A/N: for those of you who didn't bother to look at ANYTHING before this, assuming it'd be exactly the same, you're WRONG. go back to chapter four and read the last section, where chaos goes to look for shion. i changed that part up a bit to adapt for this. if you've read my warnings AND the changed part, ignore my ranting. lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga.

Chapter Five:

The Ancient Town

chaos awoke feeling cold and very wet. The lean-to he had built had already fallen down. He looked over towards Shion, who had not yet awaken. "Shion... what have I brought you into...?" he asked no one in particular. Picking her up, he threw her over his back and set of in search of... anything.

After hours of walking, chaos finally could see something. A light. He ran towards it, and found it to be a streetlight. It wasn't the kind of streetlight he had in mind, however. There was no lightbulb in it, nor did it resemble anything he had seen before. What gave of the light, was fire. He seemed to have stumbled upon a dead-end, as the road he saw leading to the streetlight suddenly turned to forest ground.

chaos walked down the road, amazed at what he saw. The road itself was made out of stones, and all of the buildings he could see were made out of brick. No reinforced metal for the buildings, no moving sidewalks for walking on, no signs of technology at all. As he turned the corner, he finally saw what he thought he would never see on this rainy planet at all: people.

"Excuse me, sir? Could you help me please?" chaos asked a man who was pushing a wheelbarrow full of fruit.

"Hmph." the man grunted, staring at the two. He quickened his pace and left without a word.

"Uh... sorry to bother you?" chaos was surprised, but not at all discouraged. He walked up to a woman, who appeared to be running a sidewalk stall. "Excuse me, ma'am? I'd appreciate if..." the woman's reaction was not unlike the man's. She turned away, and ignored him. Rather than help chaos, she just yelled out to random people on the street, advertising for what she was selling.

No matter who he asked, the response was the same. The children ran away, as if they'd seen a ghost. Those who didn't were pulled away by their parents. Both men and women ignored him, though every now and then one would yell at him to go away.

chaos finally gave up, and sat down on a street corner. "Hey you!" someone yelled from behind him. "Get off my street corner!"

Turning around, chaos saw that the person who was yelling was on the second floor of the house that was behind him. "You can't tell me you own this street corner..."

"I don't own it, but you certainly don't!" the man glared at chaos. He sighed, got up, and went on walking.

chaos shifted Shion from one shoulder to the next. The rain couldn't be good for her, and even he had been shivering since they reached the town. "Ah... excuse me sir..." a tall, thin looking man approached chaos.

"What, can't I walk now? You don't want me to sit, you don't want me to walk, what do you want me to do, huh!" he snapped, increasing his pace.

"I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't help but notice your state of being. I'd like to help you out."

chaos instantly whirled around, almost dropping Shion. "Really? You want to help?"

"Yes." he nodded, "But do keep it down. Hurry, this way." The man led them through an alley, into a back door of a store. The place was filled with old fashioned guns and rifles. "Up here." he motioned towards the stairs. chaos followed him into a large room. It seemed to be the living quarters of the store. There was a sink and a small table all the way at the end, and a door beside it. A bed was to the right, while a couch and a fireplace was to the left. "Please, make yourself comfortable." he smiled.

"Thank you..." chaos looked down and noticed that they were both dripping water. "Uh..."

"Oh, right!" he walked over to his bed and grabbed some pajamas. "These may be big, but you can change into these if you want. I don't have any lady's clothes, since I don't have me a wife, but you should change her into some of these too... she'll catch a deadly cold if she stays in her clothes."

He looked from the dry clothes, to Shion. "Uh... right..."

"Bathroom's that way." he pointed at the only door in the room, and walked over to start a fire.

"She's gonna have a fit..." chaos sighed, grabbing the clothes and heading to the bathroom.

—

"Thank you so much for your hospitality... uh..." chaos said, slurping up soup from a bowl in front of the fire. The man was opposite him, and Shion was lying on the couch.

"Oh, how rude of me!" the man chuckled. "I haven't properly introduced myself yet! The name's Allan, but people around here call me Big Al. I'm the blacksmith of the town, in case you didn't notice down there."

"Thanks Big Al. I'm chaos, and she's Shion." he glanced over at the unmoving body on the couch.

"She'll be fine!" Al laughed. "She's a lucky girl, to have a man like you protecting her!"

"What?" he nearly choked on his soup. chaos' face turned red. "Yeah... I guess..."

The man smiled, but his face turned serious. "You... you're not from around here, aren't you? The people of this town, they're not too keen on strangers..."

"No, we're not. We were just passing through, on our way to Vector's 2nd Division when we got ambushed by Gnosis. Had to crash land here."

"You mean..." Al's eyes got wide. "You're not from... this planet?"

chaos laughed. "Of course we're not."

Al started laughing. "I knew it! I knew there were other planets out there! I've always wanted to go out into space and prove it myself, but wow! People from other planets!"

His mouth dropped. "You... don't have space travel yet?"

"Don't be silly! Have you seen how we live? We're not going to be getting out into space for a long time... but I've always wanted to, ever since I was a kid! To think I have someone from another planet, right here though! Man, nobody is going to believe this! I told them there were other planets, but they're so straight-minded, they don't believe a thing! So what's it like? Out there, I mean?"

chaos laughed nervously. "Well..."

Al laughed and smacked himself. "Listen to me, interrogating you like a prisoner down at the jail cells! I'm sorry about that. Just... hard to hold it in, you know? Anyways though, you need rest. Feel free to have more soup, it's still hot on the stove. If you're sleepy, you can take my bed." chaos began to argue, but Al wouldn't hear it. "I don't mind at all, besides, I've got a few more guns I have to finish up downstairs. Just make yourself at home!" laughing, he headed for the stairs.

"Thanks Big Al." chaos smiled. He looked over at Shion. "Well... we're safe now. Shion..."

—

"Hello! What's this..." Hammer muttered, as something flashed on his monitor.

"Well, what is it?" Matthews asked. "We don't have all day you know!"

"It's an automated distress signal. From what I can see... it's been looping for the past few days now."

"Well?" Matthews kicked Hammer's chair. "What are you waiting for? Let's hear it!"

chaos' voice suddenly echoed throughout the Elsa. "Mayday! Mayday! Hammer! Tony, Captain Matthews, anyone who can hear us, please respond! This is transport ship Delen, ship number 000265. We have been ambushed by Gnosis and are forced to crash land on an uncharted planet. Our coordinates are..." he paused. "X: 126, Y: 348, Z: 034. We require immediate assistance! I repeat..."

"That's chaos!" Jr. cried out. "Momo! Those coordinates?"

"That's... not too far from here. If those are from before they landed, we should be able to find the planet they crashed on!"

"Then let's go!" Jr. said.

"Let's hope we find them before they find us..." Hammer said, his voice wavering.

Multiple red dots showed up on the Elsa's map screen. "Damn it, what now?" Matthews asked.

"Looks like those Gnosis that attacked them are hanging out there... we could get attacked ourselves!"

"We have no choice!" Matthews said, grunting. "As much as I don't like this... Tony!"

"You got it Captain! Hold on tight guys, this is gonna be one bumpy ride!"

---

A/N: meh. i'm being cheap. parts of the story are STILL the same. oh well. lol. speaking of which, what should happen when jr and the gang find them? i'm planning on ending the story shortly after, but any bright ideas? let's see... poor shion. she's the one taking the beating in this story. i'm interested in seeing how this compares to the other story. well, next chapter, gnosis attack! how will the townspeople react to the presence of the gnosis? more importantly, how will they react when chaos and shion fight them off? review plz!