Chapter 19 Ambush
"Are you really sure we should be going Professor Isaac?" Hilda asked worried as the group was ready to leave town.
"We don't have a choice. Those creeps obviously know about us and we're their next target. Our best bet is to face them away from innocent lives." Lysithea explained
"If any of you wish to stay behind, then please do so now." Isaac said
"I'm not letting you do this alone Teach. Besides, I'm an adept too, and those guys will likely target me as well." Claude said
"It's just like Claude said. I'm an adept too. I'm not running away." Lysithea declared
"A Nobel's duty is to protect the commoners. There is no way I can turn my back on these people in their time of fear." Lorenz declared
"No way am I leaving you guys behind. I'm going as well." Raphael said
"I-I'm going as well." Ignatz said
"These bandits aren't getting away with this. I'm going." Leonie said
"I could never forgive myself if someone got hurt and I wasn't there to heal them. I guess I'll go too." Marianne said
Hilda sighed. "Well, can't just ditch out of this with everyone else going. I'm in."
"All right then. Let's go." Isaac said
"Be safe son." Kyle said. While he and the others wanted to go, it was clear that they aren't the most battle experienced and would likely just get in the way.
"Here. Take these Antidote leaves and Vials. Just in case." Kraden said handing Isaac 5 Antidote leaves and 2 Vials.
"Vials?" Claude asked
"Not as strong as an Elixir, but better than a Vulnerary or Concotion." Isaac said
With weapons and items all set, the Golden Deer headed out.
"Based on what I felt, there were several figures moving towards this direction." Isaac pointed. "Keep an eye on anything suspicious."
"Like this?" Hilda asked pointing a doorway that was on the ground.
"It looks like it's usually hidden with all the dirt on it, but they didn't bother to even hide it this time.' Leonie said examining it. "It explains why they stayed hidden for so long."
"So, they're inviting us in." Claude guessed.
"Likely. Let's proceed with caution." Isaac said as the group entered the underground caves.
Inside was a tunnel with some lite torches hanged on the walls to give some light down a narrow hall. After a short walk, the group found themselves in large round area with another path covered in darkness and a gate before them with a higher platform around them with several other paths and at least 20 thieves looking down on them. Their leader was a gruff man with short blond hair and facial hair. He wore a fur pelt around his shoulders with an animal skull as a hat. As the group approached the enter, he smirked.
"So, the all mighty church sends its next wave of victims to me in the form of a bunch of snot nosed brats." He mocked
"I take it that you're the leader of this group?" Isaac asked
"You got that right kid. Name's Rodrick." The man named Rodrick introduced.
"So, you are the groups of bandits that's been causing problems for these villagers?" Lorenz demanded.
"Instead of worrying about that Adepts, you should be more worried about your lives." Rodrick laughed as he and some of the others tossed down some bombs on the group. None hit the group, but that wasn't their target. The explosions caused the ground to brake apart underneath the class as they all screamed and fell into the darkness below them.
"Alright boys, you know the drill. Find them and kill them before they can regroup. And take our pet with you." Rodrick said as his men nodded and got to work.
"Hey boss, what about that other adept that came in earlier?" One of the guys asked
"Kill him too! What else you idiots?" Rodrick yelled annoyed as he left the room himself.
Isaac groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He was in another tunnel with torches lite across the halls.
"Damn. I wasn't expecting that." Isaac groaned as he got up. He looked around, but to his shock, the others weren't with him. "Great. First mission, and I'm separated from my students in the enemy's stronghold." He cried before he shook his head. "No time to worry about that now. I have to find the others and make sure they're okay." With that, Isaac ran off. With his Venus Psynergy he was able to sense that the others were still alive, but with all these tunnels, getting their exact location was another situation. Plus, he could sense the bandits were making their move as well.
Ignatz groaned as he got up.
"I wasn't expecting that." He groaned. Looking around, he didn't see the Professor, or anyone.
"Professor? Claude? Anyone? Ignatz called out.
"Ignatz? Is that you?" Hilda's voice reached out.
Ignatz ran forward to the direction he heard the voice. Ahead he found Hilda and Marianne hurt from the fall, but overall alright.
"Are you both okay?" Ignatz asked
"No! We got hit with explosives, tumbled down to these caves, and now we've separated from our professor and the rest of the class!" Hilda cried
"Yeah. I doubt any of us were expecting them to use explosives in their own hideout like that." Ignatz admitted.
"Well, now what do we do?" Hilda moaned.
"We should hurry and find the others. Before the bandits get here." Marianne offered
"Good idea." Ignatz agreed.
"Well then, let's go!" Hilda said as the three began to walk.
'Great. With who I'm stuck with, I'm going to have to actually try.' Hilda groaned. She loved Marianne. She and Claude were quite possibly her closest friends, but she was also well aware of Marianne's lack of faith with herself, which she also saw in the mock battle, and Ignatz wasn't much better. While she hated putting effort into things, she hated seeing others die even more.
"Professor! Anyone?" Lorenz called out. After falling down the tunnels, he found himself all alone and started looking for the others. It was unknown to him if those Bandits knew that he survived or not, but they would likely send people down to confirm it.
While Lorenz was no slouch in battle, he was still a bit woozy from the fall, and quite possibly, he could get overwhelmed by the bandits on his own. Plus, he was worried of the others.
"Ugh." A groan was heard up ahead.
Lorenz bolted ahead and found Leonie rubbing her leg in pain.
"Leonie, are you alright?" Lorenz asked getting her attention.
"Lorenz! Yeah, I'm good." Leonie said
"How is your leg?" Lorenz asked
"It's fine." Leonie dismissed as she tried to stand up. Wincing in pain.
"Here, let me have a look at your leg." Lorenz offered bending down to get a closer look.
"Hey, cut that out! Isn't that improper or something? Bowing to a commoner?" Leonie asked
"I'm not boring, I'm checking this wound." Lorenz corrected. "It looks rather swollen. I do have some ointment on me that should ease the pain, but we should get Marianne to heal it should we find her."
"You just carry this stuff around?" Leonie asked but Lorenz didn't respond, but instead wrapped a handkerchief around the wound to cover it.
"With the two of us, you should hopefully not have to put too much pressure on it in battle. But we need to find the others fast." Lorenz said
"Why are you helping me? I don't need a Noble's pity." Leonie said
"We are both students of the Golden Deer house. We ae suppose to be helping each other. Is that not what Professor Isaac said we should do?" Lorenz asked
"Strange that you would say that, when I see you eyeing him and Claude suspiciously often." Leonie shot back
"My business with Claude is a matter entirely of its own. As for the Professor, I don't hate him, but I am a bit wary of the Psynergy that he brought with him. What about you?" Lorenz said
"If Captain Jeralt trusts him, then so do I." Leonie said. Lorenz decided not to comment further.
"Regardless, we should try to find the others." Lorenz said. Leonie nodded and the two headed off.
Lysithea groaned as she slowly awakened. The last thing she remembered was explosives going off all around them and then falling. As she came two, she was being carried by someone big.
"Hey Lysithea! Glad to see you awake now!" Raphael said with a smile as he noticed Lysithea starting to stir on his back.
"Raphael? What's going on? AND PUT ME DOWN!" She shouted that last part.
"Sorry. But I found you out cold, so I decided to carry you to safety." Raphael said putting her down.
"Well…thank you." Lysithea mumbled
"No problem. You can always count on Big...I mean me." Raphael said
"So, where are the others?" Lysithea asked
"Not a clue. You were the only one I found so far." Raphael said
"Well, this is a problem." Lysithea mumbled
"Claude? Claude! Wake up!" A familiar voice rang out.
Claude opened his eyes to see Isaac looking over him concerned. Though that concern turned to relief when Claude woke up.
"Hey Teach." Claude groaned as he looked around. "Where are the others?"
"I don't know. I only just found you." Isaac said. "Though we have more problems than that."
Claude nodded. "Yeah, I noticed it to. They didn't even try to aim those explosives at us. They aimed them specifically at the ground."
"They wanted us to get separated in these tunnels so they could kill us easier. And it's also likely that they all know these tunnels inside and out. In fact, I can feel some of them are coming this way right now." Isaac said
Claude drew his bow that thankfully wasn't lost or damaged from the fall while Isaac drew his steel sword.
Three bandits, all carrying axes approached the two.
"Damn. They're up and at em already. We better hurry up and kill them." One said
"But one of them is the Adept the boss warned us about." Another said. "Should we wait for the pet?"
"Are you kidding me? We take him out and the boss will reward us big time!" The third one said with glee.
"Aww, that's so cute. You three think that you're enough to take us on?" Claude teased getting the bandits riled up.
"Let's get them." Isaac said as the two charged forward.
As the two effortlessly took out the bandits, Isaac had a thought in his head.
'This pet they mentioned. Do they have a monster under their control like the bandits from Remire did? It might be what killed those soldiers before.' Isaac thought. 'All the more reason to find the others and fast. They're strong, but with that monster on the loose, it would best to fight it together.'
"Is that you Isaac?" A voice called out.
Isaac and Claude turned to see a Venus Djinn similar to Flint.
"That Djinn…Isn't that?" Isaac began only for the Djinn to run down the corridor.
"After it!" Claude called out running after the Djinn wit Isaac following.
The two followed the Djinn to a deep end with sand on the floor.
As the two stopped, The Djinn was…talking to the sand
"This Djinn is crazy." Claude commented
"No…its." Isaac said as the sand started to form into a human with long brown hair tied into a ponytail, dressed in green and brown clothing with a brown cloak.
"FELIX?!" Isaac shouted confused
"Did he just transform from sand?" Claude asked shocked at what he saw.
Before him was indeed his childhood friend. Though he also didn't look well. He looked like he was poisoned. What happened to him?
And that's a wrap!
Man, it was a pain trying to decide who would get separated with whom. I wanted to build up some support with the students. Though in the end, Claude ended up with Isaac only through process of elimination.
Anyway, Isaac has finally found one of his friends, and he isn't looking too good. And what is this pet that the bandits are talking about? And who told them about Isaac? Find out soon.
Now onto a side note that I'm sure some may be wondering:
The 4th wave of DLC for Three Houses was revealed. And it looks pretty interesting. I look forward to it! (Also, Byleth is in Smash now. Hey, I'm not complaining XD)
So, how will this affect the story? I do want to add it in if I can, but I make no promise. If it's another path, then at least for this story, it's out of the question. Though from the sounds of things, it seems to be a Side Story, and if that's the case, I might be able to. I won't know until it comes out. So, here is what I'll do:
I'll continue on with my story through Isaac's mission, and then Byleth's mission in the Red Canyon. After that, I'm going to take a break so I can replay Three Houses for the new content and then I will see what I can do. I will do what I can, but if I can't, I'm sorry.
Be sure to review and follow and I will see you all next time.
Andromeda: Yeah but, I'll take care of it when they get back to the Monastery. Don't worry.