EDIT (05/27/2014):
Amanda: *comes to your attention* Hello there readers! I bet you were wondering why this chapter happens to be slightly or severely revised? Revision at its finest to the point of trying to make the story much better than it was before. XD But yes, you are wondering right. Due to watching walkthroughs of Final Fantasy games and researching the series, I wanted to tight up some strings and try again to give accurate characteristic personalities to the warriors and add in elements to keep the story entertaining. In this new chapter, for instance, you will get to meet minor characters and witness other mini events happening. This is due to not giving my twin sister a lot of attention and reminding her that the Cosmos and Chaos Warriors are important characters in the story.
Mini-Amanda: *stands on Mega-Amanda's shoulder* Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not that special yet, but I still have an important plot in this story!
Amanda: Yes, you still do, mini-me! XD Anyway, if you are a returning reader, enjoy reading the remastered version of this chapter. If you're a new reader and happened to be a Dissidia fan, feel free to read this and leave behind your review. Reviews are always appreciated, and I love to hear behind your thoughts!
PREVIOUS:
Dragonite: Here it is Klee, your foster sister's first ever fan fiction. I promised you it's filled with wonder and adventure and you'll be waiting to see what happens next!
Klee: Did she really write this? I guess she's more than the fanartist after all.
Dragonite: Alright then, here's some popcorn and I'll state the disclaimer before we began reading.
Klee: *takes popcorn* Okay, what's the disclaimer?
Dragonite: It goes like this... *to reader* Dear Readers, while you read my guardian's first ever long-planned fan fiction, please keep in mind that she never, or never tried, claimed all Final Fantasy characters or the concept and creation of Final Fantasy Dissidia. Those belong respectively to the Square Enix Company who brought her great inspiration of doing this fan fiction. However, her story timelines, plot and original characters (aka OCs) respectively belong to her for she creates them in order to strengthen her ideal theory.
Klee: Well said.
Final Fantasy Dissidia 014: Juxtaposition Theory
Part I: The Conflict Returns
Chapter 1: The Fourteenth Cycle Resumes Its Fated Turn
And with those final days of peace slowly converted into paranoia moments, the Fourteenth Cycle of conflicts resumed its turn of fate...
The yellow-orange warming sunset climbs down from the cloudless sky to the horizon. As hiding itself behind the steeping mountains, it leaves behind a bright orange crimson-like overshadow from the rocky peaks. It is also hiding itself away from what was soon to come. As history repeats itself in this scared world, the loyal manikins, whom were under the command of the discord god, roam across the peaceful innocent lands of Dissidia, breaking the temporary Ceasefire's remaining barriers. And as far as the Warriors of Cosmos and the goddess of harmony were concerned, the crystallized mindless manikins are marching their direction to the Cornelia Castle as they speak.
Watching the magnificent event, slowly but surely unfolding from the castle's balcony three stories high, Firion cannot believe what he was witnessing. To him, it's like déjà vu all over again, he had seen something like this before. Everything is calm and waiting for the storm to strike at any moment. From all the tyranny attempts of ruling all worlds, the colorful liegeman has never experience anything like this. It's not like the approaching of the Cyclone threating Flynn or anything worse than that. The now-new leader of the Cosmos Warriors felt that this was possible because of his nemesis, the golden Emperor of Palamecia, who tries again to destroy his dream of "wild roses blooming freely" and those who rebels against him. Even if it's not the case, but he was sure it was, Firion will not allow any Warrior of Chaos conquer over the beautiful territory of Cornelia Castle, and breaking his dreams in the same process.
The Emperor may try to take over this world with his iron fists the same as to conquer both heaven and hell, but if he thinks he can succeed conquering Dissidia, he better think again. Firion mentally prep himself in his thoughts. I will not quit fighting until my dream is finally realized, once and for all. Thinking positive with a hint of determination, he and the rest of his allies will keep fighting until the good triumphed over the evil. And along that note, he is confident to defeat the Emperor like he always did, and continue on fulfilling his Wild Rose dream. Just like before; history will repeat itself again.
However; this time, there was something completely different about this war cycle…
And that difference is a new addition to the conflict of war...
The new unlikely warrior had answered the goddess' call of recruiting, while the Ceasefire was still at play. Only known as Amanda, she had acknowledged herself to the veterans and the goddess as an aspiring fanartist with an enormous interest in the society she was unfamiliar about. Trained by the best warriors, including Firion himself, she learns everything she has to know to survive whatever comes at her, which is this case, the upcoming battle against the army of crystallized manikins. Despite of the new warrior's time-consumed training, she was still a novice and a little experienced. There were some things that have yet to be comprehended in her mind, and some of the information will need to be repeated again as a mix of a refresher and reminder. Nevertheless, she was able to grasp the basic understanding of what the world is about, and she is very talented with her set of unique abilities. Her fighting techniques combined with her knowledge of color and artistic design was proven outstanding according to her peers who saw her perform. In other words, almost all of the harmonious warriors have confidence in her and believed in their hearts she will survive this forevermore battle cycle.
Fascinated by Amanda's talents and capabilities, Firion cannot stop thinking about her; the young woman is always in his mind. Not only he's responsible of guiding the light warriors to victory during the Warrior of Light's and Cecil's absence, but also to make sure that she is in no harm's way. She is his Wild Rose after all, and like the other roses in his dream; he will take care of her carefully and protect her at all costs, even if the cost is his dream itself.
Firion continues to stare out to the open fields until he heard a voice behind him.
"I take it that the war resumes its fateful doings," it said with an accent the weapon specialist was unfamiliar of, but knows whose voice belonged to.
The weapons specialist turns around and saw the young woman next to her, the one who has been on his mind ever since he first met her. His Wild Rose is now at his presence, and almost without warning, fell under a spell by her appearance. Dressed in her causal natural-colored garments; Amanda wore an embroiled long-sleeve tunic with pockets wrapped around her arms. She layered with a sporting tunic dress colored in an achromatic scheme (black and white), and pockets also that went across her breasts. Brown flowing pants that cover her slender legs were tucked into her black belted boots; and a decorative rose-themed brown belt holds her Color Wheel Pendent while it wraps around her slender waist. Her medium-long blonde hair flows down behind her back, slightly dancing in the breezing wind and shines in a natural bright yellow from the remaining sunlight. She took attention at the north view of Dissidia Fields, the very place where soon offers a walking path for the manikins to the Cornelia Castle. Her light baby-blue eyes blinked as if trying to see the land clearly.
"Talk about the calm before the storm," the fanartist then said, expressing her current feelings to his former teacher. "Knowing that the storm will come, I feel very uneasy when thinking about it."
"Yes, I got same feeling as you do," Firion responded her statement with agreement. He turned to the fields he was focusing on and jetted out a sigh. "I'm afraid, Amanda, we have to cancel our date at the gardens. I know you are looking forward to it, and I am sorry for this unexpected situation we're having." He avoided her eyes while stating his confession.
"Aw, that is alright, Rosebud," the blonde forgivingly assured Firion as she turned to him with her smile. "Actually, I think our date is not cancelled. Just a change of plans."
The weapons specialist turned to her with a slight-raised eyebrow.
Amanda evaluated. "Instead of a flower-viewing event featuring the beautiful Wild Roses ever to grow in Dissidia, we can fight off those copycats, preventing them to ever crush those elegant flowers with their crystallized feet." She lost the smile after seeing her teacher's reaction. "No offense to your idea," she quickly said.
Firion only chuckled as she turned to her, bearing a small smile on his lips. "Not taken, I am still bad of setting up exciting dates."
Their faces interacted together, now mirroring with expression. The fanartist still wears a smile along with an assuring, "Nah, I really doubt that. Zidane gave you some pointers and your ideas were original."
But the liegeman painted his face with concern and politely switched the subject. "But Amanda, are you sure you want to fight with us? I am just concern about your preparedness. You're almost finished with your training and-"
"Yes, I feel that I am ready to fight with you guys," Amanda assures him in her tone from sweet into force. "And you should not worry about me much. All of you, even the goddess, had taught me the basics to understand this kind of society. Along with that, I will apply them with my abilities to overthrown the manikins and soon the discord warriors. You have seen what I am capable of, Firion, when we did our sparring time."
"I did see your potential when you sparred with Cecil," Firion pointed out as he nodded. "And, I'll be frank here," At that, he slightly tilted his head as if a color of embarrassment painted his face. "That's what I like about you."
Now it is Amanda's turn to color her face with a sudden blush of pink hearing a flattering praise. "Oh Firion…" She tried to stop smiling.
"No, I'm saying it honestly. Now that I think about it, your abilities are as colorful as your personality."
"So is your dream. I am still motivated by it as you were." The liegeman smiled at his former student's statement.
"Besides," Amanda continued as she looked over the fields, "I've been thinking… I might plan to pick on the weaker manikins, pretending I'm the bully to them though that will be a little out of character from me. But doing so will result the army's group in numbers decrease, and then I'll work my way up to the strongest ones in the fleet. It's the least I can do."
"Hmm, that sounds like a good strategy for this situation, for all of us actually if we each do it. We may never know how many of those manikins will come though. It could be hundreds or thousands, and we still had to see if they weak or strong." Firion agreed to his lover's plan of action, but he is still concerned despite of being raved by Amanda's assuring confidence.
The concerned fanartist took noticed of that worried expression. "Firion, do you have second thoughts?" she asked. "Should we consider another effective plan? My ears are open for options."
"Actually, Amanda, I think your plan you first thought could be very useful and helpful for us." A young pitching but not very annoying voice tackled the ears of the two warriors with a short following, "Your plan of wiping out the weaker manikins I mean." Amanda and Firion turned their attention to the sound of the youthful heroic kid dressed in red armor; a red helmet with a large white plume and a long white cape flowing behind him.
Firion took surprise of being watched or even spied on when he's alone with Amanda, and almost immediately, he ask the kid, "Onion, how much did you hear?"
"I heard enough to fully agree with her train-of-thought," the Onion Knight replied and continued. "Let's not forget to mention we can display the elements of surprise. Since as far as we know, and we will give thanks to the timely Ceasefire, none of the Warriors of Chaos and even Chaos knows about you completely, including your strengths and weaknesses, and your unique abilities as a fanartist."
"You're right, expect for Sephiroth, since he's the one who brought me great interest in him and eventually to this world. Also, he is greatly aware of my intervene attempts," Amanda pointed the Onion Knight's mis-spokement.
"Oh yeah, forgotten about that piece of information," the kid mentioned with apology.
To that, Amanda nodded with self-confidence. "But perhaps he won't expect my arrival here. Even so, he'll be focusing his most attention on Cloud and less on me. And you're right, Onion, at least the members of the opposing side of harmony doesn't know about me personally, and ironically, I know something about them, thanks to all of you who brought me the knowledge." She smiled and winked at the kid.
"You're welcome anytime, ma'm," Onion said mirroring his smile and wink to her. "You remembered it's great to learn-"
"Because Knowledge is Power!" The fanartist and hero kid said together almost in a dramatic way, then laughed afterward.
"Okay, okay, I'm convinced enough." Firion decided to ditch his concerns for he had already too much on his plate. He suddenly had fully in mind of the recent plan of action and then said, "We will go with Amanda's plan on eliminating the lower-leveled manikins and handling the high-leveled later as the battle progresses. I will inform the battalion leaders about it before the imperial army arrives."
The temporary leader of the Cosmos Warriors then eyed his attention to the heroic kid knight. "But in the meantime, Onion, as new leader, I order you to guard her and get her ready while I make last minute preparations before our first battle. We have little time left as in now."
"I will obey your command, sir," Onion bowed and saluted to his new leader and then said, "And shall I return to the main lobby with her ready to go?"
"Yes, make sure she's well prepared."
"Yes sir!"
"Wait for a second, Onion…" seeing the kid about the exit, the fanartist halted him. "I need to exchange a few words with him."
"You may proceed ma'm," Onion responded in the same obedient voice he use to respond Firion.
Before leaving him alone to the liegeman's thoughts and duties, Amanda fully looks at him with her hands planted on his shoulders. She placed her lips softly against his and felt the slight tension from his face as if he wasn't expected anything other than words. But then, knowing what's happening now, Firion responded her kiss in the same manner. Watching a somewhat of a romantic scene, the Onion Knight was unsure if he should look away or react in a slightly-grossed-out expression on his face.
"Just remember your Wild Rose will not corrupt into dust," the new warrior then said to her partner when she gently breaks away the kiss. "As long Onion plays as my bodyguard, and as long I'm persistent and aware of my surroundings, and avoiding the easiest trap ever designed, nothing tragic will happened to me. You all had taught me well since those nine long months. You have nothing to worry about me."
After that kiss and hearing her words, Firion almost started a proposal for his partner not to fight, but he doesn't have the courage to do so or even have the right words to make objections. In final words, he is confident for her and he quietly blurts out his last concerned warning. "Please, please be careful, Amanda."
The fanartist gives her lover a reassuring hug and another short kiss. "You too, Rosebud."
With that as a last greeting, Amanda leaves with the Onion Knight, and the passionate warrior was left alone on the balcony, his attention now staring at the empty field. After while, decided that there are far more important matters to tackle than standing like a helpless bug, he leaves the balcony and meet with the two battalion leaders at the corridors stairs.
"Are your battalions prepared for what is coming to us?" Firion asks the two experienced war veterans.
"We already informed them about our enemy and told them to keep alert. We will not hesitate to fight if the manikins are spotted," answered Cloud, the ex-SOLDIER from Midgar. He also adds, "And we have each battalion secure each of the four main entrances of the castle along the secret passageways if the manikins happened to find one."
"Although that's unnecessary, it's better to be safe and sorry," Squall, the gun-swordsman in black-white, pitched in. "Like you said before, we may not know how many they are and how powerful they become. They could have been under training during the Ceasefire, and make themselves as a major distraction for us as Chaos' winning advantage."
"That is what I fear of," the colorful liegeman breathed. "Just a moment ago, Amanda had suggested that we should take down the weaker and less experienced manikins to decrease the strength in numbers, and then tackle the stronger ones. Onion had agreed with her plan."
"In that case, do you want us to inform her plan to the reinforcements?" Cloud asked, liking the battle plan.
"Our guards and knights have no ability to detect on the manikins' status, including their state of experience," Squall pointed out.
"But we all do. We have fought them all the time and we can tell the difference without assistance of a Scan spell," Firion reminded them. "When we first see them, we can analyze and strategize our force effectively. At all costs, we cannot lose this battle."
"What about Amanda?" The spiky blonde now concerned about the woman who he escorted to the world of conflict. "This is her first manikin battle."
I can imagine how she feels right now... The gunblade welder reminiscences the moment when he has his SeeD exam back at the Balamb Garden in his home-world. Thought he never knew her very well, but at least their emotions of having a first battle for a long while are similar if not exactly the same. If I can survive any battle like this, so can she, somehow...
"I know, that's why I had Onion Knight to go with her," Firion settled Cloud's tiny concern. "She greatly progresses her ability to scan the manikins. But just to be safe, he can tell the manikins' strength and she will know surely from him."
Well, that's one-less of my worries. The spiky-blonde thought with a nod.
"In the meantime," Firion continued, "That's enough reconsidering. Knowing what we will do, we should go to our posts at once and inform our fleet before the manikins' arrival."
"Right, guess I'm going back the South Entrance with Zidane," Squall said after dismissing his flashback moment.
"And I'll handle the North Entrance as planned," Cloud decided with another nod.
"Then with Bartz and Terra handling West, Tidus and I will be guarding East," the temporary leader nodded, satisfied with their plan of action in sight. "I'll get a moogle to send the update to the West Entrance. Now, let's get going."
"Yes, sir!" After appropriately greeting farewell to the temporary leader of the goddess' warriors, Cloud and Squall left and return to their posts, soon spilling the update to their battalions.
Taking his leave again, Firion begins his way to the East Entrance of the castle, with his weapons behind his back and his face determined no fear of battle. Along the way, he calls for one of the messengers, a moogle who loves to inform anyone in an immediate time of need. The weapon specialist told the moogle about the new battle plan and he needs him to inform Bartz and Terra about it so they can bring the information to their battalion. The moogle, memorizing the message successfully, jetted out an assuring "Kupo!" and with the speed of light he flutters his way to the intended receivers.
With that obstacle out of way, Firion finally arrives at the East Entrance and enters outside to the border of Dissidia Fields, where his battalions lined up in neat long rows of five, adjoining in the length of the castle's exterior yards. He saw the young athletic teen who eagerly waits for the conflict to resume, excited to be fighting again.
Tidus bares shirtless, with a pair of slightly-worn out athletic overalls and long red ribbons wrapped about his toned arms. His aquatic sword, the Brotherhood, was grasped in his hand and was turned and flipped numerous times, as if to express the eagerness and excitement from him. Although the dirty-blonde haired boy enjoys the free time being spent on Blitzball, which he mostly spend his time on that during the Ceasefire, he relieves of doing something else that is about as fun as his favorite underwater sport.
"So, what's the battle plan, Rosebud?" Tidus asked when he saw the liegeman coming.
"When the manikins arrive, we will take on the weakest pawns to decrease the opponent's army chances of overtaking the castle, along with their strength in numbers, according to Amanda's plan. During so, we will eventually handle the stronger foes later and eventually obtain victory for our goddess."
"Hmm, who could be the ringleader? The golden one maybe? He sounds like that kind of guy who can do something like this."
"It could be any Warrior of Chaos at this point, but we do know that the ringleader is working for Chaos and is not afraid to start war."
The dirty-blonde sighed. "Perhaps he or she is also the one who caused the cycle's beginning in the first place."
"That could be it too."
Let's just hope my dad is not leading those manikins to us, the teen then said to himself, thinking about the old man who he despised.
"Guards and knights of Cornelia Castle!" Firion shouted his audible authority-filled voice that is loud enough for all at the castle's east entrance to hear. The guards and knights, and even Tidus, turned to their leader with wide open listening ears. The weapons specialist repeated the plan as he had said to the moogle messenger. "Our plan of action is to decrease the opponent's manikin army by eliminating the weakest and most novice manikins, and then persisting our way to defeat the most strong and experienced. We will let you know the state of each manikin in our surroundings and we have provided you all Scan spells to assist you if you not around us. Remember that the manikins you will see are only false images as the Cosmos Warriors and you should not confuse them as the real us. You all know your allies differ from your enemies. We will continue to fight until every manikin is shattered into dust of defeat and the castle is avoided from their capture. At my signal or the slightest sight of the manikins' reached our eyes, whatever comes first, we will march our way to victory!"
At this, Firion raised his red-orange Bloodsword in the air and concluded, "For Cosmos and Harmony and Order, we will not rest until world peace is realized!" The prep-talk speech results the rebel army cheering and shouting with prominent pride. Then, they eventually quieted themselves down to fully focus on their next step of protecting the castle. They eyed over the mountain's horizon, waiting to spot a single crystallized manikin.
With all the battalions and their commanders protecting all entrances and secret passageways, the Warriors of Cosmos await for the manikins' arrival and the continuation of the Fourteenth Cycle of conflict.
Meanwhile, Amanda and the Onion Knight return to her quarters, which is located four doors down in the East Wing Hallway on the second floor, and only took them about three minutes walking from the three-story baloney in Amanda's stationary bedroom. While Onion relax on one of the cushioning chairs and mentally reviewed the current situation, the fanartist went into her walk-in wardrobe closet and prepares for her first-ever fight.
"So Onion, I have to frankly say my feelings now…" While finding garments of her warrior attire, she begins to non-stop talking about her excitement about what'll be ahead of her. Amanda dresses herself into her battle gear: a personalized custom of a sporty leather-like tunic like the one she recently wears but in very chromatic hues of tuscan-red and cream-yellow. Also on that tunic were some sienna and dark umber browns associated with the color scheme. The tunic holding two breast pockets contains three-quarters long sleeves with sewed-on arm-pockets. There were some extra pockets as well, but they were well hidden under the tunic. The talented seamstresses who together customized her armor did an outstanding of camouflaging the portable storage while making the entire outfit lightweight and breathable.
"At any moment now, this will be my first ever fight with the manikins, and I will gain new experiences from it no doubt as time goes on," she persisted speaking in an increasing talking speed that it's almost becoming impossible for the Onion Knight to hear her audibly. "Heck, not only I'm nervous, but I'm also excited. I mean, this will be not one of those battles I had ever engage in my lifetime, but I am sure that this is a huge deal and wow, I—I just cannot believe that this is really happening and I'm—"
She stopped her ongoing excitement and peeks from her wardrobe-closet doors to eye on Onion, who watches her from an un-disturbing distance. "…And I'm not getting any calmer, am I?"
The youthful boy took sudden notice of her question, and answered her with a small grin. "Oh no, it's a natural feeling. I got the same thing as you have too, also Tidus the last time I talked to him."
Relieved, the fanartist sighed. "Guess I'm not the only one."
When she enters back in the closet, Onion stood up from the comfy chair and stretched his arms to ease his slightly-tensed muscles. He then said his elder student, "Make sure you got plenty of potions and some phoenix downs packed somewhere in your tunic. They will come in handy if we happen to come across any injured guard knights or in case we happened to be as well."
"Already did," the fanartist said when she exited her closet and proudly showcasing her pockets containing the important items for any beginner warrior. Her pockets, including her hidden ones, contain about a plenty amount of healing bottles and sacred phoenix feathers, enough amount for the first oncoming battle. "And we will definitely assist the fallen warriors to their aid."
"I must say, with your pockets around your arms and on your tunic, you are the most prepared person than anyone I know," Onion observed. "And the most organized."
"Why, thank you very much." Amanda enclosed her tunic with fastened buttons and wraps her hips with a sienna brown scarf, securing its place with her Color Wheel pendent bordered by the achromatic scale that circles the rainbow hues. Then, she wraps her hair in a semi-loose braid with a secured hair-tie. Finally, she finished preparing herself with her black wrist warmers and white fingerless gloves, and a loose black tie around her neck. Dressed in her protective light weighted attire, she feels that she is ready to tackle the copycats.
"How about you?" the young warrior asked Onion who is double checking his possessions. "Are you ready for this battle? It's been a long while with the Ceasefire has been going on."
"I'm sure am, ever since the announcement had bleached," he answered. "I still cannot believe Light and Cecil disappeared before the manikins begin their march. I fear this will become troublesome when we get to battle, without their guidance."
"I am sure we will get through, as long we got each other's back." Amanda comforted the heroic kid with her optimistic voice.
"You're right, but it would be reassuring if they returned before the fight."
Amanda sighed with agreement. "That reminds me Onion, there is something I want to talk you about before we go to the…" She was about to discuss her concerns about the Warrior of Light's and Cecil's disappearance along with her possible assumption of where they might be. But then there was a loud "Kupo!" that jolted the nerve systems of the duo.
From the bedroom's balcony, the moogle messenger who recently delivered Firion's message flutters its way inside. The moogle is a bat-mole like creature with black-violet bat wings and a red ball about the same size as its head clicks as an antenna. Along with its hips holds a messenger bag and its neck comfortably wrapped a bow tie.
Amanda smiled recognizing the moogle. "Memo!" she greeted with delight and reached for him with a small gentle hug. "It's so great to see you at the significant time such as this!"
"Same as well, Miss Amanda, kupo!" Memo replied in the same delightful tone of voice. "And Mr. Onion Knight, it's good to see you too, kupo!" Releasing from the fanartist's hug, he speaks his reason of coming. "I came here in great speed to deliver an urgent message the both of you must hear."
"What message?" Onion interestingly asked. "From Cosmos?"
"Not from the goddess, but from the temporary leader of our heroes."
"What Firion wants us to know?" Amanda insisted to hear the message.
Her wish granted, Memo briefly explains about informing the available battalions to execute Amanda's plan. As stated before, they will try to slowly decrease the manikins' power in numbers, and eventually if all goes well, they can easily outnumbered them and bleached a victory for the harmonious goddess.
"The last time I checked the military statistics with Cora and Aldi, we actually have a good chance of victory over this first battle. That is as long we won't drop our guards and continued to focus our mission."
"We are not dropping our guards down for not even for a second," Amanda assured Memo. "Not even since the Ceasefire declared its end."
The intelligent knight nodded and then asked the moogle, "Did Firion said anything else?"
"Besides the final decision on executing Miss Amanda's plan, that is all he wanted me to deliver," Memo answered.
Even though the message was short and brief, and somewhat praising since her own plan was to be taken place, something was still troubling her. "Hmm…" Could it be just the battle jitters? She thought to herself. Or something more terrible that I should not worry about?
"Kupo?" Memo noticed Amanda's lost in thought and nicely tried to pull her out of it. "What's wrong, Miss Amanda?"
"I just don't know…" she answered honestly. "Light and Cecil disappeared without a single trace to follow… and now we have this upcoming battle which we have no leads of who's leading the army. And along with that, I was about to complete my training and officially become a warrior for Cosmos and then out of nowhere, the Ceasefire ends."
"I understand how that feels, kupo," Memo nodded with a hint of sympathy painted his face. "It's not easy to be drowning in miserable and unfortunate events, especially those in the messages I always get."
"Amanda, you were to tell me about something?" Onion was now curious of what his student wanted to say before Memo's entrance.
She hesitated, but then answered confidently, "It's not important now. From what I learned from handling overwhelming multiple situations is to handle one situation at the time."
Onion nodded in agreement. "You're right, I'll tell you what, after this battle resolves, you can tell me what's bothering you."
Amanda smiled at the kid's proposal. "Done deal. Now, we should get back to the Lobby Hall and meet Cosmos before—"
Suddenly, just before she can even finished her sentence, a loud bang following by the sound of collapsing bricks from the castle walls silent her completely. The vibration from the bang shook the castle with shock and immediately everything that is matter went completely still.
The surprised fanartist froze from where she now stands. Onion and Memo froze with her too, also hearing the sudden sound that breaks and relieves the silence. Then, there was some white noises lurking from the thick doors to the reaching ears of the uneasy warriors, bringing them a sudden disturbance that shook them shiver; in fact, the sensation was so unsettling and disturbing the scared moogle messenger quickly fluttered his way behind Amanda's back. The voices they heard are distorted and barely auditable, but those couldn't be that much obvious whose those voices belonged to.
"I may have an idea, but what in the name of Gaia was that?" Amanda breathed the question bravely.
"I educationally guess the manikin army has arrived," the heroic kid answered. "And along with that, it seems some of them made a security bleach."
"Security bleach?" Memo asked with a nervous voice.
"Seems like it." A becoming ferocious smile appeared on the fanartist's face, finally relived that the long wait is now melting from her.
"Then, let's not hesitate any longer," Amanda said with a thirst of crystal shattering. "Let's go, Onion!" She reached out and summoned her black-sheathed Charcoal Blade in her hand and then dashed out from her quarters, fully motivated to fight the copycats. "Cared to come with us, Memo?" she asked the moogle from inside. "We'll protect you along the way."
"I appreciate it, kupo, but I will need to get to Cora and Aldi for updates since we are now experiencing the security bleach."
"Then you and them can spread the news to the warriors," the fanartist suggested.
"Yes, I must!"
"Alright then, Memo, you be safe, okay?" Onion said while exiting the quarters.
"I shall be for the both of you as long you are safe for me. Until then, Kupo!" And with that, Memo immediately jolted his way out from the balcony and now on his way to his moogle friends.
Amanda looked at Onion with a determined desire on her face, the desire of shattering crystallized beings such as the manikins to the very ground. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
The Onion Knight summoned his Onion Sword, the yellow-colored blade with blue accents on the metal. "Right, let's go!" he declared.
Running together as a fierce fighting duo that looks forward to fight the manikins, they jolted across the second floor and climbed down the corridor stairs to the first floor of the castle, where the disturbing sounds was mostly located. Now beginning her final exam of her warrior-in-training program, Amanda enters in one of the major hallways while being followed by Onion who hopes to succeed fulfilling his duty of guiding the new warrior.
The hallway they had entered is one of the major bricked hallways of the Cornelia Castle, commonly known as the Eastern Hallway. Their feet rambled about on the green velvet carpet. Two parallel walls were covered with decorative dark green vines and numerous colored flowers. They were covered in such as way the whole Plant Kingdom was about take over the castle but was willingly to negotiate a deal of staying their place on the walls. Which the goddess doesn't mind; their presence is beautiful and they did a great job of enchanting the castle with harmony and filled every corner with calming time of peace. That is, until the manikins' unpredicted arrival of a security bleach, in which no one had ever expected. But in the end, you should always expect the unexpected.
And with me having numerous imaginations, Amanda thought as she fast walked through the Eastern Hallway. I still cannot believe that one of them can actually come true before I even know it. She's saying that she didn't expect the security bleach in the castle, but she did expect to encounter the manikins and cream them down into dust in her hands. And that will be the very first thing she'll do if she and Onion were to encounter them in surprise.
Ever since the manikins' break-in, or even just before that, every sight of sudden chaos is lurking around every corner of the hallways. In fact, it turns out that the collapsing bricks that were heard and felt under Amanda's quarters indicate that some crystallized fighters did created a security breach and successfully reached inside of the castle. While the battalions handle the remaining enemies outside, it's up now to the guards in the interior, and Amanda and Onion in this situation, to take care of those false pretenders who try to easily fool the blind.
"Urgh, I really feel sorry for the flowers right now," Amanda gasped as she eyed the collateral damage on the bricked walls. The holes were exactly big enough to squeeze through two average-sized people together, and since the manikins are averaged-sized, it will be a matter of time before the castle would be filled with crystallized copycats. She thought about the Wild Roses Firion wanted to show her badly, and she prays that they will still stay put until the battle is over.
"Ha, there's a path from that crumble!" Onion observed the ground that was littered with cracked bricks. "From the blow of that blast and the velocity of their running speed, the intruders took that direction and made the first left." He pointed the direction with the tip of his sword.
"Then that would lead to the Southern Hallway and eventually to the Southern Gate Entrance," Amanda summarized.
Onion's bright green eyes expand wider. "That's where Squall and Zidane are!"
"We got to warn them if the moogles had not done so!"
Eagering, and after going through the inspection of the damaged walls, the fanartist and the heroic kid continued on following the manikins' trail to their next destination. Along the way, they continued to quick search the smaller hallways. As they run, they looked through the doors and windows, seeing if the manikins were trying to hide or cast out a not-so-friendly ambush. Finally, Onion spotted a couple of manikins at the end of a hallway; one colored in golden-yellow carrying many weapons on its back, and another in lighter blue, welding a big sword with both hands. He halted Amanda to a stop and shows her the upcoming enemies.
"Imitation Liegeman and Imaginary Solider at three o'clock," Amanda identified while she pointed her sword at their direction. At its tip, charcoal spit out with a loud firing crack and the smog ghastly covered the blade, waiting for its welder's command.
"Firion and Cloud copycats," agreed Onion as he activated his Scan spell to analyze the manikins' level state. "They are at their weakest level. We can easily win this."
"Why am I not so surprised?" The fanartist didn't bother of hearing the kid's response as she entered the first battle by crossing swords with the Imaginary Solider. In contact, the charcoal smog blazes highly that almost shook Onion and the other manikin off-guard.
"En Garde!" Amanda shouted at it.
The Cloud copycat took sudden surprise and countered her with its sword making sounding waves (Sonic Break). It swings for three in which Amanda managed to avoid two blows. But by the final three, she was tossed harshly and landed on the wall, making more collateral damage for the rebuilders to work on. Luckily, she wasn't severely hurt, and Amanda controls her posture and takes her cue to counterattack. She dived to the manikin and delivers a couple of smeared slashes against it.
"Oranges, tint!" Then, reminding herself that her first manikin is colored in a light blue, she activates her conceptive artistic attack by switching the black charcoal with a stronger hue of bright orange that flares upon her blade (Monochromatic Scheme).
"Counter!" Finally, she slashes her opponent with a confident blow in a horizontal direction and shattered it. The Imaginary Solider manikin went into crystallized dust and then, Amanda marks the manikin's defeat.
"I won... already?" She defeated her first weak manikin in the Dissidia world. That is such an achievement, but she knows it's too early for a celebration.
Meanwhile, Onion was fighting off the golden manikin who tries to get control of him by dragging him with its rope-attached knife (Rope Knife). The rope successfully wrapped around the kid's armor waist and was now trying to bring him to its crystallized welder.
"Ha! Breath of ice!" But the intelligent kid easily free himself by conjuring his ice balls to break the rope easily (Blizzard). Wasting no time to dilly dallying, he finished the impostor off by showering him with massive shards of ice (Blizzaga).
"How's that?" he said to the troubled manikin as he watched it slowly begin penciled by the shooting ice shards he summoned. Then, he dashed his way to the manikin and stabbed its body which results a loud shatter of broken glass. The Firion-impostor was finished as it shattered into dust along with the broken ice shards.
"I knew we were going to win," the Onion Knight said happily, feeling bliss of having his good-old confidence back.
"We just won because those copycats are weaker leveled," said Amanda, knowing also that it was an easy match. To her, it felt like a warm-up.
Victory goes to the fighting duo when their first small battle concluded in less than five minutes. The manikins they fought off are really weaker-leveled, which troubles Amanda with a thought; I expect the stronger manikins would make a break-in, but are they using the weaker allies as scapegoats? Or something else, and if so, what is it?
"Well, that is true, but your battle plan is going so well!" Onion said excitedly. "Did you happen to see their reactions when you smear them to the core with your color-based attacks?"
Amanda escaped from her concerning thought and answered her little teacher, "They're manikins, Onion. They are like mindless crystallized zombies who have no emotions and free will."
"Nevertheless, they becoming fear of you and lost their strength already. Thus, we are bringing the element of surprise over them. Sure, they surprised us by being early birds with the security blench, but so far your idea is going according to plan."
"Even if the strength is lost among the strongest manikins we would encounter." Which I highly doubt that if my recent thought has proven true. Amanda sighed and concluded, Always expect the unexpected, and always be ready for it.
The now excited heroic kid prepares another dash for the hallways. "Now, let's make sure it stays that way until we save the castle." When he went to another corner, Amanda follows.
They are getting closer to the Southern Hallway. During the process, they got into trouble with the weaker and even more annoying manikins. This time, Amanda did the Scan activation and sighed heavily after finding out they are battling punching bags again.
Damn, where are the strongest foes in the castle? She thought with a little frustration. At least it's good they didn't encounter the strong manikins… yet. In the meantime, there is a mess to be cleaned up.
In this next manikin battle, Amanda battles a red-colored manikin who is identified as Phantasmal Girl, Terra's crystallized clone. When the fanartist reached for it, the feminine manikin summons a darken aura ball over her head and then the ball descends to slam her on the ground, slightly stunned from the impact (Graviga). Seeing its opponent in a weak spot, it burst out flames from its arms and launched the embers for her (Fire).
"Oh hell you not!" Amanda shouted and immediately enhances her blade with a bright red hue. "Reds, reflect!" she commanded and managed to slash the fires away with the blade (Monochromatic Scheme). Then, the red-hue turns into achromatic gray smog along with Amanda's out-of-character expression, a devious smile with eyebrows narrowed.
"It's smearing time!" Then, with no more delay, the fanartist dash towards the Terra-wanna-be and smear it with numerous amounts of pencil smears that not only caused distress for the manikin but also became blinded with those marks (Smearing Marks). And then with the final stab in its crystallized chest, it screams a distorted cry and went into splitting dust. The crystal bits blow so powerful Amanda uses her left hand to cover her face and waited until the storm subsided.
"Perhaps I need a new subject to study," she then said with a sigh, lowering her left arm down. She looks at the Onion Knight who is almost done battling the very tinted red-violet colored manikin, the Transient Lion. But in case he desires her aid, she switched from grey to a jungle-yellow-green hue and provided her friend supervision.
The Squall-copycat fires a set of three fireballs that immediately spreads out and tries to execute a homing landing against their intended target (Fire Barret). Instead, the heroic kid manages to dodge them and invade the manikin's personal bubble with a quick charge. Onion burst that personal bubble open with a swift attack of slashing swords, and with one slash, he drives the manikin into the air (Multi-Hit), and soar up to follow it.
"Dodge this!" he shouted at it as he conjured swords of revealing light to assault the crystallized manikin (Swordshower) and then approached closer with the final blow in mind from his significant Onion Sword. The heroic kid slashes his crystallized opponent to the ground and landed in the pile of mineral-powdered dust that were the manikin's remains.
Every easy victory the fighting duo gain, the manikins' power in numbers became weaker, and the hallways were starting to receive their peace back. After what was the last battle, the Onion Knight smiled as he leveled his sword on his fingertips.
"See that?" he said to Amanda. "That was easy too."
"You mean that manikin battle, or your balancing-your-sword-with-your-fingertips act?"
"I was referring to the manikin battle." Onion clarified, and then mentioned with a small innocent smile, "Yeah, I practiced balancing my sword with my fingers almost every day whenever I'm bored.
Amanda mirrored the same reaction. "Oh yeah, but I prefer a challenge any day." The fanartist, though feels that they are wearing down the manikins' strength and her plan was working with no flaws in sight, she feels that she wasn't challenged enough. As far she was concerned, this was not the final exam she had in mind, but instead, it's like a pre-test to just get the feel of ongoing conflicts.
"You got to save your energy for when fighting the real thing," Onion advised her. "Remember, it is always best to fight off some battles-"
"Than not to fight off everyone in this castle," Amanda finished, remembering the strategies that the intelligent kid had taught her.
"Exactly! Because we got other warriors, who possibly had already knew about the security breach about now, are joining this fight. We are not alone in this battle."
Although she agrees with that thought, the fanartist just shook her head. "But Onion, I'm ruining my reputation to the Clean Plate Club."
The kid, confused by his friend's saying, looks at her. "What exactly do you mean by that? And what is this 'Clean Plate Club'?"
Amanda answered his confusion with a shake of her head. "Ah, nothing important. It's just an expression, or a figure of speech, that I used from home. I'll tell you about it when this entire battle is over." She stared at the next hallway they yet to search, and it's the major Southern Hallway.
"Let's continued on, I want to see if Squall and Zidane are okay and needs our help," she then said.
"Right, let's go." Obeying, Onion followed her.
They resumed their search for the manikins. To their surprise and somewhat relieved, they cannot spot any more groups lurking around in the hallways. In fact, the buildings got quite when the manikins continually defeated in a slow but promising rate.
As they walked down the Southern Hallway heading their way to the Southern Gate Entrance, Amanda expresses one of her troubled thoughts to Onion. At least talking about it outloud will ease her worries and perhaps gain a second opinion from a trusted someone. "Hmm, you know what's interesting, Onion? As far I am concerned, I haven't seen a single Warrior-of-Chaos-impostor since we started searching."
"Yeah," the little knight nodded and considered, "We fought the copycats of Firion and Cloud, and then there were Bartz and Tidus, the Warrior of Light and Cecil, and then finally Terra and Squall. All Warriors of Cosmos, not the god of discord's warriors. Now, why that would be?"
"To make us easily fooled of who are our allies and foes?" the fanartist guessed.
"Well, at least we are not foolish enough to ignore spotting any obvious difference. We know who our friends and foes are." The blonde warrior nodded agreeably with the heroic kid, with assuredness she knows who are her friends and foes in this war cycle.
"There's another thing that troubles me as well…" Amanda stopped as tried to find the right words to spit out.
"And that is?" Onion asked interestingly and looked at her with his ears open.
"Well, did you notice that all the manikins we recently battled are at least weak leveled?"
Onion nodded, and the fanartist continued on, "I was expected to encounter stronger manikins since the impact of the break-in was so intense, but instead, it's the other way around. Now, even if the manikins, no matter the strength or weakness, have their own free will, there is no way that they would cause the major security bleach on their own, even with powers in numbers. I think what I'm trying to say that there must be a ringleader or a mastermind behind the opposing army, or otherwise we wouldn't have this situation in the first place… Am I making sense?" She asked finally, seeing Onion lowering his head to repeat her concerns in his head. She frowned over her lack of expressing her concerns and even feelings in a clearest way possible. Her speech-speaking disability and British accent combined makes her more difficult just to remind quiet rather than non-stop talk.
"Yes, you're making sense." Hearing that relieved Amanda, just a little. Then Onion said, "In fact, you may have provided me a new outlook on this situation. As you mentioned before, manikins are like crystallized zombies with no emotions and free will. They are only distractions to persist the war cycle as long it will last, and terror us with meaningless battles. Now, there is a possibility that they intended to break in the castle due to their first sense of instincts. However; due to the collateral damage and their unwilled act to rebuttal, I am convinced that there is a mastermind behind this operation."
"Man, I wished Memo were with us so we could deliver our assumptions to others including Cosmos," Amanda said now knowing that her education-guess could be right on the nose.
"At least we can tell Squall and Zidane, and Memo's friends are smart enough to come up with the same assumptions we had thought of and spread it around." The young knight-bodyguard took Amanda's hand gently and nudged her a little, signaling to continue walking. "We are getting closer to the Southern Gate Entrance now, let's go and tell them." Nodded, they continued on their way.
When they finally reached the Southern Hallway, Amanda and Onion scanned the area just in case if the manikins were to hide and wait on their prey. Thankfully, they weren't there, and the duo was about to move on when all the sudden, things are now becoming more interesting. At the end of the major hallway, the glowing dark red aura blocks the major doors that lead to the gate's entrance. It caught Amanda's attention as she saw it surrounding a terrifying emblem known to evil.
"That aura…" she started to said silently while looking at it. "And the black wing on its left and the terrifying triangular shape design coated in an achromatic black… Is that… the Stigma of Chaos?"
"That's weird. Your assumption is on its way to be valid," said Onion in shock when laying his eyes to the stigma. "One of the Chaos Warriors has arrived as well?"
"Well, who else would lead the manikins to the castle?" Amanda begins to ponder who the leader of the weak-leveled manikins is.
"Then, surely it was not Chaos who we thought he was," Onion narrowed down the possible suspects.
"Whoever did is less than stupid to annoy us. I'm betting my gil that the Emperor of Palamecia is lurking around here somewhere. He sounds like the man who would lead an imperial army with the iron fists."
The heroic kid nodded and adds, "If he is, then he would already set up traps for us to fall into."
"He is the trap master after all. Then, we shall go ahead with caution." Carefully and in full alert, Amanda walks toward to the glowing stigma.
"Wait, Amanda!" calls Onion with worry in his tone which holds his former student's attention. "I have a proposal: Should we find Firion and the others and warn them about this stigma and get more reinforcements before we go any further?"
"Should I do the reporting while you stay eyeing the stigma here and I'll return back?"
"Firion had ordered me to not leave your side," Onion reminded her.
"Oh yeah, he did. In that case, do not worry," Amanda replied to the kid. "Firion had acknowledged me all the Emperor's traps. That feminine ruler will not easily fool a fanartist. We'll report to Firion after we check this stigma out."
"Okay, let's do it then." The intelligent knight decided to go along.
"I will proceed and give you the signal when the coast is clear." The fanartist continued to walk slow and surveyed the area making sure nothing is hiding from her. This reminds her of driving on the road; you have to be aware and be curious of your surroundings while moving at the same time. She maintains her vigilance with the knowledge beforehand to increase her chances of survival. Finally, within ten feet between Point A and B, she made to the aura which makes her feel uneasy and disturbed. With no traps detected, she signaled Onion to come over, which he obeyed under the liegeman's commands. When he arrived next to her, nothing else happened.
"I don't know, Amanda," said Onion who is feeling a little uneasy. "It could belong to any of the Chaos Warriors besides the Emperor." The knight just hoped that his archenemy, known as the Cloud of Darkness, is not lurking around in the castle and tries to end the battle by swallowing it all with the Void.
"It must be him," the fanartist said, sure about her instincts. "It has too, it's the only logical explanation of the manikins' arrival I could thought of at this point. Who else can it be with such authority to control the manikins?
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out."
"Right. Shall I destroy it?" Amanda volunteered with her Charcoal Blade in tow.
"Before you do, check your health," the kid advised. "You were a little weary after that last battle." To her realization, Amanda discovers she was at half of her health. Not only from numerous battles with the manikins at their weakest level, but also the energy constantly drains from her. Damn, he's right. That Terra-manikin almost got the best of me. Thus, she took her friend's advice. She did not expect her health state to go low, but with no delay, she took out a healing potion from her hidden pockets and drank the contents. Right away, she felt refreshed after a short gulp.
"I did not realize that. Thanks for noticing that for me," Amanda give her young teacher her gratitude.
"No problem," the Onion Knight nodded.
"Do you need to heal too?" She offered another potion.
"I am alright, I already healed while you're checking the possible traps. But thank you for the concern."
"Nah, don't mention it." With that as final words, she focused her attention to the Stigma of Chaos in front of her while the Onion Knight took a few step backs.
Then, the youthful hero witness his older student holding her sword with both hands and raise it to the air, as if she was welding an axe and ready to chop a tree bark in front of her.
"Greens, shade…" By command, the sword is now enchanted with a smearing pastel forest green that ablaze in the same nature of the red aura.
"Reds, tint…" With another command spoken, light-colored reds glowed from her hands and slowly made their way to mix with the green hues. Then, the opposite colors commixed to create a new color that juxtaposed the stigma's overall color scheme (Complementary Scheme).
And with that, the colored fanartist shouted, "Differentiate!"
With all her strength, she quickly splits the stigma in half. Successfully, the Charcoal Blade did a good job of scattering the aura into tiny pieces as they vanished into the ground and air, as the same way when the manikins were corrupted into mineral-like dust. Along with that, the green and red hues she conjured disappear as well. Still, after that slaying, nothing else happened in the hallway. Actually, the hallway becomes quieter than it was before, and it felt deathly silent. That kind of silence makes Amanda feels uncomfortable and paranoid, and she felt tensions anchoring her still.
"Uhh Onion, I got a bad feeling about this…" she said uneasily. She was feeling fine and confident, but now she is unsure and nervous.
"I knew it," the kid agreed as he looks around at their surroundings. "This is not making any logical sense. Where are the traps? Where is the golden one?"
"Most importantly," the fanartist reached her breaking point of losing her sanity. "Where in the world of Gaia is the Warrior of Chaos who is freaking responsible of the manikins' break-in?!" She raised her sword at the ready while looking at the vacant space. "Show yourself, tyrant ruler who dress in yellow and violet, or be forever a cowardly bastard for refusing to fight an inexperienced warrior!"
Suddenly, as it hears her plea, an evil laugh filled in the hallways and chills the backbones of the two warriors with fear and painted their faces with a slight of pale white. The burning torches on the walls have their fires vanished by the winding sound. Actually, the fires didn't vanish, but instead their way to attack the warriors along with new fireballs trailing the path.
"Amanda, look out!" Onion shouted and attempted to shield her from the threating fireballs. But just before he succeeds protecting her, the fireballs reached contact to the warriors and scorched them in pain and pull them on the ground, knocking them unconscious. Then, heavy darkness fills every corner in the hallways. Everything is pitched achromatic black.
Although the manikins were no longer in the castle, the moment of paranoia is still playing its song in the Southern Hallway.
In a few minutes, Amanda regained conscious quickly and stood up from the ground on her feet. Luckily, she didn't get burned and was gratefully glad that her customized tunic is fireproof. But then, her moment of relief ended short when she was surrounded by this abnormal darkness, shaded in the same achromatic shade of her blade.
"Onion?" Feeling the panic growing inside of her, Amanda calls for her friend and teacher who she cannot see in this total blackness. When the child knight didn't respond to her, she calls for him again in a louder voice.
"Onion?" she calls again with a shouting tone growing louder. "Onion Knight! Where are you? Onion! Squall! Zidane! Memo! Anyone! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"
Still there was no response. At this point, the fanartist found herself in deep trouble in the most worst-possible case scenario.
But Amanda just cannot allow herself to get easily feared for the unknown; she must hold her bravery strong, for her teachers and friends, and for the people she loves back at home. She must show no fear of anything that comes before her, like the stench of darkness containing possibly one of the stronger warriors she had met. With that in mind, her sword still raised in the air, she called for her soon-to-be enemy to come out from its hiding, "Come on out, Emperor! I do not play games and I surely don't enjoy being teased, you sad excuse of a twin brother of David Bowie!"
As her call was a cue of entrance, a black silhouette appeared at her vision and Amanda took immediate attention to it. Slightly shocked of having her call answered, she gives herself a fright when she eyed on that silhouette. Obviously by the size of the black blob, the fanartist recognized her mistake and concluded that the shadow is not the Emperor of Palamecia. But instead, the black figure belongs to…
"You imbecilic fool," the shadow said in its grim tone that chills Amanda's backbone even colder and her face becoming a little more paler. "I am not the Emperor who you speak of. Nor I a cowardly bastard you thought I was. But, you dare to fight me? You will be lucky if you manage to get a single scratch on me."
Imbecilic? As in stupid? That black blob has insulted the fanartist's intelligence and results in making an angered expression on her face.
"I do not scratch my opponents. I only smear them as black as this darkness surrounding us," Amanda responded with her bravery although there was a little hint of fear in her tone, but she did her best to camouflage it. And trying her best, she feels less nervous and her face obtained its normal peach-colored skin. "And I will prove how I can if you be so kind to present yourself to me… in the light." By magical command, the tip of her blade sparks a pastel bright yellow, the color of the harmony goddess which drives away some darkness from her.
The unknown figure draws near to the brave-fooled warrior, slowly pacing itself as the darkness started to dim away as it approaches to Amanda's ported light-source. At last, when the darkness mostly disappeared but not fully, the fanartist took closer note at the details. The figure before her is a widen man in fully built metal-armor, drapes around a long muted-blue-violet cape, and his head protectively covered by a helmet with long horns reaching out from the sides. His hand clutched a long nerve-wracking sword, estimating two-times bigger than the Onion Knight's height and width, that makes a screeching sound as its end point slides across the floor.
When the figure stopped approaching to the light, Amanda's heart and breath also stopped, or abnormally slowed down or dramatically speeds up, she doesn't know which comes first but surely it startled her. She widened her eyes and gasped at the realization that she just encountered one of the most remembered villains of all time from all legends. The figure is known as the Warrior of Light's only arch-nemesis…
The dark knight of Cornelia... and the god of discord's right-hand man... Garland.
End of Part I Chapter 1
Dragonite: Oh no! Our sister encounters Garland, who is what I heard from everyone including her, the worst villain in the world!
Klee: Dragonite, you're being dramatic again, this "Amanda" character will be alright.
Dragonite: How can you be sure? I mean, what she's-
Amanda: *enters her room and saw the two reading her story* What are you two doing here?!
Klee: Oh, Amanda, hello there! I was wondering is this main character whose warriors taught her and battled the manikins really you?
Amanda: Actually Klee, she's my twin sister who is stronger and braver than me, and sadly, more artistic than me.
Dragonite: We still love you! *hugs Amanda*
Amanda: If you let me go Dragonite, I promise to post up the next chapter for you and Klee.
Dragonite: *lets go of the hug* Sweet! C'mon Klee, we'll let our guardian alone so she can continue on writing her story, okay?
Klee: Huh, okay, see you Amanda. *leaves with Dragonite*
Amanda: See ya you two. *to readers* Once again, thank you for reading and for your interest in the story. I gotta tell you, there's some people who shows interest in the story and I appreciate their attention. I also appreciate the reviews you reader provided, including Starlight At who is the main reason for my inspiration of the story. Thank you for your review! Stay tuned for Part I Chapter 2 where hopefully my twin sister prevails over the dark knight!
Mini-Amanda: *appears out of nowhere and sparks an evil grin* SPOILERS! I already did with my-
Amanda: *bitch-slapped her in a face* NO SPOILERS! DX