You've heard the stories, no? About four unlikely heroes thrust into the heat of an unknown war. The despair… the defeats… the triumphs and the glories? Now what if I told you a new story? Same four unlikely heroes, same old hardships and trials… only compounded four times in the same exact way…
Well folks! To those of you who waited patiently for this one, here it is! Rising of the… Shield Heroes!? (Otherwise known as OOPS! All Shield Heroes!)
Hello I am Icy. I am the co-author gorilla that was hired as a soundboard of ideas. Now I am in the co pilot seat after beating Azure here with my giant gorilla fist. I will try to keep this dude in line and add some flare to the stories. Take it away azure.
Without further adieu, Welcome to the Madness~
Naofumi Iwatani, nineteen year old college freshman, found himself outside of the confines of his single room apartment venturing out into the wild concrete jungle that was Tokyo, Japan. His destination? The great archives spoken of only in passing… a hall of endless knowledge accessible only to those daring enough to brave its many dangers…
The local library.
It was here where he sought the forbidden knowledge that would elevate him to a higher plane of thought, and yet…
"Let's see… history… history… history… where's the history section?" He asked no one as he meandered the floor aimlessly, fingers gliding across spine after spine… until he felt something cold. Blinking, Naofumi slid his finger along the cold metal of what he could only assume to be a book.
Reaching the top, he pulled his index finger gently at first, only to apply force as the book refused to budge. After the third feeble tug, the heavy gilded tome fell upon his chest. Gasping from the pain of being pelted by a golden book, Naofumi gathered himself as he hefted the book.
At first glance, he could find nothing wrong per se… But its cover seemed to have three empty indents vaguely shaped like a sword, bow, and spear. However, a silver shield decorated the metal bound leather in full detail. Shrugging, the curious Naofumi opened the book to find… nothing.
"What? This stupidly heavy thing could have killed me and it's empty!?" He shouted as a note fell from the book. Blinking, Noafumi retrieved the note:
"Dear Naofumi-
If you're reading this, then I'm very sorry for what's about to happen to you. All I can say right now is good luck. Give Raphtalia my love.
Signed…"
"Naofumi Iwatani? Is this someone's idea of a prank? And who's Raphtal-"
Before he knew it, Naofumi had been spirited away…
"O GREAT…"
An elderly voice called out before stopping, a gasp escaping him as he let out a hushed "gods…"
"Sir? Did we fail?" A younger voice asked with worry.
"No! No no, this… we couldn't have!" The elder from before shouted, causing Naofumi to stir.
"Did someone catch the number of that truck?" He murmured as he heard rustling and groaning to his right.
"That would be nice," An even younger voice groaned.
Looking to his right, Naofumi caught sight of three other young men. A blonde with flowing ash gold hair, a younger teen with slightly brighter gold curls, and an older teen with black hair. If there was one thing they all had in common however, it was that they had a steel shield on their arms.
"The king must be informed of this immediately!" The older voice from before shouted as Naofumi whipped his head forward to the robed men, "You four! To your feet! Quickly!"
"What? Why the rush!?" The older blonde shouted.
"We were just pulled from our world," The raven haired boy said coldly.
"That's right!" The younger of the three declared, "Don't you think you should show us a bit more respect!?"
"Respect!? For children who've done nothing for us as of yet!?" The robed elder questioned.
"Woah woah! Let's calm down everyone!" Naofumi urged as he got to his feet, "Throwing words at each other isn't going to solve our problems, right?" As he looked to everyone, he took note that he had more or less managed to placate the tension as the elder sighed.
"Yes. Yes you are correct Sir ah… Shield Hero…"
Blinking, Naofumi looked down to see the very same shield the others held upon his own arm, "Naofumi. He stated plainly."
"Ah, yes… Sir Naofumi it is then," The elder murmured before turning, "Now, quickly. To the throne."
"Did he say 'Shield Hero'?" The older blonde asked as he looked down to his own shield, a red gem nestled within its center.
"Then does that mean…" The younger blonde paled as he spoke, index finger running along a golden orb within his own shield.
Gulping, the raven haired boy stood and looked at the blue gem of his weapon before speaking, "Ren Amaki."
The others looked at him with confusion before the youngest of them spoke, "Itsuki Kawasumi."
"M-Motoyasu Kitamura…" The older blonde finally stuttered.
Nodding and giving the three an assuring smile, Naofumi nodded, "Okay, now that we won't get confused calling each other Shield Hero, let's go see what the guys who summoned us actually want," He said as he pointed to the dungeon's open door, the robed men from before rushing back in to gather them.
"This has to be a joke," Motoyasu whispered as he slowly trudged along, "It's a sick, sick joke…"
"Joke or not, it looks like we've all been summoned to this world to be… heroes…" Ren spoke with a bit of a growl to his voice as he said 'heroes'.
"You know, I thought I'd be happy if this ever happened to me," Itsuki said in exasperation, "But can someone tell me why we are stuck with the SHIELD CLASS!?"
The robed men ahead of them flinched and looked perplexed and worried, more than likely breaking out into a cold sweat… though their robes hid this well.
"We do apologize for this…" The leader relented, "We had hoped that we would be able to summon you all successfully."
"Do you see this!?" Itsuki shouted as he raised his shield, "This! Is a piece of junk! A useless slab of metal!"
"Woah woah! Calm down Itsuki-kun," Motoyasu interjected, "Just because we arrived here with this useless thing doesn't mean we don't have options. We can just grab a sword or something to tide us over!"
"Unfortunately Sir Heroes, that will not be possible," The robed elder murmured, much to the shock of the others, "The Four Legendary Armaments outright reject any and all weaponry that is not shaped as they are."
"So we're stuck like this!?" Itsuki questioned as if on the cusp of mental break, "How am I supposed to become a paragon of Justice!?" The others only looked at the young boy with worry and or disdain.
"Ahem! Regardless… we are here," The elder said as the group was led to a massive set of wooden, iron reinforced double doors, "Sir Heroes… your king!"
The four looked up to see a middle aged man in deep purple lavender robes decorated heavily with gold and jewels.
"So it is just as I have been informed," The king said gravely, "Our Four Heroes…" The four flinched at just how much bitterness he held at calling them Heroes.
"Yeah! Heroes!" Motoyasu shouted as the king glared, "As far as I can see it, you need us more than we need you!"
"Motoyasu-San! Don't antagonize the royalty!" Naofumi reprimanded before walking up and bowing to the king, "I'm very sorry for my companion's rude conduct."
"His rude conduct!?" Itsuki argued, "They're the ones that brought us here! They're the ones that put these stupid shields on our arms!"
"It was by no intention of our own to ruin our chances of survival!" The king exclaimed before sighing, "Apologies, this… set back… has the castle and its staff on edge as we are still trying to determine how this… travesty was allowed to occur."
"So long as you admit to your mistakes," Ren offered, "However, as we are now there is no feasible way we can help you without major aid to ourselves in advance."
Sighing again, the king grumbled, "I am King Aultcray Melromarc the Thirty Second. In these trying times, it is my guidance that has kept the kingdom from the cusp of ruin."
"Guidance which had you summon us," Motoyasu said with a cocky tone, "So, what big bad monster are you throwing us at? S'it a demon king?"
"Much worse, I am afraid," Aultcray replied solemnly, "The Waves of Calamity are upon us once more. Rifts to another dimension are torn open to release monstrosities that seek naught but our people's blood."
"With four Shields here, it shouldn't be a problem defending the people," Naofumi said with a sure nod.
"But what about killing the monsters?" Ren asked coldly, "If all we can do is defend, where does that leave us in terms of offense?"
"We're going to be absolutely useless out there…" Itsuki muttered as he slowly held his face in his right palm, his left arm holding himself as he groaned.
"For now, Shield Heroes…" Aultcray called out with bitterness, "It would be beneficial of you to rest as the journey here has no doubt disoriented you."
"Motoyasu Kitamura," The older blonde called out in a dark tone.
"Excuse me?" The king asked with a raised eyebrow.
"My name, jackass! We have names!" Motoyasu shouted at the king much to everyone's surprise and growing fear.
"Names?" Aultcray questioned, "And why should I bother to learn any of your names when you each bear that disgraceful weapon upon your arms?" He growled out.
"Your highness?" Naofumi asked with widened eyes.
"I am no king to you, demon," Aultcray replied with such palpable hatred, "This insult… to think I would be brought before the object of my hatred not once but four times, and by the hands of my own court mages no less!"
"What are you even talking about!?" Itsuki shouted, "We haven't even done anything yet!"
"Haven't you?" Aultcray questioned as his hidden wickedness came to light, "You wake up in my kingdom and insult my subjects. You demand of me respect when you have only ever shown me and my people disdain… You are no heroes. You are inconsiderate, hateful, childish welps who are completely undeserving of respect! Leave this place at once!"
The outburst shocked the four heroes to their core as soldiers and knights began to enter and surround them.
"You can't do this to us!" Itsuki shouted, "We're the only people between you and those stupid waves!"
"Are you now?" Aultcray asked calmly before a vicious wind began to encircle him, "I CAN DO WHATEVER I SO DAMN WELL PLEASE AGAINST LEECHES SUCH AS YOU!"
"RUUUUUNNNN!" Naofumi shouted as he grabbed Ren's arm and ran out as Motoyasu swept Itsuki off his feet and followed closely.
"I can walk you know!" Itsuki shouted as he looked back and saw the winds picking up and destroying the giant doors, "Nevermind… RUN FASTER MOTOYASU-SENPAI!"
"The wind is gaining on us!" Ren shouted, "We need a plan!"
"Okay! Everyone! On the count of three!" Naofumi offered, "We turn around and slam our Shields together!"
"Will that work!?" Motoyasu questioned with some hope.
"Just do it! Three!" With that said, in an act of pure desperation, the four would be heroes turned and layered their shields together just as the green winds impacted against them.
For a moment, the world was still as an image of a grand barrier colored green, red, blue and gold was erected to protect them… only for it to dissipate almost immediately as an electrical force pushed them all back and out of the castle.
"Is… is anyone hurt?" Naofumi asked carefully as he worked to untangle himself from the interlocked limbs.
"Other than my bruised ego?" Motoyasu asked as he fixed his clothing, "I'm… actually not hurt."
"It's like putting our shields together unlocked some kind of super ability," Itsuki mused as he got to his feet, "But then it broke."
"How did you even know it would work?" Ren questioned as he sat cross legged and looked at his jacket, several cuts now adorning it.
"Well… would you believe me if I said I really thought it would happen?" Naofumi asked with a worried smile.
"You mean you didn't even know if it would work!?" Itsuki shouted.
"But it did work, at the very least," Ren offered as he gave a nod to Naofumi, "You must watch a lot of Shonen, Naofumi-San."
"Huh? Oh, yeah I guess I do," Naofumi replied with a bit of happy confusion, "I'm sure you would have thought of the same thing too, Ren-San."
Ren blinked at this, "Ah no, it's not really-"
"Okay! We need a plan!" Motoyasu interjected, "We were just kicked out of the game's main castle, thanks a lot Naofumi-"
"How was that my fault!?"
"How was that his fault!?"
Naofumi and Itsuki shouted in unison before they looked at each other, "Oh no, Naofumi-San, you can go first."
"No no, you should feel free to speak your mind, Itsuki-Kun," Naofumi retorted.
"Oh just kiss already," Ren murmured with the shadow of a smile as he rolled his eyes.
"A-anyway…" Itsuki whispered as he blushed angrily, "Because of Motoyasu-San antagonizing the king-" He stopped as Motoyasu stuck his tongue out like a petulant brat, "We have no aid, monetary or otherwise. Any ideas?"
"Probably not the best of ideas, but we should probably split up," Naofumi offered.
"And what? Look for clues?" Ren asked with a bit of snark.
"Got any better ideas, Bishounen Action Hero?" Motoyasu asked with equal amounts of snark, the raven haired boy pouting as he raised his voice.
"I keep telling you, that's not my gen-"
"Anyway!" Naofumi cut in, "Looking for clues does sound like a good idea."
"Why's that, Naofumi-San?" Itsuki asked curiously.
Naofumi hummed as he crossed his arms and wore a conflicted stare, "I… don't know how to word this, but I know I'm supposed to look for someone named Raphtalia in this world."
"Raphtalia?" Ren questioned.
"Oh come on, you just made that up," Motoyasu added, "You hit your head on your way out?"
"Look, I don't expect anyone to believe me, but if you hear anything about Raphtalia then you need to tell me. Alright?" Naofumi pleaded, "She could be the answer to everything."