Xenoblade Chronicles - The Full Story

Chapter 1: Hometown

                       

Xenoblade Chronicles

Chapter 1: Hometown

It'd been one year since the day Dunban charged into the horde of Mechon...

Up from the sky, the sun was shining warmly upon an open field of tall grass swaying mildly by the gentle wind. Butterflies were fluttering around, some landing atop the green blade of grass every so often. There were barely any sounds, aside from the buzzing of the dragonflies idly gliding about. The atmosphere was as peaceful as it could be.

Rustle, rustle. Clink clang. The fine serenity could not have lasted long. Under the shade of a large tree came the slight noises of metal knocking around, for there was a young man with blond hair and bright blue eyes, not at all minding the beautiful scenery around him, but had been intently, almost eagerly, examining the scraps of Mechon parts before him, entirely focusing on his work with a thoughtful countenance, talking to no one in particular:

     "Hmm... A Mechon M71. I bet I could use its optical systems to align one of the Anti-Air Batteries," said the young man pleasantly, before his face fell, "Oh, never mind. The joint section's buckled. It's completely useless."

Clearly disappointed with his object of examination, he tossed away the Mechon part negligently, letting out a huge sigh. He stretched and thrown himself on the soft earth, looking rather down, as if thought that he had found buried treasure while in fact there's nothing in the chest. 

He looked up into the blue sky above him, thinking about his work and how strange it made him feel. He was an eighteen-year-old boy, admittedly rather weak and fragile compared to the people he knew at his age, and had practically spent his life with machinery in the Weapon Development Lab as a scientist, whether creating new weapons for the people or managing all the defense mechanisms used for protecting his home – Colony 9. People often said he was a natural at his job, to which he'd always humbly reply "It's nothing. Glad I could help." To him, the fact that he's helping in saving the lives of many people was a good in and of itself. And he'd always enjoyed his work. Heck, he's wandering away from his colony looking for parts to build more equipment with. If that wasn't dedication, he didn't know what was.

But, he asked himself the same question he'd done many times before: Was he really helping anyone? The weapons he'd made were useful for hunting and training; but as shown from so many battles before and the casualties that came with them, they were no match for the Mechon. The best and only material that could at most push those monsters back were themselves. And still, they were either too far away or too scarce in his area, and most of the findings, like the M71 unit he'd found, were unusable. At this rate, a dark thought came to his mind, we won't stand a chance if the Mechon were to attack once more.

Trying to push the idea out of his head, blaming himself for his natural pessimism, he looked to his side, observing a gentle dragonfly floating by. He watched as it zoomed around the green landscape, to the left, to the right, momentarily out of his sight before appearing again, smiling at its nonchalance, wishing he could be like so for once, as such carefree thinking was so hard to find in this world that was plagued with war. 

He kept watching it as it landed on a tall blade of grass on his left, where it stayed for a while. If only you could guide me out the darkness that surrounds us..., he thought to himself. He took a closer look, and the boy seemed to have seen something in the far corner, behind the resting creature. Something dark black and yellow ....

     "Ah! An M69! I've gotta see this!" he said cheerfully, immediately picked up from his depressing thoughts, and rushed right at that direction. And overjoyed he was when the sight of a broken Mechon the size of his own appeared before him, seemingly lying on the ground collecting dust.