R.O.F: Hey guys! We're back!
T.U.M.S.P.F: Sorry for not updating. Our internet was down.
R.O.F: Yeah, it kinda sucked.
T.U.M.S.P.F: Anyways, let's get this chapter started!
(Line Break)
While the shepherds continued traveling onward, they found themselves within a desert. The heat was getting to some of the shepherds, but there were few who withstood the sun's rays. While others complained endlessly.
"Why are we here!? How long are we going to be here!?" Conroy asked, loudly and annoyingly. "Seriously it's hot as hell and this sand is killing me!"
"Can you shut up!? Oh wait, wrong question. Would you shut up!?" Connor asked, irritation in his voice. His twin brother was the second thing that was annoying him. The first thing being this desert.
Conroy gave Connor a dirty look, "I don't think I can shut up and the answer to your other question is NO!"
Connor stayed silent, not wanting to waste his breath on his reckless twin brother. Conroy missed the message they received about Emmeryn's execution. The shepherds just happened to be here. It was the fastest way to get to where they were going.
"Wait a minute. Is that a girl being chased by a grown man?" Conroy asked incredulously, noticing a little girl in little to no clothes being chased by a man wearing mercenary clothing.
"What an odd situation." Connor remarked calmly.
"Hey! Get away from that girl!" Chrom shouted to the man.
The man had a hurt expression on his face. "Gregor would never hurt little one. Gregor has innocent baby face. See?"
Chrom, Connor, Conroy, and Lissa had blank faces, not believing this man for a second. Although he wasn't hurting the little girl, so he did have a point.
Conroy noticed some strange looking people ready their weapons. "Guys, we have some trouble!"
"We'll figure out what to do with that man later. Shepherds, to arms!" Chrom brandished falchion, waiting for the twin tactician's orders.
"Connor, you'll go with Panne to help out those two." Conroy pointed out the little girl and the grown man to Connor and Panne. The pair nodded, heading out to assist the little girl and the grown man. "Sumia and Cordelia, you two will head out to save those nearby villages. Donnel, you go with Cordelia and Chrom, you go with Sumia."
Cordelia held a sad look for a moment, but nodded anyway. Sumia doing the same. Donnel and Chrom got on Cordelia and Sumia's mounts respectively. The four headed out to do their task. The only ones remaining were Conroy, Lissa, Maribelle, and Ricken.
"The four of us will go to take out the boss. Follow my lead." Conroy drew his iron sword and charged into the battlefield, the other three following closely behind.
(With Connor and Panne)
"Haaah!" Connor shouted, cutting a myrmidon's head off. "These guys are savages."
Panne took out a dark mage with kick, sending said dark mage over to the man from earlier. Once the man noticed the dark mage next to him, he stabbed the dark mage in the head.
"What are your names?" Connor asked, once he reached the man and the little girl. He noticed the man had a scar or two on his face. He also had red hair that short. The little girl was wearing purple boots with small clothes that covered her private areas. She also had yellowish-green hair and purple eyes. Connor noticed the little girl's ears were pointy.
"My name is Gregor. The little one's name is Nowi." The man, now known as 'Gregor', introduced himself and the little girl, who is still shaken up from earlier.
"Nice to meet the both of you. My name is Connor and the giant bunny-like creature other there is Panne." Connor said, getting a glare from the taguel lady.
"Gregor is pleasured to meet you. Wait a minute, where is Nowi?" Gregor said, looking around for Nowi until he and Connor noticed her getting attacked by a dark mage.
"Oh no. She's in troub-" Connor was interrupted by a light. Once the light dimmed, a dragon was flying where Nowi once was. "That girl is a dragon!?"
"Looks like she won't be needing much of our help." Gregor said with a smile on his face.
"Yes, but that won't stop me from me from assisting her anyway." Connor remarked. "You go help Nowi and I'll go help out Panne."
"I will be going now." Gregor said with a nod. He then ran over to Nowi, ready to assist her.
"Now to do my part." Connor thought, looking at Panne fight off a myrmidon and a barbarian with slight difficultly.
With a war cry, Connor ran over to the barbarian and jumped up, bring his steel sword down on the unsuspecting man. Connor missed and the barbarian retaliated with horizontal swing of his axe. Connor brought his sword up to block the attack. Once the attack connected, Connor let out a grunt and harshly pushed the barbarian to the ground. Connor stood over the barbarian and grabbed his axe and threw it at the unsuspecting myrmidon, cutting into his head. Connor then stabbed the barbarian through his chest, ending his life.
"You just took out two man-spawn with ease. Remarkable effort." Panne complimented Connor for his actions.
"As long as I have someone to protect, I'm will use any means to keep them safe." Connor said, throwing the blood off his steel sword. "While I was conversing with Gregor and Nowi, I noticed Conroy, Lissa, Maribelle, and Ricken go ahead of us to take out their leader. Conroy does usually plan like that."
"He's doing his task. Let's focus on ours." Panne said, entering a battle stance once she saw more enemies approaching.
"Yes, we shall." Connor relied, also entering a battle stance.
(With Chrom's group)
"I have to admit, it was a good idea to have Sumia and Cordelia save the villages while you and I take out this men." Chrom remarked, stabbing a myrmidon through his throat.
"Yeah, it was a good idea." Donnel replied, dodging an axe swing from a barbarian. Doneel jabbed his lance through the barbarian's head.
Chrom looked around for any remaining enemies. Once he saw were none, he sheathed falchion and waited at the village's gate with Donnel. The pair decided to wait to hear from Sumia and Cordelia about the other two villages.
"I wonder how the others are fairing. Do you Donnel?" Chrom said, looking at the farm boy.
"Yeah, I do. I'm kinda worried though." Donnel replied, sighing.
"Have faith in our comrades." Chrom reassured the farm boy with pat on his back.
"Thanks, lord Chrom." Donnel replied with a smile.
"Just call me Chrom. No need for honorifics." Chrom chuckled at the farm boy.
"Sorry, I thought I needed to bow down to you. I respect you a lot." Donnel chuckled in slight embarrassment.
"I treat everyone as if we were equals. Nobody stands above you." Chrom stated.
Donnel nodded, indicating that he agreed with that statement. The two decided to sit down, since standing took away their energy. Chrom was right though. How are the other doing?
(With Conroy's group)
Conroy dodged a cavalier's sword strike by rolling. Conroy backed up to where Ricken was. There were five enemies standing in their way to get to their leader. Conroy snapped his fingers, an attack plan in his mind.
"Hey Ricken, I got an idea." Conroy whispered to young mage next to him.
"Well, what is it?" Ricken asked, slightly eager to hear what the brash tactician had in store for the both of themselves.
"I'll cast an elfire when they get close enough. Then you will use an elwind to expand the flames, burning all of them to nothing." Conroy informed Ricken of his plan.
Ricken nodded and the pair waited for the five enemies to charge at them, they were all bunched together. This plan was gonna work effectively.
Lissa and Maribelle were slightly faraway from Ricken and Conroy, wondering what the hell were they doing.
"What are they doing?" Lissa asked, slightly worried.
"I don't know, Lissa. It might be a... sacrificial plan?" Maribelle replied, guessing what their plan was.
"Conroy's gotta be thinking of something amazing! Yeah, that's right. Amazing!" Lissa said, trying worry less about Conroy and Ricken, but failing.
"Whatever it is, it better be good or those two are dead." Maribelle replied with worry.
Conroy and Ricken waited. Conroy was calm, but Ricken was getting fearful. Conroy noticed this though.
"Don't worry. We got this." Conroy readied his elfire tome. Ricken readied his elwind tome.
"I'll be ready. Don't worry about me." Ricken replied, confidence in his voice.
Once the five enemies got close enough, Conroy shot an elfire at them, burning them all. Then Ricken shot an elwind, expanding the flames a little too much. The blast sent the pair flying back a little bit. Once Conroy and Ricken collected themselves, they saw the massive flames that they made.
"Hell yeah! Now that's what I call an attack plan!" Conroy shouted in glee.
"That was awesome!" Ricken commented.
Conroy stood up and offered Ricken a hand to get up. Ricken took the offer and stood up. Once the two were both on their feet, they shared a hug. However, the duo failed to notice Lissa and Maribelle come up behind them. Both seemed to be slightly angry.
"Oh, hey girls. How are ya?" Conroy said, noticing the girls. Ricken gave them a shy wave.
"We're fine. One question, Conroy. What the heck were you thinking!?" Lissa's glare intensified, making the duo shrink slightly in fear.
"If I find out that I have grown gray hairs over you two, I will show you how a noblewoman handles her business!" Maribelle crossed her arms with a huff.
"Don't worry, we're fine. If anything, you should be worrying about those guys." Conroy pointed to the pile of ashes that was once five men.
"Yeah, they got destroyed!" Ricken could barely contain his excitement.
"Settle down, kid. No need to lose your energy over the awesomeness that was my plan." Conroy said, earning a glare from Ricken and eye rolls from Lissa and Maribelle.
"Don't let your pride get you killed, you idiot." Said a familiar voice.
The group of four turned to see the others. Although the voice from earlier was Connor, who got a scowl from his twin brother. Sumia and Cordelia flew down to eye level with the others, reporting that the other villages were saved and they got rewards from doing so. Sumia got a second seal and Cordelia got a master seal. Chrom and Donnel manged to get a rescue staff from the village they saved. All Conroy heard was good news and he was proud that his tactics prevailed.
"You all will be nice sacrifices to our lord Grima." A man said, presumably the leader of the group(if they all weren't dead, that is).
"Who the hell are you?" Conroy vulgarly asked. "You look like a freak of nature."
"Conroy, that last statement wasn't needed. At all." Connor commented, slightly annoyed by his twin's mouth.
"My name is Chalard. It won't matter when I kill you all!" Chalard said, grinning vilely. That action caused some of the shepherds to shiver in disgust or fear.
"So, who is going to battle him?" Chrom asked with a shrug of his shoulders. "I won't be a good candidate because I don't have as much range as he does.
"Connor and I will battle this damnable scum." Conroy said, bringing out his Elthunder tome.
"Good idea. We work very well together." Connor commented, unsheathing his steel sword.
"When you're not too busy trying to beat each other up at certain times." Lissa sniped, earning a blank look from Connor and a dirty look from Conroy. "What? It's true and you both know it."
The twin tacticians adverted their gazes from the blonde princess. Their undivided attention was now on Chalard, who had his Nosferatu tome out and ready to use for its intended purpose. Everybody else backed up and out of the way the battle. Spells were going to fly and they didn't want to get hit by any of them.
"I'll go in first and you'll follow right behind. I'll engage him in close combat while you shot at him from a distance." Connor advised, stepping in front of his twin brother a little bit.
"I might sneak up on him with my iron sword. If it does come to that." Conroy replied, ready to follow Connor's lead.
"Thanks for letting me know. Now, let's go!" Connor took off, his twin following not too far behind.
"Ha ah! You dare defy Grima, god of annihilation?" Chalard cackled, eager to start the battle.
Chalard started the battle by casting a Nosferatu at Connor, who dodged rolled out of spell's path. Conroy casted a Elthunder at Chalard, hitting the grimleal dark mage. Chalard grunted, but shot a Nosferatu at Conroy. Conroy barely managed to dodge, seeing the fact that his injuries haven't fully healed yet. Seeing that Chalard left himself open, Connor ran over to him, steel sword raised. Connor swung his steel sword downward, missing Chalard, who raised his hand to shoot a Nosferatu right at Connor.
"Hey, fool! Over here!" Conroy shouted, gaining the attention of Chalard. Conroy threw his iron sword at Connor and Chalard. Thinking that it was meant to hit him, Chalard jumped back. However, the iron sword landed near Connor, who picked it up in his left hand.
"Checkmate!" Connor shouted, charging at Chalard with his steel sword in right hand and his twin brother's iron sword in his left hand.
Chalard tried to cast a Nosferatu at Connor, but was paralyzed by an Elthunder blast from Conroy, who gave him a 'You're dead' look. Connor took this chance to slice Chalard in half horizontally and vertically. Chalard uttered some unheard words before his messy end.
"Damn, man! You didn't have to do that!" Conroy exclaimed, but then smiled in delight. "Oh, never mind. You had every right to do that."
"What did you expect from me wielding two swords? To keep it simple and clean? I don't think so." Connor stated, throwing the blood(and some organs)off of the two swords. Connor then handed Conroy's iron sword back to him. Both of them put away their weapons.
"That was amazing! Gross, but amazing!" Lissa cheered, happy that the duo won the battle.
"Valiant effort, friends." Chrom said, patting both of the twin's backs. "Thanks to you two, we will be able to get to Emmeryn."
"What about those two?" Conory pointed out Nowi and Gregor.
"I'll set up a contract with that mercenary. You three can talk with Nowi." Chrom said, walking over to Gregor and the two started a conversation about business.
Nowi smiled in glee, happy that she lived through the battle and that she escaped from her captors. Conroy, Connor, and Lissa began conversing with the manakete.
"So you're a manakete? That explains a lot." Connor said, cracking his aching muscles from the battle.
"So it explains why she looks like a- ow!" Conroy was interrupted by an elbow jab to the stomach from Connor. "I was gonna say a little girl!"
"Knowing you, he had to play it safe." Lissa giggled at Conroy's pouting face. "Getting off that subject, how old are you Nowi?"
"That's the same damn thing!" Conroy exclaimed, throwing his arms upward to get his pint across.
Lissa rolled her eyes, "Don't listen to him. Go on, Nowi yell us."
"I'm like over a thousand years old and look, no wrinkles!" Nowi remarked with smile.
"So manaketes grow slower than humans, basically making them look like young children at the age of one thousand. Remarkable!" Connor said, happy that his knowledge has expanded.
"You girls can have your little talk. Connor and I will go meet up with Chrom and Frederick to talk about some important stuff." Conroy stated, walking towards Chrom and Frederick with Connor in tow.
Once the twin tacticians were noticed, Chrom turned his attention on them. Frederick bowed slightly as a silent way of saying 'hello'.
"Who were those people? They were some freaks!" Conroy noted, looking around at the dead bodies.
"They were probably grimleal, servants of Grima, god of destruction." Frederick answered Conroy and Connor's question.
"Servants? This means that they will be willing to do anything for their god." Connor noted, just in case they show up again. "Well, we've no time to waste. Emmeryn is in danger and we have to hurry."
"Just so you guys know, we have Gregor's assistance now. I presume we have Nowi's assistance as well?" Chrom said, looking over at Lissa converse with purple-eyed manakete. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's go."
(While the shepherds were traveling)
The shepherds were once again on the move. As usual, the twins were having a chat about the stakes of rescuing the exalt, Emmeryn.
"We have to succeed in rescuing Emmeryn. Otherwise, we'll be known as failures."Connor said, irking Conroy.
"Don't think like that! We'll definitely save Emmeryn." Conroy replied, looking over at Chrom and Lissa. "For their sakes, we will not fail!"
(End of Chapter)
R.O.F: Oh Conroy, you are going to be so disappointed in your self.
T.U.M.S.P.F: Connor won't be in happy land either.
R.O.F: We hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! I apologize for any grammar mistakes.
T.U.M.S.P.F: See ya later!
R.O.F: Until then, bye!