A nearby village is filled with loggers who are extremely upset that the Empire has shut down their forest after a "shooting star" landed there. The cave to the West is blocked off by guards, so the only thing to do is go investigate it ourselves.
Halfway through the forest we see a group of Imperial guards hunting for something. We follow them to a fork in the road where they split up. We decide to split up, as well, with Sol and Sarah going North and Aigis and Dusk going West. They have clearly never heard the adage "don't split the party."
Sol and Sarah stumble across a pair of Imperial guards trying to drag Argy out of the woods. When they spot us, they try to kill us so that we can't tell anyone what we saw. Big mistake.
Argy "wakes" up and threatens us with her weapons. Sarah, however, tells Argy she doesn't need to be afraid and that she and Sol are friends. She asks Argy's name, to which she replies only with silence.
An android sought after by the Empire. She seems to have lost her memory after the fall.
With only 6 characters, I'm limited in the number of fictional gynoid shout outs I can make here. I finally go with Eve because it covers several of them. Plus "Eve" fits the theme naming the rest of the Warriors tend to have.
We now switch to Dusk and Aigis. Dusk is hanging back talking into his device again. He's saying he's going to "investigate" the forest. Aigis comes back and asks why he's always lagging behind. Heh.
Further on, we come to a pond, where Aigis finally confronts Dusk about his device and asks who he's working for. Dusk refuses to answer.
Back to Sol, Sarah, and Eve. Eve is a Memorist. Using the Memorandum ability, she can replace all of her battle commands randomly with abilities she knows. She has Black Magic, White Magic, Martial Arts, Battle Arts, Steal, and Focus, all at a higher level than any of my characters. She can also equip all weapons and armor.
As we travel through the forest, Sol hears a rustling and growling from the trees. He gets ready to kill the monster but Sarah tells him to wait. Inside the trees is a wolf, who is protecting her cubs. We let them go.
Eve wants to know what a cub is and Sarah tells her it's a precious gift of life to a mother and father. This apparently translates in amnesiac gynoid talk to "Sol and Sarah are my parents", because she immediately decides to start calling Sol and Sarah "mommy" and "daddy". Congrats, you two. Have a cigar.
We come full circle to where Aigis and Dusk are talking. Dusk is very distrustful of Eve and believes her to be a trap by the Empire. This causes her to hide behind her "daddy." Sol and Sarah defend her and, after a moment, Aigis agrees with them. Sol tells Dusk he can go his own way if he doesn't like it, to which Aigis tells them that Dusk is going to follow them no matter what. Dusk does not deign that with a reply.
Back at town, the stay at the inn is free. Again. More nighttime cutscenes!
Sarah is tossing and turning in her sleep, crying out for her parents. Sol wakes up and goes to her bedside. He asks if she's having nightmares. Ya think, Sol?
Eve says that Sol should comfort Sarah. She says that when she slept, someone who loved her was always by her side. Sol asks if that would help and Sarah asks Sol not to leave. Sol stays by her side as she drifts back to sleep.
Awww. Better watch out, Diana, you've got competition.
Now that we've retrieved Eve, the guards in the cave are conspicuously absent. Must be tea time again. We make our way through and to the city of Fabrica. Fabrica is creating weapons and machinery for the Empire. They also have a shipyard located in a nearby cave.
There's a moogle here who tells us about a forest filled with beautiful red birds nearby, so we make a side trip there. Inside a monster is killing the birds. After him!
Of course we don't catch him until the end of the dungeon where he's already killed the last bird. He's a rather tough boss fight. He starts spamming a hard-hitting full party attack very quickly once his HP starts getting low. It's a mostly defensive battle, but we manage to win it on the second try.
The party mourns the senseless death of the birds. The spirit of the last bird rises from its corpse and thanks us for our sorrow. He says he will live on forever thanks to us. We get the Pheonix summon.
Now on with the plot. The shipyards are inside a cave. At the bottom we find some Imperial guards, but before Sol can rush out and kill them Vata teleports in. We fight him instead.
He is just as nasty as before, but we still win handily. He flees like the coward he is.
The elevator he was guarding takes us down to a massive warship they were in the process of building. We resolve to sabotage it. Along the way, we see The Mask fiddling with computers or switches, but we can never catch up to him.
At the bottom is Lugae and Cid. Both are overjoyed to see Eve, although for very different reasons. Cid recognizes Sarah, and wants to know what the second princess of Burtgang is doing tramping around with rebels. Given her name, this reveal really doesn't come as a surprise.
Cid uses an override on Eve, taking control of her and making her fight the party.
Although Cid is in the back row for this battle, no attacks can hit him. Eve wipes the floor with us with an attack she never had as a party member. Darnit. But before she can kill us off, her affection for Sol and Sarah kicks in and she throws off her control. Hooray for The Power of Friendship!
Cid is angry that his weapon has developed feelings, but no matter. He has a backup Argy conveniently in the next room. He calls in Argy 2, a Palette Swap of Eve. Eve swears to protect Sol and Sarah and jumps into battle.
Sadly, Argy 2 is more powerful than her and wins. The party takes the opportunity to revive and Sol swears that they're going to protect Eve this time. We start the battle with Argy 2 for reals this time. Eve is in the party, but at 0 HP.
Once again, Cid is in the back row and, once again, we can't hit him with any attacks. He flees a few rounds in. Get back here, you bastard, and take your well-deserved beating!
After the battle ends, poor Eve shorts out and collapses. Lugae runs over to her and she finally remembers him. She thanks Sol and Sarah for bringing her back to her daddy and shuts down in his arms. *sniff*
She starts to sparkle, and the party gets the Memorist job.
Next time: Daddy issues for bishonens.
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