Thanks to Guan, who was the only person who reviewed the last chapter, and thanks for reviewing every chapter since I started as well!
Warning: This chapter may be a bit weird at parts, as you may be able to tell if you read the disclaimer. And I suck at romance parts.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dynasty Warriors. Koei owns it and the characters in it. My odd, yet still lovely, cousin, Emma, owns the part of the Chicken In The Icebox song. And the part from the Different Ways to Get Hurt in a Circus song belongs to me. It sucks, I know... But I needed another weird thing for Pang Tong to sing.
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CHAPTER 8 START
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"So... What're we gonna do, then?" Zhang Fei asked, looking at his companions. He, Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, and Zhuge Liang had gone to see Liu Bei after they had found out what had happened to Yue Ying. While the other four men sat around a table, Zhuge Liang was pacing angrily around the tent. This was indeed an odd sight to see. He rarely got so worked up about something, normally he just stood calmly fanning himself. He finally stopped and turned to the others.
"I have an idea," he said. "It may seem reckless, but it's the only way that she will not be used as a hostage in the upcoming battle. There is still about eight hours until the sun will rise. I will sneak into the Wei camp, find Yue Ying and release her. Those idiots will never know what happened." He then continued pacing around the tent.
'If Liu Bei does not give me permission to rescue her, then I will go against his orders. I do not care what the consequences are, I just want my wife back,' he thought. Liu Bei sat and watched him. He knew that saying no wasn't an option, Zhuge Liang would find a way to do it anyway. He couldn't lose his best strategist.
"Fine. You have my permission to go, Master Liang." Liang stopped and bowed.
"Thank you, my lord," he said and walked out of Liu Bei's tent. He went to his own and grabbed his fan before finding the path back to the river.
x-x-x
Yue Ying had fallen asleep, but awoke with a start as Pang Tong reentered the tent. She glared icily at him as he walked past her.
"Well, Cao Cao loved my plan, I'll have you know," he said. "I have a feeling Wei will be winning the next battle against the Allies."
"Don't count on it! I am sure Master Liang will come up with a plan that will beat yours!"
"Hmm... Not if he wants to keep you alive..."
"What?! Once again I call you a traitor! I thought you were friends with my husband and I!" Pang Tong laughed.
"Oh come on! Can't you take a joke? I wouldn't let Cao Cao kill you. If things take a turn for the worse, then I'll run off with you before Cao Cao gets a chance to do anything to you." He sat down and began to mess around with something on the ground. It seemed to be some sticks and stones that he was messing with. Ying watched with interest. He appeared to be performing some sort of ritual that she had heard of seers using before.
"Can you tell the future?" she asked. Tong looked at her.
"Ahh... not exactly. I know how to perform the ritual, but I just don't have the type of power needed to be able to read the signs completely. I can get some things out of it, but it usually makes no sense." He returned his gaze to the ground. "Okay... It's telling me that rabbits with sharp pointy teeth will eat everyone in the world tomorrow."
"What?"
"Exactly." He grabbed a nearby book and started to read it. As he was doing so, he began to sing.
"Oh...! There's... a...
Chicken in the icebox
And I'll go and get it for you!
There's a chicken in the icebox
And I'll go and get it for you!
It's blue! It's blue!
It has no head! It has no feet!
It's blue! It's blue!
It has no head! It has no feet!"
'Why does he always sing those strange songs?' thought Ying as she sighed.
"Uh oh!"
"What is it now?"
"I think we may have some company soon..."
"What do you mean?" Tong shrugged and started to sing a new song.
x-x-x
Zhuge Liang had reached the edge of the river where the boats had been at. He mumbled a spell and pointed his fan across the river. A bridge of ice appeared that was just wide enough for him to cross without falling off. He crossed the bridge and said another spell so that his fan gave off light. He looked around for some tracks and once he found them, followed them. After walking for about ten minutes, he reached the sleeping Wei camp, so he called off his spell and his fan stopped giving off light. They didn't seem to have posted any guards, no one was out wandering around the camp.
'Now the only problem is figuring out where she is at...' he thought as he pondered what he could do besides going around and looking into every tent, risking an even larger chance of being caught. 'Hmm... Well, I have an idea. If it will work or not, I do not know, but I suppose it is worth a try. I know! I will use telepathy to tell her how to help me make this locater spell work.'
x-x-x
"Just walkin' on a tightrope
And off I fell!
I busted my skull open
And blood spewed like a well!
They rushed me to the hospital
No one knows how
But I somehow made it
So they said wow!"
Yue Ying hit her head against the pole she was tied to. Pang Tong was getting to be very annoying. Suddenly, a strange voice popped into her head.
"Yue Ying! Can you hear me?"
'What? Am I hearing voices?' she thought.
"Yue Ying! It is me, Zhuge Liang."
'Master Liang? How are you talking to me? You are not in the tent...'
"No, I am near the outskirts of the Wei camp. I am using telepathy to talk to you. Listen, I have come to release you and take you back to the Allied camp, but I have to locate you first. I know of a locater spell, but it will only work it the person I am trying to find is thinking of me. So, just start thinking something about me and I will be there soon."
'Think about you? Uhh... Let me see... Okay. I've got it.'
"Good. It's working. Hold on! Pang Tong?! You are in Pang Tong's tent? He was the one who captured you? That... that... Arg!"
'I know, but you don't understand. The only reason why he did it was because he wanted his talents to finally be recognized. He wants to prove that his plans are as good, if not better, than yours. He was going to leave Wei after one of his plans beat yours.'
"... I see. Well, perhaps I can convince him to defect if that is the case. Alright, I am outside his tent. I am coming in now." As he finished speaking, he came walking into the tent fanning himself.
"Hello, Pang Tong." Tong jumped and turned around to see him.
"Whoa! Zhuge Liang! How'd you get here?"
"That does not matter now. I suggest you give me my wife back."
"Why should I? It would mess up my plans."
"Forget your plans! Listen, if you defect to Shu, we can have our own battle of the wits later. Do you really want to fight against your friends?"
"No..."
"Then join us. If you prove yourself against me, perhaps Liu Bei will sometimes chose your plans over mine."
"You think so?" Zhuge Liang shrugged.
"Make up your mind, quick. I want to get going soon."
"Fine! I'll let Ying go and join Shu, but you better promise that we will have our own little battle soon!"
"Alright, I promise." Pang Tong picked up his staff and cut Yue Ying lose with a dagger that he kept under his cloak.
"Let's get going, then!"
x-x-x
The three had made it back to the Allied camp and took Pang Tong to see Liu Bei.
"Ah, so you are back? And with Yue Ying as well. Good job, Lord Zhuge Liang. Oh, who is this fellow?"asked Bei as the three entered the tent.
"Fellow? Hmm... I suppose you mean me. My name is Pang Tong. Some call me the Fledgling Phoenix, ever heard of me?"
"I am afraid not..."
"Damn!" Pang Tong said under his breath. "No one's heard of me out here." Zhuge Liang cleared his throat.
"Pang Tong is a strategist, as myself. He is one of my old friends from Xiang Yang, and his mind is like to my own, as I am told."
"Darn right it is!"
"Hmm... Well, anyway, he has come to defect to Shu. He was a Wei general for a short period of time, but he has decided to change his allegiance."
"Are you sure this is not one of his tricks?" asked Liu Bei, looking a bit worried.
"Positive. Believe me, he will not try anything."
"Unless you ignore my ideas..." Liu Bei looked at him for a minute before saying,
"Uh, it is an honor to have you join Shu, Lord Pang Tong."
"Don't call me 'Lord'. It's way to formal for me."
"...Okay. You may have the empty supply tent for now. Here, this servant will show you the way," said Liu Bei, motioning to one of his servants to take Pang Tong there.
"Come, Ying. Let us go back to our own tent. It is getting late," Liang said.
x-x-x
Yue Ying entered the tent first with Zhuge Liang behind her.
"Yue Ying..." He began and she turned around to face him.
"Hmm?"
"You do not know how worried I was about you. I was afraid they would have hurt you or killed you."
"Master Liang, I..." And there she stopped for he had pulled her over to him and kissed her. Ying was surprised by this action, he had never shown any type of affection towards her before. At least now she knew he felt the same way as she did.
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CHAPTER 8 END
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So, there you go. Chapter 8. It's about 300 words shorter than normal, but oh well.
Anyway, it would mean lots to me if you reviewed. I don't care how long it is, so you don't have to go all out with a long review of whether my story is good or if it sucks if you don't want to.
