Part 14: Chesedonia

Now I was planning on ending the update here, but fuck it! The next “section” of the story is pretty quick, and I just can't leave you off on a cliffhanger like that! Let's go.



: “If we made it this far, we should be in the clear.”

: “Damn, I lost part of the documents when Sync attacked.”

: “Let me see that.... looks like isofon research."



No, that would be Pi. Are you telling me Pi doesn't exist in this fantasy world? ...Actually, that might make sense, down the road. But I'm babbling.

: “Lorelei? Isofons? Fonon frequencies? What the heck are you talking about?”

: “Lorelei is the name for the aggregate sentience of the seventh fonon.”

: “When a certain amount of a particular fonon gathers together, it becomes sentient. Control that, and you can perform high level fonic artes.”

: “Each one has a name. The first fonon sentience is called 'Shadow', the sixth is called 'Rem', and so on.”

: “Lorelei still hasn't been observed. Its existence is hypothetical.”

: “Huh... how come all you you know all this stuff.”

: “Well... it's actually common knowledge.”

: “It's okay, Luke. You can't help it. Just keep learning from here on and you'll be fine.”

: “Is it just me... or are you being a lot nicer to Luke all of a sudden?”

: “I-I don't know what you mean.”

: “Oh, also! All matter emits a fonon frequency. They're like fingeprints; no two frequencies are the same.”

: “Way to change the subject. Very smooth.”

: “Be quiet, Guy!”

: “Isofons are two entities that have the exact same fonon frequency. Of course, they don't exist unless artificially created.”

: “Of course, if isofons were common, we'd have our hands full with hyperresonances everywhere.”



: “Isofon research holds potential for weapons development, so the military has their eye on it.”

: “That 'fomicry' technology they worked on a long time ago can make isofons, right?”



: “Yeah, fomicry is like a copy machine, right?”

: “No, replicas created through fomicry are mere imitations. A replica may look identical, but its fonon frequency is different. One can't produce isofons that way.”

: “Gah! What the hell are you all talking about?! Enough of this complicated stuff. Jade can read those documents on his-”





'Monsters' my ass!



Yep, 11 seconds. Sword Dancer has left me a little over leveled. One spanking later...

: “Can we assume their goal is to stop Ion and the letter from reaching Kimlasca?”

: “You don't suppose they'd try to just sink the whole ship, do you?”

: “Master, what do we do?! I can't swim...”





: “But if they intended to sink us, they wouldn't have come storming aboard.”

: “Then they're trying to take it over!”

: *sigh* “So then I guess we have to secure the bridge before they do?”

: “Exactly.”

: “Why do those Oracle guys want to start a war so badly? What a pain...”

: “There's no time for complaints. Let's go.”

Skit: The Oracle Knights Attack

: “Arrgh! Why do they keep attacking us?!”

: “At the sea, there's nowhere to run. That's probably why they're attacking here.”

: “Oh, I wouldn't give them that much credit.”

: “Colonel, why do you look so relaxed? Didn't you say we need to hurry?”

: “It's just your imagination. As you said, we ought to hurry to the bridge before things get worse.”

: “Yes, let's.”

: “These meticulously planned, yet silly attacks remind me of– well, I just hope my premonition turns out to be groundless.”



The ship is full of Oracle Knights. Even if we weren't over leveled, these guys are essentially fodder after the variety of annoying enemies we had to deal with at Choral Castle.



Despite making a big scene about checking the bridge, this here crusty sea captain has everything under control. To the deck!



: “Now it belongs to me, the great Barrelow X!”

: “Give back that fonstone!”

: “No! We're going to use it in an experiment!”

: “What's going on?”

: “That weird robot stole the fonstone fragment!”

: “Fonstone fragment? Does it want it for fontech work?”

: “Most likely. And considering the tacky design of that robot, I have a feeling I know who's behind this...”

: “You do, Colonel?”

: “Unfortunately, I think so.”

: “At any rate, that fonstone fragment is a valuable resources. Let's get it back.”



Don't bother reading that. The game throws in a minigame out of nowhere. Basically you chase the stupid robot. Whenthe ship shakes, move slow. Otherwise run full pelt. Running too fast during the shaking will lead to monsters attacking you.



One stupid, out of place mini-game later...

: “Gah! Don't interfere!”



: “That's extortion! You're evil! But I'm scared so I'll give it back.”



: “It ran away...”

: “Um, is it okay for it to get wet?”

: “Aaaaaaaaah!!”

: “Naturally, we'll leave it alone.”

For our trouble, we get the Nobile, a new capacity core, and the Winged Boots which let us move slightly faster outside of combat. Not too shabby!



Do I even have to tell you to watch this one?

: “Where the heck is their leader? Let's hurry up and finish this.”



: “Listen, you ignorant savages, and you shall hear my beautiful name. I am the most graceful member of the Six God-Generals, the one and only, Dist the-”

: “Well if it isn't Dist the Runny!”

: “The Rose! R-O-S-E, rose! Dist the Rose!”

: “You mean Dist the Reaper.”

: “Silence! I refuse to accept that name! It's Rose! ROSE!”

: “What, you know him?”

: “I'm in the Oracle Knights too so... but why do you know him, Colonel?”

: “I, the genius Dist, once counted that duplicitous snake jade amongst my friends.”

: “Which Jade is that? I don't know any Jades with such poor taste in friends.”

: “What did you say?!”

: “Ah ah, careful now, you know how your nose runs when you get mad.”

: “Grrrrr! No it doesn't!”



: “This is stupid...”

: “They're off in their own little world...”

: “Enough of this! Now, hand over the fon disc data!”

: “You mean this?”





: “Hah hah hah! How careless, Jade!”

: “You can have them. I've already finished memorizing their contents.”



: “Grrrrrr! I'm being mocked by savages! When you taste the pain of my super ultra gorgeous artes, you'll regret what you've done!”

...Really now, what else is there to say about this scene but ?



So despite all his talk about his awesome artes, Dist just throws a giant robot at you. I believe that the idea is Dist is inside the robot controlling it like a mech (this is how it's depicted in the anime) but the game never actually clarifies the point.



Naturally, being a robot, it's weakness is water. Not that that matters much: Kaiser Dist R is such a push-over that I could have told Jade to sit still picking his nose and we'd still have smoked the thing.



I also use overlimit for the first time here. A very nice effect is that it pushes back all enemies: regardless of their size or their usual resistances to staggering. Great for getting guys off you when you're being dogpiled.



I tell Jade to use splash once or twice, but other than that he's perfectly happy to just spam it on his own. Jade's AI is very good at exploiting an enemy's weakness once he figures it out. Very in character, if anything.



Theoretically Kaiser Dist is a great enemy to abuse free running with, but you don't see any of that in the boss video because frankly it's all unneeded: as awesome as Dist is a character, his boss battle is lame as hell. Once again: fitting given the character.



Team Rocket's blasting off again!



: “It'll take more than that to kill him. He has the tenacity of a cockroach. Right now, I'm off to check the bridge.”

: “I'll go with you. Ladies, please protect Luke and Ion.”





: “What should we do?”

: “Let's check to see if anyone's injured.”

: “Yes, you're right.”

: “It's not easy being a messenger of peace.”

: “You got that right.”



At last! Baticul is on the horizon!

Next Time: Lots of talking, a new quest, and lots of talking! Did I mention talking? There's a shit ton of talking.

Synopsis

At Kaitzur, the ship we were going to ride was already being repaired. It
was going to be a little while, so we decided to stop in and see Count
Almandine, who's in charge of the port.

Count Almandine was angry that Arietta, a member of the Order of Lorelei,
had attacked Kimlascan soldiers. I can't blame him, either. Ion was
apologizing profusely... I guess being the Fon Master must be tough.

Come to think of it, it's my job to see that Ion and Jade make it to
Baticul to see my uncle, isn't it? I remembered that and figured I'd ask
Count Almandine to send a pigeon to Father. It'd be handy if we could use
fonic or fontech or something to send a message, but apparently there's no
way to do that.

Anyway, when I told Count Almandine who I was taking along, his expression
changed completely. That's right, Jade's an enemy of Kimlasca... Well, it was
too late to take it back, and Count Almandine said he'd send off the pigeon
anyway. The ship still wasn't ready, so we decided to spend the night here
and leave in the morning. Now I'll get to travel with Master Van! This is
great!
I've never been on the sea before, but this isn't bad. Well, aside from
the headaches, but I'm used to those by now.

Master Van sent for me, so I headed for the deck.

On the way to see him, I met Tear. It seems like she's finally figured out
that I'm not a Seventh Fonist.
But...I still don't really know what a Seventh Fonist is. I mean, they
came up in my studies, but back then I had so much else to learn--my parents'
faces, the language... I'd even forgotten how to walk. I guess I just didn't
have time to think about the rest of the world...

When I said that to Tear, she suddenly started acting nicer to me and
explained all about Seventh Fonists.

Turns out Seventh Fonists are fonists who can use the Seventh Fonon--
mostly healers and Scorers. The Seventh Fonon is this new fonon that was
discovered after the basic six elemental fonons, and it can only be used by
those born with the ability.

Apparently, I'm able to use the Seventh Fonon, and that's why Tear mistook
me for a Seventh Fonist.

Out on the deck, I got another one of those headaches, and then something
strange happened. I suddenly lost control of my body, and started hearing
things. Then I started moving like somebody was controlling me, and I made
part of the ship disappear. Just when I thought the whole ship would be
destroyed, Master Van appeared and stopped whatever it was that was happening.

Master Van said that the thing I did that made part of the ship disappear
is called hyperresonance, and it's the same thing that happened to me and
Tear when we were thrown out into that valley.

Hyperresonance is an interference phenomenon that can destroy all matter.
It happens when two Seventh Fonists use the Seventh Fonon at exactly the same
time under certain conditions. But...apparently I can cause hyperresonance
all by myself. Master Van said Malkuth kidnapped me for that power, and
Kimlasca kept me confined so they could use me in war. Does that mean I was
going to be trapped in the manor until a war started?!

Master Van didn't deny that. He did tell me how I could get around it,
though.

His solution was for me to become a hero. See, if I can personally stop
the war, I'll become a hero, and then they won't be able to keep me confined
any longer!

That was when the ship reached Chesedonia, which put an end to our
conversation. We'll have to change ships in Chesedonia to get to Baticul. I
decided to take a look around the town.
As soon as we reached Chesedonia, Master Van separated from us. He said he
had to turn Arietta over to an Order of Lorelei inspector, and that he'd be
coming to Baticul later. Unfortunately, we have to leave before that.

Damn, and just when I could've heard more about how to become a hero...

Oh well. I guess I'll head down to the Kimlasca consulate to see if the
ship's ready yet.

While I was wandering around Chesedonia, some weird chick came up all of a
sudden and started touching me. I wondered what was up with her, but it turns
out she was a pickpocket! She stole my wallet and tried to run away with
these other guys. What the hell! And they said they were the Dark Wings! The
bastards! Getting in my way again!

Tear got my wallet back, but the Dark Wings got away. If I ever see them
again, I'll rip them apart!
We made it to the consulate, but the ship wasn't ready yet.

We had some time to kill, so we decided to go find this wealthy guy named
Astor to get the fon disc analyzed. Personally I couldn't care less about the
fon disc, but I do want to see Chesedonia, so I decided to go along.

Astor is a merchant who managed to build Chesedonia up into an autonomous
state all by himself. He had a machine for analyzing fon discs, too, so we
had him analyze the disc we picked up in Choral Castle. The results were
pretty long, though, so we decided to wait and read them on the ship. Now all
we have to do is board that ship and we'll be headed for Baticul. They should
know at the Kimlasca consulate whether it's ready or not.

Just as we left Astor's mansion, Sync of the Six God-Generals suddenly
attacked us, apparently to get that fon disc back. He succeeded in that, but
we managed to hold on to the analysis results. We escaped from Sync, ran to
the port and jumped onboard the ship for Baticul. Guy got hurt a little, but
once we were at sea, we were safe.

On the ship, we started going through the fon disc analysis results, with
Jade doing most of the explaining. The data on the fon disc was about isofons.

It seems people (and in fact everything else in the world) each have a
different fonon frequency. When two things share the same fonon frequency,
they're called "isofons"--but they can't exist naturally. The only way to
find them is to create them.

There's this technology called "fomicry" which allows replicas of things
to be made, but even if the replica looks the same as the original it was
made from, the replica's fonon frequency ends up being different. It looks
like the data on the fon disc was about research into technology for creating
isofons. But it looks like we lost some of the results when Sync stole the
disc back, so we couldn't learn all the details.

Just as we were talking about that, the ship was suddenly attacked. The
Oracle Knights, again?! They just won't quit, will they... At this rate
they'll take over the ship, just like with the Tartarus. If that were to
happen here at sea, we'd be in real trouble, so we headed for the bridge to
put a stop to them.

It turns out the attack was led by this weirdo from the Six God-Generals
named Dist. Apparently he and Jade know each other... He even wears glasses,
too. He really got on my nerves, but we defeated him and made it safely into
the Baticul harbor.