One year later...

The sky was a pale blue, as fluffy, pure white clouds slid across it. Cliffs rose into the sky, dotted with the greenest grass. Trees surrounded the clearing in the middle. The sun hung in the middle of the sky, its light dabbling the ground, only being blotted out by the clouds and most of the shade was under trees. A Skeeter zoomed around the clearing, landing on strands of grass occasionally to take a rest.

"A Mechon M71!"

A voice rang out from in the clearing. The voice belonged to a boy; specifically a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, boy. He wore a very dark gray, long-sleeved shirt, with a red vest which was rather short. His pants were mainly a light brown, mixed with red and a tiny bit of blue. This boy was Shulk.

"I bet I can use its optical system to align one of the Anti-Air Batteries," said Shulk, rummaging through some old pieces of Mechon rubbish. He opened its shell, then frowned as he peered inside, chucking the piece he tugged off away. "No good. It's broken." He took one piece and held it in his hand, looking at it curiously. "The joint section...it's buckled." He chucked that away too.

"It's completely...useless," he said to himself, getting up and stretching, then flopping down on the grass under a tree. He watched the sky and cliffs, and noticed a Skeeter flying in his vision. "Ah, maybe Fiora was right...I should get out more," he mumbled. The Skeeter landed on his shoulder, and he turned to look at it for a moment. It flew off after a bit.

"Huh?" he noticed another piece of leftover Mechon armor, which looked in better shape. "An M69!" He pushed himself up, and he ran to the M69. He examined it, looking it from side to side. "It's armor would be perfect for making a shield." He began tugging, grunting from the effort. "If I can just get it off, I should be able to-" Suddenly the armor began jerking and moving, and moved so much it threw Shulk off. "-!"

"Shulk!" The armor was about to pounce on Shulk, when a red-headed boy ran in with a driver, smacking the armor away. It scrabbled against the junk, legs popping out. "Reyn!" gasped Shulk. "It's not a Mechon- It's just a Krabble! It was using the Mechon armor as a shell." Reyn - the red head- nodded, shouting back, "I'll lure it away and Topple it. When its down, you finish it off!"

Shulk nodded, unsheathing his Junk Sword. The Krabble launched itself at Shulk, slashing his arm, and Shulk retaliated by hurrying to its back and using Back Slash, causing it to waver slightly on its legs. Reyn attacked it as well when it wobbled, which made it turn to him and launch itself again, but before it could, Shulk used Turn Strike. "Now, Reyn!" shouted Shulk. Nodding, Reyn used Wild Down, toppling the Krabble. The two then whammed on it while it couldn't attack, but still couldn't finish it.

The Krabble recovered from topple, slashing across his leg. Reyn winced, but Shulk hurried over and Back Slashed it, finishing it off. "That was a close one," he commented, eyeing the Krabble. "Thanks Reyn." Reyn looked to him, not saying your welcome, but going, "Dude, what were you doing wandering off on your own?" Of course, thought Shulk. I should've known he would scold me for going off on my own... "You should stay where I can keep an eye on ya," he finished.

"It's pretty dangerous outside the colony. There are all kinds of monsters," Reyn said, sighing slightly. "Yeah," Shulk agreed, turning to the Krabble shell. "But thanks to you, we got its shell. Everyone in the colony's gonna be really happy," he finished in a satisfied tone. Reyn rolled his eyes at his best friend. "I'm more worried about you than the shell. Ah, whatever... Knowing what you're like, at least you'll make a decent weapon out of it," he muttered, but then brightened slightly with a grin. "This Scrap Driver's excellent."

Shulk scratched his head and replied modestly, "Thanks...but it was nothing really. I just learned by watching Dickson." Reyn nodded, and observed, " 'Course, Dunban's weapon still beats them all." Shulk placed his hand on his chin, thinking, and replied mostly to himself, "The Monado...I hope I can figure out the secret of its power one day." Reyn knew one of Shulk's goals was to figure out the secret of the Monado, so he encouraged, "You will, Shulk. Anyway we better get back to the colony. If I'm late for drills again, old Square-tache is gonna kill me."

"Square-tache?" Shulk chuckled slightly. "Oh, the Defense Force Colonel. He's pretty scary." Reyn sighed and nodded. "Tell me about it." Shulk hung his head, feeling pretty ashamed. "Sorry Reyn. I didn't mean for you to come all this way on your break," he mumbled. Reyn shook his head and turned, replying,"Don't worry about it. Let's get back." He slowly walked towards and exit path, and Shulk paused for a moment before following.

"We better hurry," said Shulk thoughtfully. "Don't want...Square-tache to kill you, now do we?" Reyn chuckled slightly. " 'Course!" They began to walk down the path, occasionally making small talk, or picking up collectibles. The wind blew softly, blowing around blades of grass, or Dawn Hydrangeas, or Skeeters. They stopped occasionally to fight Bunnits that tried to attack them, but mostly stayed peaceful.

Finally they reached the end of the path. A large city laid in the middle of a clearing, with a bridge entrance. Shulk and Reyn walked onto the bridge, stopping there. "I better get going to the HQ," said Reyn. "You going to the Weapons Development Lab?" Shulk nodded, replying, "Yeah. Just after I've sold what I can't use." "All right then. See ya later." Reyn turned and headed off.

Shulk stretched again, and headed into the city as well.