AUTHOR'S NOTE: References for the characters will be a link at the end of this chapter. Have fun reading Mega Man Chronicles!
Outside Colony 9 - ?
On Bionis' lower right calf, everything seems calm. A few Krabble scrounge for shells, and Bunnits roam the fields outside Colony 9. All seems quiet and peaceful. Then, in a flash of blue light, a humanoid figure appears, clad in blue armor. He looks around, taking in the view, with a perplexed look on his face. "Dr Light, are you sure this is where he went?" He asks, putting his finger to his ear. "It doesn't look anything like where he'd be."
"Yes, I'm sure, Mega Man. This is where I tracked his energy signature. Don't you remember last time you fought Top Man?" Dr Light responds, his voice crackling through the earpiece. "It was nearly identical to this area."
"True. Why did he go for that place, anyway?" He asked himself the same question last time, too. The grassy field brings back memories of his earlier adventures. "No matter. Where to, Doctor?"
"Last I saw him, he was due south from your location. Be careful, Mega Man, you may be facing opposition. I'm uploading weapon data to your Mega Buster now, specifically Hard Knuckle. You'll certainly need it if Top Man has been reprogrammed once again."
"Understood. I'm on it, Doctor!" He nods, and signs off for now. He checks his weaponry. The Mega Buster, a powerful solar pellet with the ability to charge up for a more powerful shot; and Hard Knuckle, launching his fist forward, with the ability to break walls down. He heads south, but detects something. ".. Is that… smoke?"
Mag Mell Ruins - ?
Three humans stand over the defeated bodies of Ancient Machines in the Mag Mell Ruins. A blond haired boy immediately turns to a girl. "Fiora, are you OK?" He asks, a worrying tone in his voice. "I'm fine, how about you?" She replies.
"I'm alright, thanks to you and Reyn." He nods, giving a small gesture to the musclebound man beside them. Reyn looks over the machines. "What on Bionis were those?! I've never seen anything like 'em!"
"Could they have been Mechon?" Fiora thinks of this for a moment, before the blond haired one shoots down that idea. "No. I think they were left by the civilization who built this vehicle."
"They didn't seem like any Mechon to me. But why would they only show up now, Shulk?" Reyn takes a look at the disabled mechanical bodies.
"I don't know. They may have been made to protect this place, and they might have been activated in response to something. But I don't think that something could have been us." Shulk replies.
"Can we get out of here? I don't want to stay here any longer." Fiora asks the others.
"Me neither, and we've already got the Ether Crystals. Let's go."
A siren goes off. Reyn looks to its direction outside. "What's going on!?"
The group run out. Shulk spots something flying overhead. "Look! In the sky!"
That one thing was followed by many things, all of a similar black color. "No way…" Reyn can't believe his eyes, but Shulk knows what this means. "Mechon!"
Colony 9 - Rock
Mega Man ran down the hilltop to find a small town on the water smoking, and a large black robot attacking the local humans, who don't seem to be faring as well as they could be. As soon as he sees this, his programming takes over, and he attempts to fight them. But first, he has to get their attention. He throws a rock at the robot. Sure enough, he turns around to face the blue one. Normally, Rock would try diplomacy, but the larger robot's claws have already been stained with blood. But now he's off the humans, and Mega Man can get to work. He fires several solar pellets at the large robot, but they all bounce off without doing anything. (What..?) He tries again, with the same effect. "A bit stronger, then. Alright! HARD KNUCKLE!" Mega Man changes to a darker blue, and fires his fist at the large robot. But it hardly even dents it. (This is not good!) He turns his earpiece on once again. "Doctor! I need another weapon! Could you get me Gemini Laser please?!" Without any reply, Gemini Laser is uploaded into his arsenal. "Thank you! Mega Man out!" Turning white and light blue, he fires the piercing laser at his foe. But it too hardly damages them. "This is not good…" He goes to ask for another weapon, but before he can, his foe strikes with enormous claws. He braces for impact, but it never comes. He looks at the scene, and a man, maybe in his late 20s, has blocked the attack, although he seems to be in great pain. "What are you waiting for!? Get going! I'll hold it off!" Mega Man, though, is having none of that. "You're injured, you shouldn't be out fighting! You need to find shelter! I'll take care of this!"
"I will not run away while a fellow Homs is slaughtered by Mechon!"
"My scan shows that your right arm is almost completely paralyzed, you shouldn't be fighting right now!"
While the two argue over this, the Mechon strikes again. Mega Man pushes the human out of the way, saving the both of them. "Get going! I'll handle this!"
"I'm not leaving!" The human shakes his head.
"My programming says not to let a human come into harm, I am not straying from that again!"
Before the human can argue, Mega Man picks him up, and gets him to safety. "Wait here. I'll get a doctor for you! If any of the rogue robots come close, do not engage! Find a safe spot, I'll come back for you." He leaves him in what seems to be a safe spot, but the human refuses to stand by. Bringing his sword out - An exotic looking blade, red all the way through, with streams of blue running through - he seeks out more of these "Mechon," slaughtering any he sees. Mega Man is unable to find a doctor, so he goes back to where he put the human, only to find out they weren't there. "He's going to get himself killed!"
Colony 9 - Shulk
A Mechon attacks Reyn, and he's barely able to stop its pincers. Shulk runs up to help, but Reyn tries to get him to leave. "Get outta here, Shulk!" He cries as Shulk strikes futilely against the Mechon's outer shell. "Don't be stupid!" he replies. More Mechon start to arrive, but just then, the two hear someone else coming, and a man in his late twenties rushes in with an intricate red sword, slashing at Mechon as he comes, and sending the Mechon attacking Reyn hurtling through the air. His entrance is followed by a string of explosions
rippling through all the Mechon at the plaza that he has just slashed. "The Monado!" Shulk exclaims. The man is breathing hard but still standing. He turns to the other two. "Sorry I kept you waiting."
"Dunban!" Shulk is more than happy to see the hero of Bionis right now.
"Whoa yeah!" Reyn seems overjoyed to see him as well. "The Monado! So this is why you weren't at home. I thought so! This is what I was waiting to see!" More Mechon approach the three friends, but with the Monado, the three make quick work of these.
"Nice one, Dunban!" Reyn compliments. "You didn't waste any time on them Mechon!"
Dunban, however, is preoccupied. "Shulk! Where's Fiora?!"
"The Residential District…" he replies. "We said we'd meet her there." Reyn turns towards the fallen pillar now blocking the bridge to the Residential District and sighs."Looks like we'll have to take the long way round."
Shortly, as Shulk, Reyn and Dunban exit the Commercial District, Dunban collapses in agony, and the Monado skitters along the bridge and deactivates. The other two hurry over to him.
"Dunban!" Reyn exclaims. "You can't take any more of the Monado!"
"But I must! I don't have a choice!"
Dunban stretches out his hand to reach for the sword but instead coughs up blood on the ground.
"Reyn's right, you can't go on like this." Shulk sees Mechon approaching from across the bridge, and he rushes for the Monado. Shulk picks up the weapon and activates it.
"This time... It's my turn."
"Shulk, no! It'll kill you!"
Shulk at first struggles with the Monado, but then seems to master himself and charges at the enemy, screaming. All of a sudden, he starts to see… something.
One Mechon sends an energy blast that knocks Shulk backwards. But when he looks again, it hasn't happened yet, so Shulk dodges the attack with ease.
The attack then strikes a wall behind Reyn and Dunban, causing a massive explosion in the background. Shulk proceeds to destroy that Mechon. As another
Mechon attacks, Shulk sees its movements in the future and deftly evades them, soon cutting the Mechon down.
"How can this be? Shulk is using the Monado." Dunban is almost too shocked to notice the Mechon advancing towards Shulk, but he does end up beating it off. "Shulk, do you feel all right?" He knows all too well the potential side effects of wielding the Monado.
"I'm OK," he replies. "But there was something strange. Just now, it was as if I could see into the future. Is this another power of the Monado?"
"I see. I remember Dickson saying that the Monado had a hidden power. Could this be it?"
"Guys, more incoming!" Reyn calls out.
"Don't think about it now! Just believe what the Monado showed you and fight!"
"Got it!"
The party fight off this latest wave of Mechon as they emerge from the bridge.
They then rush into the Residential District. As they arrive, however, a black Mechon with a metal face becomes an obstacle in their path.
"It's massive." Reyn is kind of awestruck at their foe.
"That Mechon… It has a face?!" Despite seemingly wiping out the Mechon at the Battle of Sword Valley, he had never seen this before.
"That don't mean nothin'! Not when we have the Monado!"
The three engage the Mechon in battle. But none of their weapons prove effective.
"Shulk! Reyn! Get down!" Dunban calls out as he pulls the other two away just before Metal Face's claws strike the ground where they had been. "Stay back! I'll take it from here!"
"No!" Reyn tries to stop him. "You can't take any more!"
But Dunban has taken off, and Reyn goes after him. Metal Face simply knocks them both back with its clawed hand. The Mechon then comes over and does the same to Shulk. Metal Face is about to go in for the kill when, out of nowhere, the Mechon is hit with a heavy blast that practically knocks it to the ground. It is soon shown that the attack has come from a mobile artillery - piloted by Fiora.
"Everyone. Get away, right now!"
"Fiora!"
Fiora's artillery tears through Mechon as she approaches Metal Face. As she charges ahead, Shulk's eyes glow blue as a vision comes to him: An attack from Metal Face blasts Fiora's artillery into pieces, crippling the vehicle. While Fiora is trapped inside, Metal Face comes over and stabs her with its claws. Back in the present, Shulk is still on the ground and coming to grips with what he's just been shown.
"What did I just...Fiora! Get back!" He cries, but Fiora's vehicle continues to advance.
"I won't let you hurt any more people! We will save Colony 9!" She doesn't hear a word he says, too preoccupied with her target.
"Fiora! Get out of here! Run!"
She shoves the foremost cannon right in the Mechon's face, covering it. With a grunt of concentration, she lets loose a tremendous blast that blows her artillery and Metal Face backwards. Her artillery falls on its side, now inoperable. Fiora then sees Metal Face emerge from the smoke, unharmed except for some superficial damage to its faceplate. It marches towards her. Metal Face then lifts the artillery so that it is eye to eye with Fiora; she whimpers, losing hope. The Mechon then slams the mobile artillery against a nearby house, smashing the vehicle into pieces as Fiora cries out in fear.
"Fiora!"
Colony 9 - Residential District - Rock
A human girl's body falls from the battle unit, her blood drenched on Metal Face's claws. Mega Man is horrified by this. (This is even worse than I thought!) "You three! Get out of here, you're going to get yourselves killed!" He shouts to the three remaining humans. He checks his arsenal one last time, and finds Dr Light has given him another set of weapons: Needle Cannon, and Charge Kick. (Now we're talking!) He switches to Needle Cannon, changing to a brown and white color. He fires four needles. (Why did Dr Light not outfit me with the ability to rapid fire normally, anyway?) Some of the needles actually do pierce the metal, but it's nothing to write home about. It at most does one damage to the foe. He sighs, and changes to Charge Kick.
"Guess you don't have Trypanophobia, huh? No matter. CHARGE KICK!" He slides into the foe, and this actually does something: It causes Metal Face to fall over. "Huh, that actually worked." He does it again, though it still doesn't do much, it does something. (Gotta make sure I have enough weapon energy for this.) Meanwhile, the three humans take this opportunity to strike as well, but after a while, the Mechon flies away, leaving a blond haired boy cursing at it. Mega Man switches back to his Mega Buster now that the town is out of harm's way. "Come on, let's get him to a doctor." He gestures to the man, the same man from before. "He's obviously not well. I thought I told you to stay put." He goes to help the injured human, though damage sustained from the battle cause a few sparks to fly off. The blond haired one sees this, and his sword gains a blue blade, cutting Mega Man off from the man. "You stay back!" His tone is bitter, like a red citrus. "Reyn, get Dunban back to his house, I'll handle this." "On it." Reyn nods, helping Dunban back to his home, leaving the blond one and Mega Man on the bridge. Mega Man sees that the boy is not going to listen to reason, so he contacts Dr Light over this. "Two things, doctor! One, we finally found extraterrestrial life. Two, they're angry at me!"
He struggles to think of something to keep himself away from the attacker. "Wait! I got it! Rush! here, boy!" A red beam shines down, and a robotic dog appears. "Jet, okay?" Rush gives a bark, and lies down, turning into a sort of hoverboard. Mega Man gets on, and takes off for the cliffs above them. "Dr Light, I think I may be here a bit longer than expected. Either Top Man has a new set of forces, or there's another Stardroid force. I'll need to take care of them before I get back."
Colony 9 - Shulk
Reyn, after assuring that Dunban would be alright, went back to the bridge. "Shulk, you alright?!"
"I'm fine, Reyn. That blue Mechon didn't even try to fight, it just… ran away." He thinks about this for a while.
"The coward! We'll make it pay for what happened to Fiora."
Shulk simply nods. "Yes, we will. Let's get going, then."
The two Homs leave, leaving Dunban back in the colony, looking through the window. "Don't worry, boys. I'll get better. And when I do, I'll be right there."
Ether Mine - ?
Doctors Light and Wily number 021, also known as Top Man, dashes through a cave, past a force of Metall. "Alright, guys, how's the mining going?" One of the Mets pops up from a small hole, bringing a horde of lithium up with it. "Great job!" He smiles to the Met. He tries his communications. "Doctor Light? You there?" No response. "Doctor Light, come in Doctor Light." Still nothing. "Huh. Odd." There's a noise from the entrance of the cave. "You guys keep working, I'll check that." He skates across the cave floor, to the exit. "Can I h- Oh, you look strange." A rather odd looking robot, with tentacles all around, stands there. "We don't need any more miners, you can go away now."
The robot still stands there, making no noise.
"Look, we're already heavily staffed, we don't need anyone else."
Now, the robot strikes, but Top Man dodges the attack. "Missed me!" He gets out of the cave, making sure his miners are safe before facing the robot. "Tell me this, my tentacled friend. Can you dance?"
End of Chapter
Author's Note: Well, that was fun! I hope this was a fun run, and don't worry! We'll be seeing the WHOLE set of Xenoblade Chronicles before the end of the story. And as promised, here's the reference sheet!
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All the pictures you need!