(no subject)
Mun Name: Unkie
Livejournal Username: vesperia
E-mail: lani.ofcarthage at gmail dot com
AIM/MSN: AIM: croaseraph
Current Characters at Luceti: Mikado Ryugamine (dragons_peak)
Character Name: Shing Meteoryte
Fandom: Tales of Hearts
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Time Period: Just before landing in Quartia
Wing Color: White
*NOTE: The romanizations I'll be using for this game will be a combination of my own, the official ones, and those used by GreenFire1's walkthrough on GameFAQs (which I am too lazy to link to). So some of the names you see in this history will not be the same. For consistencies sake, I'll be saying Richea instead of Lithia. All subject to change in the case of an English localization.
History: Usually a character's history begins upon their birth. But no, not Shing. The most pivotal point in his lifetime occurred before he was even born. His grandfather Zex and mother Donna were both considered something like heroes for their time, strong users of a certain weapon called "Soma," which sort of reflects the user's Spiria, or mind/feelings/soul/heart etc. But anyway, Zex and Donna (who was pregnant with Shing at the time) and their companions were fighting a terrible menace who wanted to destroy the world, called Creed. Unfortunately, Creed, being all-powerful, gained the upper hand and was about to defeat them all, when in an instant Donna decided to seal his Spiria within her unborn baby. Both Zex and Donna were very devastated because the fact that this menace was inside this precious baby, but they both believed that Shing's Spiria wouldn't give in to Creed, unlike the previous vessel (who went absolutely crazy).
So Shing was born and raised in the quiet, distant fishing village of Seable, with his grandfather; Donna died of illness when he was young. Almost every day he practiced swordplay with him in the hopes that one day, he'd be able to inherit his grandfather's Soma, Asteria, and be strong like him. Zex always told him the key to a strong Spiria was to not let your emotions all spill out at once, and once he knew he truly had a strong Spiria he would let Shing handle Soma. He also never let Shing leave the village, so that he'd be able to concentrate on raising his Spiria. Though part of that reason may be that Creed inside of him fed off of his hatred and anger, and the more Shing would hate and be angry, the easier it would be for Creed to take over his Spiria and/or break it. Shing always wondered why he could never leave; if he never got to experience the world, then how would he be able to make his Spiria strong?
But, as fate would have it, there was a day when a man from the next town over came asking for Zex to look at a girl who was suspected to have this disease called Despir, which was a contamination of the Spiria by monsters called Zerom that feed off of Spiria, sooo Zex left town. Not too long after Shing found a brother and sister washed up on shore. A girl looking for Zex to obtain Soma and her... over protective older brother. Kohaku and Hisui. Hmm. So Shing took Asteria with him, and lead them to a shrine where his mother's Soma was being kept so he could give it to Kohaku. OH, BUT AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, a magician named Incarose appeared and infected Kohaku's Spiria, putting her into a coma. Zex showed up in time before Shing was going to get hurt, and took the blow for him. That pissed Shing off quite a lot--note the purple rage aura that surrounds him as he attacks Incarose.
With the help of Hisui, they manage to escape. Zex is dying, and Kohaku's in a coma. Gramps is in a bad situation, but Shing decides he can help out Kohaku by Spirlinking with her! AKA, going inside her Spiria and see what's up. So with the help of his Soma, he enters her Spiria and comes across the strange monsters Zerom, which he had only heard of in fairytales up until then. No biggie. He gets to the middle of Kohaku's Spiria and finds this green-haired chick guarding her Spirune, the core of the Spiria. Also: green-haired chicks=a girl from a fairytale. Shing is confused. Also, angry. This chick could be hurting Kohaku somehow! In a crazy bit of confusion, Shing gets all pissed again and the next thing he knows, Kohaku's Spirune has been shattered and the fragments scattered across the world. Wonderful. He's thrown out of Kohaku's Spiria and Hisui starts beating him up. Kohaku suddenly awakens, but she's like a robot, almost emotionless. She begs Hisui to stop, and in Zex's final breaths he explains that not all her Spirune were lost, hence the fact that she is awake, and that if they return the other 9 she'd be good as new. He also has Shing promise him he'd raise a strong Spiria. And now Zex is dead.
Hisui gets ready to set out with Kohaku to get her Spirune back but Shing asks to follow, since he believes it's his fault so it's his duty to return it to normal. After some persuasion Hisui agrees, and they follow Kohaku's Spirune detection laser to the next town Cunos. Shing gets REALLY EXCITED because it's his first town he's seen before that's not his hometown. They come across a scene in town of a traveling merchant being harassed by a customer, but she mentions Soma and they immediately become interested. The angry customer is about to attack the merchant but Shing intervenes. The merchant reveals herself as a lady named Innes, and that if they need anything, to just come find her. That taken care of, they run across a lady named Uran who is supposed to have Despir but she's out and about. Strange! They follow her, and find out that she faked it to get attention from the guy she likes... who actually has Despir. He ran in fear to the nearby cave. Of course, the natural response is to follow him (Without Hisui selling his soul to get himself a Soma from Innes first).
They follow him and turns out he's got one of Kohaku's Spirune! The solution: Spirlink. They successfully recover the Fear Spirune and Kohaku is now totally freaked out! Yay! After returning the guy to the town it's time to head to the next location: south to Henzella, the merchant town. But not so fast, on the way there they're almost attacked by monsters when a member of the Crystal Knights, Chalcedony, comes to their rescue. When they arrive, they decide to go find out some info, and are almost tricked by some merchants when an employee from the big trading firm, Chen, come to their rescue. She takes them to Chen the big shot himself. Chen asks them to act as their bodyguards for the time being since there's another crazy Soma user out there after his life. Speak of the devil! That crazy Soma user herself pops up and starts threatening all their lives. But luck would have it, she has a Spirune. After her!
She says her name is Beryl and she doesn't trust anyone. Suspicious. Spirlink Time. Turns out she's got the Doubt Spirune. They take it from her and head to the inn. But of course, while Shing and Hisui are arguing over whether to return it to her or not, Kohaku gets kidnapped by some strange girl named Peridot. She left a ransom note stating she's taken her to a mountain named Grim. Luckily, Beryl pops up again offering to guide them there, so they take her along. They find the two girls at the top of the mountain and Peridot demands them to hand over the Spirune. Of course not! While her guard is down, Beryl returns the Spirune to her. And cue Kohaku freak out again. They fight Peridot and chase her away, but that battle wasn't so good for the ground... it begins to collapse. Kohaku is stuck on a ledge, and Shing jumps to her rescue. He says to her that doubt is just the feeling of wanting to believe, and that doubt and trust are two sides to the same emotion; it's all right to trust him (he'll save her!!). She reluctantly agrees and the four head back down the mountain.
Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser goes off again which means it's time to head to the next continent. Beryl decides to travel with them and they stop at the town of hotsprings, Guse. The people were saying some strange things so they decide to ask this girl, Sasha, who's willing to help them out. She reluctantly admits that not too long ago, everyone was so shy and embarrassed to the point they refused to leave their own homes, but some kind Knights came by and cured it for everyone, and as thanks they let them into the hot springs for free. Upon inspection they find Peridot, Chalcedony and another knight, Byrocks. They were the ones who cured this town's Despir! They start picking fights until Hisui gets hurt. The town mayor is very displeased and ask them to leave. Shing is incredibly determined to hunt Chalcedony down and get that Spirune back from him, so it's time to chase them to the capital! On their way out they encounter Innes again who tells them of a shortcut to the city through the mountains.
On the other side of the mountains they find Chalcedony and co., Shing picks a fight, and Cal calls him a child for trying something so bold. After the fight he finds a pendant on the floor. Must be Cal's, it comes in an important role later. They arrive at the capital Estrega and find Cal being mocked by some soldiers from the Imperial Military. Shing jumps to action when Cal's about to swing at them in raeg, telling him that doing that will just damage his Spiria. Some more Crystal Knights show up and Shing is promptly captured. Good job.
His Soma is confiscated and he's taken to meet with the head of the church: Labrado, Chalcedony's father. Labrado suddenly recognizes Shing as Zex's grandson and his attitude towards him suddenly becomes kinder. He asks Shing to join the Knights because of his proficiency with Soma, but Shing refuses. And just at that, the head of the Military, Grossular, and his henchman Cornelvin show up, demanding Labrado to explain the nonsense of the Knights attacking his soldiers. They begin to argue, and Shing makes some offhand comment about them not acting like adults, which results in him being locked up. He gives that pendant he found in the forest back to Cal and waits. Not for long, though--the rest of his party shows up to save him, not only with his Soma but with Kohaku's Spirune, too! They give it back to her and she freaks out a little. Obtained Shyness Spirune.
They exit the holding room and Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser goes off almost immediately, attracting unwanted attention from Grossular, Cornelvin, and Labrado. Labrado suddenly recognizes Kohaku, and the party determines this is a bad thing and they jump. And land on Innes. Innes gives up and decides to follow them (they did, after all, sell her their souls). They'd heard about an outbreak of Despir in the resort city of Shalrowe not too far from there.
Welcome to emo town; wherever the party looks, someone is crying about how much their life sucks and that they should just commit suicide right then and there. This is not good. They find a lady named Marin who seems to be unaffected and they ask her for some possible leads. In reality, she sends them on a wild goose chase of who might have the Spirune and none of them do, because in fact SHE is the one that has it! She's about to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a dam-type thingy when Shing decides to save her by jumping in after her. They Spirlink, recover the Spirune. Give it back to Kohaku. Of course, Kohaku immediately begins to break down crying. They bring Marin back to town and Innes tells them about some strange behavior in Yuraio, the next city over.
Of course it's Despir! At first it doesn't seem like it; everyone's pumped about the upcoming tournament... but it gets a little suspicious when even old people and men who abandoned their wives on their honeymoon start raving about how they're gonna beat everyone up and prove that they're the Worlds No. 1 Hero. They go to check out the tournament, and it turns not that not only is the prize one billion gald, but it's also a trophy with the Spirune embedded in it! Perfect timing, only Shing and Hisui start to argue over who will be Kohaku's hero. Good job men, they split into two seperate teams and enter that way. They both make it through the first round perfectly fine, but the winner from last year, Ahmeth, shows up, hits on Kohaku, and tells them that they'll never be able to beat him, the world's real number one hero!! and the guys get riled up and head to the tower where the final round is supposed to take place.
They reach the top of the tower and there is Ahmeth, who go there pretty much the same time they did...but on an airship. Cheater. They fight for the trophy and of course the party wins, and Ahmeth makes his escape. Shing and Hisui start fighting over the trophy like idiots when monsters start attacking and they're almost knocked off the edge. Kohaku gathers up her guts and saves them from the monsters, and takes the trophy. The guys return Kohaku's Courage Spirune to her and all is well.
...But using Soma with an incomplete Spiria takes a toll on the body, so Kohaku needs rest so they head to the inn. Beryl gets all frustrated because everyone's always talking Kohaku this, Kohaku that, and says she's going out to draw. Shing follows, he can't let a party member run off in frustration by themselves! So it becomes a little date. They're discussing the finer things of art (which Shing has absolutely no grasp on) when guess who shows up?! Incarose. She blasts Shing and begins to torture Beryl in front of him. Not a good idea; his rage aura shows up again (remember this?) and in blind fury, attacks Incarose. Almost immediately after, that military guy Cornelvin shows up again, raving about Despir and Zerom and whatnot, and also shows that he's got a Spirune. Gasp!! The party come to the rescue and Incarose and Cornelvin and his cronies leave. Innes tells them that Cornelvin's base, the Rignatol Garrison, isn't too far from here. He does have the Spirune, we've got no choice!
On the way there, Innes runs off and the party's ambushed and captured by soldiers. Lucky them. They're placed in the Garrison and Cornelvin shows them this robot type thing. He asks, do we know about the Stone Age? Do we know where Soma, Zerom, and these robots came from? Of course, two thousand years ago--the Stone Age! He's about to continue when he's called away on business. Lucky them. Kohaku recites a poem about that and mentions the ancient race, the Quartz, who apparently created Soma, Zerom, etc. They don't wait very long when Innes busts in, ready to bust them out. Whopee!
They find Cornelvin in the center of the garrison, and he's ready to show off his pretty Zerom in tubes. He reveals that he's using Zerom to fuse with people to make the ultimate soldier--ones that don't think rationally and just attack with all their might! Creepy. Innes makes a comment about the size of his genitalia and Cornelvin gets pissed, releasing all of his Zerom soldiers, and runs off. The only solution is to run after him and they find him at the top. He's still pretty pissed and fuses with Zerom himself, and they fight.
After finishing him off, they get the Spirune back and in a moment of hesitation of giving it back, it gets knocked out of Shing's hand. Good going, sir. They're suddenly surrounded by Zerom soldiers when without warning, that robot from earlier shows up and rescues them. Yay! But the party gets split in a sea of soldiers. Innes runs off with Kohaku and the Spirune and tells them to meet her back at the capital. This leaves Shing, Beryl, and Hisui together to catch up with them. They leave the robot dude with the soldiers and make a break for it.
As they leave, they meet this little family, Ove, Cindy, and their daughter Ann, who are headed to the capital, but can't because of heavy security on the road there. They tell the party of the Dosmore Byway, which they would use if it weren't for strong monsters and the out of whack magnetic field there. No problem; the party will escort them! That robot from just now, who calls himself Kunzite, asks to follow them since he believes his mistress is the girl who recited that poem. Okay. He helps them through the forest but ditches them at the end when he knows where to go from there. They make it out and into the city, and come across a scene with Byrocks and Chalcedony threatening Innes and Kohaku for the Spirune. Shing jumps in right on the action! He tells Cal to cut it out because the military is acting suspicious but Cal pays no heed. Shing is a "child," after all. When suddenly, their old buddy Marin pops up with some new threads telling Cal to listen to the party, since they helped her. Cal won't hear it; the Spirune affects him. Byrocks freaks and Spirlinks with him. They have no choice and follow him. (Also, Kunzite joins again.)
While in his Spiria, they find that Cal has another one of Kohaku's Spirune. Sweet! Kunzite snags the first Spirune while he can, but Cal kicks them all out of his Spiria. Kunzite returns the Anger Spirune to Kohaku and she makes some sort of face at Shing and refuses to speak to him. Oops. Luckily, the military shows up, and doesn't like the sight they see. They deem Chalcedony wanted for violent acts against her Majesty (What?! Marin is the Empress?!) and the party for attacking their Rignatol. Cal and Byrocks escape and head to the northern Church base city Pransule, and the party is stuck in Estrega.
Ah, but there's a handyman named Garnet in town who'll do anything if asked. He takes them directly to the military headquarters, has them locked up, but slips them the key and tells them of the sewer exit that leaves the city. Good thinking; they brave the sewers and come out the other end. Kunzite flips when he finds out that Shing broke Kohaku's Spirune and he attacks. Kohaku does her best to stop him and reveals to all of them that it was actually that green-haired girl inside her Spiria, named Lithia (also Kunzite's mistress, also the subject of the very popular fairytale in their world) was the one that broke it, so that she'd be able to run from Incarose when the time came. Hisui calls it BS, he's not one to believe in fairy tales, but Kunzite confirms it as fact. They're all just a little angry at Kohaku for not telling them this, but Shing forgives her, and all is well and time to head to Pransule.
And of course, the main route to the city is blocked. The only option: take the desert. Chances of making it out alive: a thousand to one. As they enter the desert, they all get split up by a sandworm, and Shing is stuck with Kohaku. They try to make it through together but Kohaku gets knocked away by a sandstorm. After a bunch of trekking and trying to find her, Shing eventually starts to give up, thinks it's funny that his final thoughts are of Kohaku, when he suddenly hears her voice in her head, calling for him. A light that looks like Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser shows up through him, but it's not, and it's going through his Soma. ....It's the Soma Link, the link that connects people's Spiria! This brings back Shing's will to live and he treks on and finally finds her. Kohaku eventually tells him about Lithia, who's been in her family for over two thousand years and has been with her since she was born--an existence only inside Spiria that helps keep Zerom sealed away. Handy! Their Soma Link shows up again and they head off... only to find that sandworm again. Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser goes straight into the pit... and they're blown away again. But this time, they're not split up, everyone is reunited! Yay! Energy renewed, they fight the sandworm and finally get back Kohaku's Happiness Spirune.
They're almost to Pransule when they find Ove's family being attacked by Zerom soldiers. They defend them and they agree to sneak the wanted party into the city. Once in, they wander around a bit and are found by Peridot, who challenges them to a fair fight in the cathedral for the Spirune. Of course, Shing accepts! Not like he needs consent from the rest of the party, or anything. So they reach the deepest part of the cathedral and there Cal and co. are waiting for them. The party wins and Cal is about to hand the Spirune back to them when Byrocks jumps, takes it, and gives it to Labrado. Labrado flips a switch and the party is sent down a trap door. Doesn't take much effort to get back up. Cal decides he actually wants to help the party and orders Byrocks to give the Spirune he had back--the Dream Spirune (...). Just then, a church messenger comes in reporting an attack from the military on the city. Oops. Cal tells them they should probably run but Shing can't turn a blind eye to people in trouble!
Some church traitor idiot opened the gate for the soldiers and all the Zerom soldiers rush in. Cal asks the party to help him; of course! They head to Peridot's orphanage and protect the kids and lady in charge there. But something's wrong--some of the kids are missing. We must find the kids! Cal stays behind and the party runs off to the clinic where they might have run off to. Not here. The party also witnesses the surrender of the cathedral, and calcification--which is basically the Spiria being totally eaten sucked out of a person, in this case, Zerom. This happens to all the Zerom soldiers, and they find the kids and take them back to the orphanage.
They report the problems to Cal, and as they're about to escape he tells them that this is probably the last time they'll ever meet. Shing goes, pshaw. We're tied together by fate, not happening any time soon. That taken care of, the party heads to where the next, and last, Spirune is... it's moving? They determine it's on the sea somewhere so they head to the nearest port to find it. Ah, but look who shows up--Garnet! He agrees to get them on a boat somewhere if they can get him this sort of alcohol. No bother, Innes and Kohaku wait with him and they go talk to a nearby merchant but it turns out that alcohol is a fluke (it goes bad when it's moved around too much, no good for boats). They head back and turns out! Innes is a Lieutenant in the Special Corps section of the Military, Garnet is actually Commander Isaac Silver, and they've got Kohaku. Silver takes Kohaku with him and tells Innes to get rid of them.
Innes did all of this for Silver's dream of a peaceful world, and is ready to fight them and get rid of them (also for Silver's dream of a peaceful world). But oh, Innes doesn't know that you shouldn't betray Shing. He starts going on and on about how doing things for someone you love is very admirable, but you don't have to hurt or kill your friends in the process--you can do someone for someone's sake and not have to lie to your friends! Innes won't buy it and begins beating on Shing. He takes every hit and gets pretty beaten. She tells him that she'll kill him for Silver's sake, and delivers a finishing blow. Shing finds this funny--if she really meant it she would have actually killed him that time! He also reminds her of all the times she helped them, and Innes breaks down. He comforts her, and says they should just go together to save Kohaku AND for her to tell Silver how she feels. Good plan; she joins them again.
She knows of a way to sneak into the Special Corps Headquarters, Nibelg, so they head back to Henzella to get a boat. She negotiates with Chen and takes the party into the headquarters. They finally find Kohaku in the basement; she was being tortured by some loser named Strigau, and she's very weak and out of it, but her Spiria's in good health and she's still alive! This pisses off Shing, though. He gets all rage aura-y again and takes out all the Zerom soldiers around them and frees Kohaku. Time to find Silver!
They find him in the very bottom of the base, and he shows them Mother Zerom, a Zerom that gives birth to normal Zerom, and then the portal to the Forest of Thorns, where the actual body of Lithia (the green-haired chick inside Kohaku) rests. If they get all the Spirune back, then Lithia's Spiria will be revived, and they can put her back into her real body and then she can seal away Zerom again! Problem solved. (Yeah, this was explained earlier but I forgot) Oh, Incarose is with Silver, too. Silver calls Incarose a traitor and throws her into the little river nearby since she gave away Zerom-fusion hints to people other than him, and then he himself fuses with a Zerom and they fight.
Silver survives the Zerom fusion and returns the last Spirune willingly. He and Innes are having a touching moment when suddenly, Incarose! She jumps out from her supposed death and stabs Silver. Silver was a good guy; he didn't deserve this! With this reasoning Shing is at his last straw with Incarose, and jumps at her. He vows to kill her for revenge for his grampa and now Silver. Incarose starts to taunt him again, and Shing finally blows a fuse. In a sudden burst of energy, he pins her right up against the wall in an attack that should have completely destroyed her. Wonderful.
Silver dies, but it's time to return the last Spirune. They do so, Kohaku is back to normal, Lithia's Spiria is revived... and Kohaku starts to freak out. Lithia's telling her something... That's not Shing, that's Creed! Incarose did what she was supposed to do--push Shing to his limit so that through his anger and hatred, Creed would be revived completely. And he did. Creed/Shing takes out every member of the party and demands Lithia show herself. He threatens the life of everyone in the party and Kohaku willingly opens the door to the Forest of Thorns for him. He takes Kohaku/Lithia by force into it.
The "Forest of Thorns" actually turns out to be something called Cendrillion, a sort of base for Creed, Lithia, etc (these two are the last known Quartz at this point). Creed brings back more robots like Kunzite (Corundum, Coraseraph) and then takes Kohaku/Lithia to the control room. Lithia starts to beg Creed to stop, saying that they're both responsible for the same sins, but they should try to go about atoning it in a different way. Creed thinks this is nonsense! He's going to go through with his plan. Lithia tries to seal him again, but Creed lols and knocks her away. He puts her Spiria back into her body, completely reviving her. Kohaku tries to call out the real Shing again and he and Creed begin fighting for consciousness. Oh, but Creed doesn't need this useless vessel anymore and stabs "himself" in the gut. Just as he does so, he jumps back into his own body and starts cackling maniacally at Shing's dying body.
The rest of the party shows up just in time, but not in the way you'd imagine--another special corps officer, Strigau, has decided to join Creed and has captured everyone else. Creed thinks this is funny, sends Incarose at them, and gets ready to attack already-dying Shing again. Kohaku won't have any of this and starts up Cendrillion to stop him. Lithia teleports everyone out (minus Kunzite who tries to stay behind and self-destruct but doesn't). They're back and Nibelg but there's no time to putz around. Cendrillion's starting up, and it is in fact a gigantic whale. It sends the party flying in all directions.
When Shing finally comes to, he notices he's washed up on shore with Lithia and Hisui. Right now his concern is finding everyone else. The closest person he feels through Soma Link is Innes. So they head to Henzella and find her there (with Silver's daughter who she saved from Nibelg who's in a coma because she lost her Spirune...). But first! On their way there, they encounter an actualized Zerom. They're supposed to exist only in Spiria, what are they doing irl? They have Lithia explain everything--she's one of the last people of the Quartz race of the planet Quartia, this planet, Celirand's, white moon. On their planet they had highly developed artes, which of course led to constant warfare and the development of Zerom as weapons, etc. However Lithia herself, Creed, and her sister Flora were all idealists who wanted to stop the war. Flora developed Soma, which links people's Spiria, and Creed developed a Queen Zerom, the black moon in Celirand's sky, Gardenia. Gardenia was supposed to suck all the warlike Spiria out of the Quartz, but that sort of backfired and ended up sucking all the Spiria out of the entire planet. It calcified which is why Quartia is white, now. She also explains that Cendrillion seals Zerom, not creates them, and also sealed away Gardenia. Lithia and Creed sealed themselves within Cendrillion and continued to fight each other all this time. Lithia wants to be able to keep the seal on Gardenia, but Creed is working to revive it now since he believes the Spiria of Flora and all the other Quartz are still in there, so he must be stopped!
...But Shing and Hisui deem it "Not Our Problem," ditch Innes and Lithia, and head to find Kohaku. By way of Soma Link, southward they go! They head to the rather unwelcome town of Reiv and find Beryl working there, and a doctor named Tecta who's taking care of Kohaku. Kohaku's all right, and they let the two girls know Lithia's story. They're shocked! Who wouldn't be? The boys let them know about their plan of "Not Our Problem" and this doesn't make Kohaku very happy--the world is in danger, how can they just turn their backs?! Tecta decides to let Kohaku go, since she seems to be recovered, but in return he wants them to go check out this sickly man's Spiria. His name is Zirconia. So in repayment for Kohaku's treatment they Spirlink with him.
Oh, the memories. Turns out this Zirconia guy was not only the previous emperor, Tecta's uncle and Empress Paraiba's father, but also Creed's previous vessel. The party witnesses flashbacks of that time, of Zex, Donna, Kohaku and Hisui's mother Iola, Labrado, and Tecta. Believe it or not, they were a party, fighting Creed! They watch all those scenes of them fighting and watch Lithia's transfer from Iola to Kohaku, and Creed's sealing inside of Shing. And because Zirconia was Creed's previous vessel, he broke. His Spiria was broken completely and now he's in a pretty much vegetative state, repeating only the worlds "Creed Graphite." Creepy, huh?
Finding out the truth, this pisses Shing off. Why didn't Grampa or Mom tell him anything? Why didn't they just kill him on the spot so this Creed business would have never happened?! He begins to get frustrated, and very angry. He runs off. Of course, Kohaku runs after him, trying to calm him down. Shing says that his gramps and mom used to say that his Spiria will never lose to Creed, but it already did. He calls himself weak and gets angry at himself for not being able to keep his promise with his grampa to raise a strong Spiria... His power goes out of control and Kohaku tries to stop him and calm him down. He asks Kohaku if it's okay that he's alive, and she says of course. That does the trick. He gets a hold of himself and noticed how badly burned she is because of him. Beryl and Hisui finally find them, too.
Their happy little reunion doesn't last too long--Creed makes a worldwide announcement that he's released roughly a million Zerom into the world, and the only way he'll stop his plan if someone brings him the head of Lithia. Kohaku decides she's going to stop Creed, and Shing gathers up his guts as well and joins her. Now that's a hero! Hisui thinks they're all ridiculous and leaves.
Shing, Kohaku, and Beryl get on a boat and by way of Soma Link, they finally find Innes with Lithia. But wait a second, Hisui is with them too! Yay, what a party. They decide they need to chase down Cendrillion so they're going to need something that flies. Of course, Ahmeth's airship! Time to head to Yuraio.
They head up a really dangerous mountain and find Kunzite and Croaseraph duking it out. The party reunites with Kunzite and beat up Croaseraph. But of course, he's a robot--he's not going to be beaten that easily. Beryl kicks him while he's down and attacks her, but Kohaku takes it for her. This is a very injured Kohaku. But! The bridge to Yuraio is out. Beryl knows of a small town nearby. Brange, her hometown.
Beryl gets all frustrated because of the constant attention on Kohaku and decides she's not going to travel with them anymore. Shing gave her the option, after all. They're about to leave the village when Despir breaks out! Only Beryl knows this village well enough to tell them where to look. They find the Zerom, defeat the Zerom, and Beryl decides to join them again. Whoo.
Finally, it's to Yuraio. They hunt down Ahmeth and he regrets to tell them that the airship was confiscated by the Military. Go figure. They head to nearby Rignatol Garrison again and find the place completely overrun with Zerom. After a bit of trouble they manage to get their hands on it. They're flying along merrily, actually catching up to Cendrillion, but Creed will have none of that, and sends the airship flying. Everyone manages to land safely, thanks to Lithia's artes, so they try to think of another plan to get Cendrillion to land and stop Creed. Lithia suggests Spirlinking with Cendrillion's pseudo-Spiria to persuade it to land, but it's not possible with her weak Spiria now (think Ion). If she had the support of a few more Soma users, it may be possible. Well, the only Soma users left would be high-ranking Crystal Knights. Time to head to Estrega!
They find Estrega completely closed off. They also find a very injured Peridot who tells them that Chalcedony and Byrocks are being held prisoner in the capital. They can't get through the main gate so they go through the sewers to get Cal. They explain to him what's going on and why they need his power, but he still refuses. He won't run from his fellow Knights! Shing's solution: No problem! Release the Knights and run with them! So they take the sewers back to the other side of town to the church where the rest of the Knights are being held.
Here they find Byrocks and the rest of the Knights. They're apalled to find out the party didn't save Cal--he's going to be executed! All the more reason to hurry. They release everyone else and manage to make it to the execution just as Grossular is about to blast Chalcedony's brains out with Byrock's own gun. Shing deflects the blow, and Grossular is confused as to why his dinky little Soma didn't shatter like the rest of them. Shing tells him a Soma full of feelings won't break! The guys in the military and the knights decide that fighting here would be pointless, so much to Grossular's protest, they withdraw. Shing decides he and Cal should be friends, and now with a party of ten, they head off.
But ten =/= twenty. It's not enough power. Lithia has a plan. The Hearts siblings protest for some reason, but Hisui finally, reluctantly explains to them that he's going to take them to his hidden-in-a-barrier hometown Norquin, where a gigantic psistone exists that has enough power for ten more people. Jolly good. They finally get there and the Hearts auntie is not pleased. She locks all of them up except Hisui and Kohaku. They sit waiting for a while when Hisui and Kohaku finally come to rescue them, and they're out of there. Auntie Hearts is a bit of a nuisance, but nothing they can't handle. On to the rock!
Chalcedoy and company stay behind with Lithia to send the main party up to Cendrillion's Spiria. In the center of it, they find a message left behind by Flora giving the details of the final moments of her life, Gardenia, and Quartia, and begging whoever was watching this message to stop Gardenia. She also left behind a data psistone on all the information of the development of Soma and Gardenia. Handy. But nothing ever goes as planned. As they're about to leave, they run into Strigau again. He tells them he joined Creed because he likes to collect Spirune--they're pretty rocks. He's showing off his collection and one happens to be of Lapis, Silver's comatose daughter! Innes is not happy. They fight.
Upon victory the Soma Link road begins to shrink. Time to flee! But that Link power totally not only drained Lithia and Cal&co., but the gigantic psistone too. No psistone means no Norquin barrier. No barrier means LOTS OF ZEROM. They rush back to the village and defend the village, and gain Auntie Hearts' trust. But problem: Gardenia awakens. It's a gross looking monster. Also, another problem: They still need to get Cendrillion. Kunzite has an idea! Cal's Soma can evolve into a plane, there are only two ingredients needed: a flare horn from a monster, and a Zerom stone... which was in the pendant that Cal had. Too bad he handed it over to have it returned to Paraiba the Empress when he was about to get executed. Oh well, this means it's back to Estrega.
On the way out, Shing notices how Hisui, Kohaku, and Lithia are all enjoying the company of the villagers. Shing's family is all deceased, and he begins to feel a little sad and lonely. Hisui comes over and starts to comfort him, telling him that they're his family now and there's no need to worry. This cheers him up almost immediately and they set out!
They arrive at Estrega and find it's been totally calcified. Cal runs off to find Paraiba. All the buildings are locked but they need to get into the castle! The innkeeper lady finds them outside and takes them in to protect them against the Zerom. She tells them how to get into the castle via the sewer so they can find Her Majesty in the castle. After a bit of Zerom trouble they find her there... only to find that she's been merged with a Zerom, Grossular, and Labrado. Great timing. They beat back the Zerom and Cal manages to free them with the ~*~*~power of love~*~*~ (complete with moment-inappropriate comments from Shing). They tell her the situation, get the pendant, and she announces to the world to unite the Spiria of everyone and work together to protect the world against Gardenia. It's a touching moment, really. After their business in the capital is done, it's time to find that monster with the flare horn.
They head to the Bamel Volcano because the monster is at the bottom of it. Surprise. On the way down, Cal&Co and Shing's party get separated, and they agree to meet at the bottom. Shing's party beats up the monster, get the flare horn and wait for Cal. ...He finally shows up, but he's by himself. Turns out Peridot and Byrocks sacrificed themselves against Incarose to make sure he made it through. Ouch. They manage to evolve his Soma and get him to the nearby town, Guse, to let him rest.
On to Cendrillion! They make it to the space whale, and Kunzite and Lithia figure Creed is headed towards the bridge to teleport to Gardenia. They attempt to follow him but run into Strigau again. They beat him. Not only that, Gardenia activates, starting to suck the Spiria out of everything in Celirand. Grand! Creed also shows up, taunting them, along with Croaseraph and Incarose. Incarose tries to get Shing all riled up again, but he's learned his lesson. This time, he lands a rather powerful attack on Incarose, damaging her eyes. In a fit of rage she blasts a hole in Cendrillion, opening it up to space. It is a space whale, after all. Shing and company get sucked out.
They land in a totally white world, and they're a bit disoriented before they realize that they're not in Celirand anymore, they're actually in Quartia! Kunzite leads them to a nearby former Quartz City. They're a bit shocked when they find the once-lively town completely white and lifeless. Lithia then leads them to the central dome, where she tells them there is still another way to get to Gardenia. She says that if they just get the access pass to the transport system that can put them up to Gardenia, they'll be golden. So they go to her old room and she finds it without any problems, and Beryl finds a robot on the ground who she thinks is Croaseraph, but it's actually his brother Crinoseraph. They think he's calcified too, but upon further investigation he wakes up and actually isn't, then calcifies Lithia. Kunzite explains that he used an arte that took Lithia's spiria from her body and trapped it inside of himself. What's the solution? "Let's Spirlink!"
Instead of the conventional Spirlink they're used to, they find themselves in, essentially, a flashback. The Quartz city they were just in is no longer calcified and everyone is talking about a war. They can't interfere with the events, but the party watches the events of the last hours of Quartia, and follow former Lithia and company as they make the big decision of turning on Gardenia, and as all the spiria of all the people on the planet get sucked out. And when that's finished, they leave the Spirmaze, too.
Personality: Shing. ...I don't even know where to start. Basically, he's incredibly kind. He gives everyone a chance, he'll hear them out and try to make some sort of sense behind their actions. He believes that deep down everyone is good and can be believed in and saved somehow, no matter how drastic their actions--this was his thought process after Kohaku's Aunt locked him up in a cave, and even after they defeated Creed ("I see myself in him!"). He has a mantra: If a person is in trouble, save them. If a beautiful woman is in trouble, save them even if it means your life. He's all into the strong, open Spiria and stuff, so he's willing to help anyone who seems to be troubled to relieve them and open up their Spiria. And the cherry on top is that Shing will absolutely, positively not kill anybody ever. He can "defeat" them, but he knows that killing someone with Soma damages the Spiria, and he can't allow that. He'll never deliver the finishing blow.
He also has endless amounts of optimism and determination that can even be infectious to others. He doesn't give up on his goal, and he knows his goal is doable. Not only is he full of optimism and determination, he's full of curiosity. If he doesn't know something, then he wants to know! He wants to learn! It's only natural after being stuck in one place for so long.
But since he was stuck in one place for so long, he's a bit simple minded... His brain always figures out the fastest and most direct route to any problem and doesn't believe in tactics or whatnot. This leads to a lot of head-on attacks, running into the girls' bath, and jumping off impossibly tall towers... you name it. He also lacks a good bit of tact in speaking and acting in public, too... much to the embarassment of the party and others around him. He also has the tendency to say inappropriate things when they're really, really not necessary.
He has this amazing talent of bringing out the good in people, and persuading them and telling them that they can do good things even though their actions may be totally out of whack. Sometimes it doesn't work on people who are too far out to save, like Creed or Strigau, but most of the time, he acts as a real eye-opener to these people and encourages them build a strong Spiria, like him.
Strengths: Physical/Emotional: Shing is rather strong physically. He attacks really fast and does a good deal of damage as well. But in their world, physical strength = emotional strength. Because Shing is so strong, it's really obvious to those that know that simple equation that Shing has a strong Spiria. While he's done it in the past before, he's learned from his mistakes (another strength), and doesn't let his emotions get the better of him. When he's sad, he won't go into a total emo mode. If he's angry, he won't blindly snap at everything that moves, and so on. In fact, if he's feeling upset or down, he's open about it and is willing to discuss his feelings with other people. He's stated countless times that being able to open up your Spiria to others and tell them how you feel is a sign of strength. But for the most part he's a happy guy, and it's not a front either.
Mental: He's also full of optimism, to the point where Beryl even called it a contagious disease. If he's got a goal in mind, no matter how impossible it seems to be, he knows he can go through with it. The more reckless he is, the better! He doesn't completely ignore the downsides of a situation, he's very well aware of them most of the time, but that gives him even more of a reason to look upward! He also knows how to recognize and learn from mistakes.
Weaknesses: Physical: As far as physical weaknesses go... Shing doesn't have too many. If you count being a bit on the short side for his age (16 and only 5'6), then that may count. He's one of two people in his party who can't cast spells at all, and his defense kind of sucks. Otherwise, he's peachy.
Mental: Most of his weakness lies in the mental department (...). Since he grew up most of his life in a remote village with his grampa, he really never had friends his own age until recently. ...So, he doesn't understand (sexual?) innuendo at all. He also lacks a good bit of tact; usually he says right out what's on his mind which can cause people to get angry at him and/or make the situation really, really awkward. For example... when Chalcedony was confessing his love to Paraiba, he mentions that he's loved her since the day he met her. Paraiba says that's kind of funny, considering she's known him since he was a baby, and even changed his diapers. Shing takes it upon himself to comment, "...She saw." Good job, Shing. He's incredibly naive, and does not think when it comes to some situations. If someone important to him were to jump off a cliff, the solution would to be jump right after them! So, he can be a bit stupid and reckless in that department. He never listens when his party members tell him, "Don't be so reckless," and they know this too... which is the sad part.
Emotional: ...You know, to be honest, I think at this point Shing doesn't really have any emotional weaknesses. He used to get worked up really easily, but now he knows not to do that anymore, and it doesn't happen. He's an emotionally stable, happy guy. Does really, incredibly cheesy count?
Livejournal Username: vesperia
E-mail: lani.ofcarthage at gmail dot com
AIM/MSN: AIM: croaseraph
Current Characters at Luceti: Mikado Ryugamine (dragons_peak)
Character Name: Shing Meteoryte
Fandom: Tales of Hearts
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Time Period: Just before landing in Quartia
Wing Color: White
*NOTE: The romanizations I'll be using for this game will be a combination of my own, the official ones, and those used by GreenFire1's walkthrough on GameFAQs (which I am too lazy to link to). So some of the names you see in this history will not be the same. For consistencies sake, I'll be saying Richea instead of Lithia. All subject to change in the case of an English localization.
History: Usually a character's history begins upon their birth. But no, not Shing. The most pivotal point in his lifetime occurred before he was even born. His grandfather Zex and mother Donna were both considered something like heroes for their time, strong users of a certain weapon called "Soma," which sort of reflects the user's Spiria, or mind/feelings/soul/heart etc. But anyway, Zex and Donna (who was pregnant with Shing at the time) and their companions were fighting a terrible menace who wanted to destroy the world, called Creed. Unfortunately, Creed, being all-powerful, gained the upper hand and was about to defeat them all, when in an instant Donna decided to seal his Spiria within her unborn baby. Both Zex and Donna were very devastated because the fact that this menace was inside this precious baby, but they both believed that Shing's Spiria wouldn't give in to Creed, unlike the previous vessel (who went absolutely crazy).
So Shing was born and raised in the quiet, distant fishing village of Seable, with his grandfather; Donna died of illness when he was young. Almost every day he practiced swordplay with him in the hopes that one day, he'd be able to inherit his grandfather's Soma, Asteria, and be strong like him. Zex always told him the key to a strong Spiria was to not let your emotions all spill out at once, and once he knew he truly had a strong Spiria he would let Shing handle Soma. He also never let Shing leave the village, so that he'd be able to concentrate on raising his Spiria. Though part of that reason may be that Creed inside of him fed off of his hatred and anger, and the more Shing would hate and be angry, the easier it would be for Creed to take over his Spiria and/or break it. Shing always wondered why he could never leave; if he never got to experience the world, then how would he be able to make his Spiria strong?
But, as fate would have it, there was a day when a man from the next town over came asking for Zex to look at a girl who was suspected to have this disease called Despir, which was a contamination of the Spiria by monsters called Zerom that feed off of Spiria, sooo Zex left town. Not too long after Shing found a brother and sister washed up on shore. A girl looking for Zex to obtain Soma and her... over protective older brother. Kohaku and Hisui. Hmm. So Shing took Asteria with him, and lead them to a shrine where his mother's Soma was being kept so he could give it to Kohaku. OH, BUT AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, a magician named Incarose appeared and infected Kohaku's Spiria, putting her into a coma. Zex showed up in time before Shing was going to get hurt, and took the blow for him. That pissed Shing off quite a lot--note the purple rage aura that surrounds him as he attacks Incarose.
With the help of Hisui, they manage to escape. Zex is dying, and Kohaku's in a coma. Gramps is in a bad situation, but Shing decides he can help out Kohaku by Spirlinking with her! AKA, going inside her Spiria and see what's up. So with the help of his Soma, he enters her Spiria and comes across the strange monsters Zerom, which he had only heard of in fairytales up until then. No biggie. He gets to the middle of Kohaku's Spiria and finds this green-haired chick guarding her Spirune, the core of the Spiria. Also: green-haired chicks=a girl from a fairytale. Shing is confused. Also, angry. This chick could be hurting Kohaku somehow! In a crazy bit of confusion, Shing gets all pissed again and the next thing he knows, Kohaku's Spirune has been shattered and the fragments scattered across the world. Wonderful. He's thrown out of Kohaku's Spiria and Hisui starts beating him up. Kohaku suddenly awakens, but she's like a robot, almost emotionless. She begs Hisui to stop, and in Zex's final breaths he explains that not all her Spirune were lost, hence the fact that she is awake, and that if they return the other 9 she'd be good as new. He also has Shing promise him he'd raise a strong Spiria. And now Zex is dead.
Hisui gets ready to set out with Kohaku to get her Spirune back but Shing asks to follow, since he believes it's his fault so it's his duty to return it to normal. After some persuasion Hisui agrees, and they follow Kohaku's Spirune detection laser to the next town Cunos. Shing gets REALLY EXCITED because it's his first town he's seen before that's not his hometown. They come across a scene in town of a traveling merchant being harassed by a customer, but she mentions Soma and they immediately become interested. The angry customer is about to attack the merchant but Shing intervenes. The merchant reveals herself as a lady named Innes, and that if they need anything, to just come find her. That taken care of, they run across a lady named Uran who is supposed to have Despir but she's out and about. Strange! They follow her, and find out that she faked it to get attention from the guy she likes... who actually has Despir. He ran in fear to the nearby cave. Of course, the natural response is to follow him (Without Hisui selling his soul to get himself a Soma from Innes first).
They follow him and turns out he's got one of Kohaku's Spirune! The solution: Spirlink. They successfully recover the Fear Spirune and Kohaku is now totally freaked out! Yay! After returning the guy to the town it's time to head to the next location: south to Henzella, the merchant town. But not so fast, on the way there they're almost attacked by monsters when a member of the Crystal Knights, Chalcedony, comes to their rescue. When they arrive, they decide to go find out some info, and are almost tricked by some merchants when an employee from the big trading firm, Chen, come to their rescue. She takes them to Chen the big shot himself. Chen asks them to act as their bodyguards for the time being since there's another crazy Soma user out there after his life. Speak of the devil! That crazy Soma user herself pops up and starts threatening all their lives. But luck would have it, she has a Spirune. After her!
She says her name is Beryl and she doesn't trust anyone. Suspicious. Spirlink Time. Turns out she's got the Doubt Spirune. They take it from her and head to the inn. But of course, while Shing and Hisui are arguing over whether to return it to her or not, Kohaku gets kidnapped by some strange girl named Peridot. She left a ransom note stating she's taken her to a mountain named Grim. Luckily, Beryl pops up again offering to guide them there, so they take her along. They find the two girls at the top of the mountain and Peridot demands them to hand over the Spirune. Of course not! While her guard is down, Beryl returns the Spirune to her. And cue Kohaku freak out again. They fight Peridot and chase her away, but that battle wasn't so good for the ground... it begins to collapse. Kohaku is stuck on a ledge, and Shing jumps to her rescue. He says to her that doubt is just the feeling of wanting to believe, and that doubt and trust are two sides to the same emotion; it's all right to trust him (he'll save her!!). She reluctantly agrees and the four head back down the mountain.
Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser goes off again which means it's time to head to the next continent. Beryl decides to travel with them and they stop at the town of hotsprings, Guse. The people were saying some strange things so they decide to ask this girl, Sasha, who's willing to help them out. She reluctantly admits that not too long ago, everyone was so shy and embarrassed to the point they refused to leave their own homes, but some kind Knights came by and cured it for everyone, and as thanks they let them into the hot springs for free. Upon inspection they find Peridot, Chalcedony and another knight, Byrocks. They were the ones who cured this town's Despir! They start picking fights until Hisui gets hurt. The town mayor is very displeased and ask them to leave. Shing is incredibly determined to hunt Chalcedony down and get that Spirune back from him, so it's time to chase them to the capital! On their way out they encounter Innes again who tells them of a shortcut to the city through the mountains.
On the other side of the mountains they find Chalcedony and co., Shing picks a fight, and Cal calls him a child for trying something so bold. After the fight he finds a pendant on the floor. Must be Cal's, it comes in an important role later. They arrive at the capital Estrega and find Cal being mocked by some soldiers from the Imperial Military. Shing jumps to action when Cal's about to swing at them in raeg, telling him that doing that will just damage his Spiria. Some more Crystal Knights show up and Shing is promptly captured. Good job.
His Soma is confiscated and he's taken to meet with the head of the church: Labrado, Chalcedony's father. Labrado suddenly recognizes Shing as Zex's grandson and his attitude towards him suddenly becomes kinder. He asks Shing to join the Knights because of his proficiency with Soma, but Shing refuses. And just at that, the head of the Military, Grossular, and his henchman Cornelvin show up, demanding Labrado to explain the nonsense of the Knights attacking his soldiers. They begin to argue, and Shing makes some offhand comment about them not acting like adults, which results in him being locked up. He gives that pendant he found in the forest back to Cal and waits. Not for long, though--the rest of his party shows up to save him, not only with his Soma but with Kohaku's Spirune, too! They give it back to her and she freaks out a little. Obtained Shyness Spirune.
They exit the holding room and Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser goes off almost immediately, attracting unwanted attention from Grossular, Cornelvin, and Labrado. Labrado suddenly recognizes Kohaku, and the party determines this is a bad thing and they jump. And land on Innes. Innes gives up and decides to follow them (they did, after all, sell her their souls). They'd heard about an outbreak of Despir in the resort city of Shalrowe not too far from there.
Welcome to emo town; wherever the party looks, someone is crying about how much their life sucks and that they should just commit suicide right then and there. This is not good. They find a lady named Marin who seems to be unaffected and they ask her for some possible leads. In reality, she sends them on a wild goose chase of who might have the Spirune and none of them do, because in fact SHE is the one that has it! She's about to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a dam-type thingy when Shing decides to save her by jumping in after her. They Spirlink, recover the Spirune. Give it back to Kohaku. Of course, Kohaku immediately begins to break down crying. They bring Marin back to town and Innes tells them about some strange behavior in Yuraio, the next city over.
Of course it's Despir! At first it doesn't seem like it; everyone's pumped about the upcoming tournament... but it gets a little suspicious when even old people and men who abandoned their wives on their honeymoon start raving about how they're gonna beat everyone up and prove that they're the Worlds No. 1 Hero. They go to check out the tournament, and it turns not that not only is the prize one billion gald, but it's also a trophy with the Spirune embedded in it! Perfect timing, only Shing and Hisui start to argue over who will be Kohaku's hero. Good job men, they split into two seperate teams and enter that way. They both make it through the first round perfectly fine, but the winner from last year, Ahmeth, shows up, hits on Kohaku, and tells them that they'll never be able to beat him, the world's real number one hero!! and the guys get riled up and head to the tower where the final round is supposed to take place.
They reach the top of the tower and there is Ahmeth, who go there pretty much the same time they did...but on an airship. Cheater. They fight for the trophy and of course the party wins, and Ahmeth makes his escape. Shing and Hisui start fighting over the trophy like idiots when monsters start attacking and they're almost knocked off the edge. Kohaku gathers up her guts and saves them from the monsters, and takes the trophy. The guys return Kohaku's Courage Spirune to her and all is well.
...But using Soma with an incomplete Spiria takes a toll on the body, so Kohaku needs rest so they head to the inn. Beryl gets all frustrated because everyone's always talking Kohaku this, Kohaku that, and says she's going out to draw. Shing follows, he can't let a party member run off in frustration by themselves! So it becomes a little date. They're discussing the finer things of art (which Shing has absolutely no grasp on) when guess who shows up?! Incarose. She blasts Shing and begins to torture Beryl in front of him. Not a good idea; his rage aura shows up again (remember this?) and in blind fury, attacks Incarose. Almost immediately after, that military guy Cornelvin shows up again, raving about Despir and Zerom and whatnot, and also shows that he's got a Spirune. Gasp!! The party come to the rescue and Incarose and Cornelvin and his cronies leave. Innes tells them that Cornelvin's base, the Rignatol Garrison, isn't too far from here. He does have the Spirune, we've got no choice!
On the way there, Innes runs off and the party's ambushed and captured by soldiers. Lucky them. They're placed in the Garrison and Cornelvin shows them this robot type thing. He asks, do we know about the Stone Age? Do we know where Soma, Zerom, and these robots came from? Of course, two thousand years ago--the Stone Age! He's about to continue when he's called away on business. Lucky them. Kohaku recites a poem about that and mentions the ancient race, the Quartz, who apparently created Soma, Zerom, etc. They don't wait very long when Innes busts in, ready to bust them out. Whopee!
They find Cornelvin in the center of the garrison, and he's ready to show off his pretty Zerom in tubes. He reveals that he's using Zerom to fuse with people to make the ultimate soldier--ones that don't think rationally and just attack with all their might! Creepy. Innes makes a comment about the size of his genitalia and Cornelvin gets pissed, releasing all of his Zerom soldiers, and runs off. The only solution is to run after him and they find him at the top. He's still pretty pissed and fuses with Zerom himself, and they fight.
After finishing him off, they get the Spirune back and in a moment of hesitation of giving it back, it gets knocked out of Shing's hand. Good going, sir. They're suddenly surrounded by Zerom soldiers when without warning, that robot from earlier shows up and rescues them. Yay! But the party gets split in a sea of soldiers. Innes runs off with Kohaku and the Spirune and tells them to meet her back at the capital. This leaves Shing, Beryl, and Hisui together to catch up with them. They leave the robot dude with the soldiers and make a break for it.
As they leave, they meet this little family, Ove, Cindy, and their daughter Ann, who are headed to the capital, but can't because of heavy security on the road there. They tell the party of the Dosmore Byway, which they would use if it weren't for strong monsters and the out of whack magnetic field there. No problem; the party will escort them! That robot from just now, who calls himself Kunzite, asks to follow them since he believes his mistress is the girl who recited that poem. Okay. He helps them through the forest but ditches them at the end when he knows where to go from there. They make it out and into the city, and come across a scene with Byrocks and Chalcedony threatening Innes and Kohaku for the Spirune. Shing jumps in right on the action! He tells Cal to cut it out because the military is acting suspicious but Cal pays no heed. Shing is a "child," after all. When suddenly, their old buddy Marin pops up with some new threads telling Cal to listen to the party, since they helped her. Cal won't hear it; the Spirune affects him. Byrocks freaks and Spirlinks with him. They have no choice and follow him. (Also, Kunzite joins again.)
While in his Spiria, they find that Cal has another one of Kohaku's Spirune. Sweet! Kunzite snags the first Spirune while he can, but Cal kicks them all out of his Spiria. Kunzite returns the Anger Spirune to Kohaku and she makes some sort of face at Shing and refuses to speak to him. Oops. Luckily, the military shows up, and doesn't like the sight they see. They deem Chalcedony wanted for violent acts against her Majesty (What?! Marin is the Empress?!) and the party for attacking their Rignatol. Cal and Byrocks escape and head to the northern Church base city Pransule, and the party is stuck in Estrega.
Ah, but there's a handyman named Garnet in town who'll do anything if asked. He takes them directly to the military headquarters, has them locked up, but slips them the key and tells them of the sewer exit that leaves the city. Good thinking; they brave the sewers and come out the other end. Kunzite flips when he finds out that Shing broke Kohaku's Spirune and he attacks. Kohaku does her best to stop him and reveals to all of them that it was actually that green-haired girl inside her Spiria, named Lithia (also Kunzite's mistress, also the subject of the very popular fairytale in their world) was the one that broke it, so that she'd be able to run from Incarose when the time came. Hisui calls it BS, he's not one to believe in fairy tales, but Kunzite confirms it as fact. They're all just a little angry at Kohaku for not telling them this, but Shing forgives her, and all is well and time to head to Pransule.
And of course, the main route to the city is blocked. The only option: take the desert. Chances of making it out alive: a thousand to one. As they enter the desert, they all get split up by a sandworm, and Shing is stuck with Kohaku. They try to make it through together but Kohaku gets knocked away by a sandstorm. After a bunch of trekking and trying to find her, Shing eventually starts to give up, thinks it's funny that his final thoughts are of Kohaku, when he suddenly hears her voice in her head, calling for him. A light that looks like Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser shows up through him, but it's not, and it's going through his Soma. ....It's the Soma Link, the link that connects people's Spiria! This brings back Shing's will to live and he treks on and finally finds her. Kohaku eventually tells him about Lithia, who's been in her family for over two thousand years and has been with her since she was born--an existence only inside Spiria that helps keep Zerom sealed away. Handy! Their Soma Link shows up again and they head off... only to find that sandworm again. Kohaku's Spirune Detection Laser goes straight into the pit... and they're blown away again. But this time, they're not split up, everyone is reunited! Yay! Energy renewed, they fight the sandworm and finally get back Kohaku's Happiness Spirune.
They're almost to Pransule when they find Ove's family being attacked by Zerom soldiers. They defend them and they agree to sneak the wanted party into the city. Once in, they wander around a bit and are found by Peridot, who challenges them to a fair fight in the cathedral for the Spirune. Of course, Shing accepts! Not like he needs consent from the rest of the party, or anything. So they reach the deepest part of the cathedral and there Cal and co. are waiting for them. The party wins and Cal is about to hand the Spirune back to them when Byrocks jumps, takes it, and gives it to Labrado. Labrado flips a switch and the party is sent down a trap door. Doesn't take much effort to get back up. Cal decides he actually wants to help the party and orders Byrocks to give the Spirune he had back--the Dream Spirune (...). Just then, a church messenger comes in reporting an attack from the military on the city. Oops. Cal tells them they should probably run but Shing can't turn a blind eye to people in trouble!
Some church traitor idiot opened the gate for the soldiers and all the Zerom soldiers rush in. Cal asks the party to help him; of course! They head to Peridot's orphanage and protect the kids and lady in charge there. But something's wrong--some of the kids are missing. We must find the kids! Cal stays behind and the party runs off to the clinic where they might have run off to. Not here. The party also witnesses the surrender of the cathedral, and calcification--which is basically the Spiria being totally eaten sucked out of a person, in this case, Zerom. This happens to all the Zerom soldiers, and they find the kids and take them back to the orphanage.
They report the problems to Cal, and as they're about to escape he tells them that this is probably the last time they'll ever meet. Shing goes, pshaw. We're tied together by fate, not happening any time soon. That taken care of, the party heads to where the next, and last, Spirune is... it's moving? They determine it's on the sea somewhere so they head to the nearest port to find it. Ah, but look who shows up--Garnet! He agrees to get them on a boat somewhere if they can get him this sort of alcohol. No bother, Innes and Kohaku wait with him and they go talk to a nearby merchant but it turns out that alcohol is a fluke (it goes bad when it's moved around too much, no good for boats). They head back and turns out! Innes is a Lieutenant in the Special Corps section of the Military, Garnet is actually Commander Isaac Silver, and they've got Kohaku. Silver takes Kohaku with him and tells Innes to get rid of them.
Innes did all of this for Silver's dream of a peaceful world, and is ready to fight them and get rid of them (also for Silver's dream of a peaceful world). But oh, Innes doesn't know that you shouldn't betray Shing. He starts going on and on about how doing things for someone you love is very admirable, but you don't have to hurt or kill your friends in the process--you can do someone for someone's sake and not have to lie to your friends! Innes won't buy it and begins beating on Shing. He takes every hit and gets pretty beaten. She tells him that she'll kill him for Silver's sake, and delivers a finishing blow. Shing finds this funny--if she really meant it she would have actually killed him that time! He also reminds her of all the times she helped them, and Innes breaks down. He comforts her, and says they should just go together to save Kohaku AND for her to tell Silver how she feels. Good plan; she joins them again.
She knows of a way to sneak into the Special Corps Headquarters, Nibelg, so they head back to Henzella to get a boat. She negotiates with Chen and takes the party into the headquarters. They finally find Kohaku in the basement; she was being tortured by some loser named Strigau, and she's very weak and out of it, but her Spiria's in good health and she's still alive! This pisses off Shing, though. He gets all rage aura-y again and takes out all the Zerom soldiers around them and frees Kohaku. Time to find Silver!
They find him in the very bottom of the base, and he shows them Mother Zerom, a Zerom that gives birth to normal Zerom, and then the portal to the Forest of Thorns, where the actual body of Lithia (the green-haired chick inside Kohaku) rests. If they get all the Spirune back, then Lithia's Spiria will be revived, and they can put her back into her real body and then she can seal away Zerom again! Problem solved. (Yeah, this was explained earlier but I forgot) Oh, Incarose is with Silver, too. Silver calls Incarose a traitor and throws her into the little river nearby since she gave away Zerom-fusion hints to people other than him, and then he himself fuses with a Zerom and they fight.
Silver survives the Zerom fusion and returns the last Spirune willingly. He and Innes are having a touching moment when suddenly, Incarose! She jumps out from her supposed death and stabs Silver. Silver was a good guy; he didn't deserve this! With this reasoning Shing is at his last straw with Incarose, and jumps at her. He vows to kill her for revenge for his grampa and now Silver. Incarose starts to taunt him again, and Shing finally blows a fuse. In a sudden burst of energy, he pins her right up against the wall in an attack that should have completely destroyed her. Wonderful.
Silver dies, but it's time to return the last Spirune. They do so, Kohaku is back to normal, Lithia's Spiria is revived... and Kohaku starts to freak out. Lithia's telling her something... That's not Shing, that's Creed! Incarose did what she was supposed to do--push Shing to his limit so that through his anger and hatred, Creed would be revived completely. And he did. Creed/Shing takes out every member of the party and demands Lithia show herself. He threatens the life of everyone in the party and Kohaku willingly opens the door to the Forest of Thorns for him. He takes Kohaku/Lithia by force into it.
The "Forest of Thorns" actually turns out to be something called Cendrillion, a sort of base for Creed, Lithia, etc (these two are the last known Quartz at this point). Creed brings back more robots like Kunzite (Corundum, Coraseraph) and then takes Kohaku/Lithia to the control room. Lithia starts to beg Creed to stop, saying that they're both responsible for the same sins, but they should try to go about atoning it in a different way. Creed thinks this is nonsense! He's going to go through with his plan. Lithia tries to seal him again, but Creed lols and knocks her away. He puts her Spiria back into her body, completely reviving her. Kohaku tries to call out the real Shing again and he and Creed begin fighting for consciousness. Oh, but Creed doesn't need this useless vessel anymore and stabs "himself" in the gut. Just as he does so, he jumps back into his own body and starts cackling maniacally at Shing's dying body.
The rest of the party shows up just in time, but not in the way you'd imagine--another special corps officer, Strigau, has decided to join Creed and has captured everyone else. Creed thinks this is funny, sends Incarose at them, and gets ready to attack already-dying Shing again. Kohaku won't have any of this and starts up Cendrillion to stop him. Lithia teleports everyone out (minus Kunzite who tries to stay behind and self-destruct but doesn't). They're back and Nibelg but there's no time to putz around. Cendrillion's starting up, and it is in fact a gigantic whale. It sends the party flying in all directions.
When Shing finally comes to, he notices he's washed up on shore with Lithia and Hisui. Right now his concern is finding everyone else. The closest person he feels through Soma Link is Innes. So they head to Henzella and find her there (with Silver's daughter who she saved from Nibelg who's in a coma because she lost her Spirune...). But first! On their way there, they encounter an actualized Zerom. They're supposed to exist only in Spiria, what are they doing irl? They have Lithia explain everything--she's one of the last people of the Quartz race of the planet Quartia, this planet, Celirand's, white moon. On their planet they had highly developed artes, which of course led to constant warfare and the development of Zerom as weapons, etc. However Lithia herself, Creed, and her sister Flora were all idealists who wanted to stop the war. Flora developed Soma, which links people's Spiria, and Creed developed a Queen Zerom, the black moon in Celirand's sky, Gardenia. Gardenia was supposed to suck all the warlike Spiria out of the Quartz, but that sort of backfired and ended up sucking all the Spiria out of the entire planet. It calcified which is why Quartia is white, now. She also explains that Cendrillion seals Zerom, not creates them, and also sealed away Gardenia. Lithia and Creed sealed themselves within Cendrillion and continued to fight each other all this time. Lithia wants to be able to keep the seal on Gardenia, but Creed is working to revive it now since he believes the Spiria of Flora and all the other Quartz are still in there, so he must be stopped!
...But Shing and Hisui deem it "Not Our Problem," ditch Innes and Lithia, and head to find Kohaku. By way of Soma Link, southward they go! They head to the rather unwelcome town of Reiv and find Beryl working there, and a doctor named Tecta who's taking care of Kohaku. Kohaku's all right, and they let the two girls know Lithia's story. They're shocked! Who wouldn't be? The boys let them know about their plan of "Not Our Problem" and this doesn't make Kohaku very happy--the world is in danger, how can they just turn their backs?! Tecta decides to let Kohaku go, since she seems to be recovered, but in return he wants them to go check out this sickly man's Spiria. His name is Zirconia. So in repayment for Kohaku's treatment they Spirlink with him.
Oh, the memories. Turns out this Zirconia guy was not only the previous emperor, Tecta's uncle and Empress Paraiba's father, but also Creed's previous vessel. The party witnesses flashbacks of that time, of Zex, Donna, Kohaku and Hisui's mother Iola, Labrado, and Tecta. Believe it or not, they were a party, fighting Creed! They watch all those scenes of them fighting and watch Lithia's transfer from Iola to Kohaku, and Creed's sealing inside of Shing. And because Zirconia was Creed's previous vessel, he broke. His Spiria was broken completely and now he's in a pretty much vegetative state, repeating only the worlds "Creed Graphite." Creepy, huh?
Finding out the truth, this pisses Shing off. Why didn't Grampa or Mom tell him anything? Why didn't they just kill him on the spot so this Creed business would have never happened?! He begins to get frustrated, and very angry. He runs off. Of course, Kohaku runs after him, trying to calm him down. Shing says that his gramps and mom used to say that his Spiria will never lose to Creed, but it already did. He calls himself weak and gets angry at himself for not being able to keep his promise with his grampa to raise a strong Spiria... His power goes out of control and Kohaku tries to stop him and calm him down. He asks Kohaku if it's okay that he's alive, and she says of course. That does the trick. He gets a hold of himself and noticed how badly burned she is because of him. Beryl and Hisui finally find them, too.
Their happy little reunion doesn't last too long--Creed makes a worldwide announcement that he's released roughly a million Zerom into the world, and the only way he'll stop his plan if someone brings him the head of Lithia. Kohaku decides she's going to stop Creed, and Shing gathers up his guts as well and joins her. Now that's a hero! Hisui thinks they're all ridiculous and leaves.
Shing, Kohaku, and Beryl get on a boat and by way of Soma Link, they finally find Innes with Lithia. But wait a second, Hisui is with them too! Yay, what a party. They decide they need to chase down Cendrillion so they're going to need something that flies. Of course, Ahmeth's airship! Time to head to Yuraio.
They head up a really dangerous mountain and find Kunzite and Croaseraph duking it out. The party reunites with Kunzite and beat up Croaseraph. But of course, he's a robot--he's not going to be beaten that easily. Beryl kicks him while he's down and attacks her, but Kohaku takes it for her. This is a very injured Kohaku. But! The bridge to Yuraio is out. Beryl knows of a small town nearby. Brange, her hometown.
Beryl gets all frustrated because of the constant attention on Kohaku and decides she's not going to travel with them anymore. Shing gave her the option, after all. They're about to leave the village when Despir breaks out! Only Beryl knows this village well enough to tell them where to look. They find the Zerom, defeat the Zerom, and Beryl decides to join them again. Whoo.
Finally, it's to Yuraio. They hunt down Ahmeth and he regrets to tell them that the airship was confiscated by the Military. Go figure. They head to nearby Rignatol Garrison again and find the place completely overrun with Zerom. After a bit of trouble they manage to get their hands on it. They're flying along merrily, actually catching up to Cendrillion, but Creed will have none of that, and sends the airship flying. Everyone manages to land safely, thanks to Lithia's artes, so they try to think of another plan to get Cendrillion to land and stop Creed. Lithia suggests Spirlinking with Cendrillion's pseudo-Spiria to persuade it to land, but it's not possible with her weak Spiria now (think Ion). If she had the support of a few more Soma users, it may be possible. Well, the only Soma users left would be high-ranking Crystal Knights. Time to head to Estrega!
They find Estrega completely closed off. They also find a very injured Peridot who tells them that Chalcedony and Byrocks are being held prisoner in the capital. They can't get through the main gate so they go through the sewers to get Cal. They explain to him what's going on and why they need his power, but he still refuses. He won't run from his fellow Knights! Shing's solution: No problem! Release the Knights and run with them! So they take the sewers back to the other side of town to the church where the rest of the Knights are being held.
Here they find Byrocks and the rest of the Knights. They're apalled to find out the party didn't save Cal--he's going to be executed! All the more reason to hurry. They release everyone else and manage to make it to the execution just as Grossular is about to blast Chalcedony's brains out with Byrock's own gun. Shing deflects the blow, and Grossular is confused as to why his dinky little Soma didn't shatter like the rest of them. Shing tells him a Soma full of feelings won't break! The guys in the military and the knights decide that fighting here would be pointless, so much to Grossular's protest, they withdraw. Shing decides he and Cal should be friends, and now with a party of ten, they head off.
But ten =/= twenty. It's not enough power. Lithia has a plan. The Hearts siblings protest for some reason, but Hisui finally, reluctantly explains to them that he's going to take them to his hidden-in-a-barrier hometown Norquin, where a gigantic psistone exists that has enough power for ten more people. Jolly good. They finally get there and the Hearts auntie is not pleased. She locks all of them up except Hisui and Kohaku. They sit waiting for a while when Hisui and Kohaku finally come to rescue them, and they're out of there. Auntie Hearts is a bit of a nuisance, but nothing they can't handle. On to the rock!
Chalcedoy and company stay behind with Lithia to send the main party up to Cendrillion's Spiria. In the center of it, they find a message left behind by Flora giving the details of the final moments of her life, Gardenia, and Quartia, and begging whoever was watching this message to stop Gardenia. She also left behind a data psistone on all the information of the development of Soma and Gardenia. Handy. But nothing ever goes as planned. As they're about to leave, they run into Strigau again. He tells them he joined Creed because he likes to collect Spirune--they're pretty rocks. He's showing off his collection and one happens to be of Lapis, Silver's comatose daughter! Innes is not happy. They fight.
Upon victory the Soma Link road begins to shrink. Time to flee! But that Link power totally not only drained Lithia and Cal&co., but the gigantic psistone too. No psistone means no Norquin barrier. No barrier means LOTS OF ZEROM. They rush back to the village and defend the village, and gain Auntie Hearts' trust. But problem: Gardenia awakens. It's a gross looking monster. Also, another problem: They still need to get Cendrillion. Kunzite has an idea! Cal's Soma can evolve into a plane, there are only two ingredients needed: a flare horn from a monster, and a Zerom stone... which was in the pendant that Cal had. Too bad he handed it over to have it returned to Paraiba the Empress when he was about to get executed. Oh well, this means it's back to Estrega.
On the way out, Shing notices how Hisui, Kohaku, and Lithia are all enjoying the company of the villagers. Shing's family is all deceased, and he begins to feel a little sad and lonely. Hisui comes over and starts to comfort him, telling him that they're his family now and there's no need to worry. This cheers him up almost immediately and they set out!
They arrive at Estrega and find it's been totally calcified. Cal runs off to find Paraiba. All the buildings are locked but they need to get into the castle! The innkeeper lady finds them outside and takes them in to protect them against the Zerom. She tells them how to get into the castle via the sewer so they can find Her Majesty in the castle. After a bit of Zerom trouble they find her there... only to find that she's been merged with a Zerom, Grossular, and Labrado. Great timing. They beat back the Zerom and Cal manages to free them with the ~*~*~power of love~*~*~ (complete with moment-inappropriate comments from Shing). They tell her the situation, get the pendant, and she announces to the world to unite the Spiria of everyone and work together to protect the world against Gardenia. It's a touching moment, really. After their business in the capital is done, it's time to find that monster with the flare horn.
They head to the Bamel Volcano because the monster is at the bottom of it. Surprise. On the way down, Cal&Co and Shing's party get separated, and they agree to meet at the bottom. Shing's party beats up the monster, get the flare horn and wait for Cal. ...He finally shows up, but he's by himself. Turns out Peridot and Byrocks sacrificed themselves against Incarose to make sure he made it through. Ouch. They manage to evolve his Soma and get him to the nearby town, Guse, to let him rest.
On to Cendrillion! They make it to the space whale, and Kunzite and Lithia figure Creed is headed towards the bridge to teleport to Gardenia. They attempt to follow him but run into Strigau again. They beat him. Not only that, Gardenia activates, starting to suck the Spiria out of everything in Celirand. Grand! Creed also shows up, taunting them, along with Croaseraph and Incarose. Incarose tries to get Shing all riled up again, but he's learned his lesson. This time, he lands a rather powerful attack on Incarose, damaging her eyes. In a fit of rage she blasts a hole in Cendrillion, opening it up to space. It is a space whale, after all. Shing and company get sucked out.
They land in a totally white world, and they're a bit disoriented before they realize that they're not in Celirand anymore, they're actually in Quartia! Kunzite leads them to a nearby former Quartz City. They're a bit shocked when they find the once-lively town completely white and lifeless. Lithia then leads them to the central dome, where she tells them there is still another way to get to Gardenia. She says that if they just get the access pass to the transport system that can put them up to Gardenia, they'll be golden. So they go to her old room and she finds it without any problems, and Beryl finds a robot on the ground who she thinks is Croaseraph, but it's actually his brother Crinoseraph. They think he's calcified too, but upon further investigation he wakes up and actually isn't, then calcifies Lithia. Kunzite explains that he used an arte that took Lithia's spiria from her body and trapped it inside of himself. What's the solution? "Let's Spirlink!"
Instead of the conventional Spirlink they're used to, they find themselves in, essentially, a flashback. The Quartz city they were just in is no longer calcified and everyone is talking about a war. They can't interfere with the events, but the party watches the events of the last hours of Quartia, and follow former Lithia and company as they make the big decision of turning on Gardenia, and as all the spiria of all the people on the planet get sucked out. And when that's finished, they leave the Spirmaze, too.
Personality: Shing. ...I don't even know where to start. Basically, he's incredibly kind. He gives everyone a chance, he'll hear them out and try to make some sort of sense behind their actions. He believes that deep down everyone is good and can be believed in and saved somehow, no matter how drastic their actions--this was his thought process after Kohaku's Aunt locked him up in a cave, and even after they defeated Creed ("I see myself in him!"). He has a mantra: If a person is in trouble, save them. If a beautiful woman is in trouble, save them even if it means your life. He's all into the strong, open Spiria and stuff, so he's willing to help anyone who seems to be troubled to relieve them and open up their Spiria. And the cherry on top is that Shing will absolutely, positively not kill anybody ever. He can "defeat" them, but he knows that killing someone with Soma damages the Spiria, and he can't allow that. He'll never deliver the finishing blow.
He also has endless amounts of optimism and determination that can even be infectious to others. He doesn't give up on his goal, and he knows his goal is doable. Not only is he full of optimism and determination, he's full of curiosity. If he doesn't know something, then he wants to know! He wants to learn! It's only natural after being stuck in one place for so long.
But since he was stuck in one place for so long, he's a bit simple minded... His brain always figures out the fastest and most direct route to any problem and doesn't believe in tactics or whatnot. This leads to a lot of head-on attacks, running into the girls' bath, and jumping off impossibly tall towers... you name it. He also lacks a good bit of tact in speaking and acting in public, too... much to the embarassment of the party and others around him. He also has the tendency to say inappropriate things when they're really, really not necessary.
He has this amazing talent of bringing out the good in people, and persuading them and telling them that they can do good things even though their actions may be totally out of whack. Sometimes it doesn't work on people who are too far out to save, like Creed or Strigau, but most of the time, he acts as a real eye-opener to these people and encourages them build a strong Spiria, like him.
Strengths: Physical/Emotional: Shing is rather strong physically. He attacks really fast and does a good deal of damage as well. But in their world, physical strength = emotional strength. Because Shing is so strong, it's really obvious to those that know that simple equation that Shing has a strong Spiria. While he's done it in the past before, he's learned from his mistakes (another strength), and doesn't let his emotions get the better of him. When he's sad, he won't go into a total emo mode. If he's angry, he won't blindly snap at everything that moves, and so on. In fact, if he's feeling upset or down, he's open about it and is willing to discuss his feelings with other people. He's stated countless times that being able to open up your Spiria to others and tell them how you feel is a sign of strength. But for the most part he's a happy guy, and it's not a front either.
Mental: He's also full of optimism, to the point where Beryl even called it a contagious disease. If he's got a goal in mind, no matter how impossible it seems to be, he knows he can go through with it. The more reckless he is, the better! He doesn't completely ignore the downsides of a situation, he's very well aware of them most of the time, but that gives him even more of a reason to look upward! He also knows how to recognize and learn from mistakes.
Weaknesses: Physical: As far as physical weaknesses go... Shing doesn't have too many. If you count being a bit on the short side for his age (16 and only 5'6), then that may count. He's one of two people in his party who can't cast spells at all, and his defense kind of sucks. Otherwise, he's peachy.
Mental: Most of his weakness lies in the mental department (...). Since he grew up most of his life in a remote village with his grampa, he really never had friends his own age until recently. ...So, he doesn't understand (sexual?) innuendo at all. He also lacks a good bit of tact; usually he says right out what's on his mind which can cause people to get angry at him and/or make the situation really, really awkward. For example... when Chalcedony was confessing his love to Paraiba, he mentions that he's loved her since the day he met her. Paraiba says that's kind of funny, considering she's known him since he was a baby, and even changed his diapers. Shing takes it upon himself to comment, "...She saw." Good job, Shing. He's incredibly naive, and does not think when it comes to some situations. If someone important to him were to jump off a cliff, the solution would to be jump right after them! So, he can be a bit stupid and reckless in that department. He never listens when his party members tell him, "Don't be so reckless," and they know this too... which is the sad part.
Emotional: ...You know, to be honest, I think at this point Shing doesn't really have any emotional weaknesses. He used to get worked up really easily, but now he knows not to do that anymore, and it doesn't happen. He's an emotionally stable, happy guy. Does really, incredibly cheesy count?