Chapter 6
A Smashing Reunion
With the Monado in hand, Shulk charged at the harpy woman who'd just finished knocking away a pair of guards that were attacking her. She ducked under a swing from the legendary blade before focusing her assault on him directly, forcing him on the defensive. Her lightning fast attacks meant he could do little more than block while slowly losing ground on the floating platform. It wasn't until after he got himself in such a disadvantageous position that he'd remembered an incredibly vital detail.
The Monado couldn't harm people!
Shulk could only curse himself for forgetting something so important. He'd already had to fight under that same handicap earlier that day when helping Melia against that assassin of hers. At least then he had a Telethia that he could focus on and allies that could handle the assassin for him. The inability for the Monado to cut people came up so rarely that he never gave it much thought before today.
He managed to parry a particularly slow but powerful strike from her staff before taking another swing at her, more on reflex than any belief that it would actually accomplish anything. Without missing a beat, she sidestepped the swing while also grabbing hold of Shulk's ankle with her talon, pulling him roughly towards the ground. A feint! And he fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
"Lights out," the harpy said, preparing to bring down her raised staff onto his head. Shulk closed his eyes in anticipation of the incoming attack.
"Shulk!" A familiar voice called his name just as the sound of wood slamming into steel echoed above him. Shulk was beyond relieved to open his eyes and see Reyn holding back the harpy's staff with his driver. With his full weight behind it, he delivered a powerful backhanded swing of his shield launching the woman away in the process. "What're you doing just wandering off without telling us nothing?"
"Reyn. I owe you one." Shulk said as Reyn helped him to his feet.
To his left, Riki arrived as well, his biter already in hand. "Shulk should not go into battle without friends."
"Thank you both." Shulk said, happy to have his friends fight by his side.
"Great. More of them- ah!" The harpy was cut off when two High Entia guards came up to try and double team her. She was pushed back only momentarily before taking flight above their heads to make her a harder target to hit.
Shulk took the extra moment of relieve to take a look at their other adversary here. The lavender-haired girl had another guard immobilized with her strange sludge monster that she seemed to command. In the meantime, she was blocking the swings of a sword of another guard using a shield that seemed to be made of the same material as her monster.
From the looks of things, these three guards were the only ones left standing. The rest were trapped within the hardened purple ooze of the young girl's monster.
"What on Bionis did you get us involved in?" Reyn sounding stunned. He must have just taken in how absurd these opponents truly are.
"You know the people I told you guys about? The ones in my vision?." Shulk asked.
"That's them? I thought they were going to be on our side?" Reyn said, sounding genuinely annoyed.
"They still might. They're not seriously hurting anyone. I think they're here looking for someone, but we're not going to get any answers like this. We've got to stop them first," said Shulk. He looked down at the Monado, thinking how he can help out in this fight despite his handicap, when an idea came to him. "I might be able to stop that flying woman, but I'll need an opening."
"Got it. I'll get you one." Reyn answered, a determined looked on his face..
Riki jumped up and down in agreement. "Yes! Possible new friends no match for the Heropon and his band of sidekicks-"
"Will you stop with that!" Reyn interrupted.
Together, the three charged at the harpy woman as she'd finish disarming the two guards she'd been fighting and throwing their swords over the edge of the platform. With a strong flap of her wings, she dove straight at the trio, likely planning to knock them all aside.
Stepping before them, Reyn readied his nearly two meter long shield for the incoming attack. The force of the blow was enough to stagger him and her claws even managed to dig a few centimeters into the steel, but Reyn managed to stay on his feet and halt her advance completely.
Shulk proceeded to use the opportunity to circle around to her side. Even if the Monado can't hurt her, he could still try to break her stance and perhaps even give Reyn a chance to topple her over.
"Jeez!" The woman flew back at the last moment, just barely dodging his Air Slash. From a safe distance, she eyed the Monado cautiously. Her eyes lingered a moment longer on the ether blade emanating out of the weapon itself. "King, give them a voice attack will ya?"
"What's that suppose to mean- what is that!" Reyn gave a surprised shout when the strange looking dog stuck his head out of the woman's massive hair.
"Aah! Monster!" Riki shouted as well.
"WHEH!" The small dog let out a roar that sent out powerful waves of ether towards them. Shulk doubted that any of them expected an attack like that and all were hit by the full brunt of the waves, nearly knocking them off their feet in the process. The harpy woman took this opening to dive straight at Shulk, pinning him to the ground with her taloned foot while the other one kept his right arm locked.
"Shulk!" Reyn shouted, rising to his feet. From his position, Shulk could see Reyn prepare to rush over to him, but was taken off-guard by the large sludge monster behind him.
"Abomination. Restrain them." The lavender-haired girl commanded. She must have already finished capturing the guard she was facing and was now joining her teammate. Before Reyn or Riki could react the sludge monster fell right on top of them, its solid body liquifying upon contact with them before then hardening again, trapping the two inside its body.
"Reyn! Rik-oof!" Shulk was cut off, as the harpy woman pressed harder down on his chest, silencing him.
"I'll be taking this." She said, tearing the Monado out of his grip. Shulk simply smirked at the mistake she'd made.
As soon as the Monado was squarely in her hands, the glowing blade disappeared, with the mechanical tip sliding back into its carrying form. Afterwards, a glowing electrical energy activated from the glass panels located at the base of the sword. The energy quickly surged through the handle of the sword and up the woman's arm, shocking her as well as the dog creature within her hair.
"Aaaah!" The two screamed in pain, causing the woman to drop the Monado in the process and also releasing Shulk from her grip. As quickly as he could, Shulk grabbed back the Monado from the floor and, while still in its carrying form, delivered a powerful swing to the woman using the blunt side of the sword, sending her flying and knocking the dog out of her hair in the process. Well that's one way to use the Monado against them.
"Eda! King!" The girl rushed over to her allies, leaving Reyn and Riki still stuck in their slime prison. Heading over to them, Shulk realized another way he could use the Monado's limitations to his advantage.
"Riki, don't panic. This won't hurt you." He reassured before igniting the ether blade from the Monado once more. He then pulled back and prepared to slash.
"Wait, Shulk. Don't do it! Riki have so much to live for!"
"Stream Edge!" With a wide swing, the Monado's blade cut right through the sludge monster holding Reyn and Riki prisoner, while harmlessly passing through their bodies.
"Meh? Riki unharmed?" Riki said, looking over himself for any signs of injury.
"Ya. The Monado can't hurt people." Reyn reassured him.
"Only the ether blade can't," said Shulk, returning the Monado to its carrying form. "But the Monado itself can at least still be used as a large metal bat."
"WHEH!" Another shockwave sent the trio reeling. Looking back towards their foes, the dog and the harpy woman were standing again, having fully recovered from their shock from the Monado, while the young girl had already summoned another sludge monster to battle.
"You can do it!" Riki shouted, before releasing a soft blue stream of light from his mouth. The healing light enveloped the party, and Shulk felt the aches and pains of the battle slowly fade away. He gave Riki a grateful smile for his healing breath.
"Great. They've got healing magic too." The harpy woman shouted, completely exasperated. Magic? Shulk's never heard anyone refer to ether by any other name before. Even the Mechon use the term 'ether' in every data log they'd manage to recover from them. Once again, he couldn't help but question where these people came from, but he quickly ignored that for now. He had to focus on winning this fight.
"Riki, can you get that dog of theirs off our back? We won't last long if it keeps pelting us from afar." Shulk whispered, so that their opponents don't overhear.
"Yes! But how Riki get near scary dog monster?" Riki asked.
Shulk gave Reyn a knowing smirk and said, "Reyn, think you can get him there?"
"My pleasure," said Reyn before grabbing hold of Riki in his hand like a ball.
"What Reyn doing? Why am being picked- oh!" Riki seemed to realize the plan midway through just before Reyn pulled back and launched Riki straight at the dog. "For Makna!"
"Ah- oof!" The dog shouted before Riki slammed right into him, sending them both rolling away.
"King!" The two woman shouted in surprise. Both turned to where the two furry creatures landed, clearly planning to help their dog.
Shulk took advantage of their distraction to charge at the younger girl, hoping that getting in melee range would prevent her sludge-moster from attacking him without risk of friendly fire. The girl noticed his advance and blocked a strike from the Monado using her cat-shaped staff.
"Hey! Get away from her!" Shulk heard the older woman shout. He could feel the harpy flying straight towards him, but he payed it no mind. He was beyond confident that she would not lay a finger on him.
Shulk's faith was well-founded when he heard the claws of the woman clashing against the cold hard metal of Reyn's shield. "Pick on someone your own size." Reyn shouted.
"Out of my way." The woman replied before launching a barrage of talon slashes and mighty swings from her staff. Shulk could see that Reyn could do little against her speed besides stand there and block it all.
Meanwhile, Riki commenced his fight against the small dog-like monster. At least, a fight is what Riki was expecting to happen.
"Leave me alone!" The dog monster shouted while frantically running away from Riki.
"None escapes Heropon's power!" Riki responded gleefully, his biter raised up high as he chased after his opponent. The monster looked back at Riki before getting on all fours and running off again, much faster than before. "Hey! Retreating not allowed!"
Unfortunately, a Nopon's legs aren't known for their speed, and the small monster was able to easily widen the distance between them. That is until the monster was at a comfortable distance away, at which point he quickly turned around, while taking in a deep breath.
"Uh oh." Riki realized too late.
"WHEH!" Caught in the center of the blast, Riki took the full force of the attack. He could hear nothing but the intense ringing in his ears, an immense headache overtaking his thoughts. As the attacked died down, he collapsed, face-down on the ground unmoving.
"Did… did I win?" The monster asked astounded. Cautiously, he approached the prone form of the Nopon, looking for any signs of movement. He even dared to give him a quick poke once he got close enough.
"Yes! Victory!" The dog creature cheered. "Now to go help out Eda and Amity and we can get back to-"
"Sneaky!" *CRUNCH*
"Wheeee-" The creature screeched while flailing around as Riki's biter clamped down hard at the back of his skull. The monster ran all over the edge of the platform, dragging Riki behind him. Eventually, Riki finally lost grip of his weapon and when flying off before skidding to a halt on the ground. The furry monster then turned to him again.
"Now I've got you." He said, preparing for one final sound attack.
Thinking quickly, Riki realized he was in the perfect range for his own mouth attack, and began to inhale a breath full of frosty air.
"Freezinate!" Charging his attack first, Riki launched a large chunk of ice. At such a small distance, not even his speedy foe could dodge the attack.
"wheh." The dog beast mumbled out through shivering breathes. His clattering teeth prevented his shockwave from going through as he curled in on himself for warmth.
"Yay. Heropon wins! Hooray for Riki!" The Nopon celebrated.
"Ri-Riki-ki?" The creature stuttered out.
"Oh, yes. Riki never got name of opponent. Who you be?" Riki asked.
"Do… you… have… a daughter? Nene?" The monster asked in-between breathing into his hands for warmth.
"Meh!? How you know this!" Riki demanded, his attention now fully on who these strangers are and how they know about his family.
"She wrote you a letter. Eda has it." He said, pointing towards the harpy woman.
Shulk continued his attacks on the mysterious girl, while Reyn held off the harpy woman beside him. Surprisingly, the girl was far more adept at close-quarters combat than Shulk anticipated. She'd dissipated her monster and instead used the sludge from the monster to create an assortment of swords, shields, and gauntlets during the fight.
However, Shulk had the physical advantage in this fight (a rare occurrence if he's being honest). He dodged a swing from her staff, then blocked a slash from her blade of sludge, clashing swords in the process. Shulk used the opportunity to reach out and grab hold of her staff, and with his greater strength, ripped it out of her hands and threw it behind them. The force of this managed to knock her on her back in the process.
"Please, stand down. We don't have to keep fighting." Shulk pleaded.
The girl just gave him a hard glare and then directed her gaze behind Shulk, around where her staff would have landed. Shulk expected her to try and make a break for her staff again, but was thoroughly confused when a loud hiss came from behind him. Turning around, Shulk saw probably the last thing he expected in the middle of a hectic battlefield.
"A cat?" Shulk asked, surprised to see the white feline before him. The cat had an angry look and quickly jumped up on his face. "Ah!"
"Get him Ghost!" The girl cheered as her strange cat attempted to claw out Shulk's face. He barely kept the cat at bay but couldn't avoid some scratch marks getting through.
Eventually, Shulk was able to pry the cat off his face and hurled it at the girl. She caught the feline in her arms and Shulk was once again left speechless when it morphed into the staff he'd thrown away earlier.
"Light Heal!" Shulk raised the Monado and allowed his own healing technique to patch up the scratch marks on his face.
"Oh come on! You've got healing magic too?" The girl said exasperated.
"It's just ether. Where are you from to not know this?" Shulk asked.
"Shulk! A little help here." Reyn's cry for help got Shulk's attention. Reyn's been on the defensive the whole time and he was beginning to break.
The girl tried to take the chance to capture Shulk with a wave of sludge, but Shulk made sure not to lose focus on her completely. Rushing back in, the two collided weapons again.
Things weren't going well. Shulk was right back where he started against the girl, and Reyn wouldn't last much longer against the other woman. Shulk knew that he wouldn't stand a chance if the two women attacked him at once. He had to think of something and fast. Blocking another strike from the girl's gooey sword, he continued racking his brain for a plan.
A blinding blue light began to overtake his vision and Shulk couldn't be more grateful for this. As the events of the future played out before him, he'd hoped they would provide him with the plan he needed.
The harpy woman broke away from Reyn and flew back beyond the distance of the platform.
With staggering speed beyond what Shulk had seen before, she dived back towards Reyn, flying mere centimeters above the ground, seemingly going for his legs. Reyn raised his shield and braced himself for another powerful attack to connect. Only instead of striking him, she swerved to the right, barely missing his shield. Once she was past him, her taloned foot reached out and grabbed him by his ankle, dragging him across the floor.
Reyn looked shocked as the harpy rose again, pulling him into the air before finally releasing her grip on him while she completely stopped in place. His momentum carried him further into the air, placing him right in front of the woman as she pulled back on her staff like a club.
With a powerful swing, she slammed the wooden staff square into Reyn's sternum, sending him flying. His trajectory was clearly planned out as he ended up slamming straight into Shulk from the side.
The two were tangled together in a heap on the floor, both too dazed to move for a moment. This opening was all the lavener-haired girl needed to summon a large sludge monster who instantly fell on top of them, trapping them inside.
As his senses returned to him, a plan immediately formed in Shulk's mind.
"Reyn! Jump!" He warned while continuing his clash with the girl. Pointing the Monado towards her, he reactivated the sword, the ether blade flying forwards directly at her torso.
"NO!" She screamed. She stood frozen in place looking down at the blade that was harmlessly passing through her body.
"Sorry." He said, genuinely feeling bad about frightening her so badly like this, but it provided him with the opening he needed to end this.
Pushing her aside momentarily, Shulk returned his focus to Reyn while he also began to gather ether energy into the Monado. A bright green glow formed around the sword as symbol appeared on the glass panel.
As he saw, the woman flew right past Reyn, but before her talon could grab hold of Reyn's ankle, he was already in the air, avoiding her completely.
Without Reyn's extra weight to slow her down the woman's immense momentum gave her trouble stopping. She skid across the floor using her clawed hands and feet to slow to a stop at the exact spot Shulk expected her to be.
"Monado Purge!"
With a strong swing, the glob of ether was sent barreling towards the woman. Looking in his direction, she could not react in time before being hit by the attack. Falling on her hands and knees the green energy coursed over her body and her form began to change. When she looked back up again, her monstrous form had disappeared and she'd returned to the look she had before the fight started.
"Oh no!" The woman said, realizing what had happened to her. "Owl Beast! Where'd you go?"
"Nice one Shulk." Reyn said as he regrouped with Shulk, apparently not considering the woman a threat anymore. Which just left them with one more obstacle. "Hey kid, I don't know how you got involved in all this but this fight's over now." Reyn said to the young girl.
"I'm not leaving without Luz." She responded while summoning another sludge monster.
"That's right. Just give her back. She's done nothing wrong here." The older woman demanded, holding on to her staff like a club, still willing to fight even without her harpy form.
"I don't know who that is." Shulk said. "We can try to help, but you have to stand down."
"She's like a daughter to me. And I'm not stopping until she's back with us-"
"Yoink!" The woman was interrupted when Riki came up behind her and, without warning, reached into her hair.
"Hey! Get out of there!" The woman yelled.
Riki quickly pulled his arms out of the woman's hair. In his hand he'd grabbed on to… an envelope? Why was that there to begin with?
"Nene's letter?" The younger girl said beside Shulk.
"Nene?" That name sounded oddly familiar.
"Wasn't that the name of one of Riki's kids?" Reyn said and Shulk then remembered that name coming up when Riki was sharing to the group about his home life.
"So that's Riki then?" The older woman asked.
"Yup!" The dog creature came up to them as well while Riki began to read through the contents of the letter. "He told me after our little fight of ours. Which was definitely a draw by the way. No clear winner there."
Riki kept his gaze solely on the letter, not responding to anything around him. His eyes began to fill with tears as he continued reading, and when he finally looked back he was practically bawling.
"Thank you for helping Riki's littlepon. Riki in debt." Riki blurted out. He then jumped up and wrapped his arms around the woman in a tight hug. A hug that she clearly wasn't sure how to respond.
"Riki, what happened?" Shulk asked.
Riki dropped down from his hug and rushed over to Shulk and Reyn.
"Friends! Stop fighting! These are friends of Nene! That makes them friends of Riki and friends of Riki's friends too! See here. See here." Riki waved around the letter in-front of Shulk as he spoke.
Grabbing the letter from his hands, Shulk proceeded to read the letter himself, with Reyn also looking at it over his shoulder.
Dear Dadapon,
Nene hopes dadapon is doing well. You should have received this letter from Nene's new friends. Nene thinks you would get along with them. They nice people. Helped save life of Nene when we met. Nene knows that must sound scary for dadapon to hear, I mean read, (dadapon not hearing what is being written), but no worries. Nene is all okay now.
To be honest, Nene was not feeling very okay before. Nene was feeling guilt over high debt that I racked that forced dadapon to leave. Been trying to make it up to mamapon but could never shake the bad feelings away.
But all's okay now. King helped cheer Nene up (King is the monster looking one of the group. He probably scare you at first, but King is nice). Nene still misses you, but Nene knows that dadapon will be back one day, and will share amazing tales of heroic deeds by the Heropon! And when he does, Nene promises to be the perfect littlepon and never upset dadapon again. Until then, Nene promises to not blame self so much over dadapon's departure.
Much Love,
Your littlepon, Nene
The sound of crying got Shulk's attention. Riki once again started to bawl his eyes out. "Nene! Riki sorry. Riki never meant for littlepon to blame self for Riki leaving. Please forgive dadapon."
The little dog creature, came up and placed his paw on Riki's shoulder sympathetically. "Hey, it's okay. Nene isn't mad at you. You don't have to be sorry."
"So then, are we done here? Fight's over?" Reyn asked.
Shulk looked back at the two women for their response, but the way the older woman tightened her grip on her staff made him worry that this wasn't over just yet.
"If you step aside we are." The woman said. "But these bird people are still holding Luz prisoner, and I'm not leaving here without her."
"Wait, please. We can help. We're friends with the princess here. She would be able to help you find her." Shulk said, his hands raised in hopes of avoiding further fighting.
"Like I'm going to trust one of these prissy royals here to help us." The woman shouted.
Before either side could say anything more, the central teleporter activated and amazingly, Melia herself walked out, alongside a handful of guards.
"Everyone please stand down." Melia said, likely noticing the strangers immediately going on edge at the sight of more guards. "I believe this is who you've been looking for."
One more person walked in from the teleporter, a Homs girl, though with normal shaped ears this time. Could this be…
"LUZ!" The women and their dog all shouted.
"Guys!" The girl, Luz, shouted in return.
Immediately the two sides rushed at each other before colliding in a big group hug in the middle of the platform, tears freely flowed down the faces of all four of them.
"Ow, ow, ow," Luz said causing the others to loosen their grip on her. "Sorry. I'm still a little hurt." She said while gesturing to her bandages.
"It's okay. You're safe now Luz." The older woman said.
"Luz… I'm… I'm sorry," the younger girl had the most tears out of everyone, barely managing to get her words out between shallow breaths. "I should have… should have protected you better. I just couldn't…"
"Hey, Amity it's okay." Luz grabbed hold of the other girl's hands within her own. "It's not your fault. You did your best."
Luz leaned in looking to place a kiss on the other girls forehead… only for the dog to pop his head in between the two of them.
"Luuuz! I missed you!" He cried out.
"Aw, King I missed you too. I missed all of you." The four once again drew themselves into a group hug, more careful this time to avoid hurting Luz.
Shulk had a warm smile seeing this all unfold. He could see how much love there was between the four even as an outsider looking in. But, he was still confused on who these strange visitors even are and how one of them got to Alcamoth ahead of them.
Walking over to Melia, Shulk asked, "Melia, who are these people?"
"I only just met Luz there a few minutes ago. I don't know the others. What I do know is that they all hail from another titan."
"What! How?" Shulk's shock was immediately visible as if the information itself managed to push him back.
"That's what we're going to find out. They've agreed to a meeting with the emperor to discuss this in further depth. Will you join us as well Shulk?" Melia asked.
"Of course." Shulk wouldn't dare miss this meeting. The discovery of a new titan is something he'd never even thought of before. He had to learn more.
"Hold up!" Shulk and Melia turned to look at the older woman as she spoke up. "What was that again?"
A/N: This was my first time writing a fight scene. What are your thoughts? Any improvements I could make?
Also, I just want to give everyone a heads up that uploads for this story may become a bit more inconsistent going forwards. I'm still actively working on it, but don't expect it every Saturday morning like I've done all the previous chapters so far.
Thanks again for everyone that takes the time to read these.