PSU continues the offline story, online, with "Story Mode Missions". These are missions your character can play, where you get to interact with people from the offline story. These missions further the plot of the offline part, even though you don't get to be Ethan. These missions are split up into chapters that sometimes have parts. Each new chapter will appear here, as it is released.
What You Do/The official "Party Line" appears in RED TEXT
Important things are in BOLD TEXT
Speculation is in GREEN TEXT
Chapter 1: The Masked Girl
Chapter 2: Beyond the Sands
Chapter 3: Hive Mop-Up
Chapter 4: Shadow Conspiracy
Chapter 5: Valley of Suspicion
Chapter 6: Rescuting Hyuga
Chapter 7: Protect the Festa
Chapter 8: Flash of Ruin
SideBar: Operation Firebreak
Chapter 9: Price of Genocide Chapter 10: Ambition of the Illuminus On To Ambition of the Illuminus
Chapter 1: The Masked Girl

This chapter opens presumably right when you start the game. You are a new guardian on this mission, regardless of how long you've been playing it. As the timeline goes, this takes place "several months" after Ethan escaped the HIVE that was then destroyed by the AMF. The Guardians are cleaning up the SEED leftovers that didn't get sucked into the pocket dimension. Apparently, some SEED are still trickling in from somewhere, because Astronomers and the AMF are looking for another HIVE.

During this mission, you're assigned to train with Laia Martinez, a crabby beast woman. Laia is well known for her short temper, and excellent fighting skills. She is aquainted with Tonnio, who reveals that she may have a crush on Leo, although he is married and 'off limits'. She denies it, but you find out that Leo is on vacation, and Tonnio is guarding Dr. Tomrain. The biggest bomb is that "Ethan is accused of trying to murder Dallgun".

The official assignment is to gather data on infected plant life on Neudaiz. These infected plants shoot black 'smoke' and apparently you can gather data just by looking at them with goggles. Of course, events do not go as planned.

Official Party Line:
You find a Communion girl, in a mask who is pretending to have amnesia from a ship crash. This looks JUST like the disguise Karen used to sneak aboard the Landeel at the end. Because it is Karen. But what's she doing out in Mizuraki Preserve? Apparently trying to meet up with/be kidnapped by the Vol Brothers, who you discover and then fight against. Defeated, the Vols run off, trapping up your path along the way. A ZoalGoug appears, and after being told to "Hide from the Zoalgoug" while you fight it, Karen runs off...to re-meet with the Vols! Catch up to them again, and Ethan and Liina appear to fight you. When you fail to defeat Ethan, (he's invincible) Karen calls him off and both he, Liina and the Vols vanish. You can then take Karen to the Pavillion of Air, where Rutsu thanks you for thwarting the kidnapping.

What's going on here?
It's obvious that Karen was TRYING to meet the Vols, not being kidnapped by them. A Zoalgohg disrupted their plans by crashing the ship. Ethan was either framed, or Dallgun has gone bad, and no one knows at this point. Your Char and Laia fight the Vols purely by accident, not knowing it's what Karen wanted, to be Kidnapped/Helped away from the temple by the Vols. When she tells Ethan to call off the fight, it is to avoid suspicion of this.

Chapter 2: Beyond the Sands

This mission starts presumably quite close after the close of the last one. You're assigned with Laia Martinez again. Since it's so close in time, nothing much has changed, and they still can't find Ethan.

This chapter has an odd conflicting mission. You are assigned to find Ethan Waber, rumored to be on Moatoob. According to Lou, there is a 48% chance that he is hiding somewhere there, (Today's forecast: a 48% chance of Ethan, and a 59% chance of partly cloudy skies, later in the afternoon)

Mina, the Colony Guardians HQ assignment girl refers to Ethan as still being a Guardian, despite what Laia told you earlier: that he was disowned and is no longer official. Laia is still VERY intent on hating Ethan, and believing he is guilty of the crime--inspite of what everyone who actually KNOWS Ethan believes and tells her. Laia has never met Ethan, she does not know him. Laia says to "Not hesitate to kill Ethan", which causes an arguement with Mina.

After arriving on Moatoob, you meet with the Dagora Lou, who insults Laia, and surprisingly does not get an arguement back. After questioning the likes of Pipi Vol, Faori Koid and Bukle Kinron, all answers point to Gawik's Pub. Inside the pub, the Vol Brothers are idlelly complaining about Laia being rotten to them earlier, and are caught in the act. Gawik watches in silence as she questions the brothers, and Lou offends them. They reveal he may be in a "Rouge Base at the Abandoned Coal Mine". So, it's off to hunt for the mine.

Gawik's presence here (but no speech) informs you that he knows (and will likely tell Ethan) that people are questioning about him, and that the Vols are an "easy squeal". It was NOT SMART of Laia to question them while still in the pub while others are listening. It is also curious how she threatens No Vol--he looks as if she's holding a gun or sword on him, but she is holding no weapon.

Along the way to the mine, Lou says the area was recently purified, so there will be no SEED infected monsters. She is wrong, but in an unusual way. All the monsters are WRONG for Moatoob. There are ineffective (won't stop you) gates and monsters in laser pens all around the desert. Lou and Laia figure that someone is smuggling in monsters from the other planets, but not why.

The map is also very open with huge expanses of nothing you can race around in. There are also odd mechanical traps which rise from the ground, penning you in, and then explode after a time. When you discover the mine, the rouges Ogg and Jasse fight you, and are defeated. They are joined by the rouge Tyle, who apologizes and asks what you're here for. Realizing it's "Tyle" and not "Tylor" Laia realizes it may have been a red-herring planted by the Vols, and sends him away.

Again, this is a stupid move on Laia's part. The rouge was apologetic, and could be questioned about the odd monster smuggling, which he had to know about because his operation is right in the middle of the pens.

Realizing that Tyle is just a small fry, and Ethan is no-where to be found, the mission is declared a failure. Not wanting to give up so easily (and get in trouble as well) Laia decides to continue, by following Lou's lead. There is a feint, unknown communication signal coming from another mine. Going there reveals more strange animal pens, and a purposely broken communicator terminal. All it does is gather and send, not store. Lou finds that the mine was used to Experiment on turning normal animals into SEED forms by artificial means despite that being illegal and risky.

Upon leaving, you are attacked by a lone Grinna Bete C, which Lou determines is new, despite those being used exclusively by Endrum, which is disbanded/gone. Realizing there's no way to solve this new puzzle or find Ethan here, Laia decides it's time to go...but the party is spotted by some Endrum Followers, Solda and ##. After fighting the way out of the mine, it dead ends in a dry lake bed.
Since Lou's signal for help has been blocked, there's no way to escape a wing-less Renvolt Magashi, who then summons a Maggas Magahna, and can't resist doing a bit of explaining.

Renvolt then confesses he's part of a new secret society "The Illuminus", and that he wants to kill you for whatever reason. When his Maggas Magahna is defeated, Lou explains the previously classified information about the Illuminus. Illuminus is a secret organization advocating human fundamentalism. This Renvolt which appeared in the lake bed was far weaker then the original Renvolt Magashi, and may be a deteriorated CAST clone. Illuminus was associated with Endrum in unknown ways, and Ethan may be under the influence of Illuminus for some reason.

Unfortunatly the "big reveal" of this mission says UTTERLY NOTHING about what Illuminus REALLY IS. "Fundamentalism" just refers to adherence to the "original principals/laws" of whatever the organization is about. Fundamentalists reject modified or changed theories/laws/behaviors, and have a desire to get back to the basics. This information is only useful if you know what "Human Fundamentals" ACTUALLY ARE.

It can also be speculated that since there are many Lous all operating at once, the same could be said of Renvolt Magashis, as everyone knows he appeared many times, despite being killed or utterly obliterated/transformed each time he appeared.

*One was exploded via reactor core perforation,
*Another was transformed into a giant SEED form (which then escaped and was never heard from again) *Another plummeted to its doom aboard a sattelite,
*Yet another transformed into a SEED form and merged with a control center as a Dulk Fakis. It was then destroyed as well.

It also throws massive suspicion upon Laia, at her insistance that "Ethan Did It" despite everyone who actually knew the guy saying otherwise. Laia is far too logical to ignore all that evidence to the contrary in favor of her own opinion on someone she never met or knew. Why is Laia so dependent on Ethan being guilty?

Chapter 3: Hive Clean Up/Mop Up

The mission starts with a bunch of general acting up cranky. When you arrive to take the mission, Laia shows up as well--however upon finding out she actually has to sign paperwork, she wigs out. Laia becomes uncharacteristically 'crazy' over having to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Apparently, she has never heard of government or standard procedures, or 'going through the motions'. She accuses everyone of not trusting her and generally gets out of hand over not much. Soon, Hyuga shows up and begins acting somewhat haughty, which leads them into another big argument over not much. Curious as well, Hyuga claims to be Ethan's "Rival" rather than his friend, which is somewhat against the norm. Fortunatly Kurtz shows up to break them up.

It seems Kurtz has turned over some sort of new leaf, as he is extremely nice and very understanding, which is quite unlike him. He persuades her to sign it, and everyone proceeds to a briefing room to be let in on the secret. The secret is that the hive the AMF destroyed was not the only one out there. Any sattelite with an A photon reactor could become a hive, and some already are. It is also explained why the AMF can't just go around obliterating them with the big guns: they tend to explode and scatter a-photon radiation all over which disrupts communications and travel, not to mention attracting more SEED. The public can't know about the remaining hives, because it would cause a panic.

Interestingly enough, the AMF has been code-naming hives after people they dont like, in an odd show of personality. The hive destoryed by Ethan and his crew was HIVE: HAL, and the current one is HIVE: LAIA. Kurtz confesses that most androids don't like Hal. But why? Laia takes the name-insult in stride, and surprisingly doesn't throw any fits.

Upon reaching the hive, you learn you have to meet up with the other hunters and then shut down the main reactor core so the hive can be neutralized without exploding it. Hyuga boasts about his skills, annoying Laia again, who accueses him directly of "Trying to kiss Kurtz's butt". After battling through the usual SEED-forms, you find a room full of dead people, all guardians. It's not revealed how they died or what could of killed them. Looking around, Laia spots a former student of hers, who was supposed to be on a honeymoon. What is she doing here instead? Hyuga brings up that Leo was on vacation, and that lots of Guardians had claimed "vacation time". As it turns out, no one was on vacation, it was just an excuse to covertly get to the new Hives.

It is brought up that the terminals in the room are made by GRM. Hygua knows a little of what he sees--enough to tell that it's odd to find it on a supposed "Energy Only Plant". You see something else as well--Indeed Leo is there on the floor. He is wounded, but is the only one still alive. Laia is quite distraught, and commands Hyuga to rescue him by taking him back right away. She also threatens Hyuga if anything happens along the way to Leo.

Kurtz and his team arrive at the reactor room, but it's locked. There are several power terminals around your area that need turned on, so they can wedge the door when it does open. This turns out to be a timed-lock puzzle, combined with fighting your way through monsters. Once through, you find more survivors. Why did these guys live? They were infected with a SEED virus, and they turn into Dilnazen, which you have to fight. Once defeated, they turn back into humans again, and promptly die. This worked just like poor Dr. Kou Taragi when Ethan and his crew fought him.

Kurtz runs into an emergency, as a Dulk Falkis has appeared in the main reactor, so everyone teams up to defeat it. Once it's gone, everyone meets by the docking bay, to find Leo not yet on board. He did not want to go on without his fellow Guardians. Hyuga reports that the terminal he saw along the way was the same as the one Lou/Laia & your char discovered on Moatoob, but there was no time to study it. A disturbing fact is then revealed: The SEED virus can turn anyone into a SEED-form any where and at any time, not just at a hive. Naturally, this would also be panic-inducing and the fact absolutely cannot be leaked. Leo knows that there were GRM researchers collecting SEED data right up until they died on this hive. The mission is not from AMF, as everyone thought, rather it is GRM "hiring" the AMF and Guardians to stop this hive and investigate it some how.

So now GRM and Illuminus are researching the virus, but why? Everyone is confused about the non-disclosure agreement and thinks it applies to their own team somehow. Unfortunatly, Kurtz interrupts the proceedings, and everyone is forced to run off. He doesn't know much else either...

This whole mission did not reveal much in the way of plot, except the disturbing facts on the SEED virus. Why is Kurtz out of character? Why do CASTS not like HAL? Why does Laia go nuts about non-disclosure agreements? Hyuga is obviously glossing over his friendship on purpose so no one will want to question him about Ethan, who of course, he is wanting to protect.

Next Set of Plot Write Ups:
PSU Online Plot Page 2