Well, first off, note to readers of Order and Chaos: The updates for Order and Chaos will probably be slowed down a lot. Schools has started for me, and I was stupid enough to take mainly advanced classes. Due to this, it will be very difficult to find time to write it. Star Emblem, however, should still be able to hold a fair update pace, as I only have to write half the chapter. This may also change slightly once Cormag's school year starts, though in his case it depends more on the teachers, and once I start having Cross Country meets, but that shouldn't do too much.
Review answers:
Cookies: Yeah, I suck at proofreading, and I have a tendency towards run-on sentences. At least we have Cormag doing the editing, if I was in charge of that aspect we'd be screwed.
Ace: Well there's also the way we write povs and the wordcounts we are used to pumping out, but I like that since it makes it easier for readers to tell who wrote which parts.
Gunlord: Woo! We got the Gunlord seal of approval! That is better than what I got last time, although last time it was pretty nice compared to how awful that story's first chapter was.
Chasti: Yeah, I kinda tend to put tons of detail to make the chapters longer, it's kind of a crutch I use if I don't think I can get a chapter or scene to last long enough. The higher wordcount is admittedly due to Cormag, who is used to much, much longer chapters than I am.
Disclaimer: We do not own Fire Emblem, if we did, then why would we settle for writing fanfiction?
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Nocht pov
The libraries of Triple A were massive. I spent the majority of the first day, during which there were no classes and we had yet to be assigned our dorms, orienting myself with the maze that was Ascending Angels. On the second day, when I was looking for a some books on tactics to check out, I saw a girl who seemed completely lost.
"Do you need any help, miss?" I asked the girl, who had blue hair and silver eyes. The Mark of the Exalt was visible on her neck.
"Oh! Um, yes, actually. I was looking for a novel to read, maybe in either the fantasy or the romance sections?"
"That's in another library entirely!" Seriously, it was right next to where everyone stayed last night, how did she miss it?
"I suck with directions, okay?" The girl huffed out, pouting.
"Fine, I'll show you where it is in a minute. I didn't quite get as many books as I wanted, but it should at least last me through the week."
"A week? That's enough to last a month, easily!" Huh? I only got about ten books, maybe seven hundred pages each. This was pretty light reading.
"I'll go through a book and a half a day, with no trouble." I said as I went to the checkout desk.
"What kinds of books are those?" The girl asked.
"They're mainly just military history and tactics. They aren't always the most fun books to read, but I'll certainly have to be knowledgeable about these things if I want to become a tactician." I picked up my books, heading out the door "Let's head out into the labyrinth!" I said with a grin.
"So, what's your trainee class?"
"I'm a Scholar, what about you?"
"I'm an Apprentice, so you'll mainly be training your magic? Shouldn't you be working on your sword work if you want to be a tactician?"
"And you'll be building your strength and improving your footwork. If I train up my magic enough to pick off the units with thick armor but low resistance, I'll make it a lot easier for my team to finish everyone off. Also, since I'm a Shadowgift, I'll be able to get my certification for dark magic without any extra training, that should make up for my lack of a swordsmanship."
"Well, there's also the fact that you don't have very large muscles." The girl giggled.
I formed a ball of wind in my hand "Do you want me to test out your magic resistance?" The girl gulped at this. Good, if I scare enough her maybe she won't notice how red my face is.
"So what's your name, anyway?" I asked, realizing the topic had never come up in our conversation.
"I'm Artemis, also you're supposed to tell your name before you ask for someone else's"
"Nocht, and I don't care about any formalities. None of us commoners do." I said in a teasing tone.
"Hey, I didn't say anything like-" She noticed my grin. "Oh, you were joking. I knew that." She said, flustered.
"We have reached our destination!" I said, raising my hands in a cheering motion as we entered the massive doors of fiction library section R.
XXXXXX
"So they have a library for each different genre?" Artemis asked in awe.
"Yep, and this is the romance section. It's not exactly my favorite genre, far from it actually, but it certainly has its merits and at least a few non-cringe worthy books."
Artemis began looking around the library, looking at every shelf one after another. She came back with nothing and sighed.
"What's wrong Artemis? Nothing you like?"
"The opposite, actually. I'm so spoiled for choice that I can't decide."
"Then just check out everything that looks good to you."
"I can't devour books like that! It takes at least a few days per book!"
"Let's see then…" I looked around, trying to find something I recognized. "Ah, here! This one's a classic." I said as I handed out a copy of Make Him Fall For You In a Fortnight. The book, over twenty millennia old, was considered the precursor to all modern romance novels.
"I'm surprised that you know your romance so well." Artemis stated "It certainly doesn't seem like something you would enjoy."
"I don't care for them that much, but I have read many of them. I once insulted my mother's favorite series, and she punished me by making sure I wouldn't get to read the books that I enjoyed until after I had read her entire collection of romance novels, numbering at least in the triple digits. Needless to say, after over a month of reading the genre, I gained a certain respect for it. Although several books in the genre are of...questionable quality."
"Well, thank you very much for finding this book for me." She said as she walked towards checkout. "Today's initiation, huh? Good luck!"
"Good luck to you as well, although if I'm grouped with some of my friends then I won't need luck."
"My friends and I are a formidable force ourselves, although we'll have another four people in our groups, so anything can happen."
"I'd like to see how our groups match up against each other." I said as we left the library.
XXXXXXX
We were faced with a rather interesting sight. Jett was parkouring in the beams below the roof while running away from a girl on a motorcycle made purely of blue energy. Hawke had his pistol out, exchanging rounds with a priest trainee who seemed to know light magic.
"Victoria, Perseus, seriously?" Artemis muttered under her breath.
The priest in training, Perseus, seemed to have a large capacity for magical power judging from the size of the rounds he was launching out, but no other talents that stick out particularly well. That could prove troublesome if Hawke takes a hit, as his magic resistance was rather poor. That is a big if, however, as dodging attacks was one of Hawke's two talents. His other talent was blocking physical attacks.
The cavalier, Victoria, had a rather light build in contrast with the halberd that she chose to wield, although she probably used the momentum of her vehicle to make such an unorthodox fighting style possible. The speed she moved at required her to lower her guard which meant that in the case that an attack landed, she would be in trouble. Despite the speed she maneuvered her vehicle with, I doubt she would actually be able to follow the movements of Jett, who had the most agility of anyone I had ever met. Even though the vehicle moved at a faster speed than Jett, that meant very little when the target can outmaneuver the chaser and even less between a grounded vehicle and an airborne target.
I decided to try to stop them before they ended up damaging something important. I pulled the purple hood I had installed on my uniform over my head so it covered my face, formed a long-running mist of dark magic, and spoke in the distorted voice that only the descendants of Earth Dragons could make. "What the hell is going on here?"
I smirked as everyone in the room froze. Sometimes inciting fear is a better tactic than actual force, and Earth Branded certainly knew how to scare the hell out of a person.
"I was just chasing down this thief, she stole from the academy store earlier!" Victoria said.
I waved the statement off "She's training to steal for the military, I doubt the headmaster cares."
Perseus was next "This guy was prattling off about he was the best shot in the galaxy, so I wanted to knock him down a notch."
"Yeah, Hawke's a little cocky. Couldn't you have at least taken it to the sparring areas where you could be certain you wouldn't damage anything?"
We were cut off by a familiar voice. "I see you all are getting along with your teammates." Teammates? That means- ...This is going to be a long three years.
"Uncle Beowolf?" I heard Artemis under her breath. Why is she so surprised? Oh, right. The headmaster is known for only revealing who he is to students or those he invites personally. I guess that applies to family members as well.
"Well, since you're acquainted with each other, I guess I should introduce you to the last member of your group. Meet Reno." He stepped to the side a little, letting us see the new member. The gun in his hands implied that he was a rifleman, however, the fact that it was sawed-off to make it possible for him to wield in one hand, as well as his larger legs, a sign of someone who was used to riding some form of mount implied otherwise. Also, as pegasi can't properly hold the weight of a man his size and a gun would be practically useless for a motorcyclist, it was safe to assume that he rode either a wyvern or a gryphon.
"I want you to meet me at the main training hall at noon. Today is your initiation, so will have to fight as a team to make it through. While you will not be kicked out if you fail, any failure will deal major damage to your record and affect your military standing once you graduate. Is that clear?" We all nodded quickly before he walked off. As soon as he left, everyone began squabbling again.
Reno grew confused by the outburst "What exactly happened here?"
Artemis and I looked at each other and sighed. "It's a long, stupid story." We both said, hoping he wouldn't press any further.
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"Leave it to me to be put into a team with a bunch of crazy people," muttered Reno to himself.
Reno and the other six 'teammates' walked toward the training hall for their initiation. Thankfully, it had been close to noon when he arrived and that meant Reno didn't have to spend a long period of time watching a bunch of kids squabbling thankfully.
The Harpoon Man sighed and looked at his shortened rifle. His old Space Pirate captain had given him that. She had said it was perfect for weaklings like himself. And while he knew that he was supposed to be using lances at this academy, per his trainee class, he knew that he'd always rather have the gun at his side.
"So what's your deal?" one of the girls on the team asked him.
Reno jumped a bit, startled out of his reverie. He blinked a few times, "Sorry, who're you?"
"I'm Jett!" she declared. "And back to my question."
"I'm Reno," he shrugged. There wasn't anything else to tell. At least, nothing he wanted to tell.
"C'mon, we're on the same team! We gotta get to know each other!" she said happily.
Reno sighed, and reached up to pull his sunglasses down in a vain attempt for solitude, when he discovered they weren't there!
"Cool glasses, I bet these could go for a pretty amount of cash!" she said, gold coins practically appearing in her eyes as she examined them.
"Hey!" Reno shouted an snatched them from her quicker than he'd over moved before. And he proceeded to put them back on his forehead and glare at Jett.
He stole something from a thief. He certainly was lucky.
"Aww," said Jett.
"I guess you're not the only one who knows how to steal stuff," Reno chuckled.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.
Reno shook his head and tried to concentrate on learning his way around the space station academy. If he was going to be here for three years, then he'd best get to know it well.
When they arrived at the training hall, another group of seven was walking out as they walked in.
"Good, you're on time," said Headmaster Beowolf from a high up chair amongst people whom Reno guessed were the teachers. "You will be going through your initiation with only your teammates. There will not be any other students in the examination. Now, there are three rooms through which you will go. The first will asses your battle skills and tactics. The second will be for seeing how each of you cope under pressure. And the final, will be to see how you work as one, single minded team. Proceed through that door, and good luck," Beowolf pointed to his right at a large door.
Reno followed the other six people through the door.
The seven of them entered a dark room. Some of them readied their weapons, while others merely stood there waiting.
"Hello?" came the Headmaster's voice over a speaker. "Welcome to the first room. Here is where you will be tested with only the weapons you carry on you at the moment. Your mission is to destroy every enemy in your path. If one of your teammates 'dies' in this trial, then you must leave them behind and they fail the examination. The trial will start once you step out of the box you stand in."
The lights came on. In front of them was a ruined village. The kind you might find after a bandit attack or a vast fire. And scattered around the village were armed men and women waiting for them. Through a process called Einherjar, computerized recreations of dead warriors could be created. They fought just like they had when they'd been alive, and were perfect for training exercises.
Reno glanced down and saw they stood within a green box. It had to be what the Headmaster had been talking about.
"So we have until we step outside of the box, and we need a plan," said Nocht.
Reno hoped the Scholar had one in mind, because plans were definitely not Reno's forte.
"We can take cover in these ruined houses. Our opponents could be hiding anywhere, so we can't let our guard down. Now, who has real life battle field experience? Like, who has shot and fought people in real life with real stakes?" Nocht asked.
Nocht, Jett and Hawke all raised their hands, apparently they had been some sort of thieving gang. Reno lazily raised his hand as well.
Nocht raised an eyebrow slightly at Reno, but continued, "Hawke and Reno will head up the middle of the two rows of houses. They'll take the enemy attention away from me and Perseus who will each go around and surprise them with magic. Artemis, Victoria and Jett will pick off anyone they see trying to kill any of us. Any questions?"
No one had any. Everyone who hadn't already pulled out their weapons did so and got into a ready position.
"On three. One...two...three!" shouted Nocht.
Reno began to run to where Nocht had said to go. Hawke ran beside him, readying his pistol.
There was an Einherjar standing right where Nocht had told them to go. Reno brought up his rifle and quickly took a stance and fired. The Einherjar looked over at them right as Reno's shot hit it in the gut.
Guns shot high concentrations of energy at enemies. The energy came from the one who held the gun, the more you fired, the more tired you'd become. But it allowed for people to put more of their power into a shot if their opponent had heavy armor.
The Einherjar fell over, dead. Its body disappeared like usual.
"That was pretty powerful," Hawke commented.
Reno said nothing, because that shot really had tired him out. While Reno may have been good at taking attacks, attacking was not his best strength. There was a reason why he was a pilot.
He and Hawke began firing from their spot at anything that moved. Soon the two of them had destroyed all the Einherjar in their path without mercy.
"You're not that bad," said Reno between shots.
"Did you doubt me?" Hawke chuckled.
"Yes," Reno said flatly.
"Hey!" Hawke said and turned to Reno angrily.
Reno turned and kicked Hawke in the chest, throwing him backward. A spear landed where Hawke was standing a second later. Reno pulled his gun up, lining the sights up quickly and fired. The blast hit his target right in the head.
An explosion of magic came from the enemy end of the battle. Nocht and Perseus had arrived and were attacking heavily.
"Well, we better move forward," Reno said, helping Hawke to his feet.
"Um...thanks," Hawke muttered.
Reno shrugged and the two walked on toward the fight at the end of the room.
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With every Einherjar destroyed, the team continued on to the second room and second trial.
The second room was much, much smaller. While the seven of them fit within it comfortably, any more would have made it snug.
And there was a table in the center, with a bomb on it.
And it was clicking down from 5 minutes.
"Well damn, that's a mood killer," Reno said, leaning against the wall.
"You think that's real?" Artemis asked everyone.
Jett laughed, "Why would they invite us here to die? This isn't some horror story. It's obviously fake."
"But...this is a trial that was made by Uncle Beowolf...and he would do something like that," Artemis said.
Victoria nodded rigorously why Perseus merely nodded once.
4 minutes.
"Does anyone know how to diffuse a bomb?" Nocht asked.
"What, Mr. Reads-so-many-books doesn't know how to?" Jett smirked.
"What does diffusing a bomb have to do with tactics?" Nocht threw his hands up in the air.
"Well, your opponent might launch lots of bombs at you, then you'd want to be able to disarm them," Victoria said thoughtfully.
"Wouldn't having the bombs explode on impact work better?" muttered Artemis.
Meanwhile, Hawke, Reno and Perseus all knelt right next to the bomb and were having a perfectly calm level headed discussion of maturity.
"Hawke, I'll give you ten gold to shoot it," Reno said.
"Why?" Hawke said. "It'd explode, everyone knows shooting a bomb with a gun would just make it explode."
3 minutes.
"The Headmaster said this was a test to see how we operated under pressure, right? So that makes it sound like it's a real bomb with real explosions and such, right?" Perseus said.
It was quiet for a moment.
"Shit," Reno muttered.
2 minutes.
Now more than ever, Reno wished he had been taught how to dispose of bombs by the Space Pirates.
Jett sat down next to Hawke and began examining the bomb.
"Still want me to shoot it?" said Hawke.
"Yeah. But I'll give you twenty gold now," Reno said.
1 minute.
"Are we about to die?" Perseus asked.
"Yep," said Victoria.
"Um, guys?" Jett began.
"We need a plan," Nocht said. "There's always a plan."
"Except when there isn't," muttered Perseus.
"Hey, guys!" Jett tried to interrupt.
"Clock is ticking, sure you don't want that twenty gold?" said Reno with a smirk.
"Ha, I'd do it for fifty gold," Hawke said with a smirk of his own.
"Thirty."
"Forty."
"Thirty seven!" Reno said. He didn't have this kind of money, but he was pretty sure he could get out of the deal later.
"HEY! GUYS!" Jett screamed.
Everyone turned to her and shouted, "WHAT!?"
"There's an off switch!" she shouted. The clock was stopped at thirteen seconds.
There was silence.
Then...
"Son of a bitch!" Reno said.
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They advanced onto the third trial and third room.
"So this is our teamwork trial? That'll go well," muttered Perseus, though loud enough so everyone could hear.
The room lit up, and it was smaller than the first, but larger than the second. At the center, there stood a tall soldier clad in heavy armor holding a large spear. An Einherjar.
"Welcome to the third trial. I am your opponent, Sir Frederick the Wary. As a team you must defeat me. Good luck," Frederick began spinning his spear in his hand and advanced toward them.
"But...I didn't have time for a plan!" said Nocht.
"Then come up with one! Me and Reno'll distract him!" said Hawke as he nodded to Reno.
Reno sighed and pointed his gun at Frederick and shot him. Frederick stopped charging and held up a gauntlet and blocked the blast, not even flinching.
Hawke pulled out his pistol and began firing rapidly. Frederick ignored all the shots that seemingly had no effect and got in front of Reno.
Frederick smashed the side of the lance into Reno's midsection. Reno doubled over, and Frederick proceeded to punch him in the gut which sent him flying backward towards the rest of the team.
Reno gasped for air, "The guy hits harder than a shot of whiskey...he's stronger than he should be."
Nocht nodded while Jett raised an eyebrow, "You drink?"
"I'm twenty fucking one. Or at least that's how old I'm choosing to be," Reno muttered.
"How can you choose your age?" Jett asked. But Reno never answered because Hawke was given the same treatment as Reno, except he was thrown into the wall.
"I think there's a reason why there's seven of us and one of him," groaned Hawke painfully. "Got that plan Nocht?"
Reno stood back on his feet, brushed the dust off his suit and resumed his usual stance of casualness.
"How can you be standing already?" Hawke said with pain.
"I didn't hit a wall. And I'm good at taking hits," Reno shrugged.
"Alright, phase one of the plan," Nocht said. "Throw Reno at Frederick."
"What," Reno said with a glare.
"Buy me some time!" Nocht said.
Swearing multiple times, the blonde walked back toward Frederick, far more wary this time.
Frederick thrust his spear forward. Reno batted it away with his gun and fired a shot aimed at Frederick's heart. But the knight's armor proved to be too much and the blast had no effect.
Frederick began spinning and stabbing his lance artfully at Reno who barely managed to keep blocking every attack and sneaking in a shot every once in a while.
But for all of Reno's defense, he was no frontline soldier and got tired very quickly. The blonde pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes and pointed the gun at Frederick and fired shot after shot after shot. The sunglasses proved to be a suitable barrier from the bright flashes of the gun.
The repeated shots seemed to put some pressure on Frederick as he started sliding backward with each shot.
And then the flow of blasts stopped, and Reno fell to one knee. Frederick advanced on him.
If a blast of magic hadn't smashed into him from Perseus, Reno probably would have been killed. Frederick stumbled and refocused his attack on Perseus and Nocht. The two began launching magic attack after magic attack.
Reno pushed his sunglasses back up just in time to see Jett stab Frederick in the back in a chink within his armor. The tall soldier howled, and turned only to find an axe connect with his shoulder.
"Axes beat lances, fool," said Victoria.
Artemis appeared from behind her friend and stabbed Frederick for a finishing blow. The Einherjar fell down and disappeared.
Reno began to stand up as Hawke came over to help him up. "How did you walk off that punch? He was pretty damn strong," Hawke asked.
"Defense is my specialty. Defense and I'm lucky," chuckled Reno as he gasped for air. Damn, that had taken more out of him than he'd thought.
Reno brushed off his clothes before accompanying the rest through the door onward.
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"You did very well," said Headmaster Beowolf. "You passed the first trial very nicely. The second trial...well, that has yet to be evaluated. We're having trouble deciding how to interpret that one. And your teamwork could have used some work, but you did pass the third trial." Beowolf smiled warmly at the team, "Congratulations, you are all now part of Triple A."
Nocht, Jett and Hawke all cheered. Artemis, Victoria and Perseus began smiling and talking amongst themselves. Reno yawned and wished he had a bed to fall into.
"You better be damn proud of me gramps," muttered Reno to himself.
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Nocht pov
After the initiation, we were brought into the assembly hall, where Headmaster Beowolf was going to give an entrance speech. The entire time we were walking, I couldn't get my mind off of the test. After the first trial, I was practically useless. Tacticians were supposed to be observant, yet I couldn't even notice the OFF switch on the bomb. When we fought that powerful Einherjar, my best plan was 'throw Reno at it.' How the hell am I supposed to win battles when I can't even help my team take down one guy?
I was broken out of my reverie by the start of the speech. "Welcome students. Whether you are a first year or a third year, from the posh planet capitals or the slums, whether you wield the spell or the sword, you are all here today for one reason; to become the best soldier you can be for the sake of your planet. There is a great tension rising due to the actions of Plegia and Loptyr and there is a high possibility for war, but that is exactly what you are here for. I know many of you first years still make plenty of mistakes," We all looked at one another, grimacing at the reminder of our second trial "But you will learn from those mistakes, and make fewer as you go on. So with that, I plead that you don't worry over perfection now, but do all you can so that one day it may be within your grasp! At our academy, the sky is not the limit; it is only the beginning! Ascend above the clouds as if you were an angel in heaven; each day, become a little stronger, a little faster, a little smarter. Improve in each and every way that you possibly can; that is the purpose of our dear academy."
The curtains closed, and loud rounds of applause filled the auditorium.
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Well, there's chapter 2, and the story is starting to get moving. The academy arc probably won't be all that long, but it will give us a buffer to work out some plot points.
Cormag: Yes, Shadow's got plenty of plot ideas. Most of the ideas are his that you read. I just blow things up and make characters shoot guns XD