Chapter 9: "The battle"
Alina and the two cameramen arrived to Badon port, just at the same time as Caprain Fargus's ship did, fastening things up. Needless to say, everyone aboard was worried, as there were no hints of Ninian and Nils.
"Hi again", Alina greeted them. "I wish I had good news for you, but... we didn't find the kids"
"They aren't anywhere on the ship", Lyn said, lowering her head.
"It wasn't your fault", the reporter told her, putting her hand on the Sacaen girl's shoulder. "You were fighting against all those things... how could you know that they were just after Ninian and Nils?"
"Why do you say that?", Serra asked, offended. "They could have been after someone else... like me, for example"
Alina sighed, trying to find a good answer without revealing the truth behind the siblings before talking about it with the production crew. "Well... I said that because they just kidnapped the siblings, and not you... Anyway, let's get out of here. We've found another place to move all of you", she said, pointing them to get into the van.
Isadora drank the glass of water that was given to her quickly, as soon as she awoke after she fainted. "Now... what are we to do? This is too much!", the producer complained to her fellow workmates.
"We must let them out of all this", Uther said, thoughtfully. "Knowing my brother, he would abandon the Castle and go to Nergal's meeting, to kick his butt all by himself"
"Then, let's tell them!", Wallace shouted, grinning. "That would call people's attention, and that way Nergal would have his butt kicked twice, as we would win that timeframe!"
Isadora glared at him. "I'll just tell our crew... no one else", she said, picking her handie.
After a few moments, Alina got an incoming call from Isadora.
"Yes?", Alina answered back through her handie.
Isadora told her the news quickly, in a summarized way.
"Alright", the reporter said softly, before turning off the handie. Right after that, she also fainted, due to all the responsibility that now she had over her shoulders.
Heath looked at Alina, confused. "Do you think that she's sleeping or that she fainted?", he asked Rath, who was driving the van.
"... She must be sleeping", the Sacaen guy replied, after looking at his co-worker briefly. "She must have received very bad news to faint"
"Yes, you are right", the odd coloured-haired cameramen replied, laying backwards. "What can be worse than this show, at this rate?"
"Alright, we are about to start today's show! Everyone, get ready!", Ephidel shouted, from his Director place. With that, everyone started moving quicky, getting ready with their last preparations for the show. Make-up artists were running all around the studio, as well as the crew.
However, Nergal was still dealing with another things.
"Alright, this is what we have already accorded: you go and show the banner, and that's all", he said, handing the short, blonde haired female a case.
The woman opened it, suspiciously. She stared at the opened case and chuckled. "Hey, this is half the money we accorded", Vaida protested, annoyed. "Don't tell me this is the 'the rest when the job's done' trick?"
"You are an intelligent woman, apart from a skilled mercenary", the turban man said, chuckling. "Now, go and get the job done, and I'll give you the promised, missing part", he said, patting Vaida on the shoulder before walking away to the studio, where an annoyed Ephidel was waiting for him to get the show started.
"Bosses", Vaida complained, closing her suitcase. "I shouldn't have turned into a mercenary", she mumbled under her breath, as she walked away.
"Hey, I'm sick of doing nothing!", Hector said, yawning.
"It's a pity that that TV doesn't work", Canas said, bored. "I bet that maybe there was something interesting to see"
"Even if the TV worked, we aren't suppossed to turn it on", Rebecca said, playing with Florina's hair.
"But no one of the TV company is inside the Castle, they are all outside it, so... we could watch all the telly we wanted, if that worked", Eliwood said.
"In that case, let me give it a try. Maybe it works", Matthew said, grinning.
After long struggles, Matthew finally made the TV work properly. The rest of the gang celebrate the even joyfully, rushing to where the TV was, ready to spend some good time snoozing off.
"Hey, don't even think in leaving that channel on!", Bartre shouted, as Serra stopped doing zapping at LBC. "I can't stand those talk-shows!"
"Shh! They are talking about us!", the pink-haired girl shouted back, annoyed.
"What? Are they talking about us?", the few ones that weren't paying attention exclaimed, surprised.
In fact, they were, as "The Darkest Truth" –Nergal's talk show- had extended timetable, spanning the programme into several hours longer that it was suppossed to last. Nergal, the host, was paying attention to what Sonia was saying.
"And you won't believe the news that our people had just found!", the pale skinned woman said, laughing. "Those two red-haired ones, Priscilla and Raven, are indeed siblings. The guy had been given into adoption while they kept the girl!"
"Ohhhh!", a bunch of extras shouted from behind the discussion panel.
"And that's not all!", Sonia went on, now laughing maniacally. "The boy wants to take revenge on the Ostian fanily for having killed his parent, while the girl doesn't know a word about her true parents destiny"
"Uuuhhh!", the extras now said.
"'Uhh', indeed", Nergal said, chuckling. "But I suppose that isn't everything... But it will have to wait, until we come back from this commercials!", the turban-wearing host said.
Eliwood turned off the TV, jaw-dropped. Automatically, everyone turned back towards Raven and Priscilla, who were blushing.
"What?", Raven asked, furiously. "Have you never seen two long lost siblings or what?"
"So those thins almost falling over my head weren't an accident, after all", Hector guessed, getting annoyed as time passed by. "So you want to take revenge on Ostia, do you? Then, let's get things done outside!", he told Raven, yearning a fight.
"Alright, let's do that!", the red haired mercenary accepted, trying to release himself from his siter embrace, who tried to stop him from getting into the fight.
"Hey, look, Rebecca and Dart are siblings, too!", Serra, who had switched the TV on again, shouted, pointing to the screen. "And some girl called Leila has been hurt!", the pink haired girl went on, excited.
"What happened to Leila?", Matthew shouted, rushing to the TV.
In a matter of seconds, all their secrets were reveiled... Dan and Wil's running away from home, Geitz's life, Louise being pregnant... the gossip show just told everything about them...
"This is too much!", Eliwood shouted, furiously. "I can't believe they can do such a thing! I'll go and pick some fresh air!", he said, leaving in the garden's direction.
Right then, the cameramen and the reporters came in, with a worried look in their faces. However, they got terrified at the only glance of the TV on.
"Why had you switched that damn thing on?", Alina shouted histerically. "You weren't supposed to do that!"
"When was Leila hurt? Why didn't you told me?", Matthew asked her nervously, grabbing the brown-haired reporter from her shirt's neck. "I would have run to her side! I need to be with her!"
"I knew about it yesterday!", Alina lied, trying to calm the thief down. "We all thought it would have been better if you knew it later, or if you didn't knew at all, because she's getting better!"
"Hey, where's Eliwood?", Heath asked, confused.
"He went to the garden, to catch some fresh air", Rebecca said, hugging Dart.
"Arrgghhh! What's that?", Eliwood yelled from the garden, adtonished.
Everyone run to the garden, worried.
"What's the... matter., Lord Eliwood?", Florina asked shyly.
"That woman... what is she doing up there with that wyvern?", the red-haired guy asked, unable to come out of his surprise.
"She's riding that wyvern all around the Castle...", Heath said, staring at her. A little tear fall from his eyes. "Hyperion...", he mumbled, touched.
"Look! She has something with her!", Farina pointed out. "Look, she's opening it!"
"Eliwood: your father has been kidnapped by Nergal. Come and rescue him if you are a man!", Hector read the banner that Vaida was holding, after a few moments. "Uh, oh..."
"What?", Eliwood barely asked, terrified. He stood petrified for a few seconds, but then he turned back and went to where the two reporters and the two cameramen were, a hint of hate in his eyes. "You four knew it all from the beginning! Why hadn't you told me anything?", he asked, furiously.
Alina just wanted to dissapear. Heath and Rath were 'busy' recording everything, so the cameras hide their worried faces. Geitz looked in another direction.
"We got the news right now, when we left you all alone, and you repaired the TV", the brown-haired female reporter explained, nervously. "It happened early in the morning, but everyone back at the channel's doing their best to find him!"
"Well, at least now they know where to start looking for him", Hector said, thinking in Vaida's banner.
"I'm not going to stay with my arms folded, doing nothing!", Eliwood yelled, seriously. "I'm leaving this place! I'll go and rescue my father!"
"Great idea! Let's kick that Nergal's ass!", Hector quickly, joined, excited. "Besides, we have been together in many trivial things, so I won't leave you alone in this one"
"I'll also go!", Lyn said, determined. "We can't stay here diong nothing"
In matter of seconds, the entire group decided to quit from the show and help Eliwood in his quest.
"Uh... er... well, I guess this is the end of Big Emblem", Alina said puzzled, facing the camera. "Stay tunned for the parting preparations", she said, awkwardly, before Heath switched the camera off.
"Alright, as our not so bright reporter brightly said, 'this is the end of Big Emblem'", Renault sighed, staring at the TV.
"I told you that Hector would just want to get out and battle Nergal", Uther said, chuckling. "He's rather predictable at times".
"Well, do I look for some old B-movie to replace the show?", Isadora asked, depressed. "The only good thing of all this, is that I'll be able to spend more time with Harken", she said, smiling hopefully.
"Ahhhh...", Wallace mocked her, lightly. "You deserve it, girl, after all", he said, thoughtfully. "But don't grab a movie, we'll go on with the show", he said, chuckling.
Isadora rose an eyebrow, surprised. "What do you mean by that?"
"Aren't they going to face Nergal? Then, let's show that, as part of the show's 'grand-finale'"
"You must be joking", the blue-haired producer replied, annoyed.
"Hey, it's not a bad idea", Renault said, after thinking it a bit. "Then we make the already planned last programme, with the highlights of the battle"
"Do as you want. I'm just the channel's attorney", Uther said, laying back in the armchair.
"Just as he said, I'm nothing but his bodyguard", Oswin said, shrugging.
"I would have loved to find another way out without having to fight against Nergal, but there wasn't", Lord Athos explained, sadenned. "I must prepare myself fot the battle. Excuse me", he said, standing up and leaving the room under the astonished glances of everybody there.
"Then, it's set! We'll transmit the battle!", Wallace shouted happily "If the old man's going, then we have the perfect ending!"
"It's not an old man, he's an Archsage", Pent corrected Wallace, sighing. "Do as you want... this thing has already gotten out of control, so I leave you all in charge", he told the producer's team. "What do you think, Louise?"
"I feel sorry for having taken so much time from your job, honey... but now there's nothing we can do to stop this"
"Alright, we'll show all of Elibe how our contestants fight!", Wallace claimed triumphally, while Isadora sighed annoyed.
"I'll go and tell the others that the show's still on", the blue haired young woman said, grabbing her hand comunicator.
"Hello?", Alina replied back, with a tired voice.
"Hi there", Isadora greeted her back, also tired. "You still have some work to do. You have to go and record the entire battle. Lord Athos is in already in his way to LBC buildings"
Alina took some moments to reply. "Alright... However, we are already going there. Let's say that the contestants took us as hostages"
"I see", Isadora said. At this time, nothing could surprise all over Elibe could surprise her. "Good luck, then"
"Thanks, you too", the brown haired reporter replied back, switching thecell-phone off.
Rath stopped the van's engine, and in a matter of seconds, everyone was out of the van. Karel and Bartre were already forcing the LBC doors. Right after that, they came in, and the others joined them.
A few meters ahead was Lord Darin, head of the channel. "What are you doing here?", he demanded, shouting. "Get out of here, or I'll demand you for invading a private property"
"Not if I cut your neck first", Karel threatened the old man, his sword right at his neck.
"So, where's my father?", Eliwood asked, frowning.
Darin didn't want to answer, but Karel's sword was getting nearer and nearer his throat, so he gasped, "Backwards... at the 'Darkest Truth' studio"
Karel put his sword aside. "That's collaboration"
Just in case, Bartre tied Darin up on a chair, and then the gang went on their way to the studio.
"It has to be here", Geitz commented, staring at one big, closed door. "Let's open it, tear it into pieces!"
They did just as the co-reporter said, and, effectively, Nergal was there, already fighting with Lord Athos.
"So, we have more visits, uh?", Nergal said, as he looked at the newcomers. "Well, as I'm busy, my dear morphs will have to deal with you. Too bad I couldn't get rid of all of you by myself", he said, casting some black magic over the Archsage.
At that moment, Denning, Ephidel, Limstella, Sonia and an army of morphs appeared.
And battle began.
"Argh! What the hell can I do here?", Alina asked herself desperate, trying to dodge an unknown morph's attack. She had to be the only one without a weapon at hand, so she just kept on running, advising anyone she can about some handy battle tactic. Being just what could have been called a 'tactician' (without training), she had no knowledge of how to fight. Another embarrassing moment for her.
"I don't know, grab some piece of wood and start smashing them!", Isadora told her, nervously. "They don't look too bringht, with the exceptions of Limstella, Sonia and Ephidel"
"What, she doesn't know how to handle a weapon, not even a dagger?", Uther and Oswin asked, astonished.
"No, I don't!", Alina shouted, now hiding behind a column, searching for something she could use as a weapon. "I only joined the 'Tactician's club' at High School!", she explained, pulling a string. She managed to make one morph fall down, but Serra and Raven went down with it, also. By this moment, the reporter just wanted to vanish from Elibe.
"Well, keep on running then!", Wallace told her, excited. "Oh, and tell Heath or Rath to get nearer the big fight between Nergal and Athos! I want some good shots from it"
Alina rolled her eyes. "What? This is a slaughtering!", she complained, looking at the mrphs corpses and the blood spilled in the floor. "If they get nearer them they'll get killed, that's for sure!"
"Oh, come on!", Wallace told her. "The rating is exploding! We have a really high rating since the 'slaughtering', as you call it, began!"
"But... hey, do you want to kill everyone to get the highest rating!", she asked, glaring at the cell-phone, as it would reach Wallace.
"Don't misunderstand me, girl", the bald producer said. "I know I sound like a jerk, but this is the final programme... the last chance to finish it greatly... Right now I'm working, and that's why I ask you this. Now go, and get those shots!"
"As you say"; Alina mumbled annoyed, grabbing part of a wooden box as a shield, and run where Rath and Heath were.
Nino walked shyly at first, her eyes unused to that bloodshed. She made her walk to where Sonia was fighting with Lyn and Guy, and casted a Wind spell, all of a sudden.
Sonia looked annoyed in the direction where the spell had come from, and burst into laughter when she saw Nino. "You? What are you doing here? You tried to... hahaha... to attack me?", she said, laughing. "You'll now see what magic trully is", she said, ready to cast her most powerful spell.
However, she didn't. She fall down, death, backstabbed by Jaffar.
Nino walked to him, surprised. Jaffar didn't say anything, and went to aid the others, knowing that he wanted another life, rather than being used as a killing machine.
Nino stared at him, and walso went to help the others. Now she had to think in other things than her past, now that the one who killed her real parents was dead.
Limstella finally collapsed, and with her, all the morphs were dead.
"Nergal, now it's your turn!", Eliwood roared furiously, running to him. However, a dragon appeared, blocking Eliwood's path.
"What is... this?", Priscilla asked softly, awestrucked.
"He... summoned... a dragon", Lyn said, her breath taken away by the surprise.
"Hahaha...", Nergal laughed, weakly this time. It was notorious that the battle with Lord Athos was taking all his energy away from him. "If you defeat the dragon... then you'll be able to face me, thing that I doubt"
"We defeated all your morphs, so now we are going after you!", Eliwood threstened, his fist closed.
"We'll kick your butt!", Hector joined Eliwood, as he striked first at the dragon.
And again, battle ensued, more fierce than ever.
"Alina, is that a real dragon?", Renault asked, not believing his eyes.
"It looks so", the brown-haired reporter said, after advising Priscilla to heal Eliwood, who was starting to walk with some difficulty. "Why don't you ask Geitz? He's clser than what I am", she asked.
"We tried that first, but that guy switched the comunication off, then throwed his headphones, so he could fight better", Wallace said. "It's all recorded", he explained.
"Aha, I see", the reporter said, now dodging a dragon's flame. "Do you want me to get an interview with the dragon?", she asked sarcastically, now hiding behind a column, again.
"That would be nice", Wallace joked. "Well, keep on surviving... wait, would your death raise make a higher rating?", he asked thoughtfully, puzzling Isadora.
"I highly doubt it", Alina said, rolling her eyes. "I'm a bad reporter, and no one would give a... anything for my death. If we killed one of the Lords, or any of the contestants, then yes... what? Are you telling me to kill Eliwood?", she asked, astonished.
"No, I would get fired", Wallace said, disappointed. "Hey, what about Nergal and the old man?"
"Archsage!", Isadora corrected him, quickly.
"Well, Nergal and the old Archsage", Wallace said, chuckling.
"I don't know, the dragon blocks everything", Alina replied, now hiding behind Kent's back.
"Ok, go on with the show", Wallace said, swiching his cell-phone off
The battle had been fierce, but finally, the dragon had been defeated. Nergal was laying down, uncounscious, as well as Lord Athos, who was next to Nergal. The dragon had vanished, revealing a door behind him. The morphs were all dead, their corpses laying all over the room.
"Ninian and Nils must be there!", Lyn cried, rushing to the door. "Lord Athos!", she shouted, once she saw the old Archsage laying on the ground. Quickly, she ran to the Archsage, joining Priscilla and Serra, who were checking his state.
"He's just uncounscious", the short red-haired troubadour said, gently. "I think he'll be ok soon"
"Let me open it", Hector asked, going to the door with his axe at hand. From one blow, he opened the door. Right behind it, Niian, Nils and Lord Elbert appeared, relieved and happy of being rescued.
"Dad! You are alright!", Eliwood cried, as he run to his father's encounter.
"Eliwood! You actually managed to defeat Nergal! I'm so proud of you", Lord Elbert said, hugging his son. "Thank you, everyone", he said, looking at all the contestants gratefully.
Eliwood broke his father's hug and went to Ninian's side. "Are you two all alright?", he asked her, softly.
Ninian blushed. "Yes, we are fine", she said, looking down.
Suddenly, a huge noise came from behind. The door opened, and the 'Four Fangs', Linus, Lloyd, Ursula and Uhai came in, running. They stopped, frozen, realizing that the entire work has been already done.
"Have you finished the entire business?", Lloyd asked, disappointed. "I wanted to 'talk' some things with Sonia..."
"Is that witch gone?", Linus asked, smiling. "It was time... too bad that we couldn't do it ourselves, bro"
"It doesn't matter! She's gone!", the blonde-haired man replied, cheerfully. "No more stupid talk-shows from now on"
"You bet", Uhai replied, smiling. "The police has already came, and Darin has been arrested for being an accomplice in Lord Elbert's kidnapping", he explained to the Big Emblem gang.
"Are you alright?", Ursula asked Nino slowly.
The green-haired girl looked at her, puzzled. "I... yes, I'll be fine. It's just that... I'm still shocked about the entire truth, and Sonia's death..."
"Don't worry... Everything will be alright", the purple haired young woman told her, hugging her.
Jaffar stared at the two girls, silently, from afar.
"Hey, you", Lloyd walked to Alina, who was leaning against the wall, resting after the fight (even if she did little to nothing to defeat both Nergal and the dragon). "Aren't you the gal that bumped into me the other day, outside the disco"
"Er... well, yes", the brown-haired reporter admited, blushing. "Let me apologize once again..."
"Oh, it doesn't matter", the blonde haired guy chuckled. "Got tissues?", he asked her, laughing.
Alina was puzzled at first, but then burst into laughter too, as that was the reason why she bumped into him.
Finally, everyone got out the LBC building, meeting the sunlight. They were now free, ready to return to their normal lives.
An ambulance had already picked Lord Athos up and sent him to the hospital, where he would recover from his wounds after the hidden battle with Nergal. No one got to know what they told each other in that encounter. Nergal had been taken to the police headquarters, were he would await his sentence.
"Well... we are free again!", Sain said, stretching his arms widely. "Guess that the first thing I'll do is going to a disco. I want to see pretty cheeks desperately"
"Wait a second... you still have one last show to do", Alina warned him, smiling.
"What?", the brown-haired guy said, annoyed. "You must be kidding"
"No, the running reporter is right", Geitz said, making an obvious reference to his co-worker's attitude during the battles. "You still have to do the final show, where you talk about your experinces in the show"
"Well, let's do it as soon as we can!", Hector said, getting into the van. "I'm sick of this!"
"Me too!", most of the contestants said, getting into the van.
And with that, evryone returned to the channel, ready to prepare the last Big Emblem show...
Alright, people... the action is over. Go and read the epilogue to know how this story ends...
BTW, the last part with Lloyd and Alina was... senseless, right? At least, it would remind someone about the disco scene...
Remember that it is an AU fic, so that's why everyone ends up alive and well (except the dragon and the morphs).