En Garde

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, I just like the game Xenoblade Chronicles and think that it has some of the best storytelling. Some of the dialogue is mine, but the rest is all Monolith Soft's. Please don't sue me!

Chapter 1:

I felt the sun shining on my face, and grass right under me.

Then, I heard a voice shouting excitedly, "A Mechon M71! I bet I can use its optical systems to align one of the anti-air batteries!" along with a dejected, "No good, it's broken."

Hearing the voice, I sat up, the soft cool grass contrasting with the morning sun. I woke up and then heard a voice in a British accent say, "Good morning. Who are you?"

I introduced saying, "Hello, my name is Augustine. I am wondering what I am doing here."

"Augustine, my name is Shulk, I am from Colony 9, though your clothes do not look like you are from any other Homs Colonies."

Homs Colonies, I thought, What are those? Obviously, I was probably not on Earth and I probably should ask Shulk what he was doing here. I was also looking at the scrap pile, or what looked like one, with the many pieces of blue and gold metal dotting the landscape. I wondered what these things are, and why there are so many of them.

"Shulk, what are you doing here?"

"Augustine, I look for parts from the Mechon." Suddenly, "A Mechon M69! It's armor would be great for making a shield! If I could just get it off, I should be able to- What?!"

Shulk then fell backwards.

A monster looking like a crab without its shell turned over. The brown thing had two large legs that protruded under it's body, and six more small legs that were behind them. The two legs tried to scare Shulk off, when I saw another man running.

This man had flaming red hair, a head taller than Shulk, so about six feet tall, was wearing an armored tank top that was mostly gray with orange accents. He also wore an interesting weapon, a shield that was also had a spike on the end. Shouting, "Shulk!" He bashed the crab toppling it. Quickly, it got back up.

"Reyn! I found a man sitting right here. His name is Augustine", Directed to me he inquired "Can you fight?"

"I think so, I am a fencer."

"You have an interesting looking sword on the ground next to you, and a bow right next to it too."

I grabbed it, drawing the sword from its leather sheath and quickly put my hand in the Pappenheim hilt, while grabbing the bow right next to it.

"Shulk, I'll lure it away and topple it. Use your arts to kill it."

"Shulk, who is this?"

Instead of Shulk, the large man answered, "I am Reyn, but let's save the introductions until later."

"Right."

Shulk instantly got hit by the crab, charging into him. Powerfully, he shouted "Turn Strike!" and hit the crab, apparently breaking it. I, from the side extended my blade then hit the crab, injuring it. Reyn, finally shouted, "Wild Down!" and toppled the crab, leaving it defenseless when I stabbed it with ease, killing it.

"Let's go!", Reyn rejoiced.

Without any warning, another creature popped up. Basically, it was a large caterpillar with spikes on its sides. I drew my sword, as I didn't have any ammunition for my bow, and Reyn and Shulk did the same. Approaching it from it's side I saw that Shulk did a whirl attack while Reyn did a stab attack which were called; turn strike, and wild down. I did not have any names for my attacks, so I just did the regular stab and back out trick that had worked when I fenced back home.

After about five minutes of fighting the creature died, and as Reyn said, dropped a treasure chest.

Shulk, thanking Reyn said, "Thanks Reyn, that was a close one."

"Man, what were you doing wandering off by yourself? Stay where I can keep an eye on you. That means you too Augustine! It's pretty dangerous to wander, there's all types of dangerous monsters."

I smiled and asked, "What are the kinds of the monsters?"

Reyn replied, "Oh, there's crabbles, flamiis..."

Shulk then added in, "Brogs..."

"Oh yeah! Armus, skeeters, vangs..."

"Anyway, thanks to you two we were able to get the shell! Everyone's going to be pretty happy!"

"I'm more worried about you than the shell. Ah..well, knowing what you are like, I know that you are gonna make a decent weapon out of it. This scrap driver's excellent!"

"I just watched Dickson make weapons and then, presto, I can make weapons. It really isn't that hard."

"'Course, Dunban's weapon still beats them all!", Shulk nodded in agreement while I stood there making a, "what?" face.

"Who's Dunban?", I inquired.

"Only the greatest swordsman in the colony!", Reyn answered excitedly, fist pumping the air.

"He also taught both of us how to fight and also, technically, is a higher rank than Old Square-tache!", Shulk replied.

"Wait, let's hurry back to the colony! I don't want to be late for drills.", Reyn told Shulk.

Shulk replied, "Let's walk while I explain to you what is happening, as you are obviously not from Colony 6 or Colony 9."

Sidestepping the countless skeeters Shulk started his story, "Long ago, the world was nothing more than an endless sea. Cloaked in a boundless sky, reaching far longer than could ever be imagined. Two great titans came into existence, Bionis and Mechonis..."

Reyn butted in, "Mechonis is the bad being, Bionis is the good being."

"Right Reyn, anyway the two beings were locked in a timeless battle, until at last only their lifeless corpses remained. Eons have passed, this vast land stretching across the bodies have been engulfed in total war. We are under attack under a force called the Mechon. And last year, my mentor Dunban, and the rest of the colony defence forces went in an all-out attack to destroy their base of operations in Sword Valley. Dunban-"

Reyn again interrupted saying, "Dunban wants to seek revenge on the Mechon too, as they killed his family and forced him to come here."

"Reyn! I don't think we should tell this to Augustine."

"Don't worry, I won't tell him."

Shulk smiled and continued with the story. "Anyway, the Mechon due to this have been destroyed in a climactic battle called: The Battle of Sword Valley. Sword Valley is literally the sword of the Mechonis and is the reason why both of them stopped fighting."

The three of us got to the gate of Colony 9 where Reyn said, "See ya later man! If there's anything you need then come and see me in the military district of Colony 9."

It was Shulk and I alone.