Chapter X: Unfinished Battles
That's interesting. I remember that I once was an engineer in my work, but I don't remember how I got here. Was I part of an experiment? What did I do? I stop walking up the ether mine and think.
"Oy! Augustine! You better hurry up, you can sit on the freight elevator when we get there." Reyn jests, slightly laughing.
We walk up the ramp, to the freight elevator, silent. Shulk presses the button of the freight elevator and smirks.
"What're you smirking for?" Shulk asks.
"See, I was right! I probably should press all the buttons from now on." Reyn confidently says.
"I'm not so sure about that…" I reply.
All of us, even Otharon, laugh at this statement. I also ask if Otharon knows what the time is, which he answers that it is about night.
We continue along the slow ride, the undulating rumble of the wheels below us, and the nothing but the dark to keep us company. I use this time for thinking about what I know and what I need to know about my situation.
I know that I am from a different place, that means different country, or world, or whatever.
I don't know how I got here.
I remember many complex arithmetic formulae, I could be either a scientist or an engineer back in the world I came from
I remember I used to have a love interest.
Interesting things that I used to have, if all my inferences are true.
I weigh my situation, but the elevator stops, with a sudden jolt. My mind snaps back into reality.
"Hey, why've we stopped?" Reyn asks.
"I don't know, but we'll find out soon enough," Shulk replies.
We hear a noise coming from below. An unnatural low noise that swells louder ever second. We draw our weapons.
The large Mechon that we fought before descends onto the elevator with a mighty crash. Unlike before, the bronze armour is caked with black and green, half-eaten away with many wires showing. It is a sorry sight compared to it before, and is nearly hard to not feel a slight pang of pity for it.
"Not him again," Reyn sighs, slight disdain in his voice as he looks upon the near non-existent armour of the Mechon.
"This one doesn't give up," Sharla responds.
"Now is the chance! Let's finish it!" Shulk shouts, who slashes the Monado right at one of the legs, slicing three-fourth of the way through. "His armour is spent! Charge!" He remarks to us while enchanting us.
I dodge the hammer and block his other arm as he tries to punch me, and then while going through his leg, stab the back of the Mechon. Reyn attacks, drawing the animosity with him and the Mechon swings, but doesn't connect. Shulk gets into the back, and then finishes with a backslash, which splits the Mechon down the shoulder, removing the left arm.
"Aargh!" The Mechon shouts as it falls onto the floor, landing with a large "thunk", ether leaking out of many holes in the armour, and wires sparking. The only visible portion that is left working are the thrusters, which still spurt energy. It raises its hammer one more time, and breathes heavily. "Still hungry!" It says, doing a last hurrah.
Sharla and Otharon move in front of us, and fire at the arm with the hammer, Otharon hitting the hammer, and Sharla aiming for the joint on the arm. The attacks connect, blowing apart the arm and the hammer, and leaving the Mechon crumpling on the floor.
"Did we get him?" Reyn asks, as the Mechon breathes heavily on the floor, kind of like an asthma attack.
"Got to hand it to you…" He breathes heavily, so much that we are hard pressed to hear him, and we approach Xord, cautiously. "You beat me… Without even releasing… The true power of the Monado."
"True power? What do you know about the Monado?!" Shulk demands, the Monado nearly on the head of the Mechon.
"Sorry boy, I can't tell you that. You'll have to find out the truth on their own." Xord answers.
"The truth?"
"When I became what you see now, that's when my eyes were opened," I hear the rev up of the engines, as blue light ejects out of them. "Was a good ride while it lasted."
"When you became like this?" Shulk implores, his free hand on his chin, in his thinking pose. "What do you mean?!"
"Time's up, pipsqueak!" Xord launches over the edge in a cinematic fashion, the humped-back getting smaller and smaller as it falls down the elevator shaft.
"Xord!" Shulk shouts as the Mechon explodes at the bottom, releasing an extreme amount of bluish-greenish particles that suddenly make the elevator lurch forward, making us all lose our footing.
"We got out of that encounter alive," I say, cheerfully.
"Yes, but remember, this is a mine. Mines have explosives, explosives…" Shulk's voice quivers in his throat. "We… kind of need to get out of here?"
"Oh," I say, and the air becomes deathly silent as we ascend to the surface, the patter of rain becoming ever-so-slightly louder the closer we get to the surface, the grey speck becoming larger and larger.
It gets to the surface and we run. Suddenly an explosion happens, and the shockwave pushes us to the ground. We look back, and smoke pours out of the entrance, like some sick science experiment.
"We smashed that bronze idiot," Reyn says, apparently not thinking anything of Xord's talking, putting Juju right next to Sharla. "Now the people of Colony 6 can rest in peace."
Sharla looks down at Juju, not replying to Reyn's comment, but Juju stirs.
"Sharla?" Juju asks weakly, his voice hoarse as if he hasn't spoke for ages.
"Are you okay?" Sharla demands, hugging him tightly. Juju nods, and Sharla even hugs him tighter. "Thank the stars that you're all right."
"Where are we?"
"Just outside of the Ether Mine in Colony 6." She gestures to us, "Thanks to them, we were able to destroy that… thing, but not everyone made it."
"Oh…" Juju mumbles, as he gets up onto his feet, and Sharla checks for any injuries. "I'm so sorry. Shulk, Reyn, Augustine… I didn't mean to cause any more trouble running off like that."
"Forget about it, kid. We settled the score!" Reyn responds cheerfully.
"I mean, if you really want to, you can come with us," I say to him, but am met with a withering glare from Sharla. "… If Sharla allows?" I add, meekly.
"Thanks!" Juju responds, and is also met with a glare from Sharla.
"That's all well and good, but there's still no sign of the Mechon with a metal face. That's the one that we're after," Shulk says, with a slight frown on his face. "But, for now, we should really head back to Colony 9, we need to get all of the ether crystals turned into gems."
"Yeah!" Reyn replies, enthusiastically, pumping his fist.
"Hope I'm not interrupting!" a menacing voice comes from the side of the cliff, and makes us all jump back five feet from fright. The Mechon with the metal face emerges, and from the colouration, trim, and claws, it is obvious that it is Metal Face.
"It's him! Metal Face!" Shulk shouts with venom in his voice, as Metal Face lands on the wet ground, making mud splash everywhere. Other Mechon land, making splashes, and many look like Xord, but most of the others are regular Mechon.
"Not just him! A whole bunch! And tons of 'em look like Xord," Reyn says, frightfully as we clutch our weapons, and go into guard stances.
"Pathetic! After all that talk, Xord was crushed by worthless, insignificant maggots like you?" He asks, spitting out the last phrase.
"This one can talk 'n' all!" Reyn announces, annoyed.
"I think all faced ones can talk, Reyn!" I tell him.
"We can talk all right! But, I've also got a good memory, 'Fiora! Get outta there! Get out!'" Recalling the earlier situation, he laughs cruelly, banging the ground with his foot, truly enjoying the moment. "Her screams were music to my ears, as my claws slid right through her soft flesh…" he acts out the movement of his claws, laughing all the way through, "Like a hot knife through butter!"
The four of us, enraged, draw our weapons, but none so fast as Shulk who has already activated the Monado and is charging at Metal Face shouting, "Talk all you want… As those words SHALL BE YOUR LAST!"
Shulk swings at Metal Face's claws, and Metal Face blocks, the two engaging in a contest of strength, until he simply pushes him aside like the breeze pushes a leaf.
"The Monado? Heh, it's been a while. But you should know by now… the Monado can't stop me!" He swings at Shulk as the latter gets up, and unprepared, he gets electrocuted, while propelled backwards due to the force of the blow, sliding along several metres on the ground.
"Shulk!" A collective shout from the three of us comes as we kneel next to him, and help him up.
"You… Barbarous, treacherous, knave!" I shout, drawing my sword.
"I'm gonna…" Reyn's voice trails off with anger.
"Anyway you slice it, the Monado ain't gonna work, boy!" He chuckles as he crosses his arms, and continues, "Didn't work then, won't work now. Anyway, now to cut you down to size!" He shouts as he spreads his claws out, about to deliver the coup de grace on us, but a red light comes down and explodes on one of his claws, making him look up. "What?!"
We look up.
A collective sigh by the group happens when we see Dickson perched upon the cliff, smoke coming from the barrel of the gun.
"That's…" Otharon says, his voice trailing off in awe, taking his rifle off of his back.
"Now! Let'em have it, Beast!" Dickson shouts to someone out of sight, and a man in a maroon suit and a cape runs down the cliff, shouting. He swings his sword at a Mechon's joint, and it cuts through, more effectively than my sword, or Reyn's driver would. He turns back, adjusting the cape and I see it is the Hero of the Homs, Dunban. I sheathe my sword, knowing that the large group will probably need ranged support.
"It's you, Dunban!" Shulk shouts, excitedly.
"How did you…?" Reyn asks, but Dunban, seemingly with eyes in the back of his head, dodges another Mechon and then slices through the armour.
"Sorry to have kept you?" He says, putting the sword on his shoulder. "Looks like we were just in time." he says, as Dickson comically slides down the cliff, joining up with us.
"I ain't holding back any more," Dickson says to us, and we smile.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's do this!" I say.
Shulk enchants the six of us, including Otharon, and we fight. Otharon takes on an M69, destroying it, Dunban takes on an M64, Dickson; another M69, and the rest of us go against the horde of assorted Mechon.
I destroy one easily, cutting through the shell with my enchanted blade, while Shulk destroys his Mechon with one swipe of the Monado, freeing him up, though six more take their place. I cover Shulk's back with a well placed arrow that destroys one, and the subsequent explosion damages the other, which Sharla, with no healing duties, destroys easily. Otharon dodges a Mechon with unexpected nimbleness and destroys it, and Shulk busts two more with the Monado. We are visibly overwhelmed, as we still haven't beaten a tenth of the column.
"There's no end to them," Reyn says, distraughtly. "Where are they all coming from?" he jumps, and tries to see whether we have gotten through the thickest of the column.
"I can take the smaller ones, but the rest will be like fighting Xord over and over again!" Sharla says, slightly annoyed at our situation.
"If only our weapons would work on those things!" Shulk responds, distraughtly. "Augustine, if we survive this, get ether arrows back in Colony 9! They can damage Mechon."
"Why didn't you tell me?!" I ask him, annoyed, and with no more arrows left, parrying the "arm" of a Mechon and then stabbing it.
"Nobody uses arrows! Rifles are the better thing!" Shulk says.
"Focus, Shulk," Dunban remarks while we bicker over me not buying ether arrows.
"Look out!" Reyn shouts as an unseen Mechon charges at Shulk. Shulk turns around, and nearly gets hit, but Reyn tackles him out of the way, and Sharla gives cover fire.
"Ha ha ha! Look at you all," Metal Face laughs, taunting us.
"Look at this, metal brain!" Dickson shouts at Metal Face and fires a bullet, but Metal Face just blocks with his claws.
"That it, grandpa?" Metal Face jeers.
"Running out of ideas…" Dickson says, and I see his lips moving, probably cursing under his breath.
"Guys, spread out and engage," I request, seeing that we are about to be surrounded, yet again. "Sharla, look out. You're about to get swarmed on your right," I point to her, and she nods. She points at something behind me, and I lunge at it, destroying it, but another one, unseen, comes up behind me and slashes my legs.
"Augustine!" Shulk shouts, and he tries to come closer, but I wave him away.
"Stay… there! I'll deal with them myself!" I tell him, and Shulk heals me, while I wheel around and try to dodge the Mechon, but fall because of the pain. I still manage to destroy the Mechon by stabbing it. Sharla also heals me and pulls me back.
"Are you all right?" She asks.
"Yeah," I grunt. "Though, how bad is it?"
"You'll be limping for a week, but nothing major because of the ether."
"Good."
"You may be able to block a projectile, but let's see if you can block… This!" I snap my neck to where Dunban is, and he charges at Metal Face. He slashes, scratching the paint off of the arm, but Metal simply uses the other claw and swats him away.
"Tell me. How does it feel to be such a pathetic hero?" Metal Face implores with a condescending tone. Dunban then clutches his right arm, and seethes.
"You okay, Dunban?" Shulk asks, about to again heal him, but another Mechon catches his attention.
"Does it hurt? I bet it does. It hurts because the Monado won't work for a bunch of losers, like you!" Metal Face responds, malice dripping with every word. He even tries to stab Dunban, but he dodges.
"What are you?" Dunban asks, his sword levelled at Metal Face.
"Save it, I ain't interested. You little maggots need to know when you've been stepped on!" He bends his back, and reveals his cannon. We recoil at the sight. He laughs as he charges up the cannon.
"That light…" Dunban gasps. "Everybody, fall back now!"
"Won't change a thing. I'm gonna wipe you out once and for all!" Metal Face replies.
I gasp as I try to get up, the pain in my legs hurting, but adrenaline takes over and I stand. Looking up, I see a giant dinosaur-like thing that is light green, and it charges its own mouth with green particles. It releases that green light, and it destroys a faced Mechon in the back of the column.
"What the?!" Metal Face wonder as he dodges the "ether shots" that hit his other brethren, which scatter. "A Telethia?"
What the hell is a Telethia? I ask myself, wondering if there is more to that green dinosaur-like thing than meets the eye.
I see an opening among the Mechon, directly exposing Metal Face, and beckon for Shulk to move.
"Now's our chance!" Shulk shouts, as he charges climbing up onto Metal Face's arm, and bringing down the full force of the Monado onto it. At first nothing happens. Then, the Monado slightly melts the metal of the Mechon, which makes Metal Face seemingly cringe with pain.
"You'll pay for that! How are you-" Metal Face asks, annoyed.
I limp to the back where Sharla is supporting the retreat, using my sword as a walking stick. I then get a sensation like I'm about to get a vision…
There is a horn, covered in green. A black tower, floating in the air tries to obscure it. A black Mechon, about the size of a Homs stands there, along with Metal Face and one other white Mechon with pink trim. The black Mechon is the same as before, and I notice one other detail, the face is slightly covered.
A woman with small wings on the back of her head is also shown, looking at the three Mechon, and I hear Shulk's voice shouting, "You will pay for what you have done! You will know the pain and suffering that you caused the Emperor and Fiora!" He does that to a Faced Mechon, and the armour gives way.
"Enough of this!" Metal Face shouts, and I am brought back to the present. Metal Face then swings his arm wildly, and Shulk is knocked off. "You got lucky, brat! Next time, your head is mine," He shouts as he looks at the damage on his right arm. He takes off, and the remaining Mechon take off too.
"You're not getting away!" Shulk shouts at him.
"Get back here!" Reyn shouts, starting to run after Metal Face.
"Shulk, Reyn, let it go," Dunban orders, nonchalantly, but in his eyes has a look of command.
"You've got to be kidding! He's the one who killed Fiora." Reyn shouts at Dunban, but lowers his tone of voice when he sees his eyes.
"Know your limits. We'll get another chance," Dunban replies. "Augustine is injured and is out of the fight."
"Fine," Shulk says, mouthing sorry at me. I make a gesture to say "It's okay", as the Telethia flies off.
"That thing saved us. Whatever it was," Dunban says to Shulk, as the two of them make walk over to the rest of us.
Dickson and Otharon are engaged in their own conversation, "I thought it was you. Nice to see you, Dickson."
"It's been a while, grandpa. One year if my memory hasn't left me. Good to see that you haven't kicked the bucket."
Otharon laughs at his statement, "Put a sock in it."
Sharla is treating me at this time, but when she heard the names of Dickson and Dunban she also becomes mystified. "Wait… Dickson? Dunban? You're the heroes who risked their lives a year ago, in the battle to defend the colonies."
"Wait, what's a pretty young lady like you hanging around with these bunch? They're all slackers and forgetful."
"Tch, I'm not that forgetful any more, I kind of know what I was back when I used to be in my own world. Only problem is that, I don't know how I got here," I reply. "Anyway, thanks for helping us. I probably wouldn't have survived that ambush without you two."
"I don't believe we did anything," Dunban answers me, with a wry smile.
"He's right. Save your thanks for that giant bird," Dickson adds to Dunban's comment.
"What was that thing?" Shulk inquires.
"A Telethia," I have a quizzical look on my face when Dickson says this, "It is a mystical beast that protects the sleeping Bionis. Though, I've never heard of one ever venturing down to where us Homs live. It's strange."
"A mystical beast that protects the Bionis," Shulk repeats.
"So, what's your plan from here? Follow that metal-faced Mechon, I presume," Dunban questions Shulk.
"What else? He's gonna pay for what he did to Fiora," Reyn replies.
"Well then. There's only one place he'd go; Galahad Fortress in Sword Valley. A year ago, those things were building a huge fortress, right in the valley. Tactically, it's an excellent location to launch attacks from, and I feel there's a strong chance that they have finished building it, which is why both colonies were attacked so recently," Dunban surmises.
"So it's settled. Bash down a fortress, and smash some metal brains!" Reyn repeats, excitedly.
"Easy, Reyn," Shulk says, half-laughing. "There's somewhere I need to go first."
"Yeah, to Colony 9. This leg will take a week to heal," I grumble, annoyed at my carelessness.
"Actually, that's a good idea," Sharla buts in, Otharon looking quizzical. "I mean, if we go to Colony 9, we can pass by the Refugee Camp, do their last chores, and search for items that we need in the restoration."
"Oh, yes, I forgot about the Colony. There're a lot of things to do," Otharon adds.
"Anyway, where is the vision? We can go there in a week, as if there's one thing I know, it's revenge can always wait," I say.
"Visions? What're you on about?" Dickson asks.
We explain the visions to Dickson, and he narrows his eyes at the mention of me having visions too.
"That's interesting, you can see different things than Shulk?"
"Yes, or most of the time it's different. Sometimes it is the same, for example we both saw Juju being took," I reply.
"Hmm. So, what did you see, Augustine?"
"I saw the Horn of the Bionis, and three Mechon, though one was smaller than the others."
"And you, Shulk?"
"Somewhere very high up. We were fighting at the peak of a huge tower. Fighting Metal Face. I heard a voice, and then the Monado's power was released. His armour instantly gave way. The Monado doesn't work on Metal Face at the moment, but if that vision comes true…"
"Yes, it sounds like a place I've visited. A horn means that it is at the top, so that means Prison Island. A very long walk, if you ask me, you should head back to Colony 9 for a few days."
"Good idea, Dickson," Dunban says, as we depart off for Colony 9.
(A/N): How do you like the decision to do Colony 6 Reconstruction early? I did this because I thought that travel times in the game were extremely understated, so I think it would make sense for them to go back, especially with me being injured. Also, Colony 9 has a lot of those Reconstruction things…