Chapter 13: Settling the Score

Telaensis...

The sword's name... My sword's name. Why did this come now? I shook out the thought as one of the remaining two Telethia screeched at us. Getting into position, I looked at Shulk and he nodded at me before we looked at the Telethia coming down to our level, ready to strike.

"Ready?" Shulk asked me.

I nodded as one of them came close to us. He went first ahead with the Monado, swinging it just like Alvis did and the green light burst outwards, latching onto the creature like how Alvis did. I ran behind him and Shulk jumped, slicing off the antenna to render its mind reading powers useless. As Shulk landed, I sensed the other one coming from behind us, not too far away. Shaking my head, I jumped up and holding Telaensis tightly, sliced the creature down its spinal cord before removing it as I landed.

"Shulk! Behind you!" I called out, turning around to see the Telethia not too far behind. Ignoring the horrible scream and burst of green energy from the now dead Telethia behind me, he didn't have time to react as it swooped from behind him, ready to strike. I hesitated to use the Time Wrap because I had no idea if the Telethia would sense it. Instead, I just froze as it attacked Shulk from behind, sending him flying towards me. My instinct forced me to dodge and turn back to the Telethia, which roared at me before flying towards me. "Sorry Shulk," I muttered before charging at it.

My mind liked to wander off, but during battle, it was more concerned for my safety then anything. I ran to the left and the Telethia flew after me. Turning around, I felt the claws tear into my clothing, but barely digging into my left arm. Stumbling back, glance to see nothing bleeding before I faced the Telethia, my Telaensis in my hands read to strike back. It came again and I had to react quickly. The claws ripped into my right sleeve, but I quickly flung it off. Blood was now coming from my right arm, sending pain up my shoulder. I had to shake it off as the Telethia seemed to not be fazed.

"You got to be kidding me," I mumbled to myself. "Just how sturdy are these things?"

"Neetz!"

The Telethia clashed against my blade, since my mind had wondered to Shulk for a second. He charged up behind up and quickly activated the new art, and it inflicted not only the Telethia, but me as well. I expected to be feeling pressure so I couldn't move, but instead I felt pain shoot throughout my body, mainly to my head. Biting my lip, I moved and managed to slice off the antenna before I felt the wounds grow in pain. Looking down, I saw my wounds had somehow grown worse because of the Art. What was going on?! I saw Shulk kill the last one by slicing through the chest after he jumped up. He got up, panting as he deactivated the Monado. Turning to me, he saw my wounds as I felt them still ache in pain, but now it seemed like the pain wasn't increasing – to my relief.

"Neetz! What were you thinking?!" Shulk looked at my wounds before he looked into my eyes.

"I… I just couldn't let that thing tear into you!" I blushed, thinking how stupid I was sounding. "N-Never mind, at least we are alright and they are gone."

"...Just please be more careful next time."

I had to smile, seeing him calm down after I nodded. Just then, I noticed Alvis placing a hand on Shulk's shoulder, causing Shulk to turn around.

"Well? You see now, Shulk?" Alvis said to him.

Shulk nodded. "Thank you..."

"Yes, thank you," I smiled softly at Alvis. Sharp pains shoot through my arms, reminding me that I was wounded. So looking at my jacket, I sighed; this wasn't to be used anytime soon. Trying to ignore the pin and lack of bandages to cover my wounds, I chuckled, hearing Shulk immediately asking Alvis where he learned how to wield the Monado.

Of course, being how Alvis was he completely ignored it and went on. "They were not primary Telethia," Alvis said. He was walking away from us now. "Merely its spawn."

So these were like bees and now they have a queen of sorts, I thought to myself quietly. "Well, as long as we don't have to hunt this thing down. I'll be fine."

Alvis had stopped by the water's edge. "The primary Telethia dwells elsewhere in Makna Forest. Is it… wounded? I see... The Telethia is hurt and lies in rest. Wounded by...a girl."

"A girl?" Shulk and I asked in unison.

Alvis looked back at us and chuckled, seeing our reaction. He walked back towards us slowly. "The Monado...is a divine sword capable of disturbing the very fabric of existence..." He reached out and grasped the Monado's handle, just below where Shulk's hand was grasping. "Of both the material and the immaterial."

"Alvis..." I heard something far off, but I could tell Shulk was still talking to Alvis since I didn't speak a word, "How do you know so much about the Monado? Who are you?" Shulk asked, being perplexed by this mysterious man.

The noise turned out to be a voice, one that I could distinctly tell just by how faint it was.

"Reyn...?" I asked, before I heard him more clearly from behind us. "Reyn!"

"Reyn! We're down here!" Shulk called, facing away Alvis.

Suddenly something was off in the air around me. It didn't have any reason to be, but it did feel weird. I didn't want to bring it up, since I assumed that it was nothing, just my nerves being on edge in case we were attacked. Reyn had slowed down when he arrived at the bottom and just then did my headache return, along with the wave of sleep begging to come. Shulk had stepped behind me by that point and I felt the numbness of my arms starting to get to me. All I had to do was keep focus... Focus...

Everything...is spinning? Blurry...? Or am I going to–?

Damn it!

"...I think that's it for now. She's rested quite enough; you two can stop worrying about her and get some rest."

"But Sharla-

"No, you both need some rest before we head off to the Nopon village. If you two don't get any sleep, I'll have you both get to bed, alright?"

"Fine, Sharla… Come on, Shulk."

I barely heard the pair of footsteps leave the area as I was waking up fully. My eyes slowly flutter open as I heard humming above me. Everything was a blur as my eyes adjusted to the lighting.

"Oh, you're awake now?" I heard Sharla ask me. "Well, that's sooner than I expected. Normally, they awake sometime later."

"Sometimes later than what?" I asked, feeling my wounds aching and my headache pounding my head. "Man, my head is killing me..."

"Got a headache again?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "But it's worse than usual..."

"Hey, you're lucky that those wounds of yours didn't paralyze your arms. If Shulk or Reyn didn't get you back here as soon as they did, you might have lost both your arms."

"Blame my carelessness for saving Shulk's life for that."

"But, I did notice something about the wounds... Most importantly on your left arm."

My left arm? Oh right, the Monado somehow made them worse- Wait! Did she figure that out?! My heart started to beat faster as Sharla got a bowl and spoon of something I couldn't see.

"It's nothing too major, but the wounds seemed to be jagged than the ones on your right arm. The...Telethias that were attacking you and Shulk... To me, it looks like they managed to wound that arm. You should be more careful when wielding your weapon. Ff you lose that arm, you'll have to do everything left handed like Dunban does."

"Oh, whatever you say; you're the medic after all," I chuckled as she sat down by me with the soup.

Sharla helped me with drinking the soup since she instructed me not to move my arms. I didn't argue with here, but in a way I could relate to her. The Bionis wasn't as advanced as back home was, so they made do with what was given to them. During my treatment by Sharla, I had found out that I had been unconscious for about three days and the two that we had found had awoken. They were Melia and Samuel; which the male sounded a bit familiar and common from Earth to be named from here. I couldn't explain it, but I shrugged it off for the time being.

For the time I was bed-ridden, Sharla kept everybody but Dunban from watching over me to keep a check on my condition. It puzzled me as to why we were taking this much time just so I could recover, but Dunban had a point that I was still having either a headache or was light-headed. From Dunban, I heard that Shulk and Reyn wanted to know my condition and see for themselves and they did try. They only stopped when Sharla caught them and according to Dunban, they got a 'slap' of their lifetime. Dunban and I talked about the others and the plans for what was to come. We also talked about Earth when the others weren't around. He was really interested about Earth and how advance we were, but in return, he was explaining to me more of the Bionis and lots of history; I mean like a book ton of information.

After what seemed to be two weeks, Sharla had check upon my condition that morning, having me moves my arms around to check their conditions. She had me do simple tasks, all but wielding my weapon. The wounds had healed up nicely due to the care and treatments Sharla used, but scars were permanently on my skin, which made me wonder if back on Earth I'd still have them...if I ever return to Earth that is.

"Ok, I think you're good," Sharla smiled at me, grabbing her rifle, "You've made a full recovery."

"Well, I do feel guilty for having us take a stop during our journey," I replied back, looking at the bandages around my arms, "Is it really necessary for me to wear these still? My wounds are healed, Sharla."

"Hey, it's just for safely measures. Say, do you mind if I ask you a quick question before we head out and get the boys ready?"

Question? The thought never crossed my mind and I didn't see anything suspicious from her voice to her actions. But then it hit me: the Outsider. I mentally slapped myself at that thought and how I had to tell everybody sooner or later. Bracing myself for the worse, I did my best to act calm when I replied. "Sure, what would you like to ask me?"

"Are you...an Outsider by any chance?"

Yep, she hit the nail perfectly me. I looked at her before sighing.

"Yeah, I'm an Outsider...but before you freak out, I'll let you know that not only haven't I met any other Outsiders, I know nothing about this place."

"I see, that's why your wounds heal differently than the others. Honestly, from what I've heard of those Outsiders, they are either evil or completely friendly towards others. However, there was one thing that made me doubt you as the 'Outsider."

"And...what's that?"

Sharla folded her arms and looked towards my bloody jacket, now stuck inside one of the bags for the time being.

"It's...that Outsider's aren't affected by ether changes in areas. From what I've heard, they can go wherever they please without being affected by ether levels only. They are still affected by the heat or cold, but if ether is drained from an area, it doesn't affect them."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, Reyn mentioned that when you passed out, something disrupted the ether in that area. It wasn't just a slight change, but rather a major change of Ether. I went there not too long ago, and even though most of the Ether had returned to the area, both Shulk and I could deduce that something drained the Ether of the area."

"Wait, something drained the ether?"

"And it was quick, just about three seconds actually. Now, I'm no expert on how Outsider's live, but I've got a feeling that has something to do with you." She unfolded her arms. "I'm not trying to make you the enemy, I just want to monitor you once in awhile for now on. Even though I haven't told anybody else but Dunban, I just don't want to tell them about your status as the 'Outsider' until you wish to do so, alright?"

"Well...you're right," I nodded. "I'll tell them soon, but not right now. But I think I've been a burden for too long. We need to get going to the Nopon village."

"Agreed. Now come along. Shulk and Reyn have gotten restless, and I don't think they can wait any longer."