Chapter 10. If things go as planned, this has only two more chapters after this one and then it will be completed. It's a race between this one and my little Sorcerer Hunter's fic as to who will get done first. Mainly that depends on whether or not I can get this information from a friend, but anyways...go on and read it before I bore you even more.
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Pixie sat by herself outside of camp, wondering what she was to do next as she remembered the talks from earlier that morning. Striker had sworn on his mother's womb that he wouldn't willfully turn against them again, and Genki and Holly- well, Genki at least- had taken him at his word back into the army.
But she hadn't come to terms herself with what had happened. Assassinations weren't something you could just laugh at and forget about within a matter of minutes, you know. She had trusted him with her life, and the lives of others, and then he tried to take them without even saying something. No hate. No anger. No real reason other than he had to follow as set of orders and was bound to do so as long as he had to.
It would take sometime before she would ever look at him the same again. Her trust wasn't easily earned, and once broken it was rarely ever returned.
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Ironfist stood on a balcony of his fortress, looking over the grounds below as he talked with his advisors from all over the army. "Are all the recruits in?" he asked, leaning even farther over the edge. Below were a multitude of monsters and humans he had pulled from all the forts and armies he possessed, the best of the best.
"They will be by the end of tomorrow," replied an old man who looked like a puff of wind might carry him off forever. "The squads will be formed the day after that."
"Good. Has the plan been explains to all the Captains? They will need to know what they're marching up against."
"Yes sir, they know this is a win and live or a die trying battle," replied a Joker with an old, rusty scythe. "They are preparing their troops for the, em, rigorous battle ahead."
"Rigorous indeed," muttered the General darkly, casting an eye over his advisors. "Everything is set then for the final invasion?"
"Yes, sir."
"I will crush you, rebel Phoenix's," he vowed solemnly. "Even if it takes me every last soldier I have, I will do it." He looked up to see his advisors standing there nervously, waiting for their signal to go. "You have my leave," he said, waving his good hand. "Oh, and Roger."
"Yes sir?" asked the older gentle man who looked like the wind would blow him away.
"Send in the fellow waiting outside the door," ordered the General, turning back around to look over his troops. "I need to have a word with him."
"Yes, General Ironfist."
A tall figure wrapped entirely in a cloak floated in silently to levitate behind the General, waiting patiently to be noticed.
"You got my message?" asked Ironfist without turning around.
"Aye, sir," came a heavily accented voice. "I told you he wouldn't hold up after he saw the gal, sir. I warned you this would happen."
"Don't tempt fate today, lad," said Ironfist coldly. "It might come back to bite you. Hard."
"Aye, sir. What is it you're a wanting me to do? Kill me own brother?"
"Exactly."
The cloaked figure shifted nervously in the air. "What's in it for me?"
"A high position in the army, guaranteed until you die if we win."
"That's not a very good guarantee, sir. Even if I do pull it off, and you lose, then I ain't got nothing for my trouble."
"None of us will have gotten anything for our trouble if we lose," retorted Ironfist. "We'll all die. However, if you can pull it off before the battle, I'll give you two bags of gold and a way out before the fighting starts."
"Deal."
Ironfist laughed quietly to himself as the figure floated out of the room, still enshrouded in his dark rags. "The stage is set," he said quietly, closing his eye. "The actors are almost into position. Now all that is needed is for the first act to start....and that shall happen very soon..."
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Holly sat with Pixie and Genki for breakfast in the Mess hall a few days after the whole celebration when a messenger ran in, holding a letter for the General. "Who's it from?" asked Holly, rising quickly to meet him halfway.
"The spies from over the boarder," said the tiger quietly, keeping his voice down. "They said this was urgent and needed to get to you as quickly as possible, ma'am."
"Bring him food and water!" ordered Holly, opening the envelope and pulling out the short letter. She read it carefully, her eyes getting bigger every few lines... "Crap."
"What is it?" asked Genki, coming to stand behind her and read over her shoulder. Pixie sat there and finished her food, figuring she would find out soon enough what all the fuss was about. "Oh my gosh..."
"Get me three other messengers!" ordered Holly suddenly, springing into action as she walked out the door towards her room. "I can't believe they got it together that fast... ...you! Go to the east forts and tell them I need every fighter they can spare. I don't mean ones who are just lying about or don't have regular guard duty, I mean *every man* they think they can get along without, got it? You two do the same, only you go south and you west. Now go!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Right away, ma'am."
"As you wish, General."
"Genki," said Holly quickly, "I need Striker now. I don't care where he is or what he's doing, find him and get him here three minutes ago!"
"Yes, General!" Genki still had enough sense to follow her orders when she was like this and took off running in the direction of Striker's tent as fast as he could.
"What's going on?" asked Pixie, appearing at Holly's side.
"Ironfist has mobilized all his forces at his main fortress in the middle," said Holly quietly, trying not to let others hear. "I mean, every single man or monster that isn't keeping the other places in line is there. They've completely deserted some of the small forts from what it said, which can't be good."
"So he wants one final show down, huh?"
"That's what it looks like."
"Then that's what we'll give him. How much longer do you think we'll have before it starts?"
"A few days at the least, a week at best," replied Holly, continuing into her tent and leaving the flap open. "I want the totals of our force and their force on my desk by tonight, alright?"
"I'll work on it."
"Thanks."
Pixie walked out the door and down the street, not even noticing Genki and Striker coming at a run from the opposite direction down the road. "Got him, General," said Genki, giving Holly a quick salute. She had meant to tell him to stop doing that, but it looked like it would have to wait until later.
"Genki, go and get the other Captains and anything above them in the meeting tent in thirty minutes, ok? I need to talk to them so we can get our plans underway."
"Alright."
"What about me?" asked Striker uncertainly.
"Sit," said Holly, pointing to a chair. "Look, Striker, I don't like you at all right now. In fact, one could say that I hate your guts for what you did, but I need you for something. Ironfist is mobilizing his forces with plans to come at us in a few days. You said you were loyal to us, now you can prove it. I need every bit of information about his army I can get down to what the usual foot soldier carries with him."
"Oh no, he won't use his usual forces if he's planning to wipe you out with one blow," replied Striker with a small grin. "He'll bring in his big guys like you did last time, which seemed to be Dragons, giant men, Terror Dogs...."
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Pixie didn't look to happy with the numbers as she stared at the figures the scouts and messengers had given her. "Hey!" she called to a runner near by. "Go tell the last two forts on the east side to completely desert the area and bring their forces here. All non-fighters are to wait for them at the last for on the east side that is not being evacuated. They will be here by tomorrow, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. You there! I want you to the do the same for the forts in the south, just the last two. If they aren't here by tomorrow night or the morning after that, there's going to be a problem because there may not be an army here for them to fight with at all!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"That should help even things out," murmured Pixie, righting some new figures down. They were still several short of those numbered by the scouts on Ironfist's side, but if strength and luck were on their side it wouldn't matter anyways. "Was the fort near Ironfist told to clear out and head back?" she asked a sub-Captain, getting his attention from the papers he was going over.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "They should be back by tomorrow if nothing hold them up."
"And they were reminded to burn everything they couldn't bring with them?"
"Fort and all."
"Good." She went on, seeing Genki about to enter Holly's tent a few steps in front of her.
"Hey, kid," she said, slipping in beside him. "How are you doing?"
"Alright," he replied with a shrug. "I need to talk to Holly. I'll see you at the meeting, though."
"Ok, bye."
"Bye."
Genki entered Holly's tent the rest of the way, the guards not even bothering to ask why he was here because of his station and quickly letting him through.
"Hello," said Holly as she glanced up to see who it was, gathering what she would need for the meeting in a few minutes. "What do you need, Genki?"
"To talk to you," he replied, sitting in front of her desk.
"Oh, ok." She walked around the front and leaned on her desk in front of him, waiting for him to speak. "What's on your mind?"
"This is wrong," he said quietly, looking at the floor as he did.
"What is wrong?" she asked, confused by his statement. "I mean, you could mean a thousand thing with that one sentence."
"The fighting," said Genki quickly. "There has to be another way, Holly. Hundreds, if not thousands will die in this next battle if we don't do something, and we don't even had a firm guarantee that we'll win."
"I never said war was right," replied Holly a bit coolly. "But us defending our territory is. Do want us to become slaves? To die by another who only wishes to see our blood stain the waters a permanent scarlet until the end of time??"
"No," replied Genki slowly, thinking about what he was going to say before he said it. "But there has to be something that we're over looking here. A mass confrontation like this isn't going to solve anything unless one side is able to completely decimate the other to ruins. We're too evenly matched to even dream of doing something like that, so it'll all be about who can kill the other the fastest."
"So what are we going to do then?" demanded Holly. "Just sit here and let him demolish us until there is nothing left? There aren't any other options anymore, Genki. If I could stop this from happening, I would. But I can't."
"You mean it's just the easiest way out," he responded quietly. "I know there's something we haven't thought of, Holly. We just have to figure out what it is."
"Then you can waste your time and seek guidance from whatever it is that's bothering you while the rest of us prepare for war," retorted Holly, getting up and walking to the door. "Let me know when you're ready to face the real world again, Genki, and I'll fill you in on what's going on."
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Tori sat in the middle of Genki and Tai's armor and weapons, going over them with a whetstone if it was a blade and a polish cloth for all of it as Pixie had told her to do. Tai sat near by sorting through their things and lying out what they would need for when the battle began, making a note to get themselves some grease for their roller blades as the wheels were getting stiff.
"What are you doing here?" he asked Genki as his older brother walked in the door, a dark look on his face. "Aren't you supposed to be at that meeting?"
"No," he murmured, going and sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs in the tent. "Don't worry about it." He sat there and brooded silently to himself, not realizing he was disturbing the others until his sigh made Tori jump a little bit.
"Uh, are you ok?" she asked hesitantly, wondering if he was going to start curing as her like her father would've done. "You seem a little out of it..."
"I'm fine," he muttered, getting up and pacing back and forth the length of the room, every time stepping over the edge of Tori's pile as if it had been there all the time.
She didn't believe him by the slouch of his shoulders and look of sadness on his face. "You're sure?"
Genki sighed. "Yes, I'm find." He wandered around the room a bit more before he walked over and grabbed his roller blades, heading for the edge of the camp.
"What's eating him?" asked Tai, noticing his brother no even saying goodbye to them as he left.
"Don't have a clue, do you know?"
"Nope."
"Do you think Pixie or Holly will know?"
"Maybe, sometimes they do know more than we do."
"Want to go ask them?"
"Seeing as how the General didn't look too happy this morning after she found out, not really." So they finished their tasks and packed up the blades and armor, wondering what to do next.
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Two days after Genki had confronted Holly he was still wracking his head for the solution that evaded him. After rollerblading that afternoon, he had split the crust that had formed over his wound and had been forced to take it easy for a few days. Sitting in the same chair as always, he did the same thing he had been doing for the past two days, brooding.
His dreams at night didn't afford him any rest, either, haunting him with pictures of war and massacre. Neither side winning and neither side losing as well. Both just pitted against each other in a grueling clash of man and monster fighting for what they thought belonged to them...
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I think this place will do just fine," said Ironfist, standing on a bluff just a mile from the Phoenix camp. "Get the camp set up behind here so we'll have some protection if they decided to attack. That, and I want at least one squad out there drilling on the plain every hour while its light outside from morning until night."
"Why, sir?" asked the runner, completely puzzled by this order. "Wouldn't that just tire us out?"
"If the rotation is done correctly, each squad will only be out there once a day," replied Ironfist calmly, being in rare form today. "That, and it will hopefully strike fear into the Phoenix Camp's hearts as they see us out there performing in ways together they only dreamed as being possible. Any advantage, especially one like fear, that we have over them will greatly enhance our odds in this game."
"Yes, sir!"
Ironfist stood on the hill, facing the Phoenix camp as he leered at them insanely. "Come and get me if you dare," he growled, wishing to see the looks on their General's face when she saw what was going on. "I dare you, come and get me."
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"Hey," said someone from behind his chair, waking him from his tumultuous thoughts for awhile.
"Hey," he replied dully, breathing in deeply. It was Holly, he could tell from the smell of her clothes and jingle from the sword she carried with her anywhere.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, sitting across from him. "Your shoulder, I mean."
"It's alright," he replied with a shrug. "It's obviously been sorer than usual....but that's to be expected."
"Let me see it," she ordered gently, getting up and sitting next to him on the chair.
"I could go to one of the doctors, you know," he said as he unbuttoned the top of his shirt and let her check the bandaging.
"You need to get that redone," she said, getting up after she looked at it. "And you can't go to a doctor, remember? They'll start asking questions and the less people who know the better."
"Do you have time to change it right now?" he asked, starting to re-button his shirt.
"Yeah," she replied. "We can do nothing but wait at this point."
"Why? What happened?" asked Genki, walking into his room with her following him carrying a bowl of water and some fresh strips of cloth.
"Ironfist has decided to set up camp on our doorsteps, literally. His entire camp is less than a mile from here behind a bluff we've used to battles before to give us the advantage." She waited for him to take off his shirt and began to unwrap the bandages, wrinkling her nose as the smell of dried blood as she did.
"Then its all just a game of patience and nerves," sighed Genki, letting her do her work without complaint. He obediently lifted his arm when asked to and held still so she could get things done properly.
"Yep, which I'm running on my last one," she retorted softly, trying really hard to only focus on the wound and not the rest of his very nice chest which was shining softly in the light. "He's got some men out there practicing constantly. I think its supposed to scare us, but Striker's turned it into a lesson for his soldiers and has them out there studying the fighters so they can before familiar with their styles and weapons."
"Do you need some help?" offered Genki, shifting so he could look her in the face. "I mean, I could get up and do things if you needed me to..."
"What I need you to do is to rest and get better," replied Holly, looking him firmly in the eyes. "The others have been asking questions already, and a lot of the soldiers faith rests in you and not me anymore."
"Are you angry about that?" asked Genki. "I mean, me stealing your limelight and all..."
"No," she replied shortly, wrapping up the last bit of bandage. "I'm not. But I still want you to stay here and rest. They're counting on you to fight with us on the final day, and that means you taking it easy until then."
"Yes, mom," said Genki teasingly, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks."
"Uh, you're welcome." Genki smiled to himself as she darted out of the room with the water and the bandages blushing furiously. He considered it a good thing she hadn't slapped him or tried to wring his neck, maybe Holly had relearned how to love after all...
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Not much action, I know. But it does have a bit of fluff for you diehard Genki/Holly fans. Please, review. Next chapter will be up this week I *hope*. Last time I said that things didn't go as planned, though, so we'll just have to wait and see. Be very kind and review, it does make a difference you know. Thanks!
~crosseyedbutterfly~