I don't seem to be getting very many reviews....but props to Navy Blu for being a great supporter of this story... :P

My first OC's appear!

Anyway...I'm sorry for the slow updates...school is bad and such...

----------Revival----------

He had been fighting for the past hour with his three comrades, but now they were three, one of their numbers was on the ground with a knife lodged in his throat. He grimly raised his spear and swung across the air and scored a hit on the young fighter he was struggling with. This man had been giving him some problem, his sword blocking most of his lunges. He had watched this soldier decked out in his golden armor rip apart his army's box formations and his black cloaked friends. The spearman knew most of the people he was fighting with, and it didn't please him that many of them had died at the hands of this skilled warrior. It didn't matter; he was going to end this miserable wretch's life.

"Revenge is mine!" The spearman drew up his spear into the air and plunged the razor-sharp leaf blade at the now unconscious body. Blood spurted.

But the blood didn't spurt from the neck where he had been aiming. Instead, there was now a gash in Isaac's left arm, where blood flowed freely. Cursing, the black robed soldier looked up to see what had interrupted his sweet revenge. A ghostly animal figure hovered in the air 50 ft in front of him. He threw a knife at it, the blade passing through it like mist. The blue thing looked at him and suddenly launched more psynergetic blasts of water, each projectile slamming into him, throwing him around but the attacks were weak against someone who had trained much of his life for battle.

"Damn animal threw off my aim!" He cursed some more, but as suddenly as the Mercury djinn had appeared, it disappeared. He didn't know where it had gone, so he turned his attention to the now bleeding unconscious body. The spear went up; he paused as he savored the moment of killing an enemy who had killed many of the men he had known for years. The thin blade came down again.

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Sheba, Mia, and Jenna raced into the fray with all of the VDF except for the bare minimum needed to protect the town of Vale itself. Their sudden arrival surprised the warriors who had been battling for the past three hours. They smashed onto the battlefield, cheered by their weary allies. The enemy turned to see this new opponent, but they were routed. Fleeing into the woods, they ran for their lives. Discipline was now forgotten as the arrival of 150 more soldiers was enough on their battle fatigued spirits.

Mia's staff shone a brilliant light as torrential winds and water ripped down the path, clearing the way for Vale's soldiers of dead and live bodies alike. She saw Isaac about to be stabbed in the distance. "Fizz! Go keep him alive!" The djinn sped off and rained healing water on the body of Isaac in half a second. In the other half, it summoned Mercury, a ghostly version of itself. The djinn spirit hammered the soldier with heavy projectiles of water, but the damage wasn't enough to get the soldier to back off. The spearman raised his spear and made to thrust the spear into Isaac's neck.

Mia shouted, "Typhoon!" Again, driving rain and winds swirled above and struck the soldier with such force that he flew quite a distance and smashed into a very sturdy tree, sliding down and lying still. The force also pushed Isaac against the dirt path, worsening his wounds. She ran to him, disregarding all the enemies who stood in her path. Some got broken skulls, others were blinded by ice and water, and still others died at the hands of a very angry and concerned Mercury adept.

She reached her leader's side and quickly assessed his critical situation. He had no psynergy left and his djinn were exhausted. The enemy force was apparently pretty tough to leave her Isaac in this state. "Pure Ply." The strongest healing spell known to any adept washed over the still body. To make sure her loved one was ok, she raised her staff. The opposite of the Typhoon unleash, Ocean's Calm, cleansed Isaac's body and healed his wounds. Satisfied, Mia stood up and called for some nearby VDF combatants to take their co-commander to safety.

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An hour and a half later, the weary party of men, soldiers, and adepts dragged themselves through Vale's gates and into a sanctuary where the citizens had gathered to help the town's new arrivals. Gasps escaped many of the Valeans, even though they hurriedly tried to cover their mouths. Most of them leaped into action, tending the wounded and comforting the families with dead kin.

The number of VDF soldiers had decreased by 60 soldiers, the one and a half platoons that Felix had initially taken out decimated by Lunpa forces. The damage was noticeable in the number of stretchers being carried with the dead and wounded. Even worse was the number of people from Vault. Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Picard had left Vault with over 600 people and some of the spectators estimated that now there were only 250-300 left. Vault had taken horrendous losses.

Dora screamed, "Isaac!" She rushed over to the stretcher that Garet and Felix were carrying. Isaac was still out cold but his breathing and pulse were steady. The townspeople looked on as a crying mother embraced the still body of her son.

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A week passed. Shelters were erected for the new Vault/Valeans who couldn't fit in the inn and the houses of generous Valeans. The mayor of Vale oversaw that each surviving member of the now non-existent Vault was taken care of and given temporary positions in Vale's workforce or defense force. He knew that being busy and working would at the very least take their minds off of the numbing horror they had been put through.

Felix supervised the training of the new and many recruits of the VDF. Thankfully, casualties were not as terrible as initially estimated; 384 had made it back from Vault instead of the assumed 250-300. Many of the casualties were whole families and couples who had stayed together on the battlefront. Most of the refugees volunteered to be part of the VDF, determined to defend their families and new friends. They wouldn't take anymore of being beaten around because they lacked proper training and equipment. With the Vale Defense Force, these men (and women) could receive first-rate training and superb gear.

Isaac recovered, thanks to his own hardiness as well as Mia and Dora's constant supervision. With two women like that in his life, who has a chance to die? However, he wasn't very happy with his being knocked out during battle, something he had been accustomed to doing on his journey that only ended months ago. Isaac vowed to train harder and to protect those who needed protecting with his fullest potential.

Soon, discussions were under way to talk about what to do. Lunpa, it was obviously Lunpa because of the logos on the uniforms, had destroyed an entire town and half of its inhabitants. Some hard-liners were all for forming up an army from all the people around the area and heading straight for Lunpa Fortress with Bilibin and Kolima. Others wanted to sit around and lick wounds for a while before building up a sizeable army.

"We cannot attack with what we have now, but if we were to join up with Bilibin, Kolima, and the other small towns around here, we could smash Lunpa!" exclaimed the former mayor of Vault. "We have men and we have sufficient supplies."

"Lunpa is nestled in the mountains. There is only one way into their citadel and we don't have enough properly trained men to assault it. Our men need training with siege weapons, psynergy for those who have it and general tactics and strategy. We do not know if Bilibin and the other towns have the equipment or the training necessary for siege warfare," was the reply from Felix.

"Do we have war plans?" asked one man.

"Yes, but I will not discuss those with anyone right now. I propose that we send out men on the mission that Isaac, Picard, Garet, and Ivan intended to do, visit Kalay and its surrounding towns to recruit men and gather information," replied Felix. The next day envoys went out from Vale toward the big towns of Bilibin, Kolima, Xian, Fuchsia (formerly known as the Fuchin Temple), and Kalay. There was to be build up of forces and weeks of intensive training to first, fend off any more attacks, and second, to destroy Lunpa once their army was ready. Even Felix, who didn't like war, was not ready to forgive the death of so many innocents.

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The middle aged man sat in a large comfortable chair. He read the reports sitting on his desk. Sighing, he rose and turned to the large window at his back. "Why can't they get things right? Is it really so hard with all the power we have?" It was a puzzling thought. Even with all training, preparation, and motivation, his army couldn't function like it was supposed to. "Give me Li and Nicoli!"

Summoned, a dark haired man walked in through an adjacent door to the main office. "Yes?" Li glanced at the papers on the desk, his boss' irritated face, and said, "Bad reports?"

"Damn right... You're in charge of military operations. Explain this!" Dodonpa wasn't outraged by the fact that his little raiding force had failed in its secondary objective, but he was noticeably irritated by the fact that his well-trained and supplied soldiers couldn't kill off all of Vault's measly civilians. A moment later, Nicoli walked in. He was opposite of Li, extremely tall, he was out of place in the caves of Lunpa. His blond hair contrasted with Li's black, but his brain was hardly lacking.

He looked at the two other men in the room, "Let me guess, did our Vault attack fail?"

Dodonpa answered, "No, we succeeded in taking all the goods and material we needed and we burned the town to the ground. We did not however, erase the people off the map like we intended too."

"It was a secondary objective, hardly anything of importance, except the question of how were they stopped? Bad weather? Enemies?" asked Nicoli. He looked at Li, who gave him a passive face that showed no emotion. "Typical," Nicoli thought.

"Our only captain that survived reported that Valean soldiers stopped their attack. He also says that there was lots of psynergy and adepts involved, and despite our force being 4 battalions strong (A/N: 1 battalion-100 soldiers) we were driven off by these VALEAN soldiers, disgusting weaklings compared to our troops. Both of you! I want analysis now," Dodonpa commanded. He was starting to get pissed as he hated Vale with a passion.

His drive for power and control over Northern Angara had started when his father was struck with an illness that kept him in bed. Luckily for him, Mt. Aleph erupted, sending Hammet up to his city for shelter from the still falling rocks and newly created monsters. Dodonpa had planned to use him as a hostage but some damn Valean adepts had gotten in his way and his plans for raising an army out of Lunpa's many thieves and mercenaries. This time around, he had his army, and it was growing. Lunpa's rich resources and reputation attracted many people looking for quick money and the city provided refuge for the law-breakers on the run.

"What were Vale forces doing around there?" Nicoli asked the first question after reading the reports. He tossed the papers to Li, who quickly scanned the first page.

"What is this about several adepts in the woods a few hours prior to the attack?" Li said, and then thought for a second. "Perhaps it is these people who warned Vault so the citizenry could escape. Smart of the captain to send some backtrackers to see if the people would come out of hiding after the burning...I don't understand. Are Valean forces that formidable? Is it possible that the captain didn't see soldiers from other cities?"

"Possible, but unlikely," said Nicoli. "I pick only our best and observant men to be captains." The big light-blonde haired man was in charge of officer training among other things. Li had the basic training division and the intelligence command. "It is possible though that we have underestimated the fighting ability of these adepts...as well as Vale." Nicoli was no adept but since he saw the blue beam of light from up north crossing the sky and forming a beacon over Vale, he had been able to sense the use of Psynergy around him and see most of the physical attacks. His skill with the rapier and his quick brain were the main reasons he had gained such high rank in Dodonpa's army.

Li finished reading the report. "He states the fact that there were multiple extremely strong adepts. Can these be the ones who rescued Hammet a few years ago?" Li had been with Dodonpa for several years now, and the two were the masterminds behind the plan to gain power and wealth for Lunpa. "Regardless we can use this information and start training our troops for battle against this Vale Defense Force. Also, we can expect retaliation from the other cities. We haven't been as careful as we could have been in our raids. I have reports saying that Bilibin and Kolima are readying forces to attack us."

"Humph. Let them come. They have almost nothing left. You are sure Xian will not interfere?" Dodonpa asked.

"They are too far away and what happens here will not concern them. Besides, they probably won't care until its too late and we have all of Northern Angara under our control" was the reply.

"Okay, then we'll continue with Operation Mauler. Get the units moving! I want them out of here by tomorrow." Dodonpa dismissed his two chief advisors, "This isn't going as well as I thought, but it's not like I didn't anticipate problems." He sighed. His father had died, leaving the control of Lunpa in his hands. Most of the people in Lunpa were following along with his plans and strangely enough, they also supported his raiding parties, though they had no idea where their husbands, brothers, sons were going. It was strange, but Dodonpa brushed it off by as patriotism or simple greed. "Hmm..."

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Mia was feeling uneasy. Isaac was well and training harder than ever with Garet and Felix. He was by no means her worry. Something was wrong, but she couldn't do anything but brush it off. She returned her attention to the two on two battle, Felix and Isaac vs. Garet and Ivan. The Venus adepts had the upper hand but the other two were no slouches at combat. At the moment, it was Isaac vs. Ivan and Garet was fighting Felix. The dulled iron blades could hardly deal mortal damage, but every hit hurt.

Ivan's twin swords swung in from opposite sides as he dived toward Isaac. The Venus adept dodged left, swinging his sword at Ivan's back as it rushed past him. Suddenly, Ivan dropped low to the ground, Isaac's sword whooshing above him. He kicked out with his legs right at Isaac's left leg. As he fell, Isaac twisted and pushed off the approaching ground with his right arm, rolling left. Ivan was on top of him, swinging and poking with one sword. Blocking desperately, Isaac managed to get a swing in, knocking Ivan off balance using his superior strength.

Garet was holding his own against the formidable Felix. His heavy sword danced patterns through the air, but each time met with a clang the sword of the older Earth adept. He spun on one leg, aiming low but missed as Felix stepped back. The older fighter took the moment to adjust his stance. Garet recognized it as one of Felix trademark sword stances. The hilt brought up to his right ear and his right leg a couple of feet in front of his left, knees slightly bent and the blade angling downward. He charged silently, the blade seeming to move forward but it suddenly darted left, and then right. Garet parried grimly, but Felix suddenly spun mid-movement and connected with the Mars adept's side.

Isaac flipped up off the ground, his sword barely up in time to block the young Jupiter adept's twin swords. Ivan was quick, working his blades in tandem and balance, giving Isaac few chances to go on the offensive, occupied as he was fighting off Ivan's swift blade work. Quick as lightning, Ivan's arm and blade moved as one and snuck to Isaac's neck, but just as quick, Isaac saw an opening and moved his sword to Ivan's neck. He grinned. "Draw?"

"Hehe, this is the closest I've ever gotten to beating you," replied Ivan, which was a fact and it also showed how much the younger guy had improved over the years. He looked over as Felix pointed his sword at Garet's throat on the ground. Their practice over, the four walked off with Mia fussing over all the bruises they had managed to collect.

Suddenly, a messenger ran up, saying that there were a bunch of new arrivals at Vale's gate and that Mia might want to meet them. He also said that it was urgent and that all the adepts should meet up at the gate. Wondering what was so causing so much commotion, the five hurried over to the large town square. Mia gasped at the scene in front of her.

There were dozens of Imil residents sprawled out in front of her. Many were injured, and there was no telling how they had managed to make the difficult journey from their far-flung city. Many of the residents were missing; families were without the fathers, mothers, and children that Mia remembered. "What happened?" she thought. A horrible thought crossed her mind, "Was Imil attacked? Is my hometown gone?" Her hands went up to her face and she started to cry. Despite all the pains and tribulations that she had withstood over the years, this was too much.

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A/N: Hmm...hope I don't chase people away with Vault destroyed and Imil on the verge of destruction. Please review, suggestions, criticism, random comments, anything is helpful.