Xenoblade Chronicles: Rise of the Skywalker

Chapter 7

Deep in Makna Forest, a young girl and four soldiers, who appear to be her servants, fight a Large Telethia. The soldiers are killed and the girl is depleted of much of her ether, slipping into unconsciousness. The group find her unconscious and ether-deficient, and Sora realizes that she is present in her vision of defeating Metal Face. She also has a vision of fighting a huge Telethia with her. The group move her to shelter, where Pauline deciphers her condition and realizes she needs Water Ether Crytals, which can be found near waterfalls. Murasame notes there is a waterfall back at the entrance to Makna Forest, so Sora decides to go there alone.

Arriving at the waterfall, Sora is confronted by the man seen communicating with the Telethia, who also appeared in Sora's dream in Tephra Cave. The man reveals himself to be a Homs named Akise, and that Sora is "famous amongst all Homs". They are attacked by four . Sora tries to defeat them using visions, but the Telethia know her moves, and she is knocked down twice. Alvis tells Sora that Telethia can read people's minds, rendering Sora's visions moot. The only way to defeat them is to this ability Purge; Akise picks up the Monado, unlocks the symbol, and kills one of the Telethia himself, to Sora's amazement. He and Sora destroy all the Telethia, but Akise says they were merely Telethia spawn, and the real problem is resting after being "wounded by a girl". He adds that the Monado is capable of manipulating ether. Sora asks how he knows so much about the Monado and how he can use it.

Before Akise answers, Kotaro appears, looking for Sora. When Sora looks back she finds that Akise has disappeared, and Kotaro assumes Sora to be making things up. Akise is revealed to watch them leave from afar. Sora and Kotaro return to the party, and Pauline uses the ether crystals to shoot ether into the air, reviving the girl. Sora puts a hand on her arm to comfort her, causing her to slap her in retaliation. She introduces herself as Claire, but refuses to say why she is in the forest alone. Despite this, she decides to repay the group for rescuing her by showing them the way to the Bionis' head via.

To get there, the group has to go to frontier Village, a city inside a giant tree where live. The Nopon refer to Claire as "Bird Lady". When inside, Claire asks the Nopon ruler Chief Pebbles to grant them access to Eryth Sea, and then leaves with a sombre attitude. Concerned for her thoughts, Sora goes to talk to her.

Sora meets up with Claire, who mutters to herself about a thing that escaped from her homeland that she needs to destroy. Remembering Akise mention the wounded Telethia, Sora confronts her about the topic, and is correct. She also tells her about how she defeated Telethia at the lake, and also about her visions, although she does not believe the latter. Sora and the rest of the group then offer to help her defeat the Telethia, but she declines. Pebbles, however, persuades her to agree, and as a bonus, he will even send the village's "Heropon" (finest warrior), whom he is preparing at the moment, to aid them.

At the meeting place Pebbles introduces the Heropon, Darwin, to the party. Although at first they find him underwhelming (he knows little about the "Dinobeast", and expects the group to get his equipment for him), it is later revealed that the only reason Darwin is the Heropon is because if he does this quest, he will be forgiven of several debts he owes the community. He does know a place where the Telethia could be - a large batch of ether crystals deep in Makna Forest - so the group heads there first.

Arriving at the area, the group discovers it in ruin, as Telethia has absorbed so much ether that the surrounding area falters in stability. As Claire starts pondering about the Monado's abilities, they are suddenly attacked by the Telethia. They manage to weaken it sufficiently, but in the middle of the battle, they discover that the Telethia also has regenerative powers. The group is shocked at this revelation, and Claire almost gives up, but Sora reinstates her confidence in herself, and she subsequently develops slight feelings for her. Claire is able to bombard the Telethia with so much energy that it implodes, making her mission a success.

Back at Frontier Village, the group begins to say goodbye to the forgiven Darwin, but Pebbles instead has Darwin permanently join the group for Prison Island. The group also discovers that Darwin is much older than they thought, having a wife named Misato Kurihara and eleven children. As the group makes preparations, Melia reveals that they will need imperial sanction by the High Entian emperor to get to Prison Island. They get to Eryth Sea via a pod shaped like a bubble that Kotaro finds uncomfortable.