Part 85: Episode LXXXII: Gene Therapy and an Orgy

Episode LXXXII: Gene Therapy and an Orgy


Welp, seems the Gazel Ministry is 0-2 on that whole “shit Fei is fucking around somewhere we don’t like, nuke the place from orbit!” plans. Maybe someday they’ll successfully blow up a major population center.

Some time later...

Music: Shevat, the Wind is Calling


“The generator is repaired and the gate is developing as usual. And Maria... You did very well. It is very regretful about Dr. Nikolai... Solaris put the doctor through all of that. We must defeat them as soon as possible and restore freedom!"
"...Yes."
*lights up a joint and sighs*
“Uhh...squirt, don’t you think th—“
“I just blew up my giant robot father. Back off, blondie.”
“...”
"Queen Zephyr, we will also fight to bring down Solaris. To begin with, where is Solaris? How do you get there?"
"Solaris is hidden from human eyes by three gates. One of the gates is under the 'Ethos' H.Q. but... it is unreachable, even with Gears.”
”That...may not be much of an issue anymore...”
“I don't know where the other two are yet. Until we destroy the 3 gates, the path to Solaris will not open.”
“...”
“You’ve been in a cold war with Solaris for 500 years and you don’t know the first thing about how to get to them?”
“We were going to get around to it eventually but eh...it is such a hassle to conduct ground operations. Look what happened the last time.”
“In addition, we've received some disturbing news. Aveh has invaded Nisan."”
”What, what, WHAT!?!?”
“I guess that info slipped my mind in all the excitement.”


”Who?”
“Bald Prime Minister of Aveh. Murdered my parents...”
“Oh right. The fight tournament announcer. Man, I ain’t been in a fighting tournament in a while. Weird...”
"Their target is probably somewhere in the earth. The secret royal treasure of Aveh. An Omnigear, sealed up by Roni Fatima!"
"Damn!! This is no place to hesitate! I'm going to Nisan! We can't let Shakhan have his way!"
"I see. I can't leave Nisan to its fate. Okay, first let's head to Nisan!"
”Pretty sure this will lead us straight to one of these dumb Solaris Gates anyway.”


“Originally it was the ship used by Bart's ancestor, Roni. Make free use of it."
”An aerial what...? What did you do to my ship?!”
“It can fly now.”
“...”
“...”
“FUCK YEAH!! You hear that, Fei! We’re goddamn Sky Pirates now!”
“And so my life expectancy suddenly plummets even more...”
"Umm... Can you take me along with you?"
"I have one request. Fei, take Maria along with you. This child, since her youth, has been destined with no choice but to fight. Until she settles her own fights, she will not be able to move on with her life. Go Maria, and find your purpose in life... on your own."
”Don’t you need her to defend Shevat?”
“Solaris really isn’t big on secondary attacks. We’re good for at least another century.”
"I got it. Let's go together, Maria. We're friends from now on, you and...you and Seibzehn too."
”Just...no letting it go feral and eat another Gear or whatever the heck is going on with it being your dad or whatever.”
*nods * "Yes."


Nothing like kindling the bonds of friendship due to saving everyone from your crazy giant robot dad. By the way, Maria’s role in Xenogears is about 99% over. She only beats out Chuthulhu as being the most irrelevant to the overall plot playable character.


"One of the sages, Gaspar, has returned. Gaspar is the one who taught martial arts to Kahn and Wiseman. I'm sure he will be able to teach you new techniques that will be of help to you on your journey. I've already told Gaspar. Before you leave you should learn from him."
"I got it."
”Alright, I’m gonna go track down Pai Mei and see what his deal with. Everyone else get your stuff together for when it’s time to blow this scene.”
"Okay, let's go everyone!"

Later that day...


“What about Balthasar, or Melchior...?"
"No, I haven't seen them ever since...”
”Ah...that.”
“It was my parking spot and Melchior knows it.”
“Besides, your Majesty... I came here to watch over them so that they do not make the same foolish mistakes again."

A Shevat lackey runs into the chamber...


“The girl named Elly was nearby and it reacted to her!!”
”Is that so? How did it react?”
“No clue, your majesty. We’re violating the hell out of the ‘show, don’t tell’ rule the next few scenes.”
"Just as I thought..."
"It's a matter of course. But the girl doesn't intend to ride it... Just like 'her'. She knows it unconsciously. The existence within her..."
"She... was the same as Sophia?"
"..."
"... Sorry."
"No, I don't mind. I'm not 'him'."
"Well then, I'll go take a look at their Limiters."

We now shift to an anonymous narration of several events that happen off screen that evening...


So, Gaspar performed gene therapy on everybody to raise their Solaris imposed level cap.


In gameplay terms, this means that everyone’s second-tier Deathblows are now unlocked. Before now, all Deathblows that require the character to be over Level 50 didn’t even appear in menus. Spiffy. There is another gameplay augmentation thanks to dicking around with everyone genetic code. But we’ll get to that later.


Oh, well that’s okay I guess. At least it’s staying away from F—


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!


I hate this game now.


“Chuthulhu will go anywhere, even chu the end of the world with you! Chuthulhu's maidenly pure heart is only for you! Uh hmmm!"

Let us never speak of this again...

The next morning...


Shevat is back to having its ugly glowing orange barrier and all is well. Time to leave this cloud city and go pick up that plot thread we dropped way back in Act 1.


“This vessel will be named 'the Third'!"
”Last time we had to replace the entirety of the ship outside the bridge and living quarters. So the new name was acceptable. This time it only got wings grafted onto it and an anti-gravity device installed in the engine block.”
“Hey, it’s my damn ship! I can re-name it Professor Longinus’ Transcontinental Dirigible XVIII if I want.”
“...As you wish, young master. Are we taking off?”
“Hells yeah!”

Music: Wings


“Aww yeah! Airship, bitches! Let’s go liberate us a Nisan!”










Maria Concept Art #1 - I told you she was never going to use those goggles.


Maria Concept Art #2 – Magnetic lifts is how Maria stays on top of Seibzehn. Right then...