Uniting the Nations

Is it a Burns episode?

It's so inconsequential that I'm just gonna skim it. Burns was chased out of town because everyone thinks he killed a girl. He used to be a loving and talkative boy until he joined a quasi anti Tren group/gang, so I suspect the issue lies somewhere with them. Everyone hates him, so Xero gets beaten up until Burns "saves" him. And then he doesn't fight back, but he does finally speak. "I'm sorry." And just like that, it's over.

The sun is setting as we leave Teyton, so we camp out for the night in a forest to the south. While we sit around the campfire, Enda tries to cheer everyone up from yesterday's events. Ya know, when we saw all our comrades slaughtered by a demigod? Xero begins his "emo" phase and starts to wonder if Barclyss is right. Enda says that she survives/fights to make sure others don't have to. And then everyone else gives their reasons.
Xero fights because he's got no choice and nowhere else to go. And then Enda convinces him to fight for "we."
Sandra fights because she wants to sail.
Asera fights to further science.
Slash thinks this is dumb but eventually says the same thing as Enda.
Throng fights to share poetry, and everyone thinks he's bad, so he keeps lowering his goal.
At one point, Sandra and Burns have a pose off, which ruins the man even more.

After this, they hit the hey. But Xero is still up. He walks over to a sleeping Enda and places the Future Stone on her head. It's a vision of the two of them sitting peacefully behind a log. But the tint is blue... Slash is awake and notices Xero's reaction. He asks, but Xero lies. The boy eventually runs off, but this stirs Enda. Slash tells her to let him go so he can think, but she ignores him. During the chase, Xero wants her to leave her alone. Ever the strong willed, this just encourages Enda on. At the apex, a strong argument ensues. The two begin to charge spells, and we get the sense a fight is about the happen. The savepoint before this further indicates this. However, they decide to embrace for a very long time. I can't tell due to pixel graphics, but I think they're kissing. The fight ends, obviously, and they make up. Each apologizes, saying that they suddenly feel better. Xero is over seeing his mom zombified and is prepared to go forward. As they return to the site, the Guide says that this changes things.

South of this is Fort Shaul. It looks destroyed, but Slash says it's an active area. Inside are more ruins and bats. We have to find three levers to get deeper. One is on screen one, and the other two are in the second. Use Burns' shockwave field skill to destroy rocks to reach treasure. In the third room, we get surrounded by Tren soldiers and meet their General, Shiang. Slash tries to convince her to join forces against Barclyss, but she doesn't see it and throws us in jail.

Eventually, a guard comes to bring Slash to Shiang for a more detailed explanation. Shiang doesn't think he's Slash because he's leading children, and she has no clue what Barclyss is doing. But it could be the Abyss Crystal. We cut back to the others as a young girl with pink hair gives us food. A few of the party get the feeling she resembles someone... So Throng phantoms through the bars and frees everyone. At this point, we split the group.
Slash jeeps talking to Shiang.
Enda and Throng run a stealth mission to find the girl. They sneak past guards, kick one in the shin after more pedo talk, and throw one out the window. But they reach the girl, Eidol, who says she has been trying to forget events of her past. A young child with PTSD...
Xero and the others climb to the rafters to listen in on Slash and Shiang. Along the way, we fight spiders and get into a boss fight.
Pid works like Sphereimorph from FFX. The blob changes its weakness at will, but that weakness is the only way to harm it. We're very limited in elements here, but use what you can, have Asera powder Xero's sword, and charge up for his link command when it's weak to lightning.

The fighting breaks the rafters, and we fall onto the meeting. Guards bring Enda and Throng in afterwards, and Shiang gets annoyed. But, she recognizes what's up and offers her aid. She lets us go but demands we take Eidol with us. She's more likely to find her past with us than cooped up here. The fort turns into a town, and we make our way north to Hayama. Radiant three balloon monster rays along the way to give to a woman at Mizora Shine. Wrap around the cliff to reach Hayama City, which I'll do...

...tomorrow!

I'm kinda starting to lose the plot here. We're almost done, though, so I'll stay around. I was hoping this would have been a short game, but that idea is out the window. I have an idea about the twist, and I'm kinda dreading it.