The next part of the game is another flashback, thankfully in color as well- though it’s hard to tell at first. This memory is of fourteen years ago, and shows a snowy, crystal-laden wasteland and a group of fur-clad people traveling through it. Presently, the wanderers reach a large door of dark stone to which no snow clings, set between several especially large crystals. Opening the door, they head inside and close the way behind them. Shortly afterwards, a thin beam of blue light reaches out from the top of the crystals- and then all is still.
One more traveler approaches the door, though how much later cannot be said. As he looks up at the crystals flanking the door, his face becomes apparent- it is Dickson, and he also enters the door. Within, he finds a strange room, littered with the dead but undisturbed bodies of the travelers. Checking a few of them, he moves deeper into the place, and finds the Monado, the bright red weapon set atop a dark stone stand- and beneath that stand lies a young child from the group of wanderers- not dead, but unconscious.
Beneath that stand lies Shulk.
The game returns (again) to the present- getting tired of flashbacks yet? You rejoin Rayne and Shulk on the bridge on their way out of Colony 9, as the two prepare to plan the first bit of their journey. After a brief discussion, they decide to head to Colony 6 via the Mag Mell ruins, which apparently have an exit that was not available before. From Colony 6, apparently located near Bionis’ knee, the two intend to go on towards Sword Valley, where there is a known Mechon base- because if the attack was launched from there, then the Mechon would have passed over Colony 6 in order to reach Colony 9.
It is now that you are once more finally set free- the exposition is done for the time being, your goals and direction are set, and you are once more staffing your party with Shulk and Reyn. Why is Reyn free to go, though? What about the other citizens of Colony 9? Who made it through the attack- and who didn’t?
Well, it is because of these questions that the very first thing you’re going to want to do is turn around and head back into Colony 9. Well- that and the Ether Furnace. That’s right, somehow in the confusion of the Mechon attack and its aftermath, the Ether Furnace has been repaired- which means you can finally turn all those Crystals you’ve been gathering up into Ether Gems. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to make sure you are properly supplied either- while the game doesn’t use nor need healing items, you have a limited ability to carry things- so making sure you have what you need and offload what you ought to sell or trade away (especially for multiples of the same valuable item) is paramount to making sure you can pick up all the neat goodies you will wind up finding as you travel.
