Well, it's been about two weeks so I'd say now's a good a time as any to update this! I'm actually surprised that this story got ten views lol. I'm grateful for anyone who checked it out, and hopefully it will still get the odd view and visitor every now and then. Maybe a review if I'm lucky? *nudges readers*

Thanks to CruelRuin for reviewing! Hah, well if you don't get around to playing Xenoblade, at least read up on it a bit so that you aren't completely in the dark! This isn't like WiH where everything is from one person's POV, so you might get confused unless you know a little bit. I don't want to discourage you from reading this, but the plot will start getting more to do with Xenoblade and Kingdom Hearts later on. GS will still be important, but I'd suggest learning at least a little about the other two. And to think that I'm not even introducing Radiant Historia in this first book lol.

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one


Searching

The ground was soft and wet. The sound of wind blowing through the grass was calming and comfortable. Garet wanted to wake up, but his eyes felt like they would not open. He could smell the rocky scent of cliffs around him. It must have been about midday, for the sun shone down on his tightly shut eyes, making everything appear red. Using all his might, the spiky redhead forced his eyes open and brought his arm up to block out the sun.

He glanced around at his surroundings. Sure enough, a grassy plain was laid around him, but he seemed to be surrounded by some sort of circle of cliffs. The wet sand beneath him dropped into a large pond with some sort of large metal… he couldn't even say what it was, only that it was made of metal.

The flame user was glad to find that he was uninjured, though how he had survived a fall off the edge of the world without injury was beyond him. It then occurred to him that he was alive, and that somewhere existed at the bottom of Gaia Falls! But then something else struck his mind. Where was everyone? The sound of shifting water to his right caught his attention.

"Mia!" he shouted, scrambling over to the Mercury adept.

"Garet?" she said groggily, rubbing her eyes before sitting up. "Are… are we alive?"

"Heh, truth be told, I have no idea, but the assumption is yes."

"Oh… where are we?" She seemed very tired, and almost seemed as though she didn't realize that they had just wound up in a strange new place. Garet couldn't blame her; he was feeling one hundred percent either.

"No clue. Last thing I remember was tumbling over the side of Gaia Falls. Now we're waking up in some weird place with no way of knowing how we got here."

Mia's eyes shot open at his last statement. "Oh my gosh, Garet! Where is everyone?! Why are we the only ones here?!"

It hadn't dawned on him, but Mia was right, they were the only two in this odd place. Frantically they began running around the immediate area, calling for their lost companions and looking anywhere where they may have wound up. As they were running around, Garet stopped at the mouth of a cave.

"Mia! There's a cave over here!" he called to her. She quickly came running into view at his words.

The two of them cautiously entered the cave, brandishing their weapons in case any monsters showed up. There was no knowing if this place would be home to any beasts of unknown sorts. However, they soon realized that the cave was extremely small and empty. Well, empty in the sense that there were no inhabitants, but it looked as though it had once been used as a camp of sorts. A few bedrolls lined the ground in the 'rooms' of the cave, and torches lined the walls. Some empty boxes lay around, looking as though their contents had been emptied long ago.

"Do you think they stayed here and left us?" Mia asked nervously.

"No, they would never do that," Garet reassured her. "I know that Isaac would never leave you behind, and I hope Jenna wouldn't leave me."

"Oh, Garet, don't say that, Jenna would never just leave you like that!" she giggled. Garet was always good for a laugh when things were hard for them.

The two of them stopped when they heard a woman's voice spouting random angry things. The voice was distant, and clearly coming from outside the cave, but it was getting louder. They both stepped towards the entrance to peek out at who might be coming.

"Ooooh, that Reyn! I came all the way to Colony 9 and he wasn't even there! I may be a doctor but he is so in for it when I get my hands on him!"

"Yeesh, she sounds angry," Garet whispered to Mia.

"No kidding. Shouldn't we ask her for help though?" Mia whispered back.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt, given that we won't get anywhere by standing around here."

The two of them emerged from the cave entrance to speak with the angry woman. However, upon noticing the two of them, she instantly charged at Garet and began hurling punches at him.

"YAAAAH! You stupid, idiotic, muscle-brained, good-for-nothing excuse for a soldier! Do you have any idea how long it takes to walk to Colony 9?!"

"Ow, hey, lady, I have, ow, no idea what you're, cripes, talking about!" Garet shouted, attempting to shield himself from the punches. Mia simply stood stunned, though she had to hold back her giggles.

"Don't play stupid with me, Reyn! And who's this other woman you're with?!" she screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Mia while still attacking him.

"What?! I'm not, ouch, Reyn! I don't, yow, know of any Reyn! My, take it easy, name's Garet!"

At this, the woman stopped attacking him and took a moment to look him over. Then, as if she hadn't realized at first, her hands flew up to her mouth and she gasped loudly.

"Omigosh, I'm so sorry! You look just like my boyfriend!"

Merciful Sol, this is how she treats her boyfriend?! Garet thought to himself, though Mia had the same thoughts running through her head. I'd hate to see how she treats her enemies!

"Uh, don't worry about it," he shrugged. He winced slightly and examined a gash on his arm. Huh, he'd been so worried earlier that he hadn't even noticed it.

"You're hurt? Here hold still for one second," said the woman before she pulled out what appeared to be a hand-sized cannon and pointed it right at him.

"WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Garet cried as he held up his arms.

Mia screamed and ducked when the supposedly crazy woman pulled the trigger of her weapon. Much to her surprise, however, Garet did not fall over in pain. She stood up straight and realized that his nasty cut had actually healed! What manner of sorcery is this?! Why would such a devastating weapon heal Garet? Only staves and healing psynergies could perform such acts, couldn't they?

"Oh, sorry 'bout that scare. I probably should've warned you that that was a Heal Bullet. One of my specialties with this gun," the crazy lady chuckled before strapping the 'gun' on her back. "My name's Sharla."

"I… I, uh, well I already said that I'm Garet. This is Mia," Garet said, staring incredulously at the closed wound that Sharla had just shot at.

Mia nodded and took a moment to examine their new companion. This Sharla woman looked to be a few years older than them. She had beautiful, long black hair and a well-toned body. Her clothes were a bit too revealing for the Imilian's taste, but the look seemed to suit this woman well. However, more than anything she was interested in the weapon. Were such amazing contraptions common in this strange place they were in?

Sharla, meanwhile, also took this time to size up her new companions. Garet did in fact look very much like Reyn; however, she must have been too hasty in her attack, for she could see now that if she had looked at him a bit closer it would have been easy to distinguish him from Reyn. The boy had spiky red hair that seemed to stand on end above his head. He wore some odd-looking tunic and carried a large sword and axe on his back.

The girl, Mia, seemed very gentle and serene, quite the opposite impression she'd gotten from her bulky companion. Blue hair was the first thing the gunner noticed about her, but the blue almost seemed natural. Homs didn't have naturally blue hair though, did they? In any case, this girl was wearing some sort of medieval dress of sorts with a robe over top of it. She carried a simplistic staff, though a devastating mace hung by her side. Just who were these people?

"Excuse my asking," Sharla said after a few moments of awkward silence, "but where are you two from? You certainly don't look like you came from Colony 9 or 6, and no one has lived in this refugee camp for quite some time now."

The two looked at each other, blinked, and turned back to Sharla before Mia spoke. "Colony…9? And Colony 6? What are those? I come from the northern town of Imil, and Garet is from the village of Vale."

The medic stared at them blankly. Imil? Vale? She'd certainly never heard of those places before. There was no way that the new landmasses that appeared when Zanza was destroyed could have created a whole new civilization, could they? In any case, how would these two have gotten all the way here in such a short time?

"Uh, sorry, I'm not sure I know those places," she shrugged, scratching her head.

"I see," said Mia, turning away to look at their surroundings again.

"If you don't mind my asking," said Garet, "where exactly are we?"

"Oh, you're just off the path from Gaur Plains!" said Sharla. "This place served as a refugee camp when Colony 6 was destroyed by the mechon. It used to be on the Bionis' leg, but technically the Bionis and Mechonis don't exist anymore, so it's just known as Gaur Plains."

She took their odd stares and confused looks as a sign that they had no idea what she was talking about. She could only sigh in defeat. How was she supposed to help these people if they didn't know what she was talking about?

"Garet," Mia mumbled, though loud enough for Sharla to hear, "we should probably look for the others. I'm afraid that something may have happened to them."

"I know, Mia, I am too, but we can't just go running off searching for them. We have no idea where we are, and it would do no good to get lost searching for them."

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but it seems like there's some trouble here. Anything I can do to help?" Sharla asked, though she was a bit skeptical of the two strangers before her.

"Well, we had six others with us, but it seems that we must have gotten separated at some point," said Garet.

"But we couldn't possibly ask you to help us! You must be terribly busy," said Mia.

"Actually, I'm not busy at all today. I was supposed to go see that good-for-nothing Reyn, but he decided to go on a little trip on the day I was coming to visit without telling me. Besides, from the look of it, you two won't get far without someone who knows the area. C'mon, I'll contact my brother and he can come pick us up in his buggy!"

The two adepts watched as she called someone she called 'Juju' on a little device and asked him to pick them up. They had never seen such ingenious contraptions before, but how they worked, neither of them could say. Within the next twenty minutes, a roaring sound was heard from the path out of the cliffs before a small boy with shoulder-length brown hair stepped out of some strange vehicle, the likes of which they'd never imagined.

"Sharla!" he called, waving his hands. She motioned for the two of them to follow her towards the vehicle.

"Juju, this is Garet and Mia," she said, gesturing to them, "I'd like to take them to Colony 9, if you can get us there. I was thinking I would take them to Otharon, but it might be a better idea if Shulk meets with them. They seem to have a lot of questions, and they're looking for some friends. I figured the best place to start would be with Mr. Monado himself."

"Well, I can't drive this through Tephra Cave, so you'll have to figure that out on your own. I can get you as far as there though, so hop in and we'll take off!"

This buggy, unlike Juju's first, had enough seats to accommodate a few people. Sharla hopped into the spot beside him and waited for the adepts to do the same. They seemed nervous about approaching such a simple buggy, and cautiously stepped into the backseats. Once they were securely in their spots, Juju roared the engine and took off down the hill.

Mia couldn't stop a light squeal escape her lips, for the buggy moved much faster than she was expecting. She looked over to see Garet gripping as tightly as he could to whatever he could reach. Sharla chuckled at the sight of them. She knew they weren't from around here, but wasn't expecting such a reaction out of them. Looking at the speedometer, Juju was actually driving relatively slowly, going only about fifty km/h.

"Sharla!" Juju shouted suddenly. "Arduns on the right!"

She looked to her side of the cart to see a large pack of arduns charging right towards them. She didn't have a clue what riled them up, but she knew that she couldn't hold off a pack of this size on her own. She had to try though, for Juju wouldn't be able to outmaneuver this many arduns.

She fired a few Metal Blasts at the beasts, severely wounding them, but not slowing them down in the slightest. If anything, they seemed angrier and were now running quicker despite their injuries. A few Thunder Bullets took the ones at the front down, but they were quickly replaced by the next few in the herd.

"Damn! I can't hold them all off!" she grunted, quickly cooling off her rifle. "You two!" she shouted to the passengers in the back. "I know you have weapons on you! If those beasts get too close to the buggy I'm going to need your help fending them off!"

The two of them looked at each other, then at the monsters, and then at Sharla before nodding.

"Don't worry about it, Sharla," Garet pounded his fists together, "leave these monsters to us!"

"Are you crazy?! I can't possibly let all of these things get that close to us!"

"Heh, watch and learn. You ready, Mia?"

"Let's do this, Garet!"

"Light 'em up!" he shouted before releasing a massive Heat Wave upon the unsuspecting creatures.

Sharla's jaw nearly dropped to the ground at what she just witnessed. Even Juju took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at the huge blast of fire that launched towards the arduns. Neither of them could react at all as they watched fireballs fly out of Garet's hands. Though Sharla had taken Mia for a frail girl, the Imilian was certainly impressing her as well with her display of icicles raining down hell upon the creatures. Within a single minute, the few arduns that survived fled in terror of their new opponents. Garet and Mia grinned at each other before sitting forward again.

"Why didn't you say you could control the ether?! I would have left that battle to you at the start!" Sharla exclaimed, still amazed by the displays of fire and ice she'd just witnessed.

"Ether?" asked Mia. "What's ether? We were just using our psynergy."

"Wait," said Garet before Sharla could respond, "how did you see any of that? Non-adepts can't see psynergy. Are you an adept as well?"

"An adept?" Sharla questioned, now getting confused. "What's an adept? And what's this 'psynergy' you're talking about? Your powers definitely looked like you had control over the ether! You must be high entia!"

None of this conversation seemed to be making sense to either party. Sharla had no idea what psynergy or adepts were, and Garet and Mia had no idea what ether or high entia were. Everyone was giving each other strange looks until Juju eventually stopped in front of a small cliff.

"Okay, you guys, Tephra Cave is just down there," he said, pointing to the opening below them.

"Thanks, Juju," Sharla said, ruffling his hair, "I'll try to be home by tonight."

"I can take care of myself, sis."

"'Course you can. Now stay out of trouble!" she laughed as the three passengers hopped out of the buggy.

Once he was out of view, Sharla led the way down a climbable rock wall. Leading them into the tunnel, she constantly glanced back at them to make sure they were doing alright. Surprisingly enough, they seemed undeterred by the dark nature of the cave. Were these two used to exploring odd places? Regardless, they eventually came to areas that were lit up by glowing plants or the springs.

"Well, here we are!" she said when they finally reached the end of the tunnel. "Down there is Colony 9. I'm gonna take you to one of the smartest men I know. He'll know how to find your friends!"

Mia and Garet gazed in amazement at the city, or 'Colony' as Sharla kept calling it, down below. It was made completely of metal and stone, and they had never seen anything quite like it. The sleek design of the architecture gave it a very futuristic look, and this place they'd wound up in never ceased to amaze their unaccustomed eyes.

And so the three of them set out down the path towards the Colony, unaware that another would already be waiting when they got there…

(-/-|-\-|-/-|-\-|-/-|-\-|-/-|-\-|-/-|-\-|-/-|-\-|-/-|-\-)

"She's… she's gone… They're all gone… I'm all alone again," Ivan murmured to himself, curled in a ball by the edge of a swamp.

He had no idea how he'd gotten to this place, but there was no sign of anyone else when he'd awoken several hours ago. He'd spent most of his time wandering, calling out their names as he wandered aimlessly through the marsh, until he finally tired at the base of an incredible statue. Along the way he'd had to fight many monsters that he'd never seen before. Most of them seemed vulnerable to psynergy, so he used his powers quite liberally. It was odd, but he didn't feel his powers draining at any point, despite the extensive use of spells he'd been casting.

It wasn't the predicament of being lost that pained him, but the fact that he couldn't find Sheba, especially after what had happened on the ship. After fearing that their lives would end as they toppled endlessly over the edge of Gaia Falls, the two young Jupiter adepts took their last moments to admit their feelings for each other. He never thought that he would wake up in a strange new place, however; especially not alone without a trace of how he'd ended up there at all.

"What's that?" he said aloud, jumping to his feet as some sort of elevator descended near him. It seemed to lead to the top of the statue, which was already incredibly tall as it was, so perhaps he could look for his friends from that high place. He had no idea how large this swamp was, so it was possible that he may have just missed them. Thinking that a possibility, he quickly stepped onto the elevator and was carried to the top.

Ivan sighed as he realized the futility of his search. After looking from the top of the statue for the past hour or so, he came to the conclusion that his friends could not be there. He sadly turned and started for the cave for which the elevator was probably implied to lead one to. There was no point in sticking around here if his companions weren't. If he could just find a town or a person or something then he might be able to determine where they could be.

The wind user was met with the odd interior of the deceased Bionis. Despite the fact that the titan was dead, the route leading from Satorl Marsh to Makna Forest still took one through the passageway inside the titan. The strange glowing plant-like structures still remained, ever lighting the way to the other side. Ivan followed the seemingly one-way tunnel until he could see a dead end with a lake.

"Now what do I do…" he grumbled, approaching the green water.

"Friend have trouble?" sounded an oddly high-pitched voice.

"Wha- Who goes there?!" Ivan shouted, readying his staff and brandishing his rapier.

"Ah! Hom-hom no hurt nopon, pleeeeaaase!" cried the ridiculous voice.

Ivan then noticed a strange furry ball quivering in fear at his feet. Not knowing what it was, he lightly kicked it over. Much to his surprise, the ball burst open, revealing a face and wings for ears. It had tiny stubs for arms and legs, but it used its wing-ear-arm things to hold onto some sort of item pouch.

"Oh, sorry," said Ivan, sheathing his blade. He was about to turn back when the fuzzball said something to him.

"Friend need get through tunnel?"

"Uh, sort of," he responded, turning back towards the creature. "Do you know how to get through?"

"Yes, haha! See bubbles in water? Friend swim out to bubbles and up he fly! Water carry friend up to ledge and he walk out of tunnel to nopon home!"

For the most part, Ivan understood what the furry thing was saying, though the thought of swimming in that nasty-looking water wasn't exactly what he wanted to do. Then again, he'd already waded through the marsh, so how much worse could it be to swim in this? With a sigh, he slowly walked towards the water's edge before wading into the shallows.

"You're sure this will work?"

"Oh, yes! Me see bigger hom-hom than you go up, up, up very high!"

Having no other choice than to rely on this thing, Ivan swam out to an area where the water was bubbling. It was slightly warmer here than in other parts of the water, and the idea of flight suddenly pieced itself in Ivan's mind.

"Wait, this is a geyser!" he cried.

"Heehee, bye-bye!" laughed the fuzzball.

It was too late to swim away as the heated waters shot Ivan up through an opening in the ceiling. The splashing water muffled his screams, and he soon found himself falling forward as the geyser fell back down. However, he was surprised to hit solid ground with a thud. Brushing some dirt off his tunic, he looked behind him to see that the geyser had pushed him forward into a tunnel much higher up. Seeing only one way to go, he followed the tunnel out into the bright sunlight.

He definitely wasn't expecting to be greeted by a snowy mountain when he reached the outside of the tunnel, so it's a good thing that he wasn't. The hot jungles of Makna Forest were already causing sweat to form on the Jupiter adept's forehead, and he quickly stuffed his extra layers of clothing into his pack. As he made his way down the path, the sight of another furball bouncing around met him.

"Hi-yaa! Heropon Riki smash monster into ground!" it shouted as it started laying a beatdown on what appeared to be a giant caterpillar.

"Um, excuse me," started Ivan after the thing was finished beating up the caterpillar.

"Hmm? Oh, hom-hom friend! What Riki do for friend?" it asked.

"I, uh, I was hoping I might find a village or something around here. I'm looking for my friends. Have you seen any more… people like me pass through?"

"Oh no, Riki no see any more hom-homs come this way. Riki take friend to nopon village if friend wants to go there!"

"Nopon village? Is that what you are: a nopon?"

"Heh, hom-hom is no smart! Riki not just any nopon; Riki is Heropon! Help save world with Shulk!"

"I see," Ivan chuckled. "Well, I'm lucky to have found you. So you'll take me to this 'nopon village'?"

"Oh yes, Riki show friend the way!" he said, waddling towards a bridge.

"Thanks. I'm Ivan, by the way."

"Nice to meet Ivan! Riki's name Riki!"

Ivan chuckled and shook Riki's wing. They crossed the bridge and began following a worn path that indicated others had been this way many times. Lush jungle all around was a new sight for Ivan. He'd never seen such a tropical place, though it was not nearly as spectacular to view as some of the mechanical sights experienced by his friends.

"Careful, Ivan," Riki said, stopping in place and holding a wing out to stop Ivan.

The Jupiter adept had been so preoccupied by his surroundings that he didn't even notice the large lion-like creature prowling in front of them. Two more emerged from the bushes, sniffing for something. The two companions stood frozen still as the monsters prowled around. Then, without warning, they all shot their gaze up to the two of them and snarled angrily.

"Riki," Ivan said, slowly bringing his hand to his rapier, "I think we're going to have to fight these things."

"Hah! Makna Feris no problem for Heropon Riki!" and with that, Riki flew at the monsters, grabbing his small weapon and smashing the creatures left and right.

The Jupiter adept stared in amazement as he watched the small furball annihilate the large lion-like creatures. He was certain he would have to help, but after several moments, the creatures lay dead around the small, innocently smiling nopon. Riki simply laughed and beckoned Ivan to follow him. Ivan never even had to relinquish his blade, and so he let go of the handle before running after Riki.

"That was incredible, Riki!" Ivan cheered him on.

"Hah! You doubt Heropon's strength?"

"I did, but I don't think I will again."

"Good, Riki no want to have to show friend hard way!"

The thought of being beaten down by a furball with a chomping weapon not only sounded painful, but awfully humiliating. Ivan made a mental note never to get on Riki's bad side. Nothing good would come from being defeated by a little ball of fuzz was not the way he wanted to go out.

And so the two of them continued through the jungle, talking of many things and fighting numerous monsters along the way. The original four had officially begun their search for each other.


I was actually going to include Sheba or Felix's awakenings in this chapter as well, but figured that I should probably just leave it at these three. I didn't want to spring too many events in one chapter, and I figured that it might work better this way.

Anyway, if you're reading this, please take a moment to review and check out my soundcloud!

-GengaJupite