Chapter 1: N Los Angeles
(Disclaimer I own nothing of Xenoblade X!)
Cross was still in Awe at New Los Angeles and taking in the sights.
"How about I show you around the city to jog your memory a bit," said Elma.
"Ok sure," said Cross, "Maybe going around will help me remember more of everything."
Cross and Elma were taking the elevator down.
Meanwhile somebody on the screen was talking.
"This is your director General, Maurice Chausson," he said, "10 more crew members were located, and we are working hard to bring them back to the safety of our city."
As he was going on, Elma was surprised at what he heard.
"How long did it take him to become the Director General?" she asked herself.
"2 day ago ma'am," said someone from behind.
Cross looked to see a short haired woman and a man who was taller than both of them.
"He might become the emperor by next week if he keeps this up," said the man.
"Irina, Gwin," said Elma, "Good to see you."
"Who's the newbie?" asked Irina, "Taking on trainees now?"
"Right, you haven't met these two yet," said Elma, "This is Irina Akulov, and Gwin Evans."
"So I take it he's one of the survivors?" asked Irina.
"THE survivor," said Elma, "He was the only one that I found in that stasis pod."
"Wait, I thought 10 members were found," said Gwin.
"You're so naïve Gwin," said Irina, "Chausson wouldn't let the truth in one of his good speeches."
Cross chuckled a bit.
"You can call me Irina, I'm with the interceptors," said Irina.
"Good to meet you Irina," said Cross as he shook her hand.
"Firm grip," she said.
"Call me Mr. Evans," said Gwin, "I'm in her division as well, but you can also just call me Gwin."
Cross nodded.
"So how do you 3 know each other?" he asked wanting to know.
"We were in the Coalition forces together working in a small group called the Skeleton Crew," said Elma, "I was a colonel, Irina was a lieutenant and Gwin was a the most recent member."
"He was one hell of a recruit too," said Irina, "You should see him out in the battlefield with his longsword in hand."
Gwin blushed a bit.
"But I would remind them that those ranks aren't needed anymore since we're on this new planet if I thought they would listen," said Elma.
"Its not about the ranks ma'am," said Irina, "Its about the respect. And you've earned it all."
"Alright," said Gwin imitating an announcer voice, "Irina wins the award for best ass-ki…."
It was followed by a punch to Gwin's shoulder from Irina.
"Well I think its time for me and Gwin to head back to work," said Irina, "Til next time."
They started to leave and Cross smiled.
"Those two seem nice," he said.
"Well, once you get to know them you'll think more than that," said Elma.
Cross and Elma were walking around the Industrial District.
"This place seems really high tech," said Cross.
"Well this is where we start manufacturing new technology such as…." Said Elma.
"That flying thing over there?" interrupted Cross.
"Flying thing…" said Elma.
She saw a flying object.
"A Skell that flies…." Said Elma.
It was smoking in the back and started to land somewhere.
"C'mon let's check it out," said Elma.
Cross started to follow but heard tires scratch.
He turned around and saw a young black haired girl driving a car.
She stopped where the skell was did a diagnostic.
A man came out and threw his helmet down.
"Shit!" he said, "That was way too close!"
The young girl was looking at the diagnostic she did.
"Listen," said the man, "I know what exhaust smells like and it was in the cockpit."
"OH I know," said the girl, just let me….."
She found the problem.
"Man, it's a good thing I caught that," she said, "The intake/exhaust bypass was reversed."
"Another test run I presume," said Elma walking by.
"Elma welcome back," she said.
"Good thing you had Doug by the controls," said Elma.
"And would this be one of the crew members you found?" asked the girl.
Elma nodded.
"Welcome aboard, stranger," said the girl, "I'm Lin Lee Koo, NLA's top mechanic and fix it gal."
"I'm Cross," said Cross introducing himself, "So what exactly happened here?"
"That usually doesn't happen," she said.
"I know it doesn't Lin," said Elma.
"She looks a bit young to do something like this," said Cross.
"I get that a lot," said Lin, "I'm actually 13 years old."
"As young as she looks, she's one of our best talents," said Elma.
"Most of the time," said Doug.
"Moving on…. You guys heading back to the barracks?" asked Lin.
"Yeah," said Elma.
"How about taking the transport," said Lin, "It'll be a great way to see the city."
"That sounds fun," said Cross.
"Doug you can clean up here and fix the skell," said Lin, "Thanks for your help."
"Wait what?" asked Doug.
Lin started to leave with Cross and Elma.
"Why am I cleaning up YOUR mess in the first place?!" asked Doug, "LIN!"
They made it to a transport and started to lift off.
"Get a load of this view," said Cross.
"I know right," said Lin, "This is the one thing about NLA that I never get tired of."
"Speaking of which, does anything here jog your memory?" asked Elma.
"No not really," said Cross.
"How about you give us the express tour Lin," said Elma, "We don't have much time."
"NLA is divided into 4 districts," said Lin, "The Industrial District is where we just left, where we work on food production, skells, etc. etc."
They were flying near a district that looked like a local store area.
"This is the commercial district, where we have restaurants, stores, and everything shopping wise," said Lin.
"It's the closest you can get to a downtown," said Elma, "And it can get crowded at certain times."
"To your right is the Residential District," said Lin.
They were all looking at a park like area.
"If you ever feel overworked or tired, you can sit at a bench and read a book and so on and so forth," said Elma.
"Its my favorite place to zone out," said Lin.
They were at their destination.
"And last but not least, The Administrative District," said Lin smiling, "This place is home to Blade HQ, the big tower."
"Whoa," said Cross amazed.
"Its also got an armory alley, and the barracks where we live," said Lin, "And this concludes our tour."
"Thanks Lin," chuckled Elma with a smile.
They all got out.
"Let's get you to the barracks then I can file in my report," said Elma, "They'll be eager to hear about you."
"Sure," said Cross.
"Just so you know," Lin whispered quietly in Cross' ear, "She's single."
Cross's face turned red.
They made it to Blade Barracks.
"And here we are," said Lin, "The Blade Barracks."
"You're a guest until we get you registered," said Elma.
"So what all is in the registration process?" Asked Cross, "I can't wait to get started."
"I think I can answer that one," said somebody walking by.
It was a man near his 50s with a scar on his lip.
"You must be the newest recruit," he said.
"Secretary Nagi," said Lin greeting him.
"Ms Koo, always kipper," said Nagi.
"On the way I saw Doug Barrett, and he wasn't as upbeat," said Nagi, "Is there anything I should know about."
"Not really," said Lin.
"And Elma, good work out there," said Nagi, "Glad to know you found another member."
"Just doing my job," said Elma as she smiled, "So how about we talk inside about registration."
They all went inside.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself," said Nagi, "My name is Kentaro Nagi, captain of the White Whale, and who was also charged with keeping Peace."
"He's an excellent person to talk to when you're wanting to do some work," said Elma.
"I believe he seems more than capable for a job here at Blade," said Nagi, "From the looks of it, he seems like he's worthy of the job."
"How about we give it some time and fill him in on the information," said Elma, "He seems to suffer from some form of memory loss."
"From the stasis?" asked Nagi.
"Correct," said Elma, "He could barely remember what happened after the white whale or anything."
"I see," said Nagi, "Where should I begin?" asked Nagi.
"How did we end up here on Mira?" asked Cross.
"2 years ago was when it happened; the destruction of Earth," said Nagi, "Our planet was caught in the middle of a great battle with technology and weapons far more superior than our own, our planet reduced to ashes."
"I spend days wondering how this could've been avoided," said Elma.
"What we do know is without your help, the Project Exodus would never have happened, and we'd all be dead," said Nagi, "Once we learned about what was coming we prepared Project Exodus, and while it wasn't perfect, we still managed to save many of our friends and family."
"We spent 2 years wondering around space, with one priority; find a planet to settle on," said Elma, "We thought the worst was over but we were wrong."
"The Xenoforms caught up with us and wanted all of humanity destroyed," said Nagi, "We lost control and gravity took it from there."
"Why would they want to destroy humans?" asked Cross.
"We're not sure, all we know is that they do," said Elma, "Once the dust settled we set everything up to how it is today."
"So what's Blade?" asked Cross.
"Blade is an acronym; Builders of a Legacy After the Destruction of Earth," said Nagi.
"Catchy," said Cross.
"We needed a big list of people from police to surveyors, and it was too much for one government to handle by itself, and so Blade was born," said Nagi, "Our top mission is to find and retrieve the Lifehold."
Elma showed everybody a picture of it.
"The White Whale was made to carry many people who were in stasis," she said explaining it, "However it broke off when the White Whale crash landed here on Mira."
"So what's the process of registration?" asked Cross.
"We ask all members for age, name, and occupation, a requirement for all NLA citizens," said Nagi, "And a short survey of your state of health."
"It gets you access to almost everything," said Lin.
"Lin how about you take our guest ourside for some fresh air and show him around the district," said Nagi.
"Sure thing sir," said Lin.
They walked outside.
It Comes Back to You from Smokes and Mirrors
4 AM beside myself
And what I think of mental health
All the things that worry me
All the things you don't believe
I've been told just what to do
Where to look and point my view
All the things that I could be
I think I learned in therapy
Am I just a shadow you drew?
"Its not every day we allow a civilian to tour the Administrative District," said Elma.
"I think Nagi has his eyes on Cross and must really want him to join," said Lin.
"The AD has everything a Blade needs without extra fluff," said Elma.
Lin was busy having her eyes on a skell.
"Whoa…. That is such a cool skell," said Lin.
"That is some sweet technology!" said Cross.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" said Lin geeking out with Cross, "Aren't those thing just super cool?!"
"No, they're ultra cool!" said Cross.
"The lasers, force fields, and transformation signals!" said Lin, "I love almost everything about them!"
She pulled out something.
"I don't normally tell anybody but I've been writing a skell fanfic," said Lin, "Let me pull it up and…"
"Lin," said Elma.
"Right," she said.
It comes back to you, it comes back to you
All the things that you had lost will find their way to you
It comes back to you, it comes back to you
Looking back into the past and I can see it through
It comes back to you, oh, oh [3x]
It comes back to you
"Skells were normally a defensive measure against alien threats, but we were soon outgunned and outnumberd," explained Elma, "But stil looj around. Without skells, NLA wouldn't be how it is today."
"Do blades get to use skells?" asked Cross.
"Whoa easy there tiger," said Lin, "I know you're eager, but blades don't choose the skells, the skells choose them."
"Blades need a skell license," said Elma, "They're very complex machines and there's no so many to go around either."
"Oh," said Cross.
"But if you play your parts right then you'll get a skell if you're lucky," said Lin, "You just gotta prove to them that you're ready to take the exam."
"Around here is Mission Control," said Elma, "Its where you can find mission that post up when you're not busy."
"The important thing is to find a mission that best suits your criteria," said Lin, "Such as outfitters looking for certain parts for weapons, or Interceptors hunting down certain indigens."
"Next to it is the scout consoul where you can find other fellow blades to help out on a mission if its too difficult," said Elma.
"So ready to join up?" asked Lin.
"Hold on a sec, Lin," said Elma chuckling.
"I'm just saying you'd be an idiot not to wanna join," said Lin smiling.
"Next is armory alley," said Elma.
They went over to armory alley.
Mocking birds and diamond rings
Oh, I have thought of greater things
All the things that fly by me
All the lives that I could lead
Maybe I was born for that
Or maybe I was first to last
You could call it cowardice
But leave me to my studied bliss
Am I just a shadow you drew?
"In this area, you can look for and buy new weapons and gear that fit with your rank, which goes up by 10," said Elma.
"Its not about fashion," said Lin, "Its about survival, so choose wisely."
"Got it," said Cross.
"You're probably wondering about the things on our wrist," said Lin as she showed it to him, "These are our com devices."
"They can show you your stats, current mission, and of course I already told you about the yellow dot," said Elma.
"It looks interesting," said Cross.
They went to Blade Tower.
"We stop by here to see Blade HQ," said Lin, "Higher-ups like Nagi, and Commander Vandham spend a lot of their time in this location."
"Same with government leaders like Chausson," said Elma, "Remember this place as this is where you'll want to go when you finish key missions."
"Sure thing," said Cross.
It comes back to you, it comes back to you
All the things that you had lost will find their way to you
It comes back to you, it comes back to you
Looking back into the past and I can see it through
It comes back to you, oh, oh [3x]
It comes back to you
"And that about does it for our tour," said Lin, "So you ready?"
"You bet I am," said Cross.
"Hold on there slugger," chuckled Elma, "I'm glad you're eager but we just want you to know this key information you can make an informed decision to join."
"Right," said Cross.
"I'm sure it made a good impression, but in the end your decision will be just that," said Elma smiling at him, "Now let's head back to the barracks. I'm sure Nagi is waiting for us."
