Xenoblade Chronicles

Chapter 8 - Spiral Valley

Shulk, Sharla, and Reyn made their way over to Raguel Bridge, and Reyn immediately spotted the broken buggy. "Hey Sharla!" He nudged her. "Look!" "It's Juju's buggy!" Sharla gasped, and ran over to it. Shulk and Reyn followed her. While Sharla looked wildly around, Shulk put his hand on the hood of the buggy, and like before, his vision flashed and was replaced by a deep valley. Juju stood alone, holding a gun in his hands. He was quivering. He aimed it around uncertainty, until something burst from the ground. Juju yelped in surprise. "W-What is that thing?" He demanded. The next flash showed a dozen tentacles all poised towards Juju. One lunged forwards, and Juju screamed. Shulk swallowed as he saw the buggy again. "Juju!" He yelled. "What is it?" Reyn demanded. "It's Juju!" "Shulk, is he okay?!" Sharla asked. When Shulk didn't respond, she scowled. "Tell me!" "There's a Mechon!" Shulk said finally. "It's taken Juju!" Sharla gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth. "When?" Reyn said. "I...I'm not sure," Shulk shook his head. The vision was fading as quickly as it had come. "But I don't think we have much time." "Um…" Sharla said finally. "You said you saw a deep valley, didn't you?" "Yes." "There's a place like that just up ahead," Sharla recalled. "And it's even on the way to Colony 6! We call it Spiral Valley. That must be the route Juju's taking." "You sure?" Reyn folded his arms. "No other deep valleys around here?" "Not as far as I know," Sharla shook her head. "Well Shulk?" Reyn looked at the blonde in question. "Let's move," Shulk said. "That has to be where Juju is." The three took off across the bridge and followed a path for awhile. "Is this the place you were on about?" Reyn asked as he ran. "This is it alright," Sharla panted. "At the end of the road, there's a path to Colony 6." "But there's no sign of Juju!" Shulk looked around wildly for the boy. "If my vision was right, he should be around here somewhere." "I'm sure he would have gone along this road," Sharla said. "I just hope nothing's happened to him yet." "Any chance he went up that way?" Reyn pointed to a cave nearby. Sharla shook her head. "It's not safe around here," She explained. "I doubt Juju would go off the beaten track if he could avoid it." "Got it," Shulk nodded. "We'll search along the road." As they sped up their pace, Sharla pointed to a rock formation in the shape of a spiral. "There it is! Spiral Valley!" They ran towards it at top speed, and Shulk's blood ran cold as he spotted Juju and the Mechon. He heard Juju scream as they splashed through some water and up through the entrance to the valley. "Juju!" Sharla said. "Juju!" She repeated his name, seeing his limp form in the Mechon's pincers. "Hold on, I'm coming!" She sped up, and Shulk cried out. "Wait! Sharla!" His eyes flashed bright blue, and he was running in slow motion towards her, holding the Monado tight in his hands. Sharla screamed as a tentacle burst from the ground. "Juju!" Sharla cried, and the Mechon clamped her in it's jaws. She screamed. Shulk felt the Monado ripple underneath him as he returned to reality, and he skidded to a stop as the blade started shivering, a symbol appearing on it. "Another new symbol's appeared on the Monado!" He breathed. "Can I save her?" "Of course you can," A voice in his head told him, and Shulk clenched his fists, running towards Sharla at top speed. He leapt through the air, and came down, hitting the ground a dark blue aura spreading everywhere. At first it didn't appear to do anything, but when the tentacle exploded from the earth, Sharla shot forwards like a bullet, a blue aura surrounding her. She gasped, and Shulk leapt forwards, slicing the tentacle off. "Shulk?!" Sharla breathed, and Reyn and the blonde joined her side. "It's tentacles could come out from underneath the ground at any second!" Shulk said, holding the Monado so tightly his knuckles turned white. "One false move and you're done for. Wait for my order." He turned to the redhead circling the ground, his driver at the ready. "Reyn? You got my back?" "'Course," Reyn nodded. "Leave it to me!" Shulk nodded, and ran forwards, again being met by a vision. Two tentacles came in from the right, one sliced across Shulk's stomach, and the other rose up, firing three fireballs at him, then coming in for the kill. Shulk gritted his teeth, and stopped running inches before a tentacle came exploding from underneath the ground. He sliced in half, and ran towards the two coming to attack. He slammed the Monado down, destroying one tentacle. The other rose up, and fired five blasts of white hot fireballs. Shulk dodged each one, but tumbled backwards. He managed to get to his feet, and slice the last one in half. Reyn was suddenly flung aside as a pincer broke through the ground right where he had been standing. He swallowed and kept running, barely making it through impossible gaps that would have killed him if it weren't for Monado Speed. Sharla fired her rifle as she seemed to ice skate around the tentacles and pincers. Powerful blasts sent the gun in her hands shivering with the recoil, and Reyn appeared out of nowhere slicing off a pincer that would have certainly killed Sharla. "Amazing," Sharla breathed, coming to a rest behind Shulk. "I didn't know you could do that!" "It's not me," Shulk said, holding the Monado tightly in his hands. "It's the power of the Monado." "That's right," Reyn said, skidding to a stop beside them. "And the light swirling around us...That's the Monado 'n all." He smirked, before looking at Sharla. "Sharla! Let's move!" The three charged towards the Mechon, slicing off it's tentacles, and managing to get close enough to do some serious damage. After a while, it collapsed on it's side. "Is it down?" Reyn panted. Shulk gasped as one of it's tentacles burst upwards, and attached itself to the roof of Spiral Valley. Another one followed the first, and the Mechon made it's way upwards to the top of the rock, like some sort of mechanical monkey. "Get back here!" Reyn roared. "It's up there!" Shulk pointed. "Let's go after it!" "Right!" The three sprinted at top speed towards a ramp. They scrambled up it, and met the Mechon at the top. Sharla and Reyn attacked with everything they had, and when it fell over, Shulk ran forwards, leaping through the air and slicing off the tentacle holding Juju. "Reyn!" He yelled. Reyn nodded, sprinting forwards, before jumping and catching Juju. The two hit the ground, tumbling over and barely stopping before they fell off the edge. "Juju!" Sharla cried, running towards them. "Are you alright?!" Juju slowly regained consciousness and glanced around, confused. "S-Sharla!" He breathed when he saw his older sister. "I'm...sorry." He and Reyn got up, and Sharla's face suddenly screwed up with anger. She marched forwards, slapping Juju across the face. Juju clutched his cheek, and Sharla embraced him. "I'm so glad you're okay," She cried. "Hey!" Reyn said happily, turning to Shulk. "Looks like we changed the future!" When he noticed Shulk looking around uneasily, he frowned. "What's up?" "Well...It's just that…" Shulk hesitated, looking at the severed tentacles. "That can't have been the Mechon from my vision." "Yeah," Reyn agreed. "Wasn't it supposed to be the one with the face? I guess we changed more then we expected!" He grinned, walking towards Shulk, but after seeing his expression, Reyn faltered. "Shulk?" "No," Shulk said. "Something's not right!" He turned to face Reyn, but a blast of dust suddenly rose up, blinding them. Shulk looked upwards, and felt his heart seize up. Sharla clutched Juju tighter to her as the Mechon suddenly unfolded itself, hitting the ground. "No!" Shulk said again. "It's not Metal Face at all!" "But this one's got a face and all!" Reyn protested as the Mechon turned to face them. "I've been waiting for you!" The faced Mechon said. "Monado boy." "What?" Shulk took a slight step backwards. "It spoke!" It took a step forwards, nearly crushing Shulk and Reyn. "The way Metal Face was scarpered, I thought you'd have to be this big scary monster!" The Mechon chuckled hoarsely. "But look! You're just some pathetic little kid!" Sharla released Juju and ran to Shulk and Reyn's side. She fired with her rifle, while Reyn jabbed and Shulk sliced with the Monado, but none of their attacks had any effect. The faced Mechon sliced with his hammer, forcing Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla off of their feet. He turned to Juju, and stomped towards him, giggling. Juju scrambled backwards, but the Mechon picked him up easily and spun around to face the three, holding the boy tightly in it's hands. "Juju!" Shulk gasped, stumbling to his feet. Juju was screaming as he attempted to wriggle his arms free. "You pile of junk!" Reyn cursed, and he and Shulk raced forwards. "Let him go!" "Reyn!" Shulk advised. "Better watch your back!" "Got it!" Reyn nodded, and a second later, two mechon fell from the sky. Reyn spun around and slammed his driver into them. "Cheers, Shulk!" He called over his shoulder. Shulk nodded, and raced towards the faced Mechon. "You little…" It growled and sliced with it's hammer. Shulk ducked, and slammed the Monado into it's leg, but it just bounced off harmlessly. He tried again to the same results. He jumped back as the Metal faced Mechon kicked at him. Barely leaping out of the way of it's hammer, Shulk ran laps around the Mechon. "Why?" He demanded. "Why can't I use the Monado?! It's...It's only the one's who have faces! But…" Shulk ducked as the faced Mechon swung it's hammer towards him. "I can still see what it's going to do! Just like before!" "Nice tricks you got there, pipsqueak!" The faced Mechon said, slamming it's weapon into the ground, and sliding it across the dirt towards Shulk. "Darting around the place! That's the Monado's power? Won't matter either way! You're still flesh and blood, and I reckon you're nearly done!" Shulk skidded to a stop, and Reyn appeared out of nowhere to jab a smaller Mechon off of the valley as it landed behind Shulk. "Behind you!" The faced Mechon said, dragging out the words. "Shulk!" Reyn said. "Leave these to me! Go take him out!" He gestured to the faced Mechon, and he brandished his driver at the smaller ones. Shulk nodded. "Got it!" He sprinted forwards, but the Mechon swung down with the fist that held Juju. Shulk barely deflected the attack, and felt his arms go numb from the collision. It swung towards him with his hammer, but a powerful blast ricocheted the hammer off of it's course. Sharla lowered her rifle, and glared at the faced Mechon. "Now!" She shouted. "Right!" Reyn nodded, and jabbed his driver into it's fist. It bounced off harmlessly. "It's not working!" He growled. "That was fun for awhile!" The faced Mechon said, glaring down at them. "But now I'm bored!" He leapt into the air, bringing his hammer down on the ground. As soon as it touched the ground, a blast of dust threw Sharla, Shulk, and Reyn backwards. "Sharla!" Juju screamed, his voice cracking. Shulk glanced around for her, but saw nothing but her rifle abandoned at the edge of the valley. He glanced over the edge, and found Sharla, clinging onto the rock with all her strength. Reyn ran to go help while the faced Mechon jumped in front of Shulk, preventing him from going after Reyn. "Time to finish you off!" It yelled, raising it's weapon. "Shulk!" Reyn cried. "Look out!" The hammer never came down. Instead, the light running through the Mechon suddenly flashed blue. It went limp, and suddenly sounded exhausted. "Look like my time here's up," The faced Mechon said. "It's your lucky day, little boy! But that luck won't last forever!" Shulk glared at it, and it chuckled, swinging Juju in front of it for them to see. "I'll keep hold of this brat," He told them. "If you want him back, you'd better come to Colony 6." His red eyes flashed dangerously. "But you'll have to be quick," He said in a low and husky voice. "I'm feeling hungry!" "You!" Reyn growled. "You're gonna pay!" The faced Mechon giggled insanely. "I can't wait to grind you all into dust!" He said passionately, his red eyes flashing insanely. He rose into the air, still holding Juju. "Sharla!" Juju screamed. "Sharla! No!" The Mechon suddenly folded itself up, and shot forwards, followed by all it's smaller companions. Sharla managed to struggle back up to the platform, and stared after the Mechon. She fell backwards, and her vision went black.