Brandon winced, "yeah. I guess she is."

Morag tossed the pencil onto her desk with a clatter and crossed her arms. "One last question then, what was the object in question?"

"The Aegis."

"Lady Morag?" Brighid looked surprised at how quickly the two returned, giving a look at the multiple bags Morag was carrying.

"I'll explain on the way," Morag said as she tossed Brighid a camping bag.

"Then explain," Brighid said, slinging the bag over her shoulders and matching their swift pace.

"The Aegis walks amongst us once more."

"So the rumors are true."

"It would appear so. I'm assuming then the boy has information on where the Aegis is."

"Yes," Morag lowered her voice, "the plan is to use him as bait. Hopefully this Tornan follows us to where it i-"

"She actually," Brandon interrupted.

"Where… she is." Morag continued, shooting a glare at Brandon who raised his hands in surrender, "the hope is that he attacks us first instead of going after the boy's traveling companions."

"And if Torna goes after them first?"

"Then we pray that we make it in time." She glanced to the side, "your friend's safety is currently depending on your memory."

Brandon grimaced, "yeah. I kind of got that. You don't need to remind me."

"Yes, well your pace seems to be slowing down." Morag pointed out.

"I'm not exactly the picture of fitness," Brandon retorted, pointing at his poor physique, "I do short bursts, not endurance."

"Would you rather Brighid carry you? She's perfectly capable of doing so."

"Actually that sounds kind of nice." Brandon said honestly.

Morag rolled her eyes, "that was sarcasm. Pick up the pace. You'll survive."

"Ugh. Got it."

"Now hurry, we want to clear as much ground as we can. We'll want to adjust to sleeping during the day and traveling at night."

"It only took us two days of travel."

"I'm assuming the worst with your memory."

"It's also dark in the lower levels," Brandon said.

"Thank you for that insight. In case it wasn't terribly obvious, we have, in fact, traversed most areas of Gormott. The most dangerous animals come out during the day. It's mostly a few small nocturnal mammals and birds out at night. Not to mention, our Tornan friend would likely have a more difficult time tracking us through the night."

"Uh, I think his Blade can track ether signatures."

"And you only tell me this now?" Morag sighed, "I should have asked earlier. Despite that, it is still best to travel at night for the previous reason. Okay, now, I want you to break down what you know about this Tornan and his Blade."

"Uh yeah, right. So…"

Brandon collapsed hard onto the light sleeping bag he had been given for the night after a small meal out of a ration pack. They had been on the move for much longer than he would normally even be awake for. He felt horrible and probably looked the part as well. Meanwhile both Morag and Brighid looked like they had simply finished a light stroll through a garden for how unaffected they looked.

Morag had also already conked out somehow, leaving Brighid to stand guard. Meanwhile Brandon was basically writhing around in pain and unable to get any sleep. He eventually turned around and pressed his face into the ground in a poor attempt to mute the soreness. No pillow either, that sucked.

He missed the days of convenient personal transportation vehicles. Not to mention that he'd usually be wearing some kind of power armor during fights which meant relatively little physical input and exertion from him. No cars here. Not even bicycles had been invented, not that a bike would have helped in a dense forest like this. The closest you got to a personal transportation vehicle were small Titan ships and even those were at minimum Gramps' size.

He turned over again and pressed his hands against his face. He sighed as he sat up, giving up on sleep for the moment. He grabbed his glasses off of the ground and grumbled as he accidentally poked his eye with the frame trying to put them on.

Brighid shot him a look but he just pointed to his backpack that he left behind in response. She raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

He moved a little into the brush before sitting down with his back against a tree. He closed his eyes, remembering when this was a relatively common occurrence, moving across the country by foot to move into strategic locations while being undetected. He was also a bit more in shape then, unlike now where he wasn't fat, but not quite matching the physical condition of a soldier. When this was over, he'd set up a workout routine to get back in proper shape. Clearly he'd gotten complacent.

He started panting, the memories flashing through his head like lightning. Was this a panic attack? He started laughing, a crazed chuckle that he couldn't stop.

A sudden sharp pain flashed through his legs. He knew it was just phantom pains, probably from the shockwaves of landmines that destroyed his legs. The only reason he still had them were some implants and his armor.

He reached down to massage his legs only to blink in surprise as he watched a sword sprout from his left hand, pinning it to his leg. He screamed, the pain sharp and sudden. He grabbed the handle to pull the sword out but hesitated, afraid of the blood loss.

"Quite the mistake you've made," Akhos clapped as he emerged from the shadows, his Blade tittering behind him. He walked over and kicked Brandon to the ground before drawing his weapon out of Brandon's leg.

"I'd apply some pressure, don't want you dying before I can get some answers out of you," Akhos gave his taunting advice as he brandished his weapons in preparation to fight Morag who had just emerged with Brighid following closely behind. Morag glanced over and grimaced, the severity of the wound apparent.

"You," Morag glared, "you've committed your last crime here."

Akhos snorted, "what a cliched line. How about we just get this over with."

Brandon scooted back to Morag slowly. Once he was beside her he took his shirt off, tore the fabric in two, and wrapped it around his leg and hand as best he could to try to stem the bleeding. Morag positioned herself in front of Brandon as she brandished her whip swords. Brandon slowly dragged himself to his feet with the sound of swords clashing in the background. He limped back over to the campsite to retrieve his gear to join the fight. He stumbled hard and just laid on the ground for a second processing everything.

He forced himself back up with a groan and rummaged through his bag and pulled out his gun and limped back over to the fight. He snuck through the trees, glancing through them and working his way around to behind Akhos and his Blade. He peeked out and shakily aimed, and pulled the trigger. The bullet fired out with a loud bang, the recoil strong enough to tear the gun straight out of his hand and he clutched it in pain. The bullet, more of a massive spike really, tore through Obrona, putting a massive hole into her midsection. She fell to the ground hard, retching in pain.

"Shit!" Akhos cursed as he parried a strike from Morag, suddenly under a lot more pressure with Brighid freed from the Ether manipulation of Obrona. Obrona was already regenerating but it was clear without her, Akhos was currently outclassed with the unrelenting aggression from Morag.

He grabbed Obrona who whimpered in pain. "Tch, next time you won't be so lucky." He said before leaping off. Morag attempted to give chase but an energy attack directed towards Brandon forced her to leap to his defense and block the attack.

She glared off in the direction Akhos escaped in for a moment before turning and kneeling down to tend to Brandon. "You're quite the idiot."

Brandon laughed weakly, "would you believe me if I said I served for some time?"

"Frankly, no. But there seems to be more to you than meets the eye. Where did you obtain such a weapon that it would destroy itself while injuring its wielder." She took off the hastily tied shirt to rebind it properly.

"Built it."

"Hm. Doesn't look like any technology from any nation. However, I've seen a few make their way into the Ardanian military. Were you that manufacturer?"

"I guess so. That's some of the first I've built to be lethal though. Meant to hit that Blade's Core Crystal." His vision was going black at this point, the pain from the stab wounds to the torn skin on his hand kicking in once the adrenaline was gone.

He heard Morag say something else but by then, he had already passed out.

Brandon awoke with a blue glow surrounding him, the sunrise glinting over the dense canopy of trees.

"Oh thank the Architect," a familiar Welsh voice said, "I wasn't sure you'd wake up with the kind of blood loss you had."

"Thanks, Nia." Brandon coughed as he slowly sat up. "What…?"

"Your friends showed up a little while ago," Morag explained from across a campfire, "the disruption in the Ether flow must have tipped off their Blades."

Brandon glanced around to see Rex using Dromarch as a pillow and Pyra who was sitting cross legged in front of Morag.

"Ah. Okay… so…"

"I've got most of what I need from your friends. I'd say you're free to leave, but your involvement with Torna puts you in an unfortunate position. It is clear that this Akhos wants to obtain the Aegis. Given your current wounded state, despite your traveling companions, you would likely lose to him."

Brandon sighed, "okay. Well, I guess first thing's first," he looked over to Nia, "I guess our deal is done. You can do what you want from here I guess."

Nia snorted, "you're not a bright one are you?"

"He really isn't," Rex chimed in.

"Oi, shut it so I can get my dramatic speech outta the way."

Huh. Those two sure made fast friends.

"Well whatever, the moment's ruined now. I'm stayin' since I got you into this mess and all. So I'm goin' to get you out of it."

"Uh… that's-"

"A thanks is all I need to hear." Nia smirked slightly, her ears subtly flicking in his direction.

Brandon chuckled, "alright then. Thanks… Nia."

…

Short thoughts on the chapter: I think I may be writing Morag to be a little too trusting here but my reasoning is that Brighid saw enough to testify for Brandon's innocence and Torna's interest in him may lead to her being able to land a blow to their operations.

Also I somehow completely forgot Brandon wore glasses until now. Not that it's an important detail but it's still annoying how often I forget little details I add. It makes the story feel less polished and shows my lack of organizational skills. Not to mention I sometimes forget big details or just write stupid things in that I look back on and feel like I could fix but not entirely sure on how.

So the Xenoblade 3 ramble… where do I even start. Well, first off, how is Vandham back? I'm pretty sure it is Vandham since he literally has the same voice actor and scar on his face but what's throwing me off is that he's super gaunt and pale and he's got… Zeke's? eyepatch. Does that mean he was resurrected somehow? Resurrection isn't an entirely new concept in the Xeno series as a whole so it wouldn't surprise me too much but that brings up the question of how far into the future is this game set and where's the rest of the Xenoblade 1 and 2 cast. I'm pretty sure that it's so far that only Melia would be alive out of 1's cast since everyone else has comparatively very limited lifespans but there are a lot of immortal beings out of 2's cast. Brighid would likely have been resonated with by someone the main cast of 2 trusts, Zeke and Pandoria would still be kicking around somewhere, Poppi would be still around given how well built she was, and for sure Pyra and Mythra are still alive somewhere. Skye Bennett even teased that she was working on the game along with Melia's voice actress. Not to mention, if Vandham was resurrected, couldn't other cast members be as well? Or maybe it's something unique that happened with him. But if he was resurrected, surely he'd want to meet the party he knew before since we know at least Nia's alive.

I'm also wondering if those 2 figures with the masks are Melia and Nia. I'm like 99% sure they are but that begs the question of why their nations are at war. Neither Melia or Nia seem to be the type to go to war, especially when the 2 they're in love with fought so hard to achieve peace. Surely Nia would exhaust every possible option before going to war since the whole reason why everything that happened to her was because of Rex's journey to try to end wars. It was that naive optimism that led her to fall in love with Rex and it would almost be spitting in his face to become a leader of a country only to go to war. I'm also confused as to why Nia's wearing a mask. It's obviously to make it less obvious that it's Nia but there was nothing about masks at all in 2 whereas the High Entia actually have a ceremonial mask.

Speaking of which, where are the old protagonists as well? Is Noah possibly a descendant of either of them? I'm pretty sure Mio is Nia's descendent, tho I'm not sure how that would work biologically and I feel like she'd never find someone who could live up to Rex to her. Actually now that I think about it, maybe in Nia's nation everyone has a form of Core Crystal and Mio's just a random Gormotti. The person she was fighting together with who was wielding the giant shield hammer, Sena, looks like a Blade as well with the Ether lines and Core Crystal. Going back to Noah tho, I think Noah would probably be a descendent of Shulk, the eyes and voice are close enough to be plausible at least. It's possible that he's also some random person but I think it would be a bit odd if the characters just came out of nowhere and had no relation to the old protagonists.

Also it's pretty clear that the protagonists are at odds with each other at certain points in the story. I believe that Noah and Mio are from the opposing nations so is it that they fight each other initially then learn that they both want peace or is it something else? Vandham talks about a true enemy behind everything and something about the Mechon sword is a key to beating them. And what the hell happened to Uraya? It looks like someone split it in half with the Mechon's sword. And I thought all the Titans merged with the land, what actually happened on such a large scale it shifted things on the Titan's scale.

And speaking of Titans, where the hell is Gramps? Surely he'd be around somewhere. He should live probably as long as Nia considering he wasn't as old as some of the other continent Titans. Surely he'd still be a guiding force for the Xenoblade 2 world and trying to carry on Rex's legacy. I mean hell, Nia should be trying to carry on Rex's legacy instead of trying to eradicate things like she said in the trailer. And Melia should be trying to carry on Shulk's legacy as well. Both Shulk and Rex were very similar in which they were easily some of the kindest people from their respective worlds with the will to change things for the better. Like I said before, if they're both dead, it's an insult to their legacy, work, and suffering they put into making their worlds better for there to be a war between the 2 nations especially if they're led by some of the people who loved them most.

I wonder what the significance of their world being called Aionios is. It's a very Xenoblade world name but I'm not too sure where it comes from. It sounds a lot like Aion combined with Bionis but I doubt that's what it actually is. It definitely doesn't sound like Alrest at all. Does the world have anything to do with the new "Xenoblade" that Noah is using? I doubt it's a Monado/Aegis since Malos is dead, Alvis is gone, and Pyra/Mythra are MIA at the moment. Maybe it's a Monado replica? The gray guy, Lanz, also looks like he's using a variant of the first Monado replica. BTW off topic, if you want to know a little more about the characters and the world, the Nintendo UK site has their names and basic info listed. According to the site, both Noah and Mio are off-seers. Not sure what that means yet but it's obviously important.

The way their nations developed makes a ton of sense as well. The Keves are the Xenoblade 1 world where they were already more technologically advanced than 2's world and makes sense that with Machina technology, they'd likely soar in advancement. Whereas 2's world, while no slouch in technology either, their combat prowess comes from the whole Blade Driver system where Ether is very much the name of the game. Apparently all the characters are soldiers of their respective nations, 3 for each side. It almost seems like from the trailer, even the footsoldiers of the Keves were using energy swords so it doesn't seem unlikely that Monado Replicas are common weapons at that point for the Xenoblade 1 world and I'm assuming the staffs of the High Entia are much more advanced. Whereas Blade weapons are what the people of 2's world seem to be using with Mio's twin rings and Sena's shield hammer. Not sure about whatever the hell paper birds Taion is using tho. Never seen anything like it in the other Xeno games.

There seems to be a clock sort of theme? I'm not too sure what it is specifically about but it seems like time and lost loved ones is going to play a pretty central theme in the story. And also, as a uncultured American, I can't understand their European accents sometimes. I can't tell if Mio said Blade Clock or Flame Clock in the trailer or what the hell Melia said. If it's Blade clock, does that tie into X somehow? The whole thing in X was revolving around a race against the clock to recover the lifehold. That's wild speculation tho and I highly doubt that Xenoblade X will be relevant at all to the story. Feels like X is stuck in Wii U purgatory rn and it sucks. Maybe we'll see a port or sequel on the Switch's successor… one day.

What the hell did they do with the Nopon design. Why the hell does the turquoise Nopon have Rex's hair. Their eyes are also super anime all of a sudden compared to the glued on look of 1 or the more beady animal-like eyes of 2.

And also what's up with the whole flute motif? Takahashi made a post about how it was a key theme, which is reinforced by the trailer. We're also going to hear a completely different sound from ACE+ now since they're apparently working to make the flute a key aspect from the musical storytelling aspect as well. I'm sure it'll still be a banger tho since ACE+ has never failed to deliver with a soundtrack. But clearly both Noah and Mio play the flute to some kind of capacity. Does Noah teach Mio? It did only show Noah at the very start playing and I feel like it would probably only be a tradition in 1 country. I'm going to have to ask my sister for some flute knowledge since she's been playing the flute for almost as long as I've played the clarinet. Then again, it's a Japanese flute and not the modern metal version that most orchestras use. BTW, fun little musician fact, the way Noah was playing the flute at the start of the trailer was actually pretty accurate. The way his entire upper body moved is actually the way musicians move their bodies to music because moving only your head can mess up your airflow and decrease the quality of sound you make. Given the quality of the cutscenes, I think it's safe to say that it was done on purpose. I wouldn't be surprised if ACE+ gave some tips to the animation team on how instruments are played given how important it seems.

Gameplay wise, I wonder what they're going to do. Will it be a completely new revamp again or will it more closely resemble an old battle system. We know one of the main characters is a Blade but I don't think that'll factor into the battle system except maybe as a unique pair of characters. It's likely it'll keep the auto attacks with arts and chain attack with break topple as the base system but since we literally weren't given anything on gameplay in the trailer except that we can ride boats now and we have 4 party members, there's not much I can speculate on what they'll add to enhance the base system whether through elemental Blade combos or maybe even Overdrive.

This trailer really brings up more questions than answers and we're probably going to have to wait until the E3 time Direct to get more information. This is going to slowly eat at me from the inside until I can play the game. Thanks for listening to my Ted talk lol. If you're wondering if I'll write for 3… maybe. It might be on the same type of story as 1 where I don't think I can naturally add another character who could drastically change the story but also not feel too foreign. Not to mention the whole purpose of doing this story was to give Nia a happy ending. At least Melia got some closure on her end so I never really felt the need to write something for 1. I guess it'll depend on me playing the game and feeling a need to write something. I might write a short with Nia at the very minimum just for some hype.

Sorry for the ramble, this has somehow become almost as long as the actual chapter itself, I'm very excited if you couldn't tell.