Thanks to Guan, CrazyInsanity, and michelle for the reviews!
Ok. Three things. First of all, Pang Tong may be out of character, I don't know. He's (err... was) probably more serious than I make him to be. Second, you know how the ships are all hooked together in the game? Well I tried to explain how they were hooked up, but I don't know if it sounds right or even reasonable. Third, this chapter may not be to good. I sort of had writer's block and kept on running out of things to write. Might be sort of boring to, I don't know.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dynasty Warriors. Koei does. Oh... And there is a part sort of like in the movie The Lord of the Rings (forgot which one) where a guy accidentally shoots an arrow and starts the battle. Don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but I do.
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CHAPTER 9 START
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The next day another war council was held in a tent in the center of the camp. The council was held to see if any last minute changes needed to be made to the plan. The Wei army seemed to be preparing for their attack.
"So, you do not know exactly what Cao Cao is going to do?" Zhuge Liang asked Pang Tong.
"Nope. He has a few people that advise him and give him ideas, but the only person that he allows to map out the entire plan is his precious Sima Yi. I only know what parts of my plan he is going to use. Of course, now that I defected, he might have changed them around some. I can tell you that he isn't going to chain his ships together and that he will most likely have an ambush set up in the only place suitable for a wind prayer ceremony," Pang Tong answered as everyone else present just sat and listened to the two talking.
"I see... Well then, I suppose we will keep our plan as it is. The only way we can beat their fleet is if we can set it on fire and the only way we can do that is with a prayer ceremony. We will just have to tighten our defenses around the area where I will perform the ceremony until the wind begins to blow. As for you, Pang Tong, I do not think you should be in this battle."
"What?! Why not?"
"You know why."
"Of course I know why. I was just trying to help out those people who don't have very high intelligence levels in here. They might want to know why. Like you," said Pang Tong, pointing to a man with a dopey look on his face. "Don't you want to know why I can't be in this battle?" The man scratched his head.
"Uhh... Not really..."
"Of course you do! It's because Cao Cao considers me a traitor and might even think that this was all a trick in the first place. He's probably all worked up about that now and will kill me the next time he sees me. He'll probably have everyone out looking for me. That's why I can't be in the next battle. Do you understand now?"
"Uhh... Okay..."
"That was a waste of time, Pang Tong. You need to be more serious," sighed Zhuge Liang.
"No my friend! You need to lighten up! Well, since I'm not needed, I'm going to go get Daisy and bring her over here. I beat she misses me."
"Daisy? You still have that old deformed thing?"
"She is not an old deformed thing! She is an old deformed donkey," sniffed Pang Tong. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." With that, he marched out of the tent and off to find his donkey. Liu Bei cleared his throat.
"Uh... yes, well, is there anything else that needs to be said?" The people present looked around at each other, but no one spoke. "Lord Sun Jian?"
"I can not think of anything either, so I suppose this is the end of the council. Back to work everyone!" All the people present at the council rose, bowed to the two lords, and filed out of the tent. As most were generals, they began to rouse the soldiers and officers that were lazing around and began to prepare for battle again. The soldiers and officers in charge of supplies ran off to prepare and check them, those in charge of the ships ran off to check them, and the remaining were "encouraged" to continue training.
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As was predicted, the Wei army was on the move and had reached where the Allied forces were at. Both fleets were positioned parallel to the shores of the river. On both sides the two largest ships were at the end of the line. These two were tied to some sort of harbor on land and smaller ships were put in between the larger ones. The two larger ships would help stabilize the smaller ones so that they would hopefully stay together better. Before the battle began, the soldiers hurriedly lowered ramps so that all the ships were accessible for their side. Ramps were also lowered so that they could get back onto land and be able to get onto the enemies' ships better. This battle would mostly be fought on the ships, but there would be some of it fought on land, as the prayer site was located there. After this was done, the generals and officers took their troops and quickly went to their places. Liu Bei and Sun Jian stayed in the back of the army, for if they were routed then the battle would be lost. Most of the generals and officers went ahead on the ships in front of the two lords and Yue Ying went with Zhuge Liang to guard the prayer site. Zhao Yun had gone to round up some reinforcements and would be at the prayer site soon as well.
Both the Allied and the Wei army were in position and both stood still for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for the other side to make the first move.
"It does not seem like anyone has begun fighting yet," said Zhuge Liang. "But I suppose I should go ahead and begin the ceremony soon." He walked up the steps to the altar and began to prepare. Yue Ying sat on her horse and watched the units of troops on the ships to see when the fighting would begin, though she still looked around her every once in awhile incase the ambush came before the others began to fight.
"I am here!" called Zhao Yun as he rode up with the reinforcements behind him. "A stand-off? How long has this been going on?" he asked as he saw both armies standing still and glaring at each other waiting for the other to move. Yue Ying shrugged.
"It has been awhile. I am not exactly sure."
"Perhaps we should shoot one of those Wei soldiers over there with an arrow. I bet that would get things started."
"That is tempting... but I suppose we should wait until one of the lesser trained archers does that by accident. All the archers I can see are already ready for the battle, all they have to do is let lose of their arrow and it would hit a Wei solider." Just as Ying finished saying that, one of the Shu archers, who was young and nervous as this was his first battle, accidentally shot the arrow he had notched in his bow. It flew straight into the heart of a Wei foot solider, causing him to fall over dead instantly. This caused the Wei soldiers to rush forward to attack the Allied soldiers, who, after seeing their enemies charging, did the same.
"How odd... Are you psychic or something?" asked Zhao Yun.
"No, it was easy to tell that something like that might have happened," answered Yue Ying. "Now, we better keep a watch out for an attack." As before, right after she said that, an ambush party appeared out of no where led by Yue Jin.
"...Are you sure you are not psychic?"
"A coincidence. Now, we must protect the altar or else Zhuge Liang will never be able to get the wind to blow! Come on!" She said and rode forward with her troops behind her to confront the enemy. Zhao Yun followed suite, leaving half of his troops to guard in the other direction. It was unlikely that anyone would attack from that way, but it never hurt to be safe.
"Two on one isn't fair! I'll even the odds!" called another Wei general, Li Dian, who came riding up behind Yue Jin with his troops.
"Zhao Yun! You take Li Dian, I will take Yue Jin!" Yue Ying shouted.
"Right!" Zhao Yun nodded and changed direction to go around Yu Jin's unit to reach Li Dian's. Yue Jin took his spear and swung at Yue Ying, who blocked it.
"Let's see what you got, girly!" he called to his opponent as he drew back for another attack.
"Girly?" said Ying as she urged her horse forward. She swung back her scythe and acted like she was going to hit him, so he blocked, but found out to late that she wasn't going to really hit him. He found himself on the ground in the dust after she had hooked the unsharpened end of her weapon around his ankle and dismounted him.
"Pretty good," he said. "How about this?" He motioned and one of his archers shot Ying's horse, startling it so that it bucked and threw her off. Zhao Yun, who had already beaten Li Dian, for he was not as strong as he had appeared, saw this.
"That is not very fair!" He called out as he rode up and smacked Yue Jin in the head with the pole of his spear.
"Ugh..." moaned Yue Jin before he fell over unconscious.
"He will have a nasty headache when he wakes up," said Ying as she stood up and dusted herself off. "I thought I told you he was mine? Li Dian was yours and you already took care of him." Zhao Yun shrugged.
"Sorry. My guy was not much of a challenge and I thought it would be nice to help you out. Come on, then. Let's take care of the rest of these troops and drag this guy further up towards Cao Cao's side so he won't bother us when he wakes up."
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CHAPTER 9 END
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Well, there's the end of chapter 9. I know it's a tad bit shorter than normal, but I wanted to make sure I had enough for the next chapter, which will be the conclusion.
Hope you all have a merry Christmas. Yes, Christmas. Remember why we all really celebrate this holiday! Or at least, why it's supposed to be celebrated...
Also, I traced (yes... traced) some pictures of a few of the female DW characters. If for some odd reason you want to see them, go to my profile, click on the Homepage link, then once you're on my site click the My Art link, then the Traced link.
