Chapter 7: Monado Arts

Silence. Nothing could be heard, save for the calming bird calls of the jungle. A gentle breeze rustled the tree leaves. The ambience was serene. Nature was at work, painting the mural of a scenic jungle. There was a patch of empty land surrounded by the sky-scraping trees. In the middle of the land was a green hovercraft. It was parked, and the driver was beside it. In fact, all of the SubSpace creatures that were aboard the hovercraft were now standing guard.

"Backslash!" Shulk shouted, slicing one of the Primids in half from behind. The sudden noise interrupted the silence, and chaos ensued immediately. The creatures turned their attention to the swordsman, but Shulk was all too ready for this moment. "Airslash!" he shouted again, uppercutting a sentient cloud that had just been diving towards him. Shulk followed up with a second midair slash that cut the Spaak into particles.

The blond landed in a three-point stance, lifting his head to analyze the oncoming enemies. There was a pudgy, ram-like creature that was hurriedly approaching. Shulk hopped, timing his jump so that he stabbed the ram as it passed behind him. Just as planned, a blue beam propelled out of his Monado and impaled the Towtow just as it ran past. The beam soon retracted back into the red sword as the swordsman prepared for another attack.

This time, a gray enemy rolled on the ground towards Shulk. Shulk squatted and swung the Monado as a blue beam propelled outward, slicing the Glire before it could attack. Next up was a giant, metallic chicken. The Ticken jumped above Shulk as fire began to surround its lower body. Before it could crush him, Shulk rolled out of the way. He followed up by lunging the Monado towards the enemy and piercing it with a blue beam that ejected out of it. The metal plating was damaged and crumbled to pieces while a yellow chick from within it fled into the jungle.

Following the pattern, Shulk sliced, penetrated, and pummeled the remaining enemies. That is, except for one more. This enemy towered over the others. There were two wheels underneath it that allowed the massive, obsidian black round body to maneuver. Atop the bomb-like appearance was a mounted red head with two yellow eyes. Two gigantic scythes acted as the creatures arms. This SubSpace enemy was a Greap.

A blue beam ejected out of the sword again, and Shulk gripped his Monado with both hands as he glared at the towering enemy. His eyebrows furrowed, and he clenched his jaw. The Greap lifted its two scythes, bringing them both down with force. Shulk jumped towards its head as he turned his body to dodge right between the weaponized arms. As the Greap's arms lodged themselves into the earthy ground, Shulk swung his sword at the enemy's head. The blond landed behind the Greap, preparing to attack it from behind. The SubSpace foe had other intentions, though. As Shulk leaped in its direction, the Greap quickly jerked a scythe out of the ground as the momentum carried the back of the scythe overhead. The dull side connected with Shulk and knocked him to the ground. The Greap dislodged the second scythe and swung it at the downed swordsman.

Shulk hurriedly rolled, but the scythe pierced his jacket, immobilizing him. The swordsman tugged, but he couldn't squirm his way out. His eyes widened as the Greap lifted the other scythe, preparing to end Shulk's life with a fatal blow. Shulk clenched his eyes, expecting a disgusting gushing sound to follow. However, he heard the battle cry of a Pokémon instead. Epictale leaped down from the tree he was stationed in with a fist raised. Epictale used Sucker Punch! Critical hit!

Epictale's attack caused the Greap to lose its balance. It fell onto its side, and Epictale fell as well. Now that the scythe was removed, Shulk jumped to his feet. Taking advantage of Epictale's sneak attack, Shulk leaped towards the Greap's head, shouting "Backslash!" as he lowered the sword's beam onto it. The Greap faded away into shadow bugs. With all of the enemies defeated, Shulk placed the Monado onto his back. He strolled over to the Spinda that saved his life and held a hand up. Epictale happily hopped and high-fived him.

"Way to go!" Shulk exclaimed, grinning down at the Pokémon. Then, he turned his attention to the still hovercraft. The male walked over to it, trying to analyze it. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before... Why was it here? Why did the driver park it here? Shulk glimpsed around at his surroundings. "Odd..." he mumbled to himself. Just as the boy was about to climb aboard, he heard something rustling in the greenery around them. Upon reaction, Shulk snatched his Monado again. He held it in his hands, allowing the blade to exit out of the sword. As he prepared to fight, a blue light flashed in his eyes. With a confused gasp, Shulk stumbled backwards.

A distorted image contorted in and out of Shulk's head. He was having... a vision. It depicted Epictale preparing to fight someone in the very spot they were standing in. It was a girl with blue and pink hair. She held a dark cannon, black with purple outlining. A dark arrow fired out of it and collided with the Pokémon, causing him to shout in agony. A black aura overtook Epictale, causing his spiraled eyes to glow a bright yellow. The Spinda turned around and immediately lunged at Shulk, the girl cackling maniacally in the background.

"A-Ah...!" Shulk voiced out as he snapped back to reality. "Epictale!" he shouted, sprinting towards the Pokémon. As the Spinda turned towards him, a girl jumped out of the trees with a dark cannon in hand. The cannon revved up, and Shulk hurriedly dove at Epictale. The blond tackled the Pokémon out of the way as they both hit the ground while an arrow darted by them. "Run!" Shulk yelled, pointing in a direction, "Run now!"

The girl gave a giggle. "Ah, Shulk. Been awhile, hm?" she asked with a charm. Her hair was split into two twin pigtails, while her blue bangs covered her right eye. Her left eye glared with a ruby red tint. A cream top and a black skirt, the girl stared with a hint of bloodlust in her intimidating expression.

Peri

Epictale got to his feet, slowly backing away with a panicked look on his face. The poor Pokémon was scared. Meanwhile, Shulk stood up as well, gripping the Monado tightly. "Not the reunion I was expecting..." he responded. At this point, he was stalling for Epictale to flee, but he didn't want to make anything obvious.

"Not to be a bother, but! I need to take the both of you out!" Peri's malicious statement was paired with a cute smile, proving her unmasked insanity. Epictale was backing away, but he didn't want to leave Shulk here to die. Could Shulk survive this?

"May I ask why?" Shulk questioned with a nervous smile. "Do you know what this is all about? Do you know where these things came from?" The swordsman assumed they were evil, so does this mean that Peri was working with them? Oh, no... That's not good.

Before answering, Peri charged the dark cannon again. "If only I could answer!" she responded with a cheery voice. "But, they said I wasn't allowed to answer questions, so... Sorry, Shulk!" Peri pulled the trigger on one of the handles, but Shulk sidestepped just in time. The black arrow flew past him. The swordsman groaned in annoyance and charged at Peri. As he neared, Peri let go of the cannon and pulled a lance of her own. "Silly Monado Boy! Lances beat swords!"

Ignoring her unnecessary banter, Shulk swung the Monado's blade towards her. Peri wielded her lance with two hands, blocking the blue beam. "I said run! Go!" Shulk shouted at Epictale. The Pokémon was frozen, unsure of what to do.

"Kyahahaha! Run if you'd like!" Peri added, glimpsing towards the Pokémon with a carefree attitude even though she was engaged in a deadly battle. She got her footing and proceeded to shove Shulk away, twirling the lance around and pointing it at the swordsman. The two darted at each other, but Shulk slid underneath Peri's stab with her lance. The blond followed up by swinging the Monado at her, but Peri dodged it.

The two opponents were locked in a heated fight. They traded attacks, but neither of them could land a solid hit. Back and forth, they both used their combat expertise to counter each other. The fight was seemingly equal, but it appeared as though Shulk was holding back. It was almost as if... he didn't want to hurt his former friend. Epictale watched on, still backing away from the fight.

With her thirst for killing, Peri gained the upper hand. With various kicks and jabs, the girl was overtaking Shulk. Then, out of the trees, more SubSpace enemies began running into the fray. Epictale gasped in shock, yelling "Spin!" to warn his protector. Shulk spun his head around to see the enemies, and his stomach dropped. He charged at the oncoming enemies to take care of them first. If he could just kill them, then it would be a fair fight for Peri! If he could just move fast enough...!

Epictale wanted to help, but he didn't want to disobey Shulk. The Pokémon could feel himself starting to run away from the scene, but his eyes were glued on the fight. He noticed Shulk get knocked to the ground. He noticed Peri taking control of the cannon again. He noticed Shulk kicking and scratching to stay alive. He noticed... Peri firing an arrow... He noticed... Shulk screaming in pain... as he turned... into an evil version of himself...


"GET OVER HERE, MR. ROBOTO!" Pastry shouted, sprinting at full speed with Chrom by his side. They were finally on land after following the cloaked figure down from the clouds. And now, they were both hot on the figure's trail.

"FOR THE LOVE OF NAGA, LEAVE ME ALONE!" the figure yelled back, hovering just out of reach from the two males. "JUST MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" it added in its usual robotic voice. The figure was being pursued ever since it departed from the observatory, and the two chasers were more than persistent.

"Where are you headed!?" Chrom questioned. They were running along a dirt path with green grass on either side. The terrain was smooth, but there were short hills that surrounded them.

"And who the heck are you!?" Pastry asked after his father. "Machine or mannequin? With parts made in Japan? Are you the modren man?!"

Chrom looked at Pastry, "Wait, it's 'modren'? I thought the lyric was 'modern'?" The king seemed to forget about the chase in general, more concerned with this immense revelation.

"You didn't know that?" Pastry asked, "Wow." Their casual conversation was annoying the cloaked figure even more.

"Enough!" it yelled, turning around to face the pursuers as it continued to hover away from them. "Don't you two have anything better to do!?" The figure began rising, lifting higher and higher out of reach.

"Aw, c'mon, don't leave the party just yet!" Pastry called out as he saw the figure levitating in the distance. This guy was their only lead. Without the figure, they would be lost. "H-Hey!" Chrom didn't want to lose the cloaked figure either. It was carrying another metallic bomb underneath the hovering platform, and there was no telling where its next destination was. All Chrom knew was that... they were all heading in the direction of the royal family's home.