An Idiot, a Dragon, and Some Rock People. (PM to enter)

[Rin Okumura]

He hit the ground running, sword in hand and ready to be drawn. Black smoke filled his vision as the heat grew more intense the further he ran. A brief moment of blindness as the smoke finally thinned out and light filled his vision, then surprise. Rin had arrived in the Ashen Steppes, though he didn't know that himself, and what he expected to be a town on fire, turned out to be a mountain surrounded by the same black smoke that came from the gate that lead to this place. "Cool!" The first words to leave his mouth, just like the first time he laid eyes upon The Nexus.

The son of Satan was easily impressed, so seeing such a large mountain in person was really something to him. "Wait.. There's something I we need to do here.." He thought, scanning the area for what could be burning. But there was little luck finding a specific place or thing, as the entire place seemed to be one big melting pot, where whatever could burn, likely already was. The occasional break in the ash that covered the sky revealed a red hue, indicating that the skies were not their normal color.

Without even thinking about waiting for Shulk, Rin began walking into this unknown world, examining whatever he thought was interesting. This happened to be just about everything, so it's not like he could get too far ahead anyways. He stopped to look into a large crack in the earth, and could see so far down that even lava was visible. All of this cool stuff made the young demon have what seemed like a permanent "wow" face..

Continuing, he came across the start of a long passage leading up the mountain. He was just about to start walking up it, when he remembered his traveling companion and decided to wait. That is, until a boulder began rolling down the passage, and straight towards Rin. Running was the first thing he thought of, so that's exactly what he did. Then the strangest thing happened, when he ran out of the path of this boulder, it made a sharp turn to continue following him!

"What the hell!" He exclaimed as he continued running away. The path Rin was running would lead right back to where he started. No matter how fast the demon ran, which was quite fast due to his heightened physical abilities, the boulder seemed to go that much faster. This made it impossible for Rin to get away, since he was moving to fast to simply dodge, and the fact the boulder would probably just turn to follow him..

He was almost back to the entrance, when Shulk suddenly ran out of the black smoke where Rin had done the same, forcing him to stop. The boulder was already close enough to squash the demon if he lost any speed, so abruptly stopping wasn't the best thing to happen to him. There it was, the boulder that would likely end his life. It was almost like it was moving in slow motion, slowly rolling toward the two masses of flesh in bone, ready to smash them both underneath it's mass. He watched as it's form shifted from the familiar spheric shape, into a creature with arms and legs. His time was soon. Wait..

"What!?" Rin asked as he lowered his leg and hands after they were used to hide himself. The boulder, or what was once a boulder, had turned into some rock-person. This rock-person laughed at the demon's surprise, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Welcome to Death Mountain, bruthas." It said in a low, rough sounding voice, "Sorry to say, but it's probably not a good idea for you two to be here right now. A dragon named Volvagia and his cronies have been terrorizing this place for a while." The goron seemed to shift a little after he mentioned the dragon's name, but still held his ground, trying to prevent the two from passing.

"I guess it's you're lucky day!" Rin said with a confident smile, "We came here thinking someone was in trouble, and it looks like were right. Where do we sign up?" He was very intent on helping these creatures, even if he had no idea what they were, or if they were the dangerous ones.

"Whoa brutha! Do you know what you could be getting yourself into?" The Goron asked, surprised about how headstrong the kid was.

"I don't care, you're in danger, right? Let's go!" The goron almost seemed put off by this, but shrugged and invited them to their village a ways up the mountain. The two accepted this offer and followed the creature as he led them up the path. The mountain, or what Rin thought was a mountain, turned out to be a volcano, which would occasionally spew lava or more of the familiar black smoke. Thankfully the trio didn't encounter any dangerous monsters on their way up, and were able to make it to the village with relative ease.

The village itself was what you might expect from one so close to a volcano, small, in a cave, and dark save for the occasional torch that helped light the way. There were many goron in this village, and each one they passed with a greeting along the line of "Hey brutha," which began getting a little annoying to Rin. There was eventually a light that could be seen at the end of the tunnel, and when they walked out, there was a much more spacious area before them. It was a large, roughly circular area made up of several levels, each one becoming smaller as you went down.

There were far more goron in this place than the tunnels, and hey all came to greet the two. They were surrounded by rock-people now, each one greeting them or asking where they were from. The one that had approached them at the base of the mountain spoke up to talk over the rest, "If you're still wanting to take on Volvagia.." the rest of the goron became silent at the mention of the dragon, "Then follow me, I'll take you to the elders."

[Shulk]

Emerging on the other side of that awful smoke was a dream come true for Shulk, though he was still finding it difficult to adjust to the heat and heavy air of what looked to be an entirely rocky environment. That would soon prove the least of his worries, however, when he noticed a boulder bounding straight for Rin! "Watch out!" Shulk yelled, and he ran forward to pull Rin to safety. He was just about to grab his companion's shoulder when the boulder stopped in front of them and...unfolded?

There was a period of tense silence as Rin and Shulk stared at the rock-creature. The Monado user wasn't sure if he should attack or not, but his sword hand was switching as the lumbering creature stood up and flexed arms that looked like they could crush him like a twig. Then Rin shouted, almost startling Shulk out of his skin. The creature's deep, cheerful laugh was ill-fitting for something so intimidating, it put Shulk at ease. Besides, it would have attacked already if it really wanted to.

Shulk listened attentively as the creature explained where they were -- a lovely sounding place called Death Mountain -- and the problem plaguing it in the form of a dragon named 'Volvagia.' The way the giant shifted at the mere mention of the creature's name was proof enough of the threat it posed. "I think we could he-" Shulk was about to say, until Rin interrupted him and instantly signed them up for solving the creature's woes. The Homs couldn't be annoyed, however, since he was going to say the same thing as Rin, or roughly the same.

Along the way to the village, Shulk decided to talk with Rin. "It's alright to be enthusiastic, Rin, but maybe we should be more careful from here on out. We don't know what we're getting ourselves into, so it wouldn't hurt to be prepared." He tried reasoning with his companion, to give himself the opportunity to go into battle with as much knowledge as they can gather.

Their arrival to the giant's village struck Shulk with awe. The architecture, the geographical location, and the giants themselves -- all were so very fascinating to him! He couldn't stop staring at the rock-giants, and a desire to keep up with Rin and their guide was all that kept him from stopping to ask questions to one of the villagers. When they emerged out of the tunnel, Shulk's eyes went wide, and his mouth was agape. "This is... amazing!" he said, maybe a little too loudly, because the next thing he knew, the rock-people had surrounded him and Rin.

To their questions, Shulk couldn't respond, he was simply too dumbfounded at the absurdity of it all. Thankfully, the guide he'd met earlier silenced the crowd, and Shulk was reminded of why he had come here. In the silence, Shulk realized he finally had a chance to ask the one question that was begging to be asked. Stepping forward, Shulk looked at his guide, "er...before we follow you, could I ask you a question? What... are you?" He realized how rude that must have sounded and quickly rushed to save himself, "I-I've never seen anything like this before!"

[Rin Okumura]

"Heh! I'm surprised you don't already know!" The creature said to Shulk, "We're what you'd call a Goron!" With the boy's question answered, the Goron turned and began walking toward another tunnel, motioning for the two to follow. The rest of the Goron went back to what they were doing, which was mostly just sleeping or eating rocks.

Rin ran to catch up with the rock after the rest of them cleared out, and assumed he would be followed by Shulk. "So you two want a run down of what you'll be dealing with here?" He looked back at the two to see what they would say, as this information would be quite important for what they intended to do.

"Well, I guess that could be helpful." The demon replied with a smile, he was becoming excited to find out about Volvagia.

"Well," The goron began, "Volvagia is one of the reasons this place is so inhospitable. His offspring, at least what we assume to be his offspring, are the drake. Those things have been terrorizing the residents and visitors of Death Mountain for years in their master's stead, and they aren't even as bad as when Volvagia was still out and about. I've lost a lot of my brothers when they went off to fight that.. Thing. He paused for a moment, as his own explanation seemed to bring about bad memories. "Anyways, as far as we know, Volvagia has been sleeping for years, and we want to keep it that way for now.

"Sounds like he's a real ass hole.. How long have those drakes been around?" Rin asked out of curiosity.

"Well, we think they've been around for as long as Volvagia has, but there's some who like to think that they started showing up just a few years ago."

The fact that it was unsure how long the drakes have been around, and that Volvagia has been sleeping for years, made Rin a little uneasy about going through with the same plan he had in mind before, but he would still hear them out, maybe the elders would have a better explanation.

Eventually, the trio reached the lowest level of the cavern. The goron lead them to a large door that had a torch on either side of it, and a soft carpet in front of it. This is where they stopped, and the goron turned around to give them some more information. "Alright, just so you know, there is currently another man seeking to kill Volvagia, so the elders may just send you to help him out. But are you two ready? He asked one last time.

Rin's face now had uncertainty written all over it. There was already someone looking to kill him? "Hold up! You're telling me someone already wants to kill him, even though there's no guarantee he's the problem right now!?" He shouted, which drew the attention of some of the Goron's from before.

"Does it matter if he's the problem right now? We do know that he used to terrorize us." The goron replied. But this did little to convince Rin.

"Does it matter that he used to!? Things change as time goes on." Rin was completely serious at this point. The danger he expected to find in this verse was a different danger all together, but he wasn't even sure now if it was dangerous. The plains, yes, the sleeping dragon? Who's to say! "Look, I have this.. Feeling. That this is something we can't just guess on. I'm not gonna say I don't believe you, but I have to see for myself before I decide."

With that, the demon rushed off. Back through the tunnels that led back to the entrance to the village itself. He could hear the goron yelling about how he'd get himself killed if he did this, and saw the surprised, or even angry, look on a lot of the goron's faces as he passed them. This wasn't something he could just take someone's word for now, especially when that someone was unsure themselves what the real dangerous was at the current time.

Rin had run for a few minutes, and could now see the light at the end of the tunnel. As he rushed out, he was met with same scene he had been when he first entered the verse. A black sky with the occasional red dot, smoke and lava littering the landscape, creatures in the distance. It seemed he'd have to get through all of this if he wanted to learn the full story, or to end up fighting Volvagia. Whatever worked for him, he just needed an answer.

[Shulk]

Shulk listened to the goron in silence, he committed every detail about their problems to memory. Taking on a dragon sounded like a daunting prospect, and from the way the gorons feared this one, Shulk knew he'd need every advantage he could get if he wanted to come out the fight alive. But then the goron mentioned that Volvagia had been asleep for quite some time; Shulk's inquisitive mind thought of what they could do with this information. If the dragon wasn't going to wake up any time soon, a methodical approach could be planned out, since it didn't feel wise to rush at such a huge problem without some kind of strategy.

Then the goron mentioned that someone else was planning to kill Volvagia, Shulk "hmm"ed and "hrm"ed at this information. More help is always useful, he decided. "Who is this ma-" Shulk said, only for Rin to interrupt him, shocking the Homs with his outrage. "Rin, calm down!" He held up his hands, and looked around at all the onlookers they were attracting. The Monado wielder didn't want to know what gorons did to outsiders that offended them.

When Rin took off, Shulk looked apologetic to their goron guide, "I...I'm very sorry!" With that, he took off after his traveling companion, following him all the way out of the tunnel and back into their oppressive environment. Breathing hard from the run and sweating heavily thanks to the heat, Shulk's expression was one of genuine annoyance. "Rin, what are you thinking? You can't just ask a dragon if it's the cause of their problems!" Shulk started to chastise, but then he realized that he didn't even know what a dragon was. He'd have to take a different approach.

"I don't see any reason to doubt the gorons, it sounds like this Volvagia has always been a problem for them." Shulk reasoned, he hoped to get Rin to listen to reason. "If you wake it up and it turns out you're wrong, it could create a very big problem." He said, looking Rin straight in the eye.

[Rin Okumura]

"Like I said.." Rin refused to look away from Shulk, keeping his eyes fixated on his partner's, "It's not that I don't trust them, I just want to see for myself. If things go wrong, we'll get out of there?" He was unsure what he would actually do if things went bad, but still determined to see the beast. "So, let's go!"

Rin started walking back down the path, not caring how many dangers would wait for them on their way. The temperature began to rise again as he returned to the base of the mountain where he would began the climb up. The demon waited a bit to make sure his partner was coming, then began the journey upward. Right off the bat, it proved to be difficult to find a way to climb. Many spots were to steep to even think about it, and others were blocked by a river of lava or a massive crack in the ground.

"Been searching for a while, and there's still no way to climb up! You'd think they would have a path or something." Just as this was said, Rin stumbled upon a path that was conveniently placed.. Years ago. Even Rin, who was the one who hadn't noticed it the entire time they were looking, was frustrated by his own stupidity. "Man.." He said as he walked forward with his hands in his pockets.

"So what kind of stuff do you think we'll find up here?" The demon asked as he walked along the path, dodging the occasional crack in the ground. He was a bit curious what kind of creatures of items they would find while they explored the volcano, and was even thinking about what it would be like inside of the volcano itself. Was it even possible to go inside without dying? They shall find out soon!

[Shulk]

Shulk grimaced; he shouldn't have expected Rin to be talked down after that scene in the village. He didn't want to go prodding a sleeping dragon, but if he didn't go, then there was a good chance Rin wouldn't survive the encounter. Then again, Shulk knew his presence wasn't going to increase their odds of survival by much. "Fine, but you're going to apologize to the gorons when we get back." He sounded stern, like one would be with a child.

To say that the journey was difficult would be a massive understatement; extreme heat, treacherous drops, and deadly lava met the Shulk and Rin every step of the way. Rin, annoyingly enough, didn't seem bothered at all by his environment while Shulk struggled to keep up. Once or twice, Shulk remembered Omni's words about Omnilium and thought of his desire to have heat-proof clothes, but nothing came of it. He'd tried squeezing the rainbow-colored sphere, rubbing it, shaking it, but still nothing. He was so exhausted that by the time Rin found an all too convenient path, Shulk didn't have the energy to be bemoan their wasted efforts up until that point.

There wasn't much conversation along the way, perhaps Rin thought it for Shulk to focus on walking. His question didn't quite register at first, but when Shulk started to respond, there was a sharp ringing in his ear while the color of the world turned dull. Everything was silent, and then he saw it.

Shulk could see himself, actually see himself. They were somewhere surrounded by rocks, full of lava, with holes leading into the molten pool all around a charred area. The scene faded, and returned, this time Rin was in the middle of the hole filled field, his voice broke the silence; "Oi! Wake up!"

There was a roar, a deafening, bestial roar that made the hairs on Shulk's neck stand up and his blood run cold. A terrible serpent burst out from one of the holes behind Rin. It lunged just as the scene faded, and Shulk was left with Rin's screams.

Shulk's sight returned to normal, everything was like it was seconds before he had that strange vision. It all happened so quickly that the Homs wasn't even sure if he'd actually experienced it. There was no denying what it was, however: the distant future. His skin paled, and Shulk looked like he'd seen a ghost. If that's the future...then Rin...!

"Rin, we need to turn back," Shulk said, quickly approaching Rin and grabbing his arm. He didn't know what to tell Rin at first, who would believe someone that claimed to see the future? "Something terrible is going to happen if you wake up Volvagia, I know it!" He bit his lip and his eye would occasionally dart away, "don't ask me how I know. I just... know."

[Makoto Yuki]

Before the demon could question his companion's vague warning, he was cut off by the very ground shaking beneath their feet. Shulk paled further and immediately jumped Rin, making both of them fall to ground and roll away from the patch of unstable land. It was good timing too. As soon as a flustered Rin managed to free himself from the tangle of limbs that was his and his partner's bodies laying prone on the ground, he saw what he believed only moments ago to be an ordinary piece of the path they were taking seemingly grow out of the ground.

It grew from a flat surface to a small rock. Then a bigger rock, all the way to a 3 meters tall boulder. One that had a roughly carved face, two hefty looking arms, and two legs. The sleeping golem didn't appreciate the fact that they were reconsidering their plans on top of his back, apparently.

It expressed this further by stepping forward and raising one of its arms, intending to crush the two bugs that had awoken it. It was having the best nap it had had in decades for God's sake.

[Rin Okumura]

"What the hell are you doing, Shulk!" Rin yelled as the two landed on the ground with a thud. He had felt the ground shake beneath him, but it didn't seem he was given enough time to figure out what was causing it. It took a bit of struggling to get out of the position they were stuck in, but when he finally managed to free himself from the mess of limbs, he glared at Shulk. "What was tha-" The demon was interrupted by a large stone fist heading straight for him and his partner. His immediate reaction was to try and grab Shulk and jump back, but this almost made him fall into a hole.

After staring at what could have been the cause of his death, he remembered that there was now a very large, very angry rock that wanted to smash them. Rin looked at the golem and shouted, Oi! Bastard, you trying to kill us!?" The question was one he already an answer to, but it was more of a reaction than anything. The demon grabbed the hilt of his sword, then decided not to draw it since he still didn't know what those blue flames were, or if they were dangerous. The only other option he saw, was to hope the large rock creature could be hurt with his fists and willpower.

Placing the sword on his back where it was before, Rin rushed the golem and leapt into the air. Surprised at how high he was able to jump, he couldn't help but say, "Whoa!" as his opponent grew closer. Just before he would land on the creature, he reeled back and launched his fist straight at the golems crudely carved face. The way Rin was rushing in made him completely open to a counter attack, and if the beast blocked, (somehow) dodged, or allowed itself to be hit, the result would be the demon hurting his own fist after deciding to punch a creature made of stone.

Even if he hit the creature, resulting in hurting his own fist, he would still look back to see if his attack was effective after landing.

[Shulk]

It was lucky that Shulk thought to tackle Rin; despite the man's annoyance, Shulk doubted that he would have preferred to be underneath the rock golem that emerged where they were standing seconds before. He ignored Rin's complaints and helped himself to his feet, "be careful!" It was all Shulk could think to say before grabbing the handle of the Monado and bringing it to bear against his enemy. The blue lines on the large sword lit up, and the circle near the handle whirred with a similarly colored energy, making the weapon vibrate softly in Shulk's hands. The feeling was familiar, this was what power felt like.

From the corner of his eyes, the Homs boy saw Rin rush into the fray with his bare hands. Shulk was ready to charge in as well, but the colorless filter entered his sight once more, and another vision struck him. The arm that the golem raised swatted at Rin, sending him flying. The creature was quicker than it looked... In the present, Shulk saw his companion leap into the air. "Rin--" No, there wasn't any time!

Shulk rushed down at the golem's side, where its arm was raised. Though the Monado felt light in his hands, Shulk mustered all the strength he could and swung at the base of the golem's arm, near its shoulder. Mid-swing, he noticed the sword's red blade retract into two pieces, allowing a longer beam of sorts to shoot out. How did that happen...?

[Makoto Yuki]

The rocky monster adjusted its aim when one of the fleshy-people decided to charge at it. It wanted to kill them both with one strike and continue its nap, but one at a time would do just as well. It hesitated for a moment when the smaller one stepped in after its friend, waving its red sword around.

One was rushing to fight it with his bare hands, and the other was trying to strike it down with what amounted to a metal toothpick. The golem would have laughed at their idiocy, were it capable of processing the concept of mirth.

Laughter was the furthest thing from its simple mind, as the red sword shifted and a blue beam of light sheared its arm right off, distracting it enough for the first idiot to land a surprisingly powerful punch right to its face, cracking the stone and distorting its features. The golem was incapable of experiencing pain, but anger was not a stranger to it. Fury coursed through the stone entity's whole being. Fury directed at the two that had not only disturbed its sleep, but also refused to die when they were attacked and had hurt the golem instead!

A terrible roar was released from its throat, sounding not unlike the grating of stone against stone, or the rustling of gravel and crushed pieces of Earth. It would not stop until the blood of its enemies had mixed with the ashes of this infertile ground!

[Rin Okumura]

As Rin looked back to see what damage was done, he was content with a crack across the creature's face. He did punch it after all, it was certainly something for someone to do that with a single punch, or he thought so at least.. "How does it feel, looks like we're winning!" The demon yelled, giving a thumbs up to his partner since he had cut off the golem's arm. Just when he thought it might have run, or be in to much pain to continue, a deafening noise echoed through the Steppes.

"Ah! What the hell!" He said as he covered his ears, trying to block out this noise. It was so unpleasant, but he couldn't just stand there and wait for it to stop. In order to stop the yelling, he would have to act himself, and still wasn't willing to catch on fire to do this. So the only thing he thought he could do, was punch the living rock again! Maybe there was another option actually.. He didn't have to un-sheath his sword after all.

Rin ran at the beast once again, this time pulling Kurikara from it's cloth container. Jumping into the air, he raised the sword, still inside it's sheath, over his head. Waiting till just the right moment, he brought the sword down, hoping to hit the same spot he had cracked before. This would allow him to avoid breaking his hand if he tried to punch it again.. Yet again, he was leaving himself open to a counter attack since he was saved the last time his did this. Just as he had done before, if his attack was successful, he would look back to see what damage was done.

[Shulk]

Shulk repressed the urge to cheer when the Monado's beam sliced the mountain golem's arm clean off, the battle was far from over. Rin's encouragement managed to make him smile nonetheless, "keep it up! The fight's not over yet!" The Monado boy called back, before raising the sword in preparation for another downwards slash. The golem chose this time to make its fury known, and its shouts were so intense that Shulk stumbled back with his hands clasped firmly over his ears.

Though his ears were ringing, the sharp cut to silence was a clear indication of another vision.

The golem brought its remaining arm up to grab Rin's sword. In one swift motion, the monstrosity headbutted the boy, knocking him straight to the ground.

In the present, Shulk took off for the golem immediately. As his companion had already jumped, it was impossible to make it around the golem in time to cut off his other arm. The boy pulled the Monado back, then thrust it sharply at the golem's side. If the golem could feel pain, there was a chance to distract it again!

[Makoto Yuki]

The demon, high on the unexpected favorable outcome of his last attack, decided to press his advantage, and jumped with his weapon drawn in an attempt to strike the already weakened part of the golem's face.

The sentient being of boulder wouldn't stand for such a thing. These flesh bags had damaged it too much, and were being too cocky as a result. It reached out with speed unbefitting of something of its stature, and held the sheathed blade mid-swing. Just as it was leaning backwards in preparation for a retaliatory headbutt, its other opponent managed to reach out with his magical blade and stab its side. Fury took hold of the beast's mind once more, as it focused on the one who had caused it pain twice, in such a short amount of time.

It clenched its one remaining fist tighter, and swung the blade it still grasped, and the blade's wielder by extension, towards what it perceived to be the greater threat. The two companions collided violently, and were knocked off their feet and thrown through the air for a good few meters, only to land in a heap of tangled limbs, not unlike how they were when they first got into this mess.

The golem wasn't going to leave them any chances this time, it located its disconnected arm and held it with its good arm. It advanced on its fallen enemies, wielding its own limb as a cruse club. They were going to pay.

[Rin Okumura]

"Damn it!" The demon exclaimed as his sword was grabbed by the golem. He watched as Shulk successfully saved him from what would've been a very painful headbutt. "Nice, Shulk!" The celebration would not last long, as the creature became even more enraged than it already was. It flung the demon at his partner, sending them both flying and putting them in the same position they were in when the golem first appeared.

Rin struggled once more to get out of this, and when he was finally freed, he saw the rock creature was now using it's severed limb as a weapon. He recognized this would make it more dangerous, but mostly just questioned why it would do such a thing. Oh well, time to try again. "I guess I'll have to try.." Rin mumbled as he lifted his sword, which he was somehow still holding, and removed it from it's sheath. His body and sword became engulfed in blue flames, which made the demon uneasy. It didn't seem to burn, so for now he would deal with it.

"Let's see how this go's." Rin instinctively swung his sword horizontally, despite the fact that he was fairly far from the golem. As he did this, the flames flew from the sword like a wave straight toward the beast. "Cool!" He shouted, "Let's see what else this thing can do." Running at the golem yet again, he was prepared to try something potentially stupid. Rin dashed upward at such a high speed that it would be difficult for anyone watching not to think he didn't just teleport, and reappeared near the golem's shoulder. He slashed diagonally, hoping that his sword could cut through the beast like his partner's weapon had.

After his attack, Rin would dash back to where Shulk was in a similar way to what he had done before, but in small bursts as it didn't seem he was able to use it over long distances.

[Shulk]

Besides the painful, tangled mess he'd landed in, Shulk was feeling pretty good about how the battle was going so far. He ached in several different places, and he was sure that some gravel had gotten in his boots, but they weren't losing. Most importantly, he could see the future for whatever reason. The Homs didn't have the luxury of speculation at the moment. Once he and Rin were untangled, he let the swordsman finally draw his blade and close in on the golem.

Shulk was prepared to receive another vision of the future, but as Rin started darting around the golem at dizzying speeds, nothing came to him. Perhaps he wasn't in any danger...or if he was, Shulk couldn't see it. Reaching for the Monado, Shulk stood up and strafed around the monster while Rin moved in. In what seemed like a blink of the eye, his comrade was on top of the golem, jamming a blade towards its shoulder. In the next, he was right back where he'd been seconds earlier. "Rin, nice attack!" Shulk called out, grinning.

Alright, my turn. Shulk, now behind the golem, charged in. The Monado's beam re-emerged from the red blade, perfect for making rocky chunks out of the earth creature. "Take out its limbs, Rin!" Shulk ordered before he ducked low and sent the Monado whirling towards the golem's knees -- or what the golem equivalent to knees were.

[Makoto Yuki]

The two just would not stay down. Before the golem could finish them off while they were down, the demon had already recovered and spontaneously caught on fire. The blue fire that had attached itself to the demon deeply confused the golem, was that the work of another opponent?

Its confusion only grew when a wave of fire detached itself from the burning figure and went straight for the golem. It quickly brought its improvised club down, dissipating the wave, only to notice that its disconnected arm had caught on fire. What sort of flame could cause solid stone to burn in such a way?

Before it could make sense of this predicament, the demon appeared out of nowhere, and slashed his burning blade diagonally on the golem's torso. Instead of bouncing off like what the golem expected, the blade carved its way through the rock, leaving a deep burning gouge in its wake.

The golem hunched over and tried to put out the demonic flames with its remaining arm, only to find the ground rushing towards its face. The one with the blue magic sword had used the distraction of dealing with the demon and his flames to circle around undetected, and slice off both stone pillars that the golem called legs.

The demon rushed to capitalize on the opening provided by his teammate, leaving behind a shining trail of blue embers in his path. The glowing ball of fire leapt into the air and landed sword-first on the golem's head, carving a hole straight through it and impaling it to the ground. Any and all movement on the golem's part ceased instantly, much like a puppet with cut strings.

[Ruby Rose]

CHAPTER 3

PAGE 1

Dear Diary,

The trip through the portal was very different from the first. Rather than being thrown around in a spectrum of bright colours, I was thrown around in a vortex of pitch-black smoke, coughing and spluttering all the way. Definitely unpleasant, I was probably going to get some kind of lung disease from it! But I hoped not. It would be terrible if I did... Soon enough, thankfully, I was thrown out of the portal, but this time I was ready. I kept my eyes peeled for the ground, and what met my sight was to be expected; rock. Just rock, that seemed to be fairly hot.

I swung my legs out in front of me and managed to catch myself without stumbling too much. I looked up around me, and I was actually quite amazed by the landscape before my eyes! Many rocky mountains, some seeming to be volcanoes, and multiple different cave-type areas. I just didn't know what to explore first! As there was a surprisingly lit cave nearby, that was probably my best choice to check out. I skipped on over and ducked my head inside, and I quickly hid from what lay within.

"Eep!" I squealed, possibly alerting the giant rock monsters inside to my presence. Yes, I did just say rock monsters! They were absolutely massive and looked like they could snap be in half like a twig! But when I peeked my head inside again... One of them had a soft smile on its face, and was gesturing for me to come closer. I rounded the corner and crept up to the rock monster, my head facing down. Were they hostile? It didn't seem like it. The big guy was smiling!

"What brings you here, uh... Sista?" he asked in a low, gravelly voice (get it? Gravelly?). Quite obviously they didn't acquaint with females often, as the guy took his time in addressing me. I perked my head up, still rather scared by their massive size.

"W-well," I began, stuttering, "I'm fairly new to the world, a-and I came here looking for some adventure," I informed the rock monster, who then scoffed and chuckled very, very loudly.

"Adventure, you say?" he inquired, still booming, "A pair of idiots just rushed off to slay the tyrant dragon, Vo-" a dragon? A dragon?! I swiftly cut the giant off.

"Where is this dragon?" I blurted, fascination glinting in my silver eyes. The rock man starwd at me with a flabbergasted look before pointing outside the cave at some kind of mountain.

"Death Mountain, of course... But don't tell me-" he tried to talk me out of it, but I'd already bolted off, making use of my high speed. My feet left the ground in long leaps as I made a beeline for this 'Death Mountain'. The giant mound of rock was rapidly approaching, and I tried skidding to a stop before I ran smack-bang into it. I closed my eyes as I kicked up hot rocks. When they fluttered open, I was face to face with the black rock that made up Death Mountain. I was stunned for a sec, before I looked up.

I gulped as I saw the height of the thing. And I thought the rock men were huge. I was knocked back to my senses when my ears picked up a colossal roar from a short way up the mountain, and being me, I had to go investigate. How did I get there, you ask? Well, of course, I ran up the mountain! Well, the places I wouldn't slip anyway. Soon enough, I noticed a flash of azure light from one side and quickly changed direction, landing on a path I hadn't seen before. I hid behind a crown of rocks, and when I peeked over...

You won't believe it. A boy engulfed in flames and wielding some kind of burning sword, accompanied by another boy, this one blond, wearing all red and OH MY GOSH the weapon he had looked amazing! I was all I could to to refrain from squealing in joy. They seemed to be fighting some kind of... golem or something, and they were doing well, too. It was missing an arm and both its legs, and held a massive crack in the centre of its face.

Yeah, yeah, they might have been able to take it themselves, but I decided to throw my two cents in. I flipped Crescent Rose out into her sniper mode and popped my head up over the rocks, taking precise aim at the crack in the rock monster's face. Steady, steady.. I pulled the trigger and a round of dust soared from her barrel, on track to the creatures face. I watched the shot obliterate the Golem's features, coupled with some of its head... But it was still moving, still struggling. Oh well, at least I'd made my presence know. I waved over the crown of rocks at the boys fighting further down.

Shulk invited me over, Rin ^^

[Rin Okumura]

Just as Shulk cut through he golems knees, which sent it face first into the ground, Rin took the chance to finish the beast off. He burst forward several times till he was within range, then lt into the air and forced his blade through its head. The demon sheathed his blade, then his facial features turned from serious to delighted.

"We did it!" He shouted. Just before he would've jumped down, the smashed face that he was standing on suddenly turned into little bits and pieces, which caused him to fall and hit the ground, rather them jump and land. Rin sprang back up and expressed his anger by shouting random threats at whoever did such a thing, without actually knowing where they were.

It took a few minutes for the demon to calm down even slightly, but when he did, he actually began to think. These weren't thoughts of what they should do now though, he simply began thinking about how he could find the one he was mad at. Eventually he gave up and remembered he had a partner to get back to, so he turned to face Shulk.

I don't know what made the rock person's head explode, but I guess we should get going?"He asked, still wanting to find the person that made him fall.

[Shulk]

For a moment, Shulk stood frozen in a battle ready position while he waited for the golem to get up. It didn't, and the Monado, seemingly knowing that the battle was finished, retracted its beam and slowly slid back together in a way that must have looked impressive... for all the people that weren't watching him. "We...did it," Shulk muttered, the boy sounded like he was in disbelief; the fight ended just as quickly as it had begun, and they weren't bloody stains on the mountain. The longer he stared at the immobile chunk of rock, the bigger the goofy grin that spread across his face became. "We did do..." Shulk's eyes drifted up to his companion, and they widening in surprise, "Rin wait--" But no, Rin had already plunged his flaming sword into the head of the golem. If the golem was sentient, they were desecrating its remains right now.

As always, Rin was oblivious to his words, and Shulk didn't chastise him this time as there was little point in spoiling their victory. Rin had just pulled his sword free when the golem's head suddenly exploded following a loud BANG! In fact, it exploded quite violently, spraying chunks of dirty, soot covered rocks in all directions which forced Shulk to cover his face with his arms lest he got pebbles in his eyes. The Homs ignored his friend's predictably angry outburst and peered around the environment. Their own heads were still intact, so whoever it was had wanted to help, albeit their definition of "help" involved shooting a dead monster... Oh well, it was the thought that counted, and Shulk figured it was only right to thank the stranger for their efforts.

There, in the distance...Shulk thought he could make out a head of black hair. When their arm shot up to wave him and Rin down, he waved back at them, smiling. "Thank you!" The Monado wielder called out before sheathing the titular sword. He faced Rin, "let's go see who that is," he said, walking towards their mysterious benefactor.

"Um... we appreciate the help, but that monster was already dead." Shulk called out while still on the way to the stranger's vantage point. He must have sounded terribly meek, maybe he was scared of angering a sniper who could have him in their sights in a flash. Of course, he hadn't gotten a vision of his impeding death, so it could be safe to assume that he wasn't in any danger. With that in mind, he kept on his way towards the sniper.

[Ruby Rose]

PAGE 2

I heard the clicking footsteps on the blackened rock as the two approached me, and I heard what one was saying as they went, "Um... we appreciate the help, but that monster was already dead," aaaand my face just fell. Seriously? I didn't actually help out at all? I could have sworn I saw the thing moving, but that might just have been the body resting itself.

I sheathed Crescent Rose and popped out of cover and flashed a bright smile and the blond boy approaching, the raven haired one lagging behind. I was quick to introduce myself, "Hey there! I'm Ruby!" I told him, extending a hand out. Before he could even react to the gesture, though, I spotted the strange weapon sheathed at his side.

I jumped for a moment, and my silver eyes glittered in awe. Yeah, I saw it before, but it looked SO MUCH COOLER up close! I turned my view back up to the blond boy, "What is that?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"W-well, it's-" he began to stutter, but I didn't let him finish.

"Can I touch it?" I asked, still over the moon. His only reply was a stunned look on his face and a rigid body. I stepped back and pulled out the close Crescent Rose.

"Oh, right, I haven't introduced my sweetheart yet," I motormouthed, possibly making a VERY bad impression on the duo. I popped Rose out to her full size, towering above either of us and the clouded sky reflecting off of the scarlet metal, "This is Crescent Rose. It's a high-caliber sniper-scythe, and my name's Ruby. Nice to meet ya!" I greeted for the second time, extending my hand out again.

Boy, I must have seemed extremely annoying.