I am back with an awesome chapter if I do say so myself.
Phoebe: Really?
Simetra: GAH! Since when did you get here?
Phoebe: I was here the whole time.
Simetra: *sweatdrop* I'm feeling deja vu.
Phoebe: But we've never had this conversation before.
Simetra: I know. *sigh*
Phoebe: What?
Simetra: Just please do the disclaimer.
Phoebe: SimetratheHunter does not own anything Fire Emblem or Fire Emblem related. She does, however, own the 10 of us and the extra portions of the story plot!
Simetra: Enjoy!
Prologue 6: Against All Odds
"THE FREAKIN' COMPOUND IS DESIGNED IN A FREAKIN' CIRCLE WITH FOUR FREAKIN' PATHS ALL LEADING DOWNHILL! NO WONDER OUR PARENTS ALL DIED! WHAT HAPPENED TO ALWAYS HAVING THE HIGH GROUND AND A WAY OF ESCAPE? WE'RE SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS!" Allen screams, nearly ripping his map to shreds.
Gerasimos yawns from his position outside the building. "Actually, this place was in the mountains before my family and I had a feud and leveled the place."
The dragon ignores the angry glares from the ten young adults in the room and proceeds to eat his (their) venison. Matt sighs heavily and brings everyone's attention back to the problem at hand. "We still need to figure out how we're going to survive this."
"We can use the buildings to blockade." Rowen suggests pointing to several buildings throughout the compound. "They're ready to collapse so a shot of Robin's magic should do the trick."
"Yeah, but what about the other 30 streets that are still open?" asks Fay in frustration.
"We don't have tae defend aw ay them" Adrian says pulling out his pen and circling key points and drawing lines to the main gates. "Uir compoond is built in four terraces 'at ur now slopin' down insteid ay up." He throws a glare in Gerasimos's direction before continuing. "There's a relatively high dyke, er, wall 'at surrounds each terrace. Each wall has four gates. If we can funnel th' risen intae four mobs, we'll be able tae split up an' hauld them back. If we're bein' overwhelmed, we can abandon a wall an' gang tae th' next, funnelin' them doon intae fewer an' fewer groops."
Allen jumps into the conversation quickly. "It'll be anyone far ranged on the wall while the close ranged people will be the ones doing the fighting and funneling in a sense. Before the Risen break down our walls, we need to block off the pathways we can block off. Matt, Kathy, Phoebe, Robin, and myself will man each wall. Adrian will lead Mikey, Fay, Rowen, and Joy will be the close ranged fighters since Rowen will be able to patch them up as they get beat up."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Joy replies with a scoff and a roll of the eyes.
"You're welcome!" Allen replies, before continuing without missing a beat. "Each of us has at least figured out how to use our abilities."
A snort comes from outside.
"Shut up!" Allen shouts back before turning his attention back to the map. "Use them as many times as you can, but don't use them wastefully. Especially you, Robin. We don't need you burning up in flames, even if that would look really cool and be a perfect way to signal help."
"Why thank you, Allen. I will remember that." Robin replies easily with his quirky smile.
"Thankfully, th' fourth gate can only be accessed by a caved in mountain pass sae we only hae tae defend yerse abit thee gates fur th' first terrace." Adrian mutters, glancing at the faces in the room. "Rowen, ye won't be at a specific gate. Th' sam goes fur me. Th' two ay us will gang in opposite directions, patrollin' th' area atween each gate jist in case. Joy, yoo've got th' eastern gate, Mikey, northern, Fay, western."
"That means that Matt, you've got eastern so that you can jump in with your scythe." Allen begins. "Robin, you're with Mikey. Mikey, don't forget to snag any valuables. Same with you Joy."
"Got it." Mikey says, nodding once.
"Yep," Joy adds with a nervous sigh.
"Kathy, since you're on a horse, you can ride along the tops of the walls. I'll be walking across them so if I have an announcement, you'll deliver it. Phoebe, you've got western gate with Fay. Are we all clear on the game plan?"
"Isn't Gerasimos going to help us?" asks Kathy, looking out the window at the giant dragon.
"These things are weaklings. You don't need my help." Gerasimos replies, licking his teeth slowly, trying to rid them of venison.
"We're outnumber 12 to 1!" Kathy cries, waving her arms wildly at the dragon.
"Do I look like I care?" Gerasimos mutters.
"You cared enough to give us this armor. What if what happened to our parents happens to us?" Kathy fires back, her panic getting the best of her. Gerasimos turns stone cold before looking at her with his golden eye.
"Then, you aren't worthy of caring the family name and deserve to die." he snarls before crushing and crystallizing several buildings on the way back to the mountains and the catacombs beneath.
"Hmph! The nerve!" Kathy glowers angrily in her seat once more.
"He actually did us a favor." Adrian says. "We don't have to worry about the southern gate at all. He's crystallized it all."
"Aw he does care!" says Mikey in a horrible baby voice.
The mood seems to lighten somewhat as the ten file out of the room to meet the enemy.
Western Gate
The front gates are blasted open when the ten friends finish blockading the third ring with only one more to go. "FORGIT TH' LAST RIN'! A' FOWK INTAE POSITION!" Adrian bellows at the top of his lungs before charging to meet the invading Risen at the Western Gate. Fay stretches out her hand for him to grab and the two of them hop into her mare and gallop to the outer most terrace. They could hear the others front liners doing the same. Rowen decides to stay behind the close up all but the northern gates of the inner rings before heading to the front lines.
The Risen don't even bother with the blockades and head straight for the living humans on the other side using the clear pathways. Thankfully, due to their bulky size and the sheer chaos of it all, backlog begins to form in front of the Western gate as the Risen slowly separate into three ragged parties, the largest of which is still one their way to the Western gate.
"Why does this have to happen? Seriously, of all times?" Fay mutters as Adrian hops off of her horse.
"Fay, gonnae-no it. We'll make it."
"But-"
"Repeat efter me. We'll make it."
"But-"
"Fay."
"W-we'll make it."
"Again."
"We'll make it."
"What did you say?"
"WE'LL MAKE IT!"
Fay pants heavily, her eyes still filled with fear, but this time, it's controlled fear. Adrian grins up at her and nods one. "I'll help ye defend th' first wae afair rowen comes an' beats th' snot it ay anythin' 'at hurts ye." Adrian jokes lightly, pulling out his father's sword, Drakon, and giving it a light swing. "Ready?"
Fay nods, pulling out her bow and facing the crowd. She glances down at Adrian's broad back and smiles slightly. "Thanks," she whispers before looking back up and letting her arrow fly.
Bull's eye.
Support level: C
Phoebe sends arrow after arrow down into the crowd of Risen as Adrian has a hay day with the slow moving beasts. The ground that they're handling is roughly about 55 members big and she and Fay only have 12 arrows each. Phoebe scowls and pulls out her sixth arrow. 'Better make each count,' she thinks pulling her arrow back and feeling the familiar tingling sensation in her eyes and fingers. She aims carefully at a cluster of Risen back to back. "Locked on,"
Twang!
The arrow goes sailing through the air, nearly invisible to the naked eye and strikes the first Risen through the neck before continuing one through the necks of the three behind it and into the eye of a shorter, thief Risen.
"Bull's eye,"
Twang! Twang! Twang!
Three arrows in swift succession fly into the crowd of 20, now 17, Risen chasing after Fay. Seeing that a large crowd would hinder how effective she is, Fay leads her mare away from the crowd, attacking Risen along the way. Several of the ugly beasts are lumbering behind her as she rides circles around them.
Fay tsks as she glances back at her quiver.
Only four left.
"Well, might as well." she mutters softly, immediately feeling the drain of her ability.
To any innocent passerby, it seens as if the mare's legs just caught on fire, Greek fire, as the rider slumps forward slightly in th saddle. Fay breathes deeply as her steed charges into the fray, crushing five Risen to death with one go.
Rearing up on her hind legs, Demetra the mare goes charging into the crowd of 12 Risen again, legs flaring while knocking over the Risen like pins.
"Strike,"
"TAK' THES!" Adrian roars, swinging Drakon at three Risen, effectively sending three of them flying backwards: two dead and one injured.
"Thes troaps arenae 'at stroaner. Ah wonder wa Allen was sae worraed. Eh." Adrian carelessly shrugs as he slashes at another set of Risen, not really wanting to use his tome since his magical abilities are rather pathetic at this point.
Suddenly the parts of the defeated Risen begin to collate at one point, forming a larging Risen three times the size of the originals. Adrian stiffens and raises his sword to block the on-coming attack.
Crash!
The attack sends Adrian flying into the through the first Western gate. He attempts to stand up when a flash of black jumps in front of him as a piercing arrow cuts its way through the beast's eye.
Adrian's vision grows very fuzzy after a few seconds before a bright, almost painfully so, glow shrouds him from the fight a few yards away. He could distinctly hear Allen's laughter over the soft hum of his glowing cocoon.
'I'll ne'er be able tae live thes doon.' he thinks as the cocoon around him lightens and disappears, revealing Rowen, medic extraordinaire.
"Thanks Lassie," Adrian calls over his shoulder and charges back into the fray, taking on one of the five giant Risen now.
He channels his energy into his legs to dodge a powerful blow before transfering all that energy and slashing the Risen's arm off. "Ye are playin' with tae big boys now."
A loud whoosh sails over his head, making him snap his neck back. "ROWEN!"
The medic is busy patching up an exhausted looking Fay when the ax slashes her arm to the bone. Screaming in pain, Rowen hutches over Fay's body, protecting her. The Risen cackles and goes to finish her off when a bright flash shines out of Rowen's hand and blasts a part of the Risen's arm.
"I'll be taking that." she hisses, her voice like rumbling gravel. Immediately, the wound on her arm closes up as if nothing had happened, but an identical wound of proportial size appears on the Risen's arm. "Checkmate,"
BOOM! A blazing fire storm captures the injured Risen's arm and leg into its depths and refuses to let go. Slowly, the giant Risen fades into black and purple sparks.
One down four more to go.
"Robin! Chill out!" Allen shouts from his position not far away, his eyes picking up on every single weak point on the beast. He sends a bolt of Elthunder into one of the weak spots, sending the target tumblign into one of his teammates.
The blonde haired boy gasps heavily and attempts to adjust his fogged up glasses. Along his skin are large splotches of red that look quite swollen and enflamed. He s sweating way too much for a low ranged unit, and his body is shaking so badly that he's about to collapse.
"Robin, sit down." Matt orders, charing past him and swinging his scythe down at the Risen, draggin the curved blade down its back. "Mikey will be here with your tomes in a few minutes."
"Robin!" Mikey calls carrying an average sized bag over hi shoulder. The rouge swiftly unties the knot and dumps out enough books with fill three bookshelves. "Take your pick, Dude. I filled my inventory to the max and still made it here on time."
Robin nods his thanks silently, trying to calm his breathing enough to chant.
Mikey nods and runs forward to help with the fight. One of the smaller Risen reaches back to grab an arrow from its sheath to kill Joy with, but it gapes in surprise to find that its quiver is completely empty along with all of the other Risen archers in the area.
Mikey appears before Phoebe and Fay with his bag loaded with arrows. "Happy Birthday." he says simply before chucking his knife at a Risen's head. Joy dodges her opponent and lands lightly not far from him. Three Risen charge at her from all angles, but moving at an impossibly fast rate, Joy dodges all of them and slits the three Risen's throats, only to have them join the massive Risen.
The ten friends fall back to the second wall but before them could close it, the giant Risen begin jumping and pounding with such strength that the pillars in the catecombs beneath the compound buckle and collapse, bringing everyone to their knees as the grounds heaves so violently that one would think it was liquid instead of solid.
"WHAT HAPPENING?" asks Joy over the noise, her body curling up into a ball on a tiny patch of sturdy (somewhat) ground.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?" asks Allen not sounding all that scared.
"HOW CAN YOU NOT BE WORRIED?" asks Robin, abandonning a attempt to save his glasses.
"Becau-"
Allen is cut off as a very angry look dragon burst out from the cataecombs beneath the Risen's feet.
"You idiots woke me up." Gerasimos states simply, striding forward with his spines glistening, his wings spread, and his eyes gleaming. "I don't like being woken up."
The group of tens watch in horrified fascination as Gerasimos reduces the giant Risen that punctured through their walls as if it was made of puddy in rag dolls and scraps. His mace of a tail swings widely as he sends painfully crystallized breath into his enemies' faces before infinishing the job with his butcher knife-sized teeth.
In a matter of seconds, the Risen that nearly killed them all, are all decimated, reduced into a pile of dust. Gerasimos scowls and turns to his students who are all battered and brusied. Grunting softly, he climbs back into the catecombs, leaving the ten behind in the mess that was created.
Done! I know I haven't been updating in a while, but I was working on other stories and such on other sites. :o) I hope you guys like that chapter. I didn't want to make the OC's OP, but I didn't want to make them so weak that low level Risen could beat them up. Tell me if I succeeded in doing so or give constructive criticism Thank you so much for supporting the story! See you later!