Chapter 16: Upgrades

"...twelve point four," Shulk muttered, adding another mark. "Half that is six two, third that is...two and a bit. Clockwise sixty degrees." More marks. He always talked to himself when doing math, it helped him not make mistakes.

The new gunlance was nearly complete. Shulk had decided from the start to design it exactly the same as the one he'd made for Reyn what felt so long ago now, but with the materials and experience the party had collected from around the world, it would be far more potent. He assumed it would be a surprise; Reyn generally didn't take notice of Shulk collecting extra stuff without saying what it was for.

He reached over for more Eryth screws. Of all the advanced technology that had made its way out of Alcamoth through Colony 6 and slowly across the rest of the land, the square-shaped screwhead's deceptive simplicity was the most immediately useful. They would probably stay pretty expensive for a while until Homs manufacturing caught up to the idea, but for Shulk's money it was absolutely worth ditching the old plus-and-minus Tephra and Trevsieg heads.

"...another four. About...one and a half in."

There was a knock at the door. Shulk could tell by its volume that it wasn't Reyn or Riki, so it was safe for them to enter.

"You can come in," he called so he wouldn't have to get up and lose his place.

Sharla opened the door a small amount, edged in, and closed it quickly. "How's it going then?" She didn't ask what he was up to; it was fairly obvious.

"Almost done." Shulk finished tightening one screw and moved on to another.

"Glad to hear it." She pulled a chair over to a close but safe distance and sat down. "When you get a minute, I have something to ask you."

"Now is fine."

"Great." Sharla suddenly leaned forward with hands on hips. "What have you done with Melia?!"

Shulk processed the question for a few seconds, motionless and confused. "...what have I done with Melia?" He thought about it for a bit longer. "You mean, like, today?"

Sharla dropped the serious pose and shook her head, smiling. "What have you done to make her ask me to go clothes shopping with her?"

"Oh that." Confusion gone, Shulk resumed tightening screws. "Well, I sort of accidentally discovered that she never had before, so I...well, I helped her try it."

"You've opened a can of worms that's what you've done," she answered, half serious and half joking. "Almost the whole time you've been in the lab today, we've been around five or six shops across both colonies. She didn't actually buy that much but it was an experience, helping bring her up to speed with everything. Did you know High Entia don't do underwear? That was an awkward couple minutes."

Shulk vaguely recalled a discussion long ago that revealed Melia didn't have any idea how "normal" people dressed. He was kind of bummed that he'd missed her learning more about it. But working on this gunlance was far more important.

Sharla got up and look a closer look at the weapon. "So you're just about done then? Need a distraction?"

"Uh, sure." There was yet no plan for presenting the gift. "Just...make sure Reyn's at Dunban's house, I'll bring it there."

"Perfect. See you soon." She left quickly.

Shulk resumed the last few bits of construction, followed by going over the entire thing several times to ensure it was all in place and done correctly. He re-tightened some bolts, re-shined the shiny bits, and gave the lance a few test shots.

"All looks good," he said to himself. "Just needs a name, but he'll do that himself."

He started hefting the weapon out of the lab. It would take him a bit to get to Dunban's house carrying the bulky thing, so he placed it on a handcart once he cleared all the stairs and got outside.

"Oi, engy!"

Shulk stopped. Colonel Vangarre rarely addressed him, and when he did it was for something reasonably serious, such as needing repairs to something important that the recruits had broken and couldn't be trusted to fix themselves. At least he had respect for engineers; Shulk had never personally experienced his bad side.

The colonel walked up, in no hurry. "Whatcha got there, eh? I see some differences from the stock, this a fresh prototype?"

"It's a custom job. Kind of a proof-of-concept I guess." Shulk didn't feel right leaving it there. "Once we get used to the new High Entia tools, we can start a more widespread rollout."

"Knew it." Vangarre nodded with satisfaction. "You've always had an eye for the next step in weapons tech. That'll be the best gunlance in the force."

Shulk kind of bobbed his head in indecision on how to respond.

"And I don't need to ask who it's for. He'll put every inch of it to good use. The man's not perfect but he more than deserves the best we've got. Keep fighting, engy."

Vangarre continued on his way.

Hmmm. Maybe Reyn doesn't need to name it.

Shulk continued to Dunban's house. No one interrupted him; it wasn't exactly unusual to see him carting around weapons.

As he approached, he could see Sharla pushing an apparently confused Reyn into the house. Good timing, no waiting around. He could start making out the conversation as he got closer.

"...this all about?" Dunban was saying.

"It's a secret!" Sharla giggled.

"You keep sayin' that," Reyn said, "but now you're just standin' around not popping the plan."

"It's not my secret, Reyn. I'm just the messenger."

"Oh so it's you then, fuzzball?"

"Rrrrriki have equal no idea! Not put blame for surprise on Riki!"

Shulk snuck the cart under the window and left it just outside as he stepped in. "Hey guys, what's this about?"

"Not you either?" Reyn spun around, looking for the next person to blame. "But then it has to be Melia, and that's not right."

Melia was about halfway down the stairs when her name was called. "I am not sure whether to take offence at that claim."

With everyone looking at Melia, Shulk quickly reached outside and brought the new weapon in. He was about to press it into Reyn's back when he noticed that there was a reason everyone was looking at Melia: she had changed into what was presumably some of the new Homs clothes she'd bought while out with Sharla earlier. The getup was a plain navy buttoned shirt, a thick sky-blue vest, and black cargo pants; her headdress, gloves, and boots remained unchanged.

...wow, that's...different. Shulk had trouble moving his train of thought past its first impulse.

Sharla tilted her head. "Yeah, I think it works. A bit clunky but that'll be fixed as you get more options."

"Melly look good in everything!" Riki was hopping on the back of a chair instead of on the seat.

Shulk shook out of his confusion and figured Reyn (and probably also Dunban) would appreciate being pulled out of inventing a comment, so he made his move.

"Actually Reyn, it was me. Here you go."

Reyn turned around with a smirk. "Yeah I-" The smirk was replaced with a blank stare for a moment, before moving on to a wide smile. "Ohhh now what's this here?" He pulled the gunlance out of Shulk's grip with ease and started giving it a look-over.

One of Dunban's eyebrows went up. "Excuse my ignorance, but-"

"You think Shulk just cleaned up my old one, don't you?" Reyn didn't even think about not interrupting while still poring over the new weapon. "Nah, it might look the same but I can tell, this isn't just a refit. It's brand spanking new from the ground up, all tuned the same but made of much stronger stuff. It's the best there is, ain't no better weapon out there yet."

"The colonel said the same thing," Shulk said. "And that no one else was better to wield it."

Reyn paused for a moment before looking at Shulk. "Did...the colonel really say that?"

"He did. And that's why I'm calling it the Vangarre Driver."

"...yeah, baby." He hoisted the weapon up and fired, the tip of the lance popping out to just barely graze the top of his favoured chair. "It's a new era of Reyn Time!"

Then he was off, leaping outside and coming down with a Hammer Beat, before running off to outside the colony so he could put his new toy through its paces against some unlucky Bunnits.

Sharla shook hear head, half smiling half grimacing, as she followed him to be his inevitably necessary support.

"Wowie wow." Riki rolled down onto the floor. "Why Reyn so super big happy for weapon? Other new weapons he happy, but not nearly as much."

"It's not just the weapon," Dunban explained. "Colonel Vangarre means a lot to Reyn. More than just as a commanding officer, I mean. And it's not often he gets to hear his praises without a string attached, even indirectly."

"Ahhh Riki understand." He then turned to Shulk. "Shulk can make Riki similar weapon now? Heropon must have the best-best-best-best-best!"

Shulk tilted his head; biters were no problem, but he wasn't as confident at making something that Riki would be this excited about. "I can try. But if you want the best-best, I'll need to know some more detail about how Nopon make biters, so I can do it right instead of just guessing."

"Riki know a guy! Will introduce as soon as near."

Melia watched out the window as Reyn charged headlong into battle. It's too bad that learning to craft an ether staff takes so much effort and time; Shulk has no reasonable avenue of doing so before we must face Zanza. The Imperial Staff is so tired now...

"Well, there she goes," Reyn said.

The group watched Tyrea fly away from the site of the recent battle with the large Telethia that had once been Yumea.

"Is she going to be OK on her own?" asked Sharla.

Dunban nodded. "She'll be all right. We and Tyrea share the same goal. Our paths are sure to meet again."

Shulk also nodded, then turned to Melia. "Melia, you said that you and Tyrea are alike. What do you mean?"

Melia's focus didn't move from Tyrea as she began to fade, and presumably begin to descend back towards the Homs colonies. "Tyrea is part Homs, as I am."

"What?" Reyn pointed at his own head. "But she's got big wings!"

"That's not a hard rule," Shulk said. "A lot of half-bloods have small wings, but some don't."

"Indeed," Melia replied. "In fact, some are indistinguishable from pure-bloods. And in all likelihood, Tyrea may only be a quarter Homs. The Bionite Order would never knowingly admit anyone less than a pure-blood into their midst...her clandestine father must have been secretly half-blooded."

Sharla blew a raspberry. "A pure-blood order that doesn't test for pure-bloods? No wonder they never got anything done."

Melia shrugged. "The DNA analyser within the Tomb is the only foolproof test, and it cannot be called on a whim without immediate consequences. DNA research by the populace has been banned for as long as history records, for reasons which are now obvious. I would presume the only tests they conducted were more occult than scientific."

"All right, let's get outta here," said Reyn. "Ditch this sauna and get back to Colony 6."

There was assent from most of the others as they started to leave.

"Friends wait." Riki was pawing around in a patch of dirt.

Dunban didn't seem impressed. "Riki, what are you going on about now?"

"Ah-ha!"

Riki pulled something out of the chewed-up ground that looked a lot like a collapsed ether staff. It was caked in large chunks of fresh soil.

Melia was surprised. It wasn't unusual to find Telethia hoarding weapons, but for one to have buried something was a new development. It was lucky that Riki had noticed that the ground was recently disturbed; she'd never have sensed it encased in earth with all the ether nearby still unsettled from the recent battle.

Riki banged the staff on the ground to knock the dirt off, which accidentally extended it and made him lose his grip.

Melia looked over what was visible of the staff. It was similar if not identical in shape to the Imperial Staff, but with the opposite colouration of mostly orange and gold with silver accents. Curious. The Imperial Staff has a unique design that no self-respecting craftsman would attempt to replicate. So how could someone have done so with such accuracy, even if they'd had access to it?

"Looks pretty fancy," Sharla commented. "Think it'll be any good?"

"It's difficult to say." Melia moved forward to pick it up. "As much as I would like to allow the Imperial Staff to rest, if I must use an inferior weapon in the mean-"

A jolt passed through her body as she touched the handle. She recoiled a few steps back and stumbled down to the ground, but her hand was wrapped around the handle and could not be pried off. A low rumbling passed through the earth.

"Melia?" Shulk asked. "Are you okay?"

The skies opened up. Thousands of stars, mostly across the zenith, were suddenly brightly visible in the daylight, shining through the seas and landmasses above.

"It is her." The unknown voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once, speaking in Hightongue, of an accent that did not feel it had been uttered in untold eons.

"The empress." A second voice, as mysterious as the first, with its own unrecognisable tone.

"The half-blood." Every voice was more different than the last, with dozens upon dozens beginning to speak over each other.

"The ether prodigy."

"The beacon of promise."

"The gifted one."

"The multi-generational ethermistress."

"The defier of our destiny."

"The slayer of Telethia."

"The last of our line." Thousands of voices all spoke the final epithet at once.

The first voice continued alone. "For the true heiress to recover this staff in our world's most desperate hour is a sure sign of what is to come. Use it well, Empress, and do not allow our suffering to be repeated once more."

The stars faded as if they were bright afterimages in one's eye.

"Hello?" Shulk was waving both hands in front of Melia's face by now.

Melia shook her head. It was clear what had happened. "I'm sorry, I...touching the staff caused some sort of ancient imprint to manifest in my mind." She looked back down at the staff. It was suddenly spotless; all the dirt and grime from being buried had been shed, and its gold details now shined brightly.

"Riki heard it too. Many voices, all at same time, saying funny words Riki not understand. Does Melly understand them?"

"...Yes." Melia looked the staff over at all angles; she could feel the same latent energy and personal connection as the Imperial Staff. "I believe they were of the many untold emperors of the past, accepting me as this staff's wielder."

"Ain't that just like the one you already have though?" asked Reyn.

"Somewhat, but..." ...of course. I haven't the faintest idea of how it could be, but it must be it. "The Imperial Staff is a ceremonial tool, usable as a weapon but not intended as one. But this...this is a formidable weapon, to be carried into battle by the emperor himself. This...must be the Emperor Staff. Lost for untold ages, only to be rediscovered in the most dire times."

"It can't have been that lost," Dunban said, "if your mother's Telethia was carrying it."

"...true." The likely answer came moments later. "It must have been stolen and hoarded by the Bionite Order all this time, used in their propaganda of them being the only ones to have the empire's true desires at heart."

Shulk scratched his chin. "You sure it's the Emperor Staff?"

"Of course. No other staff would have this design, or trigger such a reaction from the forefathers."

"So...where's the Empress Staff then?"

Melia looked blankly at Shulk for a moment before her expression changed to bemused understanding. "I suppose they would be one and the same. I don't know whether its name matched the appropriate gender over the ages, or whether it should now."

"How does it feel then?" asked Sharla. "Aside from it being special, what d'you think it'll play like?"

"Hmm..." Melia concentrated on the staff, tuning her ethersense into it while turning it over in her hands. "Aside from its core, there are some ether gems hidden within the staff's construction. A rank five offensive electric gem, and a...no, two defensive water gems, a six and a four. Both tailored for survival, of course, as befitting a ruler's weapon. The combination seems quite strong actually...they complement each other very well."

Reyn put on a face of mock despair. "What? You won't be needin' me to stand in front of you whenever some big ugly just snarls in your direction?"

It used to be that Melia was sensitive about her frailness and would resent any talk of how she needed to be protected. But now, she recognised the team spirit of its discussion - and its banter. "Far from it. I daresay that you are the master of protection from snarls."

"It always feels good to come home after a battle," Dunban mused.

Most of the others nodded. Visiting Alcamoth was rarely a pleasant experience nowadays, and their most recent excursion was the most dangerous one yet - rescuing as many of Melia's possessions as they could carry, followed by fighting the biggest Telethia they had yet encountered and subsequently escaping a dogfight against what seemed like the city's entire population.

Melia was in two minds about the detour she had requested. She much appreciated having the best parts of her familiar wardrobe available again, as well as a decent amount of personal and imperial keepsakes, and it was invigorating to discover that her ship not only had combat capabilities but that they were as exceedingly powerful as its engines. But it had still not quite yet sunk in that she was homeless and might never return to Alcamoth again, and the process of removing things from her chambers that had been there for decades was very surreal.

"Oof." Even with the weight-reducing motivators active, it took Reyn some effort to carry Melia's suitcases. "These going to the room I assume?"

"...I suppose so." Melia hadn't really thought about where to put her stuff; Fiora's room where she and Sharla slept was really the only option. The master bedroom was technically available, but she'd declined Dunban's offer to sleep in his parents' long-untouched room more than once. There was an ancient High Entia ship assimilated into the landscape above Colony 9 that the Homs took ether cylinders from, but she'd had no reason to investigate it closely enough to see whether it had any secure areas, and while not too far away it would still be quite inconvenient to access.

The team moved the rest of the saved goodies inside - a total of two suitcases, a handbag, her ship's return beacon and owner's manual, and a huge sack of cash. Dunban showed a bit of worry that his house now contained what might be more money than the rest of the lower Bionis combined, but it didn't take much work to convince him that no one outside the group would know it was there, and no fool would dare rob the hero of the Homs.

While the move was in progress, Melia sat at the kitchen table, mournfully drumming her fingers across a metal briefcase. It had been regurgitated by the massive Telethia fought on the pinnacle of Alcamoth, subsequently falling into the nearby fountain. She'd opened it at the time only to reveal that it wasn't watertight, and thus was full of disgusting fluids that had to be washed out. From there she'd closed it back up without really looking at the contents and rejoined the others to leave. In the time since, she'd come to the conclusion that the Telethia was that of her ether staff instructor, and thus it was likely to be something of his.

It didn't take long for everyone else to take a seat at the table.

Melia looked up. "...I see everyone has gathered to join me in this imminent reveal."

"Riki so excited! Riki loves surprises!"

"Don't get too up, fuzzball," Reyn said. "Could be a bunch of papers for all we know, and the gunk'll have them wrecked."

Without waiting for further debate or fanfare, Melia unlatched the case and carefully lifted the lid. It was still damp inside and smelled bad, but it was now fairly clean. Amongst a mess of pulped paper were two objects, a stone and a sealed jar; the way they were mostly coated in yellowish paper remnants suggested they had been wrapped, while the white paper bits were more fragmented and scattered.

Oh my word. Stunned, Melia carefully reached for the stone, a deep red rock with irregular faceting, and cleaned the pulp off it.

Sharla seemed to be the only other one who was impressed. "Is...is that a bloodstone?"

"It must be." Melia slowly turned it over in her hand. Its perfectly flat faces glinted in the light, and it was just transparent enough to see silhouettes through it.

"Th-that's huge!" Sharla was correct; most bloodstones of such quality were no bigger than two centimetres, but this one was over five times that.

"Indeed. Likely hidden within an imperial cache, for a great long while."

"Uh...someone mind cluein' me in?" asked Reyn.

Dunban was first to answer. "Bloodstones are a rare precious crystal material. They used to be used as weapon catalysts long ago. But they have no power until soaked with a person's blood, and they only work well with that one person, so they were never much popular and we stopped using them. I imagine the High Entia did the same."

"You are correct." Melia took the bits of paper and assembled its legible fragments out over the table as best she could. "From what I can tell, this appears to be a craft order for an ether staff. There is too much damage to be sure, but I strongly suspect it was to be for me. And if that is the case..." She removed the jar from the case. "...then this must also be mine."

Freeing the jar from the case revealed it was filled to the brim with blood, enough to completely immerse the bloodstone in. A few disgusted looks flashed around the table.

"...shouldn't you know if that's yours?" asked Shulk. "Not even in a mystic way, I mean, wouldn't you remember giving or losing that much blood?"

Melia frowned as she inspected the jar. Where could it have come from? It certainly couldn't be anywhere in recent memory. It wasn't until she saw the bottom of the jar, with a date taped on, that she figured it out.

"This...is from the assassination attempt I told you about. The one where my arm was slashed in the training rooms. I did bleed copiously at the time...though I never would have thought anyone would collect it." Could they have had this in mind even then? It seems impossible, given I had not even reached the age to own a staff at all yet, and to present a bloodstone staff as one's first...perhaps it was for medical precautions that turned out to be unnecessary?

Shulk leaned in towards the bloodstone on the table. "So...if you think this was to make a new staff for you, are you going to ask someone to do it?"

"Well..." She considered the question for a moment. "To work with a bloodstone is no easy task, let alone do so in the necessary fashion to form an ether staff. I would not trust it to any but the most skilled of craftsmen. And unfortunately, they are currently in short supply."

"...oh." Shulk's expression was difficult to resolve. "You'll keep all this until you decide for sure though, right?"

"Absolutely. There is no need to dispose of these rare materials. Perhaps one day, they may be machined into a grand staff. But not now." Melia replaced the items into the case and threw away the paper fragments. "After all, having reclaimed the Emperor Staff, I have no need for a new one."

"You mean the Empress Staff." Shulk had made it a habit to correct her on the name.

"Yes, of course." Melia had only ever heard of it as the "Emperor Staff", so it was hard to make the mental switch.

Shulk continued to focus on the staff components until the case was closed.

It can't be that hard, he thought. All weapons, even the more spiritual ether-based ones, are fundamentally just the right things crafted to the right shape in the right places. I just need to learn how to do it, that's all. But I don't think I can make anything better than what she's got. Something a Homs made after a few years of practice can't compare to a family masterwork from long ago. Still, it'll be a cool new challenge, something other than just a blade or gun. I wonder what other sorts of weapons the High Entia have? They won't be able to get a lot of new ones for a while, but maybe I could help them out when I get the chance.