Recommended Music: Thoughts to a Friend (Xenoblade Chronicles)
On the edge of the Commercial District of Colony 9 laid Dunban's house. Inside, Dunban was on his bed, trying to use his right arm, which was damaged by the Monado.
"Dunban, are you awake yet?" A voice called from downstairs. Dunban laid his arm on the bed post. A young woman came upstairs, about 18, holding a tray of food.
"Ah, is it time to eat already? You didn't have to bring it yourself. You could have just called me." Dunban said to the girl, his younger sister.
"Don't be silly!" She replied. She put the tray on the desk next to Dunban. "Do you want me to feed you?"
Dunban chuckled. "Don't treat me like an invalid. I'm better than I was a year ago."
"Much better." She replied as she sat down next to the bed. "I really thought I lost you back then..."
"Yes, but now I'm almost well enough to handle the Monado again."
"Dunban, don't say that! The Mechon have gone now. Why would you say that?!"
"I just mean I'm prepared. Sorry."
"OK. More importantly, eat up before it gets cold. I made something really special today."
"Don't feel like you need to stay here then, Fiora. Go and make your next delivery."
"Huh?"
"Well, I'm sure you'd like Shulk to have some while it's still hot?"
"That's OK. Shulk has no sense of taste. He'll say it's delicious even if it's stone cold."
"In which case, today he would actually mean it."
"Maybe."
"I'm fine Fiora. Off you go."
"OK." Fiora stood up to walk to the stairs, but stop. "Dunban, thanks." She said, then hurried downstairs. Slowly, Dunban sat up. He tried to pick up a spoon to eat the food Fiora made for him, but watched as it clattered to the ground when it fell out of his right hand.
"I'm not finished yet." He said as he looked to a picture he had of him and his comrades before the Battle of Sword Valley. "I have to be prepared to use the Monado again.
Recommended Music: Hometown (Xenoblade Chronicles)
As Fiora walked out of the house, she heard a voice to her left. "Hey, Fiora!" Fiora turned around.
"Dickson!" She said to him.
"Looks like you're off in a hurry! Where are you off to?"
"I just thought I'd take Shulk some food. I'm on my way to the lab."
"Shulk's not there right now."
"Really?"
"I just sent him out to get some fresh air. You'll know where he'll have gone."
"Outlook Park."
"That's the one."
"OK. Thanks Dickson." Dickson nodded and headed off to the Military District. Fiora headed out to the field to head to Outlook Park. On her way there, she saw two people, a man with pure white hair, and a woman with flowing blue hair.
"Um, excuse me?" Fiora asked the two. "Do you know who and where Shulk is?"
"Oh, yes. You must be Fiora." the girl said. "Shulk talked a lot about you. I'm Lucina. He's Robin."
"How do you do?" Robin said as he shook Fiora's hand. "Shulk's up there. He said he needed time to think. Probably wouldn't mind if you went to talk to him."
"All right. Where did you come from? I've never seen you around the colony."
"We can talk later." Lucina said. "Go talk to Shulk." Robin and Lucina passed to let Fiora head up the steps to Shulk.
Recommended Music: Id Serenity (Fire Emblem Awakening)
The Monado. It's the only weapon effective against the Monado. They say that before time began, it was wielded by the Bionis. The same Bionis that we all live on. It must have a secret. That's how Dunban was able to destroy so many Mechon. And why he lost the use of his right arm. If I could just unlock the secret of its power...
"Shulk!" Fiora yelled, interrupting Shulk's thoughts. She was holding a bag of food.
"Fiora!" Shulk said. They opened up the bag and dug right in.
"This is great! It tastes so good!" Shulk said as he ate the sandwich.
"Really?" Fiora said, intrigued.
"It's amazing!"
"Oh, Shulk, you say that every day."
"Not quite. It's always delicious, but today, it's amazing."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Thank goodness! I used some special herbs and spices today. So if you said it was the same as usual, I'd know for sure you had no sense of taste!"
"What?"
"Oh, nothing!" Fiora laid back and admired the scenery. "The breeze feels so good."
"Yeah." Shulk replied. "I'd forgotten what it feels like. I never thought it could be so quiet here."
"You're spending too much time with Reyn. You're getting used to all the noise he makes."
"Yeah, maybe." They both enjoyed a laugh at that line.
Fiora looked up. "It's so peaceful. You know Shulk, I hope every day can be like this, always." Once she said that, a siren sounded.
"The debris siren." Shulk said.
"Strange. There hasn't been much falling lately." Turrets surrounding the colony aimed toward the debris and shot it before it could hit the colony, stopping it from doing any major damage.
Shulk stood up. "There might be more on the way. The Anti-Air Batteries can't protect us out here. Let's get back to the lab."
"OK." Fiora replied. They walked down the steps to meet up with Robin and Lucina.
Recommended Music: Colony 9 (Xenoblade Chronicles)
"What was that?" Robin proclaimed.
Shulk chuckled. "That was debris from the Bionis. It's a recurring thing here. Let's head back to the lab." Thankfully the Residential District was nearby. They walked up to the central bridge, passing the mobile artillery along the way.
"So, Lucina." Fiora said after a pause in communication. "You are dressed pretty fancy. Any reasons?"
"To be honest, I don't know." Lucina replied. "Shulk found Robin and I out in the Mechon scrapyard with amnesia."
"Oh! That must be horrible!"
"It is. Not knowing who you are, your past, nothing. I only know that Robin is someone I can trust. I have a feeling that we've been through much together."
Recommended Music: Monado Reacts (Xenoblade Chronicles)
As they walked into the lab, they saw a man standing in front of the Monado. He had bulk put to him, a driver on his back, and bright red hair.
"Reyn?" Fiora said, unsure.
"Reyn! What're you doing?!" Shulk yelled.
Reyn twirled quickly, the Monado in his hands.
"Shulk?!" Reyn exclaimed. "N-no! I-Im just-" the Monado activated in Reyn's hands. Reyn quickly lost control of it, darting around the place. He sliced through machines. Fiora hid behind a rectangular machine. Robin and Lucina tried to dodge out of the way, but Lucina got cut on her right arm. She screamed out in pain. The Monado came down on the machine that Fiora was hiding behind, and cut it in two. It ran into Fiora's side, but merely bounced off her with so much force it bounced out of Reyn's hands.
"Reyn!" Shulk yelled, running towards the Monado.
Fiora walked out cautiously, surprised she was still alive. "Goodness." is all she could say.
"Fiora are you okay?" Reyn said.
"I'm fine."
"I am too." Lucina said, leaning against Robin. She was bleeding tremendously on her right forearm. Robin quickly grabbed a blank sheet of paper on the desk in the corner and put it on the cut to stop the bleeding.
"Oh, sorry." Reyn said.
"Ah, it's broken!" Shulk yelled. All this time he was focused on the machine Reyn cut in two.
"What do you mean it's broken?" Fiora exclaimed. "What about me? I could've died?"
"You're not hurt, are you? The Monado can't cut people."
"Hmph. Apparently nobody ever told me that." Lucina grumbled, still leaning on Robin for support.
Shulk got up and looked at Lucina's wound. "Oh, it'll be fine. It's just a cut."
"That keeps bleeding!" Robin yelled. "Don't you have a bandage in here? This paper is already soaked."
"Oh, yeah." Shulk went up to the desk and opened up a drawer with a first aid kit. He handed it to Robin, who laid Lucina down and quickly got to work. "Hmm. I'm not sure how you got hurt. Maybe it's got something to do with your amnesia? More importantly, what were you thinking, Reyn?!"
"Sorry." Reyn said guiltily. "I came to ask a favour but you weren't here. And I saw the Monado, and-"
"I know I'm here a lot." Shulk interrupted. "But even I need fresh air sometimes. Is your body still feeling numb?" Reyn nodded his head. "We have to be very careful with the Monado. It's not a toy."
"I know man. I just wanted to touch it. Didn't know it would do that. Sorry. But is it true? The Monado really can't cut people? I mean, besides Lucina?"
"Thanks. I needed to be reminded." Lucina said. Robin was almost done bandaging her up.
"The pattern in that circle." Shulk said thoughtfully. "Or, maybe it's a symbol? I think it shows which power the Monado has at the moment." Shulk carefully picked it up so that it wouldn't activate.
"You think it's a symbol?" Reyn said.
"Well, if I could find a way to increase the number of symbols, I should-"
"I'm sure that's all very clever." Fiora said as she pushed Reyn out of her way so she could talk to Shulk. "But, why were you more worried than a machine than me, Shulk?!"
"Well, I just... I just explained why!"
"That's not the point!"
"S-sorry." As he said that, the Monado bumped into the pedestal behind Shulk. It activated. Shulk, Robin and Lucina all felt a headache so drastic as a flash of light illuminated the dim room.
There were voices. People that they had never seen.
"Look at you, worthless without the Monado!"
"Until I've scrapped each and every one of you!"
"So, of course I want to get my revenge!"
"You're blade. It did not cut deep enough."
"No!"
Recommended Music: Daily Life (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Shulk, Robin and Lucina awoke from the dreamlike state. Everything was blurry.
"Shulk, Shulk!" Fiora yelled.
"What on Bionis happened there?" Reyn asked. "It happened to all three of you!"
"Reyn, Fiora..." Shulk said slowly.
"Are you OK? Does it hurt?" Fiora asked Shulk.
"No. Thank you for your concern. We're okay too." Robin said. He fell over on top of Lucina, but quickly got up.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Robin. We'll try to be more aware of you two."
"It's alright."
"Reyn, when you held the Monado, did you see anything?" Shulk asked Reyn.
"You know, like, a blue blade made of light came out. Same as just now." Reyn replied.
"I don't mean that. A feeling like time had stopped, and then..."
"Time had stopped?"
"So, was it only me who saw that?"
"We saw that." Lucina said, a tone of fear in her voice.
"Really? The mysteries stack up for you two."
"That sounds strange. Is it another Monado thing?" Fiora said.
"Who knows?" Reyn replied. "Anyway, no matter how good a sword is, if that's what happens when you hold it... Looks like Dunban really is the only one who can use it."
"I won't let my brother use it ever again!" Fiora yelled. "Not after what it did to him."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"Anyway, the point is, we're fine." Shulk said. "To be honest, this has happened a few times before. I've been researching the Monado for a long time."
"Shulk! Don't act as if this is nothing!" Fiora said.
"Look, don't worry about it! Anyway, Reyn, what did you want to ask me about?"
"Ah, yeah." Reyn said. "Old Square-tache has gone and put me on punishment duty. Fancy tagging along?"
"Punishment? The colonel was pretty angry today. Did he hit you?"
"Well, if he hit me was really neither here nor there, really... Although, actually he did end up hitting me. And that ain't all. He made me do a thousand squats and sit-ups."
"Whoa, nasty."
"Yeah. And now I have to go all the way to Mag Mell Ruins and back."
"So you have to go and collect the Ether Cylinders?"
"That's the one! They're used to power the mobile artillery. It looks like the damage's been repaired. But it can't move without the cylinders. And it seems like the fueling station's all out of stock."
"Is the mobile artillery that big machine that crashed in the Residential District?" Fiora asked.
"Yeah, probably." Shulk replied.
"You know your way around there, right?" Reyn asked Shulk.
"Yeah. OK, I'll go with you."
"Yeah! Knew you would."
"Hold on." Fiora interrupted. "The Mag Mell ruins are in Tephra Cave, right? I heard there's a Mell Lizard nest there. I couldn't take it if anything happened to Shulk. He's delicate, not like you, Reyn."
"What are you on about?"
"I'll be fine! I can take care of myself." Shulk told Fiora.
"But..." Fiora started.
"OK, I got it." Reyn said. "I'll make a promise. Shulk won't even get a scratch."
"A promise doesn't mean much coming from you!" Fiora stormed out of the lab in anger and fear.
"She don't trust me at all." Reyn said.
"Nah, she doesn't mean it." Shulk said. At that point, Dickson walked into the lab. He looked around the lab and immediately looked at Reyn. "What did you do, you big brute?" Dickson said.
"Me?" Reyn exclaimed.
"Ha! I'm only joking. I came to do some tests on these here amnesia kiddos, try to find their origins, species, all that fun stuff."
"We have names, you know!" Robin said. They had been silent this whole time, pondering.
"Yes, I know." Dickson replied. "Come on." Robin and Lucina stood up and followed Dickson out of the lab, leaving Reyn and Shulk alone.
"You ready?" Reyn said.
"Yes." Shulk replied.
A/N: It's been a while. School got busy, personal life, all that. Anyway, it's summer, meaning that I should be keeping up to date with this story. See you all next time!