Hi guys! I'm back with a new Fire Emblem story… again based on Awakening… I would have used Fates for the subject of this story, but Awakening happening 2000 years after Marth's game which is Fire Emblem's 1,3 and their remakes 11 and 12 respectively would make more sense. This is going to delve on a mechanic that was present in older Fire Emblem games but didn't return in Awakening. I'm sure the older fans reading this know exactly what I'm talking about, but for those that don't… Let's get into it! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, if I did, I would ask for them to release the Jugdral and Tellius series to the Nintendo E-Shop with English version available for Jugdral
To Regain What Was Forgotten
Ylisse Grandmaster Robin tactician of the Shepherds sighed tired as he ruffled his white hair, this Risen that he and the rest of the Shepherds are facing has almost killed some of his comrades today. Their leader Chrom is being tended to by his younger Lissa while one of Chrom's daughters Lucina covered them, while three girls atop Pegasi, a girl with white to gray hair Sumia, a girl with red hair Cordelia, and Sumia's and Chrom's daughter, the blue haired Cynthia. They were trying to distract it, but the General just wouldn't take any damage they took. He noticed that Cordelia was trying something that he wasn't sure off, but Sumia and Cynthia couldn't follow. However, the enemy has ignored him, so quickly taking out his tome he readied his spell and aiming at the enemy he shouted.
"Thoron!" In response to his call a streak of lightning shot out from his hands, piercing the enemies armor as it got disintegrated. With that gone, he sighed in relief. "Is everyone good?"
"All good Robin!" A bubbly female with blonde hair, Lissa gave him a thumb up as she healed her older brother. However, it still bothered Robin that their weapons couldn't deliver enough damage and they had to resort to spells, while using magic to counter heavy physical units was an obvious thing, there were just too many physical oriented Risen in this last engagement, and Olivia can't get everyone to keep up with the number, even WITH her dancing. The three Pegasus Knights though, landed, Sumia and Cynthia sighed in relief that the engagement was over, Cordelia… well…
"If only we still had THAT…" she muttered with a voice of annoyance, and while the others didn't hear it, Robin DID. And he was not to let that go.
"Hey Cordelia," The tactician said as the girl looked up. "Once we get back to the barracks, might I have a word with you?"
"O-Of course Robin." The as of now Falcon Knight replied, wondering why her presence was requested.
The travel back to the barracks was a bit frightening for the redhead, considering that she thinks that she might have done something wrong. Could she have done something a bit better, was her lance work wrong? Did she fail to cover Sumia and Cynthia, these thoughts troubled her as she made her way to where the Tactician was working. Well while she had married the Tactician and loved him as much as he loved her, she was worried that he might be angry.
"Robin?" She asked as the white-haired man looked up and smiled when he saw her, asking her to sit, which she shortly did.
"So Cordelia, earlier in this battle, I saw you trying something." The redhead froze, did she make a mistake attempting it? Did she risk her best friend her best friend's daughter attempting it? "Relax Cordelia." This stunned her out of her thoughts. "I was just curious that's all."
"I, I see, forgive me then Robin. But yes, I was attempting something on the battlefield."
"Attempting something, I see, but why didn't you do it properly then? I know you told us to not look at you like you do anything perfectly but, normally it would only take you a few attempts… and you attempted it several more times."
"I agree… but the fact of the matter is," The redhead sighed. "The maneuver I was trying is NOT something I can do alone."
"Are you referring to… 'That'?" He asked, remembering what the girl muttered.
"Yes… what I'm referring to is a secret that has been lost to the Ylissean Pegasus Knights, the 'Triangle Attack.'"
"The Triangle Attack?" Robin inquired.
"Yes, it is a move done by three Pegasus Knights working in tandem, but… the art on how to do that has been lost."
"I see, but… why?"
"According to my superiors before I joined the Shepherds, the Triangle Attack was heavily used by the previous Exalt in the war against Plegia, however this cost Ylisse of almost all its Pegasus Knights, with any of the ones knowing how to perform it dead before the war's end. Even the ones that can be considered veterans don't even know anything about how to perform it. It was one of the reasons why Ylisse was able to fight Plegia on even footing able to eliminate even the most well armored foe, as from what we have experienced with their high number of Wyvern Riders and Knights."
"I can't help but agree with that." Robin nodded. While he did hear how Ylisse used to have a much bigger army, based on Cordelia's testimony, it seems that this… Triangle Attack was a factor that they CANNOT afford to lose yet still lost.
"So, Sir Robin… I have an idea." The Falcon Knight shot up. "Let us check the Ylissean library, perhaps the art to do it is still there."
"That… is not an option, as you know, Ylisse was ravaged when the Plegians invaded the capital while we were escorting Queen Emmeryn out of the city years ago. While they left most of the information regarding the history of the two nations unharmed, every single book relating to war or tactics was burned down.
"I see." How could she not forget that event, it was where she lost most of her allies, her colleagues, and while the war between Ylisse and Plegia was already finished, there were still Risen popping out here and there. And with the constant threat of the Wallhart from the other continent of Valm.
"Hmmm… are there any other Pegasus Knight orders throughout Ylisse's history?"
"No…" She placed her head down, before she suddenly smiled as if something clicked on her head. "But there is an order that was not in Ylisse's history!"
"What?" Robin was baffled but immediately regained his footing. "Who?"
"Not who, Robin, when." Cordelia smiled as she left the Tactician for a while, before returning with a book.
"What is this?"
"It's a book detailing the war of the Hero King Marth. These stories detailed a lot of things, however," She flipped to a certain page. This one showed three girls, one with green hair, one with blue, and the other red.
"Who… are these three?"
"These three are, Palla, Catria and Est." She said pointing to the green, blue and red haired girl respectively. While such details wouldn't matter to most people who studied the efforts of the Hero King, it would have mattered to her and her colleagues, as the three sisters were like them. "The three of them are Pegasus Knights of the order of the Whitewings of the ancient kingdom of Macedon, and all of them fought under the leadership of the Hero King."
"Wait… three Pegasus Knights." Robin's eyes widened. "Are you suggesting…"
"Yes, I am, if there were three Pegasus Knights fighting for the Hero King, then that means that they COULD know how to use the Triangle Attack."
"That's good! Now to know where they are from." The tactician grinned as the girl agreed.
"Agreed," Cordelia then flipped the pages to search for their origins. "Ok… so we know they are from Macedon…"
"All right, we need to check for where it is." Now it was Robin's turn to leave, but he signaled Cordelia to come with, they then went to the library and took out maps, and a lot of them, comparing their current world map to any old maps from the Hero King's era that hasn't been lost to the passage of time.
"I found it!" Robin said as he pointed to its exact location in the map, however, he groaned when he realized just WHERE it was. "OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
"Why where is it…" Cordelia's eyes widened when she saw where it was as well. "Plegia… it's in Plegia… the secret to one of the Ylissean Pegasus Knight's most powerful attack has been living under their noses the whole time."
"I know…" He then looked to the girl. "Despite knowing this, are you still willing to search for this, this is 2000-year-old information, and the secrets might be lost for good, despite that, are you ok to go with this?" The tactician waited for the girl to reply and after she sighed she returned his gaze.
"I am…"
"Alright, let us go inform Chrom then." He nodded to the girl as he went along with her into the castle, there they saw the leader of the Shepherds giving out orders of where to place which brick and so on, seeing the two of them, the bluenette waived and upon seeing his friend's serious look, he brought them to his workplace, and after being told of their intentions he took the information and sighed, waiting a bit before answering.
"So, you want my permission to travel to a place in Plegia, to recover a secret that would benefit our Pegasus Knights, even despite knowing that the information might be lost to history, is that all of it?" Chrom asked.
"Yes… we know it's crazy Chrom but-" Robin tried to argue but was cut off.
"Peace Robin." The bluenette smiled. "I know how important it is, I'm just wondering how it could still be there after so long, I am familiar with the fact that the Triangle Attack has been around for a long time but I'm not sure if it can reach as much as the Hero King's time. And along with that, if the Triangle Attack was to exist in current Plegian territory, then how come the Pegasus lives in Ylisse?"
"Permission to speak, Lord Chrom?" Cordelia asked and smiled when her Exalt nodded. "According to the other veteran Pegasus Knights a few years ago who saw the older users, the Triangle Attack has been around since the Hero King's time and maybe even beyond. And while Pegasus used to live in Plegia, apparently, because of the change in the map of the continent, it forced them to live elsewhere, Ylisse. If there is a chance…"
"I understand." He smiled at the girl before looking at his friend. "Robin, I get that you will accompany her on this?" The tactician nodded at his words. "Very well, Cordelia, I entrust this mission to you and will have Robin accompany you as your tactician, you are to lead this mission and will take a small group with you, about 6 people including you two will suffice. But remember to remain undetected. Am I understood?"
"Yes." Both Robin and Cordelia nodded and soon they were off. The two then went to the barracks deciding on who to bring.
"If anything Miriel's knowledge might help us with understanding the contents should the words become unreadable." Robin suggested as Cordelia nodded. "I would bring Kellam as well just in case, but considering that we don't notice him almost all of the time, we might leave him by accident."
"That is true." The man they were referring to said behind them, shocking them both. "Sorry for surprising you two, I'll be off now."
"Well… that would certainly wake us up." Cordelia suggested to which Robin had to cover his mouth to hide his snicker. "We would need a healer though just in case things go south."
"Lissa or Maribelle would do great for the job."
"Yes, but I think Lady Lissa would be ideal, she might be needed here in the capital but… Lady Maribelle's comments might instantly get all Plegians in the area to attack us."
"True, and since Lissa does not have the Exalt's mark, she will be hidden from the Plegians and can be mistaken for a doppelganger."
"I can already work as the Flying unit in our group, but we need a rider on the ground as well."
"Stahl might be good for the job." Cordelia nodded at Robin's suggestion.
"We should bring Gaius as well. He can act as our forward scout so we can avoid the Plegian patrols."
"Good call, well then, shall we?" With a nod both of them left to recruit each of the people they listed out. Lissa though wanting to stay and help her brother nodded at the reasoning once presented to her. Stahl agreed as he wanted to see if the Triangle Attack thing might hold value, Miriel decided to join as well when she felt the honor of her being trusted to be their translator and Gaius only asked for candy. They forgot to inform Chrom of who they were going to bring but he didn't even question it, nodding and knowing full well why they decide to go with this team.
The travel to Plegia was both tiring and stressful. This was since they all had to conceal their presence from the populace, not traveling through towns unless necessary. However, fortunately no Risen has come forth yet. Good thing too, they couldn't afford to engage them here, deep inside Plegian borders, as such an act would mean an act of war. Gaius luckily didn't have any effort to struggle in his scouting and the other members were mostly fine. Soon though they arrived to what the maps describe as "Macedon". Going here, both Robin and Cordelia realized that any information left would have to be in the castle, after sending their team's thief to the nearby town to ask for information, the other Shepherds established a safe distance from the town. Soon though, the candy loving thief returned.
"All right." He said as he pointed to a spot in the map. "The castles here, but according to the folks around here, some guys are living inside the castle."
"Can you confirm what they are?"
"Already did Bubbles." He answered the tactician's inquiry. "They're apparently bandits who's been preying on these people for a while, but the town head does nothing to stop it."
"Hmmm… still, the matter at hand is that we still have to engage them if we are to look for what we came to find." Cordelia mused before an idea popped to Robin.
"Gaius get the numbers to how many bandits are living there, as much as you can. Cordelia what's the play?" The tactician asked as the girl was assigned to lead this mission.
"We engage at night; everyone get some rest." She finally decided as everyone nodded, getting their weapons ready and double checking their inventory. Meanwhile though, the other Shepherds were talking.
"So, do you think we'll find the secret to this… Triangle Attack?" The green haired knight, Stahl asked, but was answered by a smiling Lissa.
"If we do though, it's going to be awesome seeing the attack land, right Miriel?" She asked the girl in glasses.
"Agreed, though that is to assume that it IS still here." She was then interrupted by the orange haired Gaius who returned from scouting.
"Well, we're here now Specs so we'd better get some rest." The rest of them agreed at this as they all proceeded to get some rest.
"Cordelia watch the left! Miriel! Cover Stahl he's got a knight coming from his blind side!" Robin shouted out orders to the Shepherds while fighting as well, this bandit in front of him, this… Berserker, was annoying him so much, so when he avoided the axe, he dodged it with a sidestep and brought out his Levin Sword, stabbing the axe wielder as his opponent choked on his own blood before dying.
"Robin!" Stahl came in on his horse. "We cleared out most of the enemies already! But we got a Warrior in the throne room."
"Get Cordelia over here I'll try to buy you some time!" The tactician declared as he made his way there, there he saw Gaius easily dodging the attacks of the Axe/Bow wielder, normally Robin would call it foolish, especially since he is not that armored and any lucky hit would probably kill him, but he saw why, as in the side of the room he could see a gaping wound on Miriel's side, with Lissa tending to it. He understood now, Gaius was keeping the attention to him. But now that he was here…
"Time to tip the scales!" Robin shouted as he readied his tome and a red aura manifested around him, preparing his trusty Thoron he chanted a spell but before he did. "Gaius MOVE!" the thief nimbly moved out of the way as he let loose the power of his tome. "Thoron!" The lightning piercing through the Warrior as he collapsed back on the throne, his blood spilling out like a river.
"Thanks a lot for the assist Bubbles." The orange haired man said with a smile.
"Don't mention it," he then went closer to Lissa and Miriel. "How is she?"
"She'll be fine Robin." The girl grinned at him. "The wound and the blood might seem severe, but it looks much worse than what it actually is."
"That's a relief." He breathed deep before he heard a voice, it was a frantic Stahl.
"Robin quick! Cordelia seems to have found something!"
"Where is she?"
"Third room on the left! What about everybody?"
"Once Miriel is patched up follow us! And keep your eye out we might have cleared the castle but they might have more guys coming in!" With that the tactician raced off, running to that room, there he saw Cordelia, breathless, as she looked at a book.
"Cordelia?" He asked her. She motioned him to come, and so he did. He looked at quite a mysterious book. Mysterious because it was old and therefore he didn't know what it was about. But he was surely curious.
"This… this is a book written by the eldest of the Whitewing sisters, Palla… and according from what little bits I can still read…" her eyes widened, "it's a manual for every single move and tactics available for Pegasus Knights!" She was sporting such a huge grin while Robin just couldn't believe it.
"Tactics… for Pegasus Knights… but, can you read it?" He asked, Cordelia opened the book, but when she flipped through the pages…
"No… these are all ruined… we can't read it." She felt so demoralized, all her efforts a waste. Robin gave her a shoulder to cry on and she was about to when…
"And that's why I was brought along, right?" Miriel's voice made both turn around, her wound was completely covered, but it was still red and seeping through her clothes though. With a heavy hand the Pegasus knight handed over the book, and after looking through the pages, the girl with glasses smiled. "It will take a while, but I think I can restore it." That eased the fears of both Cordelia and Robin as the two smiled.
"Well, shall we be off? The sooner we're back the better." At Stahl's suggestion, everyone nodded as they left the castle. Good thing too as after they left the castle and went to the forest, when they looked back they saw some goons going into the place. Well their work was done so now they are on the way back to Ylisse with Miriel restoring parts of the book on their journey back during whatever time can spare to rest. Her desire for knowledge driving her forward. One of the first things she deciphered was that Pegasus Knights eventually get training in Swords, not Staves, which meant training between Robin and Cordelia, despite that though…
"Checkmate!" Robin said as he bested Cordelia yet again in a bout of swords.
"I lose…" she then accepted the offer from Robin's hand to help her up. "It seems that I got a bit too reliant on my lance."
"That seems to be the case, although…"
"Although?"
"I'm wondering…" Robin was thinking, curious on one thing that doesn't make sense, "Why was the manual abandoned, surely they would have brought information such as this with them instead of leaving it."
"I agree…" Miriel nodded at the words of the Tactician.
"Whatever the reason… Macedon, having an order of Pegasus Knights, is now under Plegia… which doesn't use Pegasus Knights." Cordelia surmised.
After travelling for a few more days though, Miriel finally finished restoring the book, and Cordelia and Robin took turns reading it until they finally returned to Ylisstol, seeing more restored parts of the city, but the ones who greeted them was not Chrom but his daughter Lucina.
"Hello Robin, Cordelia, how was your mission?" The future daughter of the Exalt asked.
"It was great, and we found it!" Robin smiled in regards to the question.
"With your leave Lady Lucina, we wish to present this to Lord Chrom."
"Of course, follow me," Once they bid farewell to the other Shepherds, Lucina led the two to where her father was. When they did find him, he was resting for a bit, but smiled as he bid his companions in.
"Come in." Chrom smiled as both Robin and Cordelia entered the room. "So, you found it?"
"Yes Lord Chrom." The redhead Falcon Knight smiled as she placed the book in front of him. "These details tactics from the Hero King's time, as well as the fact that Pegasus Knights in their time take additional training to wield Swords, not Staves."
"Really? Can we teach this to our other Pegasus Knights?"
"Unfortunately…" Robin interrupted the conversation. "On the way back, once this was deciphered, Cordelia and I sparred to see if she can learn and… we realized that as of now, Pegasus Knights are too reliant on using lances."
"So, we cannot adjust as easily between both Sword and Lances, if we had a longer time frame perhaps we could wield Swords, Lances and Staves, but time is not on our side right now. I apologize Lord Chrom."
"It's not a problem Cordelia, did you find what you were looking for though? A 'Triangle Attack'?" At this the girl smiled.
"Yes! This book, which was written by the Whitewing Palla, who fought alongside the Hero King, writes on this note on how to perform a Triangle Attack. But because of this, I realized now why some of the veteran Pegasus Knights could not perform this."
"And why would that be?"
"Lord Chrom… the book details that a Triangle Attack doesn't require just three Pegasus Knights, it needs three Pegasus Knights to have utmost trust in each other, this would explain why the Whitewing Palla can perform the Triangle Attack with her sisters Catria and Est."
"I see, will you be able to perform the maneuver?" The leader of the Shepherds asked.
"Yes, I believe I might be able to perform it with Sumia and Cynthia, given enough training."
"I understand, I will leave it to you." A knock on his door though made the Exalt stand. "I'm sorry I can't be off much help now, what with all the news of Valm and we're still waiting for the ships from Plegia."
"Of course Lord Chrom." Once the Exalt left she sighed in relief before looking at the tactician. "Thank you, Robin."
"It was my pleasure, now let's get Sumia and Cynthia!" With an eager nod both left the room looking for the both girls, and when they did and they told about what was going to be attempted. The other two Pegasus Knights eagerly agreed. So until the ships arrived, for days the three trained on how to use it, training as well to easily move with each other, it wouldn't be long until there would be ANOTHER Risen attack.
"Lon'qu! Get that Sage before he uses the spell! Sully get out of the way of Tharja's spell! Ricken Lucina is being overwhelmed by the Risen Pegasus Knights I need you to keep them off her back! Maribelle heal as necessary! Chrom, Gregor watch it! You got Sorcerers aimed at you two!" Robin was basically shouting out orders here and there.
"Robin we almost have them!" Cordelia shouted, but all that was stopped when a Risen Paladin came out, the worst thing was that, with all the other Shepherds and having just beaten the ones they were assigned to kill, the Paladin might blind side any of them.
"Cordelia… it is time…" The white tactician said as the redhead immediately understood, signaling for her companions. Soon the 3 Falcon Knights were surrounding the Paladin.
"Sumia, Cynthia! Let's do this!" Cordelia declared as she breathed deep. It was the first attempt in years... and they were going to do it, but she didn't let it distract her as she shouted the words. "Triangle Attack!"
At that, the world seemed to freeze for Robin as he watched, it was the first time the three of them would use it on a target that can move and retaliate. He watched as Cynthia dived first using her lance to knock the Paladins shield as she went from the enemies right, Sumia a few seconds after her daughter went in, but this time from the left, knocking the sword off his hands, this left Cordelia, who with a battle cry went forward and thrust her lance straight through the enemy Risen's chest. They did it… they have just performed the Triangle Attack.
"Holy!" The redhead Cavalier Sully, was shocked on what she witnessed. "Dang! That was some trick you three did." At this though the three Pegasus Knights landed.
"We did it! WE DID IT! Did you see how awesome we were?!" Cynthia was basically jumping up and down as she had such an idiotic grin because of the successfuly coordinated move between the 3 Falcon Knights.
"Amazing… a move that was done by the Pegasus Knights of old… and we did it." Sumia sighed in relief as she rested herself on the ground.
"Thank you… Robin, for helping me restore the Pegasus Knight's Triangle Attack." Cordelia spared no effort to embrace their tactician, which he returned just as much.
"Of course, Cordelia." He couldn't help but keep on smiling. The upcoming war against Valm might be hard. But now… with this Triangle Attack, they now have another weapon on their side. It's something they know they should use sparingly, but at least now, they have that trick. And can easily use it as able.
Story End…
WOOHOOO! I did it! Whew… this has been bothering me for a while because the Triangle Attack was not present in Awakening and Fates. Also, I apologize if they are a bit OOC I have not played Awakening in a while. To have the Triangle Attack be a forgotten move for me seems to be the one with most sense, as since the story did state that the previous Ylissean Exalt declared war for Plegia and many died. So, I was wondering if perhaps that was why the Triangle Attack can't be used. Because the people who DO know how to do it are dead. Now for those curious a Triangle Attack is an of course attack, but it's normally done by three Pegasus Knights, usually siblings. To do this, you need two Pegasus or Falcon Knights or basically two of them standing exactly beside the unit you want to do it on, after that, have the third unit attack him from a space, so melee range, this assures you a 100% hit and crit, despite the data result showing otherwise. Oh yeah there are also references to the older Fire Emblem games. Palla, Catria and Est are the three Pegasus Knights you get from the first three games, as well as the remakes of 1 and 3, which is 11 and 12. Gaiden which is 2 is being remaked into Echoes… which most likely means that we will probably have them three as our Pegasus Knights yay! Oh yeah, Macedon, which is an area in Plegia is where the three Pegasus Knight sisters are from though they also have DracoKnight or Wyvern Rider's, and the Whitewings are Macedon's order of Pegasus Knights if I remember right. I don't ship anyone in Awakening together but like, since Cynthia gets trigger happy with Aether when I had Sumia marry Chrom I decided to let Chrom and Sumia be a pairing here, and since Cordelia is the fav character of one of my friends, I decided to have Robin marry Cordelia. Oh, and I picked Cordelia as the one to be interested in learning the Triangle Attack because out of the three of them, I think Cordelia is the one who sounds like she knows it. Although yes I know that Sumia reads a lot of books, but like since she is married to Chrom, she can't leave Ylisstol unless there is an I forget, Gaius' nicknames are based on what was written in the wiki So yeah, read rate and review guys hope you like it.
