When we last left Fei, he had finished punching a mutant in the face. Now, he's got to finish up this tournament.
The mess hall had nothing new. Meh.
For the first fight of what the receptionist tells me are the semifinals, I fight the spear-wielding Hatamoto. It puts up a good fight, but I still won. I get 1500 golds for winning, plus 400 more as my bonus.
Second fight of the day is against the Firewheel, which has two gigantic wheels that it can hit me with or use as shields. It's actually pretty tough to see the thing's body with them in the way. Winning gets me 2000G and a 500G bonus.
My last opponent during the semifinals is Silverstar, a big mass of ugly silver polygons that kinda looks like something out of Rise of the Robots. Like anything from that game, though, you can easily combo it to death without it getting a word in edgewise (though here it's because it rarely fall over, rather than because it doesn't know how to not get kicked into a corner). Crushing this foe gives me 2500 golds, and a bonus of 1000.
When I win, Hammer starts raving about how victory is in sight and I just need to win the finals. Fei reminds him that Rico Slate Slabrock has been the champion for 3 years now and thus should be a difficult opponent to defeat, but Hammer just tells him to think positively about it or he'll lose for sure.
Fei's ready to rest up for the finals, but Hammer thinks we should tune up Weltall a bit first. We are heading into the last fight of this tournament, after all. He also reminds me to save the game, which I guess is one bonus for having save points be an in-universe thing.
When I leave the arena, we immediately cut to Fei, Citan, and Hammer working on Weltall
. Fei wonders if he can win with the parts he's been given, and Hammer explains that Rico Crud Bonemeal gets better parts than normal thanks to the Battling Committee.
As we're discussing this, Wiseman shows up (remember him?). He tells Fei that he won't be able to win for whatever reason, then fights me. He can shoot energy beams at me for some decent damage, and he counterattacks if he dodges any attacks. Fortunately, I don't actually need to win to continue, and winning only gives you a single experience point anyway.
Wiseman knocks Fei down with the same techniques he uses, then tells him not to fight with simple brute force. Weltall is lighter than Rico Brick Hardmeat's Gear, so I'd be at a severe disadvantage if I did.
After dispensing his cryptic wisdom, Wiseman attempts to leave. Fei stops him, though, because he wants to know where he learned that martial art he uses (there's also tha matter of his knowing Fei's name). Wiseman explains that he was the one who brought Fei to Lahan three years ago, at the request of his father.
Wiseman then says that he and Fei's father, Khan, were fellow students. After Fei responds to learning his father's name with surprise, Wiseman proceeds to talk for a bit about Khan Wong.
Khan studied martial arts with Wiseman, as we already know. Eventually, he ended up in the military, where he met a woman named Karen, who Wiseman describes as being "like a flower in full bloom". One thing led to another, and the next thing they knew, they were married. Wiseman, meanwhile, left on a journey to strengthen himself. Karen eventually died while Fei was still a child, as RPG parents are wont to do.
Eventually, Wiseman received word from Khan that his son had been taken by Grahf, who wanted his special plot powers. Khan wanted Wiseman's assistance in finding his son, so Wiseman ended up searching. Three years prior to the events of the game, Khan found Fei and Grahf.
Naturally, it was a dark and stormy night when this happened. Wiseman found Fei and Khan heavily wounded, and Grahf was nowhere to be found. Khan left Wiseman in charge of getting Fei to safety, so he did so. He then followed Khan, who was pursuing Grahf. Supposedly, Grahf was a threat to the world as a whole. Khan then told Wiseman to take care of things if anything happened to him, and promptly vanished in a puff of logic.
Wiseman then prepares to actually head off after Grahf, but Fei has one more thing to ask. He wants to know what country Khan was from, so Wiseman tells him. As it turns out, Khan is from the floating nation of Shevat, which we'll no doubt be exploring at some point.
Wiseman then leaves, and Fei discusses his previous meeting with the guy. Hammer, of course, is confused by this, because he's only known Fei since he arrived at D Block. At any rate, Fei decides he'll need a plan for the finals.
The day of the finals arrives. Sadly, there's nothing new at the mess hall.
For the last bit of mandatory Battling in the game, I must do battle against Rico Rip Slagcheek, who is of course in his Gear, the mighty and powerful Stier.
Unlike previous fights which were best 2 of 3, the finals are best 3 out of 5. After the discussion yesterday you'd think Stier would require a specific strategy to defeat, but it's not all that different from the previous fights. Still, Rico Punch Sideiron doesn't go down without a fight. I still win, though.
After the fight, some thugs accuse Fei of using illegal Gear parts, trying desperately to get their idol his position back on a technicality. Rico Gristle McThornbody won't hear any of it, though. He lost fair and square. Fei tries to blame his victory on Rico Slate Fistcrunch being wounded from the fight with Redrum, but he refuses to let that factor into things. He then leaves to see to something.
Rico heads to where his Gear is stored, and I'm not about to ruin it with silly joke names. He starts talking to his Gear, claiming that he's going to "get him myself".
Meanwhile, back at the Gebler base, Elly's team examines the fleet they're going to be escorting. Stratski notes that seven of the eight ships are Ether-guided, and wonders who might be controlling them. His train of thought is interrupted when the commander of the purge fleet shows up. It's a woman named Dominia, who Helmholz identifies as being from the Elements.
Dominia immediately identifies herself as a probable antagonist by calling Elly by her actual name. She claims that "the Hecht is not to be piloted by a common soldier," because elites are totally better for suicide missions. Elly asks what the target is, and Dominia tells her: they're gonna blow up a nuclear power plant.
Elly, of course, wants to know why they're trying to render Kislev uninhabitable, and Dominia responds by saying that Kislev has the Gatekeeper (but not the Gatecleaner). She also insults Elly for wanting to stop this, because Dominia actually believes the Solaris propaganda about the Lambs.
Elly asks why Dominia would show such callous disregard for the lives of surface dwellers when she herself used to be one. Dominia's response is that she was chosen by Ramsus, and thus is superior to other Lambs. She then decides that this conversation has been going on for too long and proceeds to launch the fleet.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Fei is busy checking out the champion's room. Fei asks what happened to Rico Buff Hardback after the finals. Rue explains that his Gear went our of control in a later fight, and proceeded to crash into the Kaiser's seat. He hasn't been seen since.
Also, Fei's bomb collar is gone, so he can enter the civilian area. Fei also gets some special bonuses that I'll go over later, and the Kaiser wants to see him.
Fei and Citan discuss how they can't leave Kislev yet, because they need to bring Weltall with them. Citan tasks Hammer with finding it, and now Fei has to kill time until we hear something.
For now, though, I just save and quit, because I think this is a good place to do so.
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