Part 108: Mission 30 (Rand) - Prologue

Last time, we bumped heads with the Emaan and Plants, meaning our group now has pretty much the entire world out to get us.
The Nirvash is deploying as an event this mission:

• Rand, Rag, Dyke (Galapagos)
  
• Gainer, Gain, Adette (Rushrod)
  
• Baldios, Hilda, Roybea
  
• Getter, Tekkouki, Michiru
  
• Aquarion, Riea, Matthew
  
• Garrod, Jamil, Witz
  
• Kei, Maai, Holland
  
• Jiron, Sara (Dobeck), Burume (Government)

Got another big prologue here, so let’s get on with it.



Location: North Ameria – New Earth Federation HQ – Sage Council



Seems like the Chiram have refused Jamitov’s offer/command to work together with the Feds to fix space-time – most likely because they assume their Project D will allow them to do so by themselves.
Should they succeed, that puts the Chiram in the drivers' seat for the new world order and Jamitov’s annoyed that their ambitions are the same as they were prior to the Break the World. They’re all aware of the fact that, while the Chiram were jumped to this world 20 years ahead of almost everyone, they were originally a nation part of the SEED world’s Earth Alliance (with an antagonistic record against the Atlantic Federation).
That 20-year head start has given them significant time to perfect their space-time research in comparison to this group and Djibril is quick to jump at Jamitov for his unsuccessful negotiation – the Chiram may try to use their Project D as a way to strong-arm the Federation into obedience.

Jamitov tells him to calm down, though, as it’s not like the Chiram have completed their control system for space-time just yet and, furthermore, it’s not certain it’ll work even when it’s done. Coda has been briefed by Dewey that, with the Singularity turning its back on Emaan, both them and the Chiram have been searching for it nonstop.
Braya wonders if they should also try to capture it as an insurance policy but Djibril thinks the Chiram and Emaanians could gain the upper hand if the Federation pulls their punches in a bid to seize the Singularity – so, they should just destroy the thing and eliminate that variable altogether.
Jamitov is considering that idea, figuring no one person, without a view of the “big picture”, ought to be allowed to remake the world by himself: the duty of deciding the path the world’ll take falls on this Sage Council.



Coda calls the cause of the upcoming dimensional collapse the “Limit of Questions” and says they must prevent it from happening, no matter the cost.
That’s exactly why they reinstated Dewey and Djibril asks what the Ageha Squad is doing as, from what he’s heard, the Singularity is traveling with the Gekkostate – best to just have them arrest the Gekkostate and deal with the Singularity.
Coda raises the point that dealing with the Gekkostate isn’t the sole purpose of the Ageha Squad but Jamitov says they can’t ignore the Singularity’s continued existence: he says Dewey will have to deal with his squad’s objectives while also capturing Kei (or, if that’s not possible, kill him outright).

Coda agrees to relay those orders to Dewey and, when Kuzemi asks, Jamitov says our people have fled to South Ameria in a bid to escape the Emaanians - Djibril smirks at us taking refuge in a lawless land, like rats.. Jamitov is annoyed at those bothersome, uncooperative Chiram and, considering South Ameria is their homeland, Djibril figures this is a good opportunity to send a certain mech over and kill two birds with one stone.



Edel protests, saying there’s nothing to be gained by invading the Chiram right now. It’s her understanding that they should work together, unify their plans and figure out the best way to stop the world’s destruction.
Jamitov tells her that the Singularity or the Ageha Squad have already been determined as the way to make that happen and, as such, he wants to focus on what comes afterwards. Edel tries to remind them of what’s at stake and wants to give this more thought but Jamitov quickly tells her to be silent.
Kuzemi and Coda agree with him, saying this council ALONE exists to oversee the world and they, while appreciative of her work with the UN, tell Edel to mind her place.

As she acquiesces, Djibril, inwardly, sneers that these old men, all backed by Logos, are mere ornaments and they’ll realize it soon enough.
Jamitov’s certain that the world will survive and it is their duty to guide it and the populace in the proper direction - they will not hand it over to the likes of Durandal.
Edel’s very dejected, thinking that these people, so focused on immediate gains, are unable to take the future into consideration and may well plunge the entire world in darkness…



We find our people, having just lost some Chiram pursuers. Shaia can’t help but sigh at our situation, on the run from the Feds yesterday, the Chiram today…it may even be Zaft coming after us tomorrow.
Elchi tells her not to jinx us, especially after the trouble it took to cross the Pacific Ocean, but Jamil says the good news is that South Ameria is a pretty rugged place, and should allow us to rest a bit if we can keep out of sight.
Elchi understands that but asks if we’re gonna have to keep living this life of hiding forever. Jamil doesn’t answer but Holland cuts in, telling her to either shush or run off a die by herself.

She, obviously, isn’t about to take his lip sitting down and it falls on Cotsett and Hap to remind them that this isn’t the time to fight amongst ourselves - the situation has everyone on edge.
Either way, Ken-goh says we need to repair our ships and the Freeden’s Sara detects a huge cave some 30 kilometers from our current position – should be a good enough place for us to hide for a while. When asked, Holland snarls that we don’t need to confirm everything with him and we’re off to the underground.



Location: Eastern South Ameria – Hacienda, Dig Site
Going by this map, it seems to be around the Brazilian northeastern region…the state of Maranhão by the looks of it.
We don’t speak Spanish down here, Japan!



Gidget quickly sees that this cave seems to be from the Gekkostates’s own world, with plenty of Scub Coral around the place.
Jobs confirms, figuring this place is probably a dig site for LFOs and Bello is quite surprised at the idea of those being just buried around here. Jobs corrects himself, saying it’s more like the “skeleton” of an LFO, Archetypes, which you can find them buried deep within the Scub.
They’re turned into the LFOs we use by taking the Archetypes and embedding them with the tech that allows people to pilot them – Woz adds that Eureka’s Nirvash was the very first Archetype to undergo that process (thus, the name of “Type Zero”).

Speaking of Eureka, she pulls Renton aside and asks if the Nirvash is feeling well. He’s not really sure how to answer and, on that matter, remembers that he wanted to ask her something: it seems like she hasn’t been deploying over the past few days and, in fact, it’s like she’s avoiding the Nirvash.
Eureka seems sad and Renton asks if she’s sick but she isn’t sure, either.

: Hey…if you’d like, I could pilot the Nirvash.
: Remember? I managed to fight with it back in Zonder Epta…
: …
: I was really surprised that I did that good by myself, ya know? But I pulled it off… Maybe I’ve a natural gift for it?
: Nah, that can’t be it!
: …
: Hey…maybe I’m just a good match to the Nirvash.
: Or, maybe, the Nirvash is just saying that he likes me better!



: …!
: …Yes…that might be it…
: Huh…?
: I'm useless right now... So, the Nirvash chose you instead…
: H-hold on! I was just kidding—
: But that would be for the best! That’s what that child wants, too!
: Eureka…
: I’ll go tell Holland… So, please, take care of it…

*Eureka walks off.*

: What…
: (I…I thought it was the Nirvash that was bothering her…but...)
: (She doesn’t understand me at all. My piloting the Nirvash at Zonder Epta…it was all for her…!)



Holland is nearby, asking Mischa if she’s seen Eureka and, while she hasn’t, she figures there’s something in this dig site that’s stressing the girl out. Holland wonders if it’s the Scub’s influence but Mischa also suspects the Nirvash – both could well be the cause.
That said, this might be the first time in her entire life that Eureka has willingly distanced herself from the Nirvash. Holland is deep in thought and Mischa asks if he’s ever wondered why the LFOs are humanoid.
Indeed, he always thinks about that while he’s Lifting and says that, maybe, Adroc could’ve answered that question…



Elsewhere in the cave, some people have different things in mind: like Jiron, busily digging around with Fatman.
When Apollo asks, Rand tell him about the LFO Archetypes that might be buried here so he and the Breakers figured, if we can find one, we can sell it for some big bucks. Ryouma doesn’t think we need to worry so much about our financial situation, seeing how Shaia and Mimsy took care of the issue before that mess in Emaan (by paying for our expenses out of their own pockets).
Still, that doesn’t mean Jiron is going to stop, especially with how his father was a blue stone miner – so long as there’s treasure underground, he wants to dig it up. That said, Sirius doesn’t think we’ll just find something so valuable that easily but Burume reminds him that his own Aquarion is an excavated mech.

Sirius can’t think of a comeback and Apollo, figuring they’re right, decides to also start digging some holes. he even asks Hayato to bring the Liger over to help speed things along but, sadly, he refuses (Getter isn’t construction equipment).
In that case, Rand wants to use the Gunleon and our Walker Machines but, once again, Hayato vetoes it lest he wants to incur the wrath of the leader – Ryouma says he’s not that uptight but Hayato was actually talking about Holland. Benkei agrees, saying the guy’s been looking pissed off ever since we left Japan but Hayato thinks he started acting like that after our run-in with the Coralian.

Jiron figures it’s best not to pry but, just to avoid inviting any sort of trouble, we’ll continue just with the pickaxes. Garrod has been thinking, though, and remembers how our own GX is also an excavated model – same as the Inglessa mechs.
It’s the same for King Gainer and the other Overmen, having been produced by some ancient civilization before the Cataclysm laid waste to their original world.



As luck would have it, the Gunleon is ALSO an excavated unit – dug up by Mel’s father and remodeled as a repair mech.
Ryouma finds it odd that Rand’s world has so many things buried and Gainer says they were likely products of the time of the Cataclysm – Gainer doesn’t know the details but Jiron remembers Arthur Rank speaking of that era, calling it Black History.
When Apollo asks, Jiron says Arthur is the former leader of the Innocents: a true sage, who taught much to Jiron and co. way back when. Garrod also remembers what Rena said once she joined us, her vision involving both the “butterfly’s wings and the dark history”, but we don’t really know what it all means.

Apollo suggests that we don’t think too much about it as, like Fudou, he never has any idea of what she’s talking about.
Nearby, Kei thinks we won’t be able to stay here for long and Jabby asks why, seeing how even the Feds and Chiram shouldn’t be able to find us in here that easily, but Kei reminds him that the Chiram have a sensor that detects Singularities – it’s likely they can find him no matter where he tries to hide.



Marin steps up right then, having seemingly heard it all, and Kei wonders if he wants to kick him out. Actually, no, his business here is with “the monster”, Jabby, who calls Marin mean.
He remembers hearing that Jabby can sense dimensional warps, so he’d like to ask what he thought about that Coralian thing from before – he asks because Baldios’ subspace sensor detected space-time being distorted around the thing. That, plus the warp that hit us when we were near it, makes him want to know what Jabby thinks.
Speaking frankly, Jabby admits that he’s quite scared of that Coralian and thinks that it could well be a gateway to another world or another dimension. As Marin thought, that cloud-thing’s very presence was causing the dimensional walls to decay and he can’t even guess what would happen if many of them, or a bigger one, were to show up.

Kei wonders if that Coralian could have something to do with the upcoming dimensional collapse of the world but Marin isn’t sure.
Back to the topic at hand, Jabby can’t quite explain what it was that scared him – there was something on the other side of those clouds that caused him to be filled him with dread. He doesn’t know what it is or why it scared him and Kei wonders if something that scared Jabby so would, then, be an enemy…



Eureka, Tifa and Rena are together in the Gekko’s living room and both girls feel that Eureka’s afraid of something.
Eureka’s surprised that they can tell but Tifa says it’s because they’re alike and Eureka asks for them to tell what she should do: both girls say she needs to accept that she’s changing. Change isn’t meant to be scary as people may lose something but they gain something in return.
Rena says this is something everything experiences, as an child changing into an adult, a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. Eureka worries, unfamiliar with what she’s become, and Tifa asks her to calm down as her unrest is also affecting her kids.

Indeed, Linck and Maeter are worried that she’s sick and Maurice quickly takes them outside.
As they leave, Tifa and Rena tells Eureka of her options: either she accepts the changes happening to her or she doesn’t. However, while refusing to change might mean that nothing’ll happen, it’ll also mean her slow obliteration in stasis.
That said, she needn’t face this alone and Tifa says we’ll all help her find her answer.
Sadly, this whole situation scares Eureka and she runs off.