Sorry for the wait again, everyone. But, here it is. After I saw how short it was as just a paralogue, I decided to add a little something else in the mix. Speaking of, we have a pair of new characters joining the Shepherds. Who are they? Well, you have to read and find out~!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or Pokemon. I also do not own the opening, which is Papermoon, a Soul Eater opening.
*OPENING*
(Instrumental)
(The scene begins with the assassination of East Ninja Village. Coral, watching the scene from above, lets out a loud scream. Scene then changes to the title)
I'm falling
Down into my shadow
Holding in my every breath
As I await the deadly night
(Coral fell in dark water. She looked up at the surface and saw her family looking down at her as she tried to reach them. A whirlpool was picked up, dragging her away from them)
So scary
But you can't give into this
Fear of pumpkin carriages
Cause all the witches see it in your eyes
(Chrom and Robin were walking down the halls of the former's castle with troubled looks. Camera zooms out to reveal that it was seen in the eye of a crazy ruler and a dark mage. Screenshots of a Dark Flier and a general covered the screen)
See you in your dreams
Yeah, baby
(Screenshots of each of the Shepherds and Emmeryn going on with their normal lives came and gone in order of appearance)
Your nightmares, too
That's where I'll find you
(Scene changed to somewhere in space where Arceus was seen watching over Coral)
Fairy Blue
It is only for you
That I would crush the stars
And put them on display
(Coral, her Pokemon and the Shepherds were battling against the Risen and Plegians)
Black Paper Moon
(Coral's team were watching their leader sadly watching the sunset)
If you really put your faith in me
(Camera zooms over to many Pokemon that will be joining the Shepherds)
When you're lost here, I am
Forever with your soul
(Marth was fighting off many Risen on her own while heading to a portal)
Waiting here above you patiently
Just like the shining moon
(Scene changed and Coral took Marth's place as she ran to her clan's killer with a killing intent. They clashed and fought. Coral skidded back as she glared up at the murderer)
The group continued their way back to Ylisstol. As they walked, they saw trouble up ahead of them.
"Risen!" Seth shouted.
"Can't we take a break from these guys?!" Lissa complained.
"Sure, if you want the village up ahead to die by their hands," Coral said. "Now come on!" With those words, the group charged to the group of Risen.
At the village entrance, there were a few people knocking on the door, begging to be let in.
"Help! Heeelp! Open the gates! The dead walk the earth! If you've any kindness in you, open the gates! We're from Woodham, up the road! You KNOW us! Please, open the-! Gods, no. ... No! They're here! Aaaiiieeeeee!" One of the people cowered in fear as a Risen raised an axe at him.
It swung his weapon down. Instead of meeting death, the cowering refugee heard the sound of metal clashing against metal. He looked and saw a strangely dressed person in white, wearing a mask just like Coral and Kazuto. Blocking the Risen's strike was a blue and yellow sword.
"Are you okay?!" she asked.
"Y-... Yes..." he nodded.
"Good." She managed to push the Risen back. "You guys stay back!"
"Mama! Be careful!" a child with them cried out. In the girl's arms was a big egg.
The older girl nodded before looking back at the zombie warriors before her. "This calls for some back-up." She took out a familiar ball from her pocket. "Help me out, Anubis!"
Appearing out of the ball was a blue and black canine-like Pokemon with a short spike on the back on his forepaws and one on his chest.
"Leave it to me, Yuuki," it spoke in a female's voice.
Her sudden appearance surprised the refugees, to the point of them showing fear. Well, all except-
"Good luck, mama! Anubis!" the little girl cheered.
"You heard Kazuki," Yuuki told Anubis. "Let's go!"
"Right!" she nodded. The two head off into battle.
The Shepherds arrived at the scene, just in time to see Yuuki and Anubis fighting against the Risen, protecting the refugees.
"Coral! That's-!" Seth spoke.
The ninja girl knew the two, clear as day. "Yuuki! Anubis!"
"Friends of your's?" Sully asked.
"Yeah. And if they're here..." Coral looked at the refugees they were protecting and saw a certain child from amongst them. "Kazuki!"
Kazuki looked, noticing the group approaching them. A smile formed on her face at the sight of a certain ninja. "Big sister!"
Yuuki heard her cry and glanced at the group approaching them. A smile also formed on her face at the sight of a familiar face. "Looks like we're not alone after all." She jabbed a pegasus knight Risen many times, killing it off.
Coral leapt into the air, hitching a ride on another pegasus knight Risen and killed the rider, taking full control over the flying mount. "This way!" She directed it over to some Risen Knights. Once they were close enough, she killed the beast and leapt off, causing it to crash into her targets. Coral then took out some shurikens and threw them, finishing off the Risen Knights.
The blue ninja landed right besides the purple ninja. "Never thought we'd meet again like this. Or we would reunite at all," she said.
"You can say that again," Yuuki nodded. "I was especially fortunate enough to even save Kazuki from that madness."
'So she saw the attack too,' Coral thought, blocking an attack from a soldier.
"Did you see who the attacker was?" she asked.
Yuuki dodged a hit from a Risen fighter and cut his arms off before dealing the finishing blow. "Arceus got me and Kazuki out of there before I could see the face. But the attacker wore a black robe," she answered.
"I see." Coral killed off another Risen soldier.
With Chrom and Gladiknight, while the other Shepherds fought against the rest of the Risen, they made their way to the village that shunned the refugees. "Excuse me! This is Chrom, captain of the Shepherds! Open the gates!"
Unlike last time, the doors opened, revealing an elderly man. "Is it really? Shepherds are always welcome here. Please, take this with you." He gave Chrom a bow and arrow. "And you can also have this." He reached in his pocket and took out a stone of some sort. "I don't know what it is, but I can tell this contains some sort of great power."
Chrom accepted the items. "Listen. There were refugees here and you turned them away. Why?"
"We're a peaceful town, sir. We have no weapons, nor any want for them. We survive by barring our gates to those who might bring us harm, friend or foe. Harsh as it may be, I can't have my people dying on account of other folks' problems..."
Chrom stayed silent at his reason. In truth, he was really angry at their way, to turn away from those who needed help. Not only that, the elder claimed Shepherds were welcome in their village, yet just told him they wanted nothing to do with anyone who fights even for the side of good.
The young prince wasn't the only one who thought that. "How could you do that?!" came Coral's voice. Chrom and the elder looked over to the ninja, who just killed a Risen Pegasus Knight before it could raise its weapon on Chrom. "I understand you don't want to get involved in conflict, but you prevented a group of innocents from entering your village! And there was a child amongst them! You're lucky they have someone who can fight with them, or their blood would've been on your hands! Not ours', not the Pokemon, not even the Risen; your hands! All because you don't want to have anything to do with outsiders who were looking for protection! If that child had died, well, I hope you feel happy, knowing you let a kid die!" With that said, Coral went back to killing more Risen.
Chrom couldn't help but be shocked at what had happened. It sounded as though Coral had experienced being turned a blind eye, or at least was in a situation similar to the refugees'.
With the kunoichi, as she continued fighting and killing Risen, her mind went back to what she overheard the elder said about not opening the gates to any outsiders. If anything, it sounded exactly like what Arceus did to her village and everyone else's. He had the power to save her friends, and yet he left everyone else to die. Not only that, but there's Dialga and Palkia, the gods of time and space. Despite that, even they didn't help. They had the ability, the opportunity, to save many, and they refused to take them.
These thoughts made Coral angrier, as she relentlessly killed more Risen.
After wiping the zombie soldiers away, Kazuki ran to her mother, Coral and Seth. "Mama! Big sister! Seth!"
Yuuki kneeled down and hugged her daughter, who tried to hug her back while carrying the egg in her arms. "Kazuki! Are you okay?"
"Yeah!" she nodded. "What about you, Kazuki?"
"Anubis and the villagers kept me safe!"
"I see." Yuuki looked up at the villagers. "Thank you for protecting her."
"It's your rabbit creature that did all the work," one of the villagers said. He approached Chrom. "I've not the words to thank you, nor the treasure to repay you. But take this. I didn't think people like you still existed. I'll... I'll never forget this." The villager handed him a Strength Tonic, which Chrom accepted.
"You should best come with us, if you wish to live in peace," Coral offered. "That's okay with you, right, Chrom?"
"Of course. Especially since there are villages that view Risen as other people's problems," the prince agreed.
"False peace is not true peace. No one in their right mind would want to live in that sort of world," Seth pointed out.
"All I can hope for is that they realize the truth before it's too late."
After the Risen incident, or the aftermath of it, the group continued on back to Ylisstol, with the refugees, Yuuki and Kazuki in their group. Anubis was returned to her Pokeball.
"So you're more of Coral's friends?" Lissa asked.
"Yes, we are," Yuuki answered.
"Didn't think we'd meet another one of her friends. Or another trainer at least," Sully admitted.
"'Another'? Who else is here?"
"Kazuto," Stahl answered.
"Papa's here?!" Kazuki gasped.
Everyone raised an eyebrow at that question. Unless if Kazuto was actually older than they thought, he seemed a bit young to have a seven-year-old daughter.
"Whose Barbaracle did you think this was?" Coral asked in a playful tone, a tone no one in the Shepherds thought they'd hear.
"Kazuto's here too?!" Yuuki also gasped. She removed her mask, revealing, to the Shepherds' shock, an adorable face with blue eyes and long orange hair. "How do I look?! Besides my clothes, do I look okay?! No, more importantly, is he okay?! Tell me nothing happened to him!"
'There's something wrong with their world!' they all thought, for Yuuki also seemed a bit too young for a daughter.
"He's fine. So are you. Besides, you know Kazuto still loves you no matter what," Coral said.
Hearing that calmed Yuuki. "Yeah, you're right. I guess it's been too long since I last saw him, I panicked."
"Mama, big sister. What about me?" Kazuki asked.
"You're fine too, Kazuki. Has your father ever judge how you look?" Seth asked back.
A smile formed on the little girl's face. "Right! He hasn't!"
It was here Miriel started to ask, "Wait, what does she mean 'mama' and 'papa'?"
The three ninjas and little girl looked and saw everyone looking at them with confused looks.
"Oh. Yuuki and Kazuto found Kazuki back when we were preteens. At that time, Kazuki barely knows how to speak and walk. We asked about her parents, but she couldn't remember anything about her past. So we took it upon ourselves to raise her. Yuuki and Kazuki spent more time with her, that she decided to call them her parents," Coral explained. Everyone seemed relieved at that explanation. After all, it would be a bit weird for a couple to do... 'that' at a young age.
With that out of the way, Maribelle asked another question that was on everyone's mind. "And? What's with that egg?"
All attention went to the said egg in Kazuki's arms.
"Now that she mentioned it, what kind of bird laid an egg like that?" Stahl asked.
"The Vaike has never seen an egg that big before," Vaike said.
"Must be rare. Bet it would sell for a lot~" Anna joked.
Kazuki panicked at those words. "Don't sell this!" she begged, getting teary-eyed.
"I-It was a joke! Honest!" the merchant assured.
"But really though, what's with that egg?" Virion asked.
"If that egg isn't from here, is it from your world?" Sully asked.
"Yeah. And whatever is going to hatch from it, Kazuki is going to take care of it. She was the one who found it after all," Yuuki said.
The girl smiled as she hugged and snuggled her Pokemon egg.
"Wonder what sort of bird will hatch from that egg," Sumia said, looking at Avian. The Braviary looked at his partner in a confused expression.
"Might be a lizard Pokemon," Lon'qu guessed, glancing over at Salamander.
"An egg that size?!" Lissa questioned.
"Or a wyvern!" Ricken also guessed.
The natural trainers and disguised Pokemon looked at them in confusion. "Why are you just assuming those three species?" Kazuki asked. That question made them look back at them with confused expressions.
Coral and Seth realized they didn't tell them anything about where Pokemon came from.
"Oh yeah. Where we're from, it's not just Pokemon that looks like birds, lizards or wyvern that come from eggs. Pokemon in general come from eggs," the ninja of the East Village informed.
Everyone went silent and wide-eyed at the news.
"... Even the mammals?" Robin asked. The ninjas nodded at her question.
It was silent again. Until...
"That makes no sense at all!" Miriel exclaimed, looking over her notes and taking out many books out of nowhere, looking up where animals of all kind comes from.
"I think you broke her," Chrom said. The Shepherds, their guests and the Pokemon with them couldn't help but nod in agreement.
The rest of the walk back remained uneventful. There were no Risen, no bandits, no Plegians coming in their way during the rest of the trip, but they did see some wild Pokemon. Most feared the Pokemon they saw would attack on sight, but the ninjas reassured them that, like with the Pokemon the Feroxi confronted when they first met Kazuto, the Pokemon wouldn't attack or approach them for no reason.
Upon their return...
"Stop thieves!" came a familiar voice. They turned and saw Frederick chasing after three creatures. One of them was a brown, lion cub with red fur on its head in a mohawk-style. Another was a dog with a mustache and blue fur on his back, acting as a cloak. And the third was what seemed like an ape the size of a child, whose body was covered in shaggy white fur and a visible stress mark on the left side of its forehead. It also had metal shackles on its wrists and ankles. All three of them had sacks in their mouths or hands.
"Are those-?!" Chrom gasped.
"Litleo, Herdier and Primeape! A Lion Cub Pokemon, a Loyal Dog Pokemon and a Pig Monkey Pokemon respectively!" Seth identified.
"And by the looks of things, those Pokemon are stealing!" Robin said. "Let's go stop them!" The Shepherds nodded and charged into the fray.
The Herdier noticed the group coming at them and barked what sounded like an order. "Herdier!"
"Leo/Prime!" the other two Pokemon responded, as they went their separate ways, much to the Shepherds' shock, as they collided with Frederick.
Recovering from the crash, the Great Knight opened his eyes and saw his prince lying next to him. "Milord! Forgive me! I didn't know you returned," he said.
"It's okay, Frederick," Chrom assured. "More importantly, we have to catch those Pokemon."
They nodded and split up into three groups.
With the group going after the Litleo, the feline Pokemon was quite fast and nimble. She slipped through the crowds, avoiding the Shepherds as they tried to catch or even try to keep up with her. Sully noticed where she was going and took a different path to cut her off.
"That Pokemon is really fast!" Ricken commented.
"We're going to lose it at this rate!" Miriel said. "We can't even use our magic without risking these people's lives."
"What are we going to do?!" Donnel asked. Tepig also looked at them with a questioning look.
"I can try to shoot it in the legs," Virion suggested.
"No! Don't hurt the Pokemon!" Kazuki begged, looking at him with teary puppy-dog eyes.
"O-Okay! I won't!"
Barbara calmed the child down.
With the Lion Cub Pokemon, she looked back for a moment and saw that her pursuers stopped chasing after her. This brought a smirk on her face, until she bumped into something. Looking up with the sack still in her mouth, she saw it was Sully she bumped into, her hands on her hips as she looked down at the Litleo with her own smirk.
"Going somewhere?" she asked in a playful tone. Just as she bent down to pick up the small Pokemon, Litleo breathed out a stream of flames. This caught Sully by surprise as she quickly leaned back, falling on her butt. Litleo saw this chance to continue her escape.
"Hey! Come back here!" Sully ran after the Fire/Normal-type Pokemon.
With the group after Primeape, the Pig Monkey Pokemon was crashing into things, taking down any obstacles he saw, blocking the Shepherds' path.
"That Pokemon's going to tear down the plaza at this rate!" Lissa said.
"We can't let that happen!" Robin said. She looked at Sparky, who had been on her shoulders since they started to walk back. "Sparky, can you catch up with that Pokemon?"
"Pika!" he nodded, jumping off his trainer's shoulders and speeding through the path.
Just when he caught up to the aggressive Pokemon, the Primeape turned and unleashed a Power-Up Punch at him, knocking him back to the Shepherds.
"Sparky!" Robin knelt down by his side, while everyone else went after the thieving Pokemon. "Are you okay?"
"Pi... kachu..." he spoke, getting back up on his feet.
Back to the group ahead of them, the Primeape glanced back at the group chasing him and picked up his speed.
"The Vaike's not going to let you escape!" the Shepherd's fighter declared, as he picked up some speed, catching up to the Fighting-type Pokemon.
The Pig Pokemon noticed him catching up and used Power-Up Punch. Vaike saw through his attack and countered it with his axe. A smirk came on the human's face as he successfully blocked the attack, only for it to fade as he saw his opponent glowing red and punched him in the face, forcing Vaike away.
"Vaike!" Stahl cried out. Looking back at the thrashing Pokemon, Stahl had his horse speed up. Once he caught up to the Pokemon, he was met with the same fate as his ally and crash into Kellam.
"You okay, Stahl?" he asked.
Maribelle, Barbara, Lon'qu and Salamander sped past them.
"Halt, you barbarian ape!" the former demanded. Of course, the 'barbarian ape' didn't do as told.
"Salamander. Go ahead of us and use Work Up. Then, when you get to that Pokemon, Brick Break him," Lon'qu ordered.
"Mele," the Charmeleon nodded, rushing on ahead as his body was enveloped in red aura.
The Flame Pokemon caught up with the Pig Monkey and unleashed a Brick Break, in which he responded with a Power-Up Punch, blocking the attack. Due to the boost in attack from Work Up and Power-Up Punch, as the two attacks collided, a small shockwave was created. The civilians around them felt that wave and couldn't help but be frightened, especially since some of them saw the ground below Primeape crack from the pressure. The Pokemon in question then whacked Salamander away with his sack. Salamander grabbed the bag last second, tearing it as he was sent away. The Fighting-type Pokemon saw the bag tear as the contents in it spilled out. Knowing he had no time to get all of the items, Primeape grabbed one of the things he stole and continued to run.
"Hey! Stop right there!" Vaike shouted, running after the Primeape with Maribelle, Barbara, Robin and Sparky behind him. Lon'qu went to check on his student.
The latter two stopped when they saw the items the Primeape left behind. Strangely enough they look like...
"Herbs?" Robin questioned. She then recalled that one time when a Pokemon stole something from the stores. "Are those Pokemon...?"
Lissa caught up to them. "What's wrong, Robin?"
With the group going after the Herdier, they weren't having better luck with him as the others with their thieves. The Loyal Dog Pokemon was too smart for them, knocking things over to delay their chase or going through places too small for them to go through.
"Where's Kazuto?" Chrom asked Frederick as they tried to catch up to the Pokemon.
"Don't know. Haven't seen him at all today," the knight answered. "Also, for a Pokemon that's called a Loyal Dog, it is quite the thief, isn't it?" The question was directed to the ninjas with a hint of sarcasm.
"Wild Pokemon have reasons to come in contact with civilization. For Herdier, Litleo and Primeape to come into town to steal is not at all normal," Yuuki said. "As you said, Herdier is called the Loyal Dog Pokemon, which means he has a good sense of justice, helping out trainers and other Pokemon."
"'Other Pokemon'?" Chrom repeated. He then recalled one incident that occurred the day Coral and Seth became a Shepherd. "Coral, Seth! Are those three Pokemon stealing because...?"
"So you caught on. That's good. That means you're becoming more and more like a real trainer," the east ninja said.
"Wait, you mean this happened before?" Sumia asked.
"Yeah. Back before we met you guys," Seth answered.
"Hey! Look out!" Anna shouted.
They looked up and saw the Herdier jumping over a fence, making a clean getaway with his sack.
"We'll go on ahead!" Yuuki informed, as she, Coral and Seth jumped over the fence, continuing their pursuit.
"Hey! Stop!" Frederick called.
"Gladiknight, give me a hand!" Chrom told his brother-in-arms.
"Galla," he nodded. He bent down before Chrom, giving the prince a jumping boost over the fence. He then followed his master over the obstacle and back to chasing the Herdier.
"Help me, Avian," Sumia requested.
The Braviary nodded, letting his trainer on his back as he followed their target from the air.
"Us too," Anna spoke. Bullion suddenly dug a hole, big enough for the merchant to go through. Anna went in the hole after her Pokemon, and both ended up on the other side of the fence.
Watching how close they were with the Pokemon, Frederick couldn't believe his eyes. He mostly couldn't believe how much trust his prince has shown to Gladiknight. Chrom never showed that much trust in Frederick. Not only that, but he made Gladiknight his brother-in-arms when they barely knew each other, whereas Frederick was just his bodyguard. This all frustrated the guy, as well as saddened him.
'These Magical Creatures... They're ruining my life,' he thought.
The Herdier continued on down the path to the woods. There, he met up with his fellow thieves and they ran deeper into the woods, unaware that they were still being followed by the Shepherds, most who caught up with them.
Those following Herdier quickly informed them of their assumption as to why the three were stealing those items, changing their plan of capturing them and turning them in to following them and confirm their assumption.
"You do realize that either way, we have to bring them in, right?" Miriel asked.
"True as that may be, if we tell the people that their intentions were for good, they will understand, and Emmeryn will lighten their punishment," Chrom pointed out.
"Hence why we're following them like this; to have proof," Yuuki finished, as they continued to tail them.
They followed them to a big tree. To their shock and surprise, Kazuto was right by it. It seemed they weren't the only ones who were surprised, for Herdier, Litleo and Primeape tensed at the sight of him.
"Are you the three Pokemon they told me about?" he spoke. None of the three said a word or made a move. "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. Or the sick Munchlax and the Floette and Comfey taking care of him."
Hearing that shocked most of the Shepherds.
"So they did steal those stuff for other Pokemon," Robin said.
"And a sick one he said?" Stahl asked.
"I can help you. I can help that Munchlax. We can help him," Kazuto spoke. Most of the Shepherds flinched at the last sentence. Realizing they couldn't hide much longer, they made themselves known to the thieving Pokemon. They tensed the moment they assumed they were surrounded.
"At ease," Coral spoke. "As Kazuto said, we're only here to help."
"You have to believe us. We wouldn't turn our backs on Pokemon in need," Yuuki said.
The Litleo and Primeape looked to the Herdier. The leader of the group of Pokemon stared at each of the humans in their unwavering eyes. After confirming that they really did want to help, he nodded and stepped aside, as if giving them permission to look into the hideout. The group walked to the tree. Kazuto moved the vines covering the hole, revealing a floating lei and a white and green fairy holding a yellow flower taking care of a round, teal Pokemon with a cream spot on its chest. The last of the three Pokemon seemed to be in great pain.
"A Comfey and a Floette," Seth identified.
"They really did steal for a sick Pokemon," Donnel said in slight surprise.
"Mama told you wild Pokemon do things for good reason," Kazuki said.
The teen ninjas kneeled down and approached the hiding Pokemon. The healers stood in between them and the sick Munchlax. They stayed silent, simply staring at them in the eyes. After sensing that they have no intention to harm them, the two got out of their way. Coral looked at the Munchlax and gave a thorough analysis. Her eyes narrowed at the problem. "This Munchlax..." she spoke.
"What's wrong with it?!" Lissa asked, already worried for the Pokemon.
"This Munchlax is..."
"Is...?" Ricken repeated, also worried.
"Just having a stomachache." At that anticlimatic answer, everyone anime-fell.
"A stomachache?!" Vaike questioned.
"Primeape?!" the Pig Monkey Pokemon also questioned.
"To be more precise, he ate something that didn't agree with him." The Munchlax seemed to smile nervously at the information.
"The little guy just confirmed that to be true," Seth translated.
"You may be a Big Eater Pokemon, but that doesn't mean your stomach is incredible strong," Coral said. "Even you have to watch what you eat."
"Munchlax..." he spoke.
"Just stick with some fruits for a couple of days and you'll be fine." The Big Eater Pokemon nodded.
Kazuto turned to Herdier, Litleo and Primeape. "As for you three, though your intentions are good, you still have to make up for stealing all this stuff," The lowered their heads and nodded. Comfey and Floette floated over to him and seemed to be asking him to let them off easy, since they had good intentions when they stole the stuff.
"Whatever will happen to them is not up to us," Seth told them. "It's up to the Exalt. And knowing her, when she hears about why they stole, she will lighten their punishment."
"He's right," Chrom agreed. "Knowing Emm, she'll probably let them off the hook with a pat on the back."
Hearing that eased the wild Pokemon.
"But even so, how are we going to explain to the townspeople about what happened today?" Maribelle brought up.
That question worried them, especially the Shepherds. They wanted the rumors about Pokemon to remain as rumors but now...
"I guess we'll have to tell the truth," Coral said, to their shock. "At this rate, it won't be long before the whole world has Pokemon. Besides, they kind of already know about them from the last incident."
Chrom and Robin knew what she meant. Thinking about it now, they questioned why they made Pokemon a secret in the first place when some people knew about them from that baby Kangaskhan. That said, the group went back into town to explain to the townspeople about Pokemon.