Kloden Wildwood

It was a few days after Vasel, and the Lieutenants had been summoned to Varrot's office. Faldio and Welkin had met up in the hall, and were going together.

"Say, Welkin. What're you going to do when the war's over?"

"We've only been through one battle, and you're already thinking about what to do when it's over?" There was a laugh in Welkin's voice, which caused Faldio's heart to skip a beat. "Well.. I have always wanted to be a teacher. So, I suppose I'd just end up doing that. What about you, Faldio? What do you have planned?"

Faldio was silent for a few minutes.

"Well, I'm hoping to win over the one I love and live happily ever after," Faldio finally said.

"Oh, really?" Welkin's voice sounded teasing. "Who is she, Faldio? Someone I know?"

Welkin looked over at Faldio and stopped. Turning, he saw that while he had continued walking, Faldio had stopped. A blush had spread across Faldio's face, and he had a far-off look in his eyes. He was quite obviously daydreaming, and Welkin feared that if he didn't snap him out of it, then his friend would embarrass himself.

"Faldio, hellooo," Welkin said. Faldio only grinned. "Come back to me, Faldio." Welkin shook his friend by the shoulders, but it didn't seem to do anything. So he did the next best thing. He slapped him. Faldio snapped right out of it and stared at Welkin.

"What was that for?"

"You were daydreaming, and I know how you get when you're daydreaming. I figured you didn't want anyone to overhear you. We need to get to Varrot's office. Now, who is she, Faldio? The one you want to live happily ever after with?"

"Maybe I want it to be a surprise... You know them pretty well, actually." Faldio hurried down the hall, laughing. Welkin went after him, yelling.

"It better not be Isara, Faldio!"

Faldio laughed again.

"No, not her! Someone else!" Faldio ran around the corner and stopped in front of Varrot's office. Welkin came to a stop next to him.

"Well then who-"

"Not now. Varrot's expecting us, remember?" Faldio knocked twice. They entered the room after they were told to come in.

"All right. Now that you're all here, I have important news. Taking back Vasel has pushed the Imperials into Central Gallia. The military is moving to engage them there. We are going south to Kloden. The Imperials have a supply base there. If we can capture it, it'll take them longer to get supplies to their troops in Central Gallia. All squads are to prepare for woodland combat. we leave in an hour. Dismissed!"

The lieutenants left the room, hurrying off to gather their squads and give them their new orders.

"It's going to be a nightmare, Welkin." Faldio said as they were walking down the hall.

"Why's that?"

"It's easy to lose your sense of direction, and poor roads make for slow advances."

"It won't be too bad, Faldio. Just pay attention to your surroundings, and use them to your advantage. You never know. The key to victory could be hiding in the foliage somewhere." Welkin smiled. "Just be careful. There's this one plant that-"

"Welkin, I really don't think now's the time for-"

"-and after it catches you, you're stuck. Then, the flower-"

"Welkin! Please, no nature lecture!" Faldio yelled.

"Oh. Sorry, Faldio. I just can't help myself. You know how I get. But seriously, be careful."

"Of course, Welkin. I'll be careful. Well, see you later." Faldio ran off to his office, leaving Welkin to go to his by himself.

The Triumviri were gathered in the council room, discussing the invasion of Gallia. Selvaria Bles, the only woman, sat playing with the collar of her shirt. She did Lord Maximilian's bidding, and so didn't have to pay attention. Radi Jaeger had his seat tipped back and his feet on the table. He was asleep, which was unusual for him. Prince Maximilian had a sleepy look on his face, as though he'd rather be in bed dreaming. Berthold Gregor was the only one in the room who seemed to have any interest in the conversation at hand.

"... have taken back Vasel. The sneaky vermin crossed the river with a tank in the dead of night. Our main forces had to pull back to Central Gallia. It's embarassing. Mere peasants are defeating the might of our military. It should be the other way around." Gregor looked around the room and sighed.

Why does no one ever listen? he thought.

I do listen, Berthold. And you're right. Mere peasants have no place defeating a military force such as ours.

"We must defeat these Gallinas," Maximilian said as he stood. He walked down to the table and pointed at the map as he spoke. "Gregor. Restucture Our main forces in Central Gallia. Jeager." Everyone looked at the still sleeping general. "Radi!" Jeager jumped to full awareness in an instant.

"Yes, Maximilian?" he asked.

"You must go to Kloden. Be sure the Gallians do not take Our supply base. Selvaria," at the mention of her name, Selvaria looked up. "you shall accompany Us to Barious right away."

The three generals saluted Prince Maximilian and left the room to do what was asked of them.

Squad Seven was in the Kloden Wildwood, somewhere near one of the Empire's supply bases. The squad was in a relatively good mood, ersting after hours of walking. Welkin was busy trying to come up with a stategy as the squad did what they wanted. Nadine sat with her back against a tree, trying to write a story in the journal Cezary had given her when he got angry at her asking him to remember what she had said.

"What're you writing, Nadine?" Salinas asked, coming over and sitting beside her.

"A romance. It's about a pirate who meets a man in a port town. The man joins the pirate in his quest to find the Eternal Heart. Over the course of the journey, the man's past is going to be revealed, and the pirate is going to find something worth more to him than some treasure."

Are there any sex scenes in this story of yours?" Salinas interrupted.

"Of course. It wouldn't be a romance if there wasn't." Nadine laughed. "Though, they are gay, so I'll have to talk to Jann Walker for some help. If he doesn't mind explaiing to me, of course."

"Say, could I read it sometime?"

"You sure you want to?" Nadine asked. Salinas blushed.

"It sounds interesting."

"Well, I've barely gotten to the point where they meet. But sure, if you want." Nadine got back to her writing as Salinas stood and wandered off in search of something else to do.

Alicia walked over to Welkin and smiled.

"So what's the plan, Welkin?"

"I'm not sure yet, Alicia. Something feels off to me. I can't- hm? What's that?" Welkin looked over at a bush, where he kept seeing a flash of pink. As he watched, a little pink nose poked out through the leaves again. welkin went over and parted the leaves, finding a small Porcavian. "Oh, hello. Do you live in these woods? Where's your mother?" The Porcavian made a sound that sounded something like 'moink'. "You do? Oh, you poor thing. Well, you can stay with us now. If squad one can have a peacock, suad seven can have a Porcavian." Welkin reached down and lifted him from in the bushes. "We just need a name for you. What do you think, Alicia?" Welkin turned and showed the Porcavian to Alicia.

"A name? What about Hans?" Alicia smiled.

"Hans? I was thnking something more along the lines of Charlemagne. what do you think?"

Welkin looked down at the Porcavian, who was looking back at him. The Porcavian turned toward Alicia and said 'moink'.

"All right. Hans it is!" Alicia laughed, overjoyed.

Welkin frowned.

Okat, then Hans. Have you seen any camps? They have big buildins and a fence around them," Welkin asked Hans. Hans said 'moink' again. Weklin set him down and he ran off down one of the animal trails. "Alicia, look after the squad. I'll be back as soon as I can."

It was a while before Welkin returned to camp with Hans.

"The Imperial camp is right nearby, Sevens. We need to finish this before nightfall. That doesn't give us much time. Nadine, Salinas, Hector, Noce, Homer, and Vyse. You six will come with me. Snipers, be on the lookout in case any Imperials wnader down here. Alicia, you're in charge if anything happens." Welkin and the six he chose set out with the Edelweiss. Welkin stopped them when they came to a fork in the road. "We split up here. There are three paths. One follows the animal trail to our left, one goes straight, and the last one goes to the right farther up this road. Noce, you follow the one to the right. It should bring you up next to their camp. I don't expect they'll have many people out that way. Salinas, Homer, and Hector, take the trail to the left. If you follow it far enough, I expect you'll end up on the other sidde of their camp. Just be careful. Nadine ans Vyse will follow the Edelweiss. Kill every Imperial on sight, and take all of their camps. Now, go!"

Welkin lowered himself into the Edelweiss as his squad set off. Isara spoke up as he got ready.

"Welks, there could be landmines. They'd want to make sure their suply base is safe."

"Good point, Is. You hear that, guys? Watch out for landmines. If you step on one, you're history."

"This is getting exciting, huh, Nadine?' Vyse said to the Darcsen next to him.

Nadine stared at him as though he was insane, looking away when the Edelweiss started moving.

Noce cautiously made his way up the trail leading to the right of the Imperial camp. He had already been caught off-guard by an Imperial scout, and once again got his arm hit. Luckily,the bullet had only grazed him this time. He had fired two shots, aiming for the scout's heart. The scout had gone down, blood spreading from the wound and staining his uniform. He didn't want to be caught off-guard agian, and was taking extra care to watch his surroundings. When he reached the end of the path, he found himself in an area overlooking the camp. Near the edge of the cliff was a man at what appeared to be an anti-tank cannon. Wincing at the pain in his arm, Noce raised his gun and took aim at the Imperial's back, guessing where his heart would be. He fired quickly, and set his gun on the ground. The Imperial fell over onto the cannon, and stoped moving. Noce moved forward, hoping he wasn't spotted by anyone below.

"Welkin, I've got a report," Noce whispered into the communication device. "There's a tank in the camp. I think it belongs to a general. Also, the Imperials appear to be evacuating the camp."

"Ah. Thanks, Noce. Is there anything you could do about that tank?"

"Well, there's an anti-tank cannon here. I could use it."

"Yes, please." Welkin cut off, turning his attention elsewhere.

Noce moved the dead Imperial off the cannon, and started looking at the weapon to see how it worked. A hit to the back of his head caused him to lose consciousness. A young woman came over, taking the communication device from Noce.

"Lieutenant Gunther, you'd do best to leave that tank alone," the woman said to Welkin. "I may be Gallian, but if you hurt my Radi, you won't like the consequences." She said in a sing-sng voice before hanging up, leaving Noce's body where he had fallen.

Salinas, Hector, and Homer had also seen the general's tank in the camp. Hector had gone to shoot it, but found himself knocked flat on his face, Salinas sitting on top of him.

"Don't," he said.

"Salinas, it's a tank. If we don't get rid of it, it could cause problems for us," Hector argued.

"Didn't you see it? It's the most gorgeous thing I've ever had the honor of looking upon. The shape is just perfect and the way the-"

"Salinas, enough. It's a tank, for crying out loud. And get off me. Your uniform isn't hiding your arousal very well, and it's disturbing me."

Salinas' face turned a dark shade of red and he got up off of Hector.

"Be quiet, you two. We don't want the Imperials to catch us," Homer said.

The three of them turned when they heard a shout, and someone talking.

"General Jaeger. We're almost ready."

Then, the Edelweiss came through the front gate of the camp, accompanied by Vyse shooting every Imperial he layed eyes on, quickly running out of ammo. Welkin noticed the Lupus, and took aim to shoot. Before he could fire a single round, he heard a loud, yet feminine sneeze in the momentary silence.

"Shit. Retreat! Leave everything, just get the hell out of here!" General Jaeger yelled to his men, as he retreated his tank.

A young woman ran out from the trees, and attempted to shoot the Lupus' wheels. She missed, and turned to look at the people from Squad Seven. She had slightly wavy, shoulder-length light brown hair and green eyes.

"You were going to shoot my Radi, weren't you," she said, angry look on her face. "I've been following him for quite a while now, and I won't have the militia screwing up all my planning by killing him. So, why don't you just be a dear and leave him to me." The young woman left without another word.

"Well, Sevens, we completed our task. I don't think the Imperials will be coming back here, judging by how much they already took out of here. Let's join up with the others and return to headquarters."

-Notes: I hadn't met Audrey yet, but I wanted her in here somewhere, so I put her in this way.