Shulk found himself rummaging through a broken Mechon, sitting somewhere near Colony 9. He remembered this place, he knew where he was, he...
Shulk hesitated to reach for a piece of scrap metal. If this dream went how he thought he would...
Why hesitate? This dream will never change.
Right...this dream would always end the same way...
Shulk reached for the piece of scrap metal, and the ground gave out beneath him without any warning. He tried to reach for a solid piece of land, and looked up to see another him staring down at him, eyes narrowed and mouth set in a frown...
"Pathetic."
Shulk slowly opened his eyes, finding himself staring up at a black void. For a moment, he thought maybe he was still dreaming, until he heard a groan of pain nearby, and the sound of rushing water. Shulk slowly rolled onto his side, blinking slowly as he realized he was lying on top of a patch of golden flowers. Everyone else was scattered about around him, slowly waking up. The patch of golden flowers he landed on did nothing to help with the smell.
"...are...are we all okay?" Jin asked, standing up. "How far down did we fall?"
"I...I don't think we fell very far. I'm not in any pain..." Shulk responded.
"You landed on a patch of flowers, the rest of us weren't nearly as lucky..." Bart grumbled.
There was a quiet few minutes as the Homs and humans split into two separate groups to make sure they were all okay. Calling their allies humans felt...weird to Shulk. They looked so much like Homs...
"...seems we're all okay," Citan noted. "Maybe a little spooked, but none worse for the wear."
"That's...good to hear," Sharla responded.
An uneasy silence fell, no one looking at each other, until Gaignun broke the silence.
"So...Homs?" he asked, looking at Shulk.
"Yes, Homs. We...We thought all of you were from the Bionis," Shulk responded.
"We've...never heard of that place before. We...We thought you guys were human," Shion admitted.
"So then...are you guys...all human?" Reyn asked, tilting his head.
"Not exactly. I'm a Realian!" MOMO answered.
"I'm a cyborg," Ziggy simply replied.
"I am an anti-Gnosis android," KOS-MOS responded.
"Let's, uh...just say I'm part-human and leave at that," Rico admitted.
"Chu-Chu is a Chu-Chu!" Chu-Chu squeaked.
"...er...I didn't understand half of what you guys said. We've never heard of Realians, or cyborgs, or androids...or Gnosis, for that matter," Melia admitted.
"Cyborgs are humans with cybernetic implants," Ziggy explained. When Shulk gave him a confused look, Ziggy clarified, "Think...machinery. Mechon, if that...applies."
"What's a Mechon, by the way?" Shion asked.
"They're from the Mechonis. They're awful monsters made entirely out of metal that have tried to wipe out the Homs. There's only two Colonies left: Colony 9 and Colony 6. If we fell...the Homs would go extinct, essentially," Sharla answered.
"What?! The situation is that bad on Bionis?" Maria asked, eyes widening.
"Unfortunately. But we have the Monado!" Shulk assured, holding up the Monado. "It's capable of cutting through the Mechon! Although..."
Shulk lowered the Monado. "...there are some Mechon it can't cut through. A Mechon with a face attacked Colony 9...the Monado only even hurt him when I thought Fiora had been killed."
"Is there anything else that the Monado can't cut through?" chaos asked, staring at the Monado. "If it's able to cut through the Mechon besides that faced one..."
"It can't cut through Homs. All other life on the Bionis is fair game to it, but for some reason, not the Homs," Dunban answered.
"I see. I wonder if the Mechon are somehow using the Homs to try to protect themselves. As grim as it sounds...given how you talked of the Mechon, it doesn't sound past them to possibly use the dead against you," chaos guessed.
"What?! There's no way! That would...they would...!" Reyn stammered.
"...the worst part is, that would make sense for them to use that tactic if they knew what the Monado's limits were. Those red lights on Metal Face...maybe that's actually..." Dunban realized.
"...will you guys be alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," chaos apologized, frowning.
"...we...we need a moment to process that, that's..." Fiora answered, holding a hand to her head.
"Perhaps we should find a better place to discuss this," Jin quickly suggested. "The dump doesn't seem like a good place to hang around in, all things considered."
"R-Right. Let's...Let's just keep moving," Shulk agreed, slinging the Monado over his back. Everyone fell silent as they waded through the water, Shulk's mind racing with ideas. If it was true the Mechon were using the Homs they killed to protect themselves...would that mean somewhere in any of the Mechon who had those red lights, there was...
...maybe it was best to put that at the back of his mind for now. He would have more time to worry about that later, he didn't want to think about the possibility of someone he might have known being responsible for why the Mechon couldn't be harmed by the Monado. Shulk spotted a glowing point, and touched it as he passed it by.
This is the place they use for dumping their garbage? Disgusting.
"Hey, look, that looks like one of the dummies from the ruins!" Jr said, running up to a dummy that seemed to be an exact replica of the one they had seen before.
"Huh. Wonder what it's doing here," Citan mumbled, glancing it over. "Maybe someone had no need for it and tossed it out?"
"Who knows? I think I see something up ahead, let's go!" Bart prompted.
The party began to move forward, only to freeze in their tracks when they heard some sort of musical sting. Suddenly, the dummy appeared before the party, now colored orange. It seemed to gain eyes, a mouth, and what seemed to be a set of teeth on its torso.
"Hahaha...too intimidated to fight me, huh?" the dummy sneered. "I am a ghost that lives inside a dummy. My cousin used to live inside a dummy, too. Until...YOU HUMANS CAME ALONG! When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat...but the things you SAID...! Horrible. Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE! It spooked them right out of their dummy! HUMANS! I'll scare your souls right out of your body!"
"W-What!? We just said hello to the dummy!" MOMO protested. "That's all!"
"Lies! LIES!" the mad dummy yelled. Suddenly, parts of the wall opened up to reveal miniature dummies sticking their heads out shortly before firing balls of what Shulk could only describe as magic. The party immediately split up, trying to avoid the attack as well as they could. Fiora hit the ground just before the balls of magic could hit her, and they sailed over her and towards the Dummy.
"OWWWW, you DUMMIES! Watch where you're aiming your magic attacks!" they snapped, jostling around angrily before glaring at the humans. "...hey! You humans! Forget I said anything about magic!"
"Okay, so we gotta get the magic to hit them...that's easier said than done at this rate, honestly," Reyn grumbled as Fiora picked herself up the ground.
"We might as well try it, we're not getting past them otherwise!" Bart pointed out.
The dummies attacked again, this time some popping up from the floor and ceiling. People yelped and cried out as they tried to duck past the balls of magic fired at them, several people hitting the ground near the Mad Dummy. They shrieked as they were hit with the other dummies' magic.
"I'll defeat you all and take your souls!" the dummy shouted. "I'll use your souls to cross the barrier! I'll stand in the window of a fancy store! Then everything I want will be mine!"
"What about your cousin?" Dunban questioned, diving behind a pile of garbage to avoid an attack. The attack sailed over the pile of trash and hit the water with a loud splash.
"Huh? Yeah, I guess then I'll avenge my cousin. What was their name again...?" the dummy wondered, narrowing its eyes in thought, only for them to widen again when Fei dove to the ground in front of them and let them take the brunt of a few magical attacks.
"Whatever. Whatever! WHATEVER!" the dummy shouted, fuming. "Your attacks are futile! FUTILE! FUTILE!"
"You know, I think we've got them...'hopping mad'," Shion joked, shortly before a cluster of dummies appeared close to her. She seemed to instantly regret making the pun, yelling as she fled from the surprise attack.
"Pitiful. Pitiful! PITIFUL!" the dummy screamed, shortly before another round of magical attacks were re-directed towards them. "Ohhh, that's it! Dummies! DUMMIES!"
The army of dummies popped up around them. "Remember how I said not to shoot at me? Well...FAILURES! YOU'RE ALL FIRED!"
The dummies looked heartbroken as they disappeared back into the holes they popped out of, leaving the dummy by themselves.
"That's no way to treat your subordinates!" Jin pointed out, frowning heavily.
"Hahaha! HAHAHA! Now you'll all see my true power...relying on people that aren't garbage!" the dummy responded, sneering. "Dummy bots! MAGIC MISSILE!"
This time, robot dummies popped out of the holes in the dump just before they launched missiles at the party. Shulk honestly wanted to question why they were now being attacked by missiles, but he had no time at the moment. He ran as fast as he could from the missiles, circling around the dummy and letting them hit them instead.
"Not again...! Dummy bots! TRY AGAIN!" the dummy shouted. Once again, dummy bots popped out of several spots all over the dump, and there was a moment of chaos with everyone trying to evade the missiles. The dummy cackled, until they were once again hit by the missiles, this time courtesy of Gaignun.
"Oh for...Dummy bots! You're awful?" the dummy reprimanded, angrily hopping around. The dummy bots struck again, and this time the missiles blew up piles of garbage if they failed to hit their targets. The smell of a clothing store, burning garbage, and smoke was starting to mix in the air, and Shulk started gagging. Okay, this was quickly becoming a bad place to fight.
Jr dashed forward as the missiles tried to hit him, then quickly ducked to the ground in front of the Mad Dummy. The dummy screeched as they were hit again.
"Nggggh! Dummy bots! FINAL ATTACK!" they shouted. All manner of dummy bots and the previous dummies started popping out every which way of the floor, the walls, the ceiling...missiles and magic soared through the air, people yelping and crying out as they did their best to avoid the attacks. It took Fei guiding the magic and missiles being flung at him towards the Mad Dummy to get the attack to stop.
"D...Did we do it?" Dunban wondered. Shulk's eyes started glowing blue as he suddenly got a vision-
-knife flung straight where Fei had dived onto the ground, striking him in the back-
"Fei! Watch out!" Shulk shouted.
"Wha...!?" Fei gasped, looking up and quickly rolling out of the dummy flinging a knife at him. The dummy froze.
"I'm...all out of knives. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME...forever. Forever! FOREVER!"
The dummy started cackling, until Shulk spotted a familiar shape hovering above the Mad Dummy, tears falling out of their eyes. The Mad Dummy shrieked in pain as the tears hit them.
"Wh...What the heck is this?! Acid rain!? Bah..I'm out of here!" they snapped. The Mad Dummy tired of everyone's aimless shenanigans and floated away. Napstablook appeared before the party.
"Oh no...did I make your new friend go away? Oh no...you guys looked like you were having fun...oh no..." Napstablook asked as they disappeared..
The dump was...even more dumpy than it was before now. Garbage had been exploded and tossed everywhere, and the stench was even worse than it was before. Shulk wrinkled his nose.
"Okay...we should probably get out of here. This place smells absolutely awful now," he commented. The party shuffled out of the dump and back onto dry land. A glowing point hovered in front of a small lake, which lied in front of a house shaped like a fish, a pair of houses with only one having the lights on, and what seemed to be a stable of some sort. Shulk touched the glowing point-
This place is tranquil...it's a breath of fresh air after the chaos of that last fight.
"Wonder where that dummy went...that thing put up a tough fight," Jr commented.
"I'll say. At least hopefully they're out of our hair now," Rico agreed. The party headed east, walking into a rather dark field filled with bright, pale grass. Mushrooms and crystals dotted the field here and there, and small particles of what Shulk now assumed was magic drifted lazily upwards from the ground.
"We can't be far now...it feels like we're close to the end of Waterfall," Ziggy guessed.
"I agree. I almost don't want to leave this place, it feels so much like the Satorl Marsh..." Fiora admitted. "But...we shouldn't lag like this, we need to get out of here and get home..."
"...even if we do get out of here...where in any of our worlds would this be?" Fei wondered. "It's obvious this place isn't at this Bionis, and I've never heard of a war between humans and monsters where I come from..."
"Well, it could be on another planet," Shion suggested. "Granted, that leaves the question of which planet it is, but..."
"Planet?" Shulk and Fei repeated, blinking curiously at Shion.
"...er...okay, so assume there's other worlds beyond your own," Shion began. "Some are similar to yours, some are not. That's sort of what planets are."
"Other worlds? I...I see..." Shulk responded.
"We were heading back to Second Miltia when we were transported here. I wonder, though...KOS-MOS, are we too far underground to tell where we are?" Shion asked.
"Negative. However...I cannot access the UMN Network at this time, Shion. It's possible this place is out of the UMN Network's reach," KOS-MOS answered.
"UMN Network...?" Fiora asked.
"How should I explain this...it's a network of sorts, it's...not exactly easy to explain," Shion admitted.
"Let's just say it helps us determine where we are and leave it at that. We don't have a ton of time to explain what it is," Jr pointed out.
"If we're out of reach...I wonder..." chaos murmured. "Could we be..."
"We couldn't...Lost Jerusalem?" Shion wondered.
"Lost Jerusalem? Where's...Where's that?" Melia asked.
"No one knows, actually, but...4,000 years ago, humanity had to flee from Lost Jerusalem. We spread out among the stars, and over time...no one knew where it was anymore. People have been trying to find it, and if we...if we happen to have ended up on it somehow..." chaos answered. The party slowed to a halt, Shion's friends looking around them.
"...if we really are on Lost Jerusalem...why? Why us, of all people?" Gaignun wondered.
"...part of me doesn't want to believe that. There's just a period of nothingness from when we were on the Elsa and waking up in the ruins, how..." Ziggy admitted.
"But if we did...what would we find here?" MOMO asked aloud. "Wow..."
Shulk had no idea what to say. This wasn't really something for the Homs to get involved in, and yet...Lost Jerusalem sounded fascinating. Why did the humans flee from this Lost Jerusalem? Was this really that place, then...? Fei's group seemed equally interested as Shulk felt, a curious glint in Citan's eyes at the mention of a lost planet.
"...will you all be alright?" Dunban asked, approaching Jin. "Do we need to take a moment to stop?"
"Ah...no, we...we'll be okay, I think we're just...overwhelmed at the idea of being on Lost Jerusalem, potentially. It's hard to explain," Jin answered. "This is possibly where humanity was born..."
"Sorry," Gaignun apologized, returning his attention to the rest of the party. "We'll keep moving, we didn't mean to stop like that."
"It's quite alright," Citan answered. "It sounds like you have a lot to ponder over here..."
The group fell silent as they continued through the field, the light slowly disappearing. It was getting harder and harder to see...
"Geez, why is it getting so dark all of a sudden?" Reyn wondered, squinting. "I can hardly see a thing!"
Shulk nodded, shortly before bumping into a familiar blue flower. He bent down to listen to it.
"Behind you," Undyne's voice whispered. Suddenly, the area brightened, and everyone turned around sharply to see Undyne approaching them, spear in hand.
"...seven. Seven human souls. That's all we need to destroy the barrier," she began. "Six. We have six human souls so far..."
She aimed her spear at Shulk before starting to charge forward-
"Don't worry, Undyne!" the monster kid from earlier shouted, bursting out of a patch of tall grass right between Undyne and Shulk. "I'll help you!"
Undyne halted in her tracks, dispelling the spear in her hands. She looked down at the kid before dragging them away.
"Wha-What?! Aw, come on, Undyne!" the kid whined. Shulk sighed in relief, shoulders sagging.
"...we just barely dodged a bullet there. Or...spear in Undyne's case," he weakly joked.
The group kept moving, going down a northern hall and wading into water. Several blue flowers sprouted out of the ground, lining the path. Small, glowing golden lights filled the air.
"So? Don't you have any wishes to make?" one flower echoed.
"...hmmm, just one, but...it's kind of stupid," another responded.
"Don't say that! Come on, I promise I won't laugh."
"... hmmm...if I say my wish...you promise you won't laugh at me?"
"Of course I won't laugh!"
"Someday, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around...that's my wish."
A burst of laughter proceeded that same person speaking.
"...hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at it!"
"Sorry, it's just funny...that's my wish, too."
"...I wonder who those people are. They sounded close..." Dunban wondered.
"Definitely not Undyne," Reyn responded. "Though...probably a couple or something like that."
There was one more flower near the end of the room. Shulk neared it, wondering what this flower had to say.
"Where, oh where, could my children be?" Toriel's voice lamented. "I've been looking all over for them..."
Shulk felt his heart stop, wincing as he remembered Toriel. How...?
"...hee hee hee," Flowey's voice suddenly spoke. "That's not true. She'll find another kid, and instantly forget about you. You'll NEVER see her again."
Bart and Jr scowled, glaring at the flower. "What the hell?! Is Flowey trying to mess with us?"
"Pay it no mind," Citan suggested. "We've got better things to do than to mess with him."
There was one more piece of writing etched in the wall. Shulk approached it and read it aloud.
"Let's see...'There is, however, a prophecy. The Angel...the one who has seen the surface...they will return. And the underground will go empty.'"
"I wonder...does that angel intend to destroy the barrier? Or simply kill them all?" chaos murmured.
The water ended a few steps later, and the party was proceeding on a bridge to the east when they heard footsteps behind them. It was the monster kid.
"Huff, huff...yo...so Undyne said to stay away from you guys, but...I...I want to fight you guys! I wanna help Undyne!" the kid declared, prepared to tackle the humans.
"H-Hey! Easy, kid, we don't want to fight you!" Bart pointed out.
"C-Come on! Make me...Make me want to fight you guys!" the kid squeaked. When everyone shook their heads, they sighed.
"If you don't want to fight me...I...I don't know, I guess I'll go home..." the kid mumbled, turning around. They lost their step, and teetered on the edge of the bridge.
"Ah...!"
Several people rushed forward, Shulk grabbing the monster kid just before they fell off the bridge.
"Are you okay?" Shulk asked, gently setting the kid back on the bridge.
"Y-Yeah! I'm okay!" the kid responded. "Thank you for saving me!"
There was a clank, and Shulk looked up to see Undyne. How long had she been there?
"...you might want to get this child back to safety," Gaignun informed. "This place isn't safe for them."
The kid slowly walked toward Undyne, looking up at her. "Undyne...?"
Undyne simply led the kid away from the humans, armor clanking as she walked away. The kid looked behind them for a few moments before following after her.
The bridge came to a stop just before a large cavern. Somehow...Undyne had teleported to the top of the cavern, looking down at the humans and Homs. In the background, the party could see several large pieces of...machinery, maybe? The sky was tinted red behind Undyne.
"...seven. Seven human souls, and King Asgore will become a god," Undyne began. "Six. That's how many we have collected thus far. Understand? If one of you were to die...this world would be transformed. First, however, as customary for those who make it this far, let me tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started long ago..."
Undyne paused, then balled her hand up into a fist.
"No, you know what? SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ALL ABOUT TO DIE?!" she shouted. "NGAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
She tore off her helmet, revealing her blue skin, fins, and red hair. An eye patch covered one eye, and the other was bright yellow.
"You all...you're standing in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams! Alphys' history books made me think humans were cool with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen, but you?"
Undyne scoffed. "You're just cowards! Hiding behind that kid so you could run away again!"
"H-Hey!" MOMO protested. "We didn't hide behind them! We wanted to help them!"
"Oh, and let's not forget your wimpy goody-two-shoes-shticks!" Undyne spat. "Oooh! I'm making such a difference by hugging random strangers! You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF ALL OF YOU WERE DEAD! That's right, humans! Your continued existences are crimes! Your lives are all that stands between us and our freedom!"
"Undyne, come on, we don't want to fight..." Ziggy sighed, shaking his head.
"Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together! Everyone's been waiting their whole lives for this moment! But we're not nervous at all. When everyone puts their hearts together, they can't lose! Now, humans! Let's end this, right here, right now. I'll show you how determined monsters can be! Step forward when you're ready! Fuhuhuhu!" Undyne laughed.
A glowing point appeared beside Shulk, and he chose to touch it. He had a bad feeling about how this fight would go...
The wind is howling...stay determined.