第3章:WARRIORの王国
Chapter 3: Warrior Realm
As the Shepherds marched towards to the border to Ferox, they were unaware of something very interesting that was happening at that border. As Raimi, head of the eastern border guard stood her post, she contemplated recent events. She wondered why all of this was happening now, though quickly shrugged it off as none of her business.
Her ponderings were cut short by a sudden interruption. "Hey, you the boss out here?" the voice came from a young man wearing a heavy fur coat and carrying a scroll held by agents of the Khans to prove their identity.
"Yes, I am, now tell me, what business does an agent of the West Khan have here?" she asked, identifying him by the seal on the scroll.
"Ah, yes, well my lord, the West Khan heard that there has been issues with bandits lately and sent me to help." he said politely as looked over the wall to the nation to the south.
"I don't need any help, let alone from one as young as you." Raimi shot back with a venomous tone.
"Hey, don't forget that I outrank you." The young man countered while showing off a medal that was on his coat. "And besides, while it may be true that I have a lot to learn, I have some very handy skills." Raimi opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by her superior. "You see, without so much as a horse, my associate and I arrived here from the western gate in less than nine hours." he explained, the mentioned associate being a letter barer, who informed the staff why they were there.
"Impossible, that is a distance of over five-hundred miles."
"Maybe for anyone else, but I can, with a little help, travel at sixty miles an hour without tiring." he claimed while emphasising how minuscule the required help really was.
"I'll believe it when I see it." Raimi asserted.
Her superior didn't respond as he went to the edge of the wall, he looked like he was looking for something. He then produced a telescope from a pocket on his coat. He peered through it and a smile formed on his face. "Well, Captain Raimi, I think you might just get your chance to see what I can do." he put down his telescope and turned back to Raimi. "We've got company coming from the south."
As the Shepherds continued northward, the grassy plains were quickly replaced by snowy forests, making most of the shepherds really rather cold, except for Vaike, oddly enough.
"Geez man, aren't you cold without a shirt?" John, who was shivering in his jeans and work jacket from home, asked the burly fighter.
"Not at all, If I let a little cold get to me, I'd never be able to match the fighters the live in Ferox," he explained.
John seemed to consider this before speaking again. "So, they all dress the same way you do?" he inferred, more than asked.
"From what I've heard, yeah, and if their fine with this cold than I gotta be too." Vaike confirmed with a sense of pride in his voice.
"Wow, that is absolutely amazing, and it gives me an idea." a wide smile was forming on John's face. "It sounds like you want to be the strongest fighter around, am I right?" he pointed to Vaike with a wild smile, neither of them noticing that they had stopped marching and that the Shepherds were moving on without them.
"Yeah, what about it?" Vaike was getting really interested in where John was going with this.
"Well, I want to be a marksman worthy of the title of Kamen Rider Snipe," John elaborated, "so, how about we work together to reach those goals?" John asked, offering his muscular friend a handshake.
"Wanna be worthy?" Vaike quietly wondered before shaking his head. "You got a deal partner." Vaike happily accepted John's hand. And from their the two resumed their march, after sprinting to catch back up with the group, of course.
After another few hours, the wind picked up and it started snowing in addition to the existing cold. "Brrr! F-F-Frebberick! I'm f-f-freebing!" Lissa complained as she struggled to speak through her shivering. While normally, Lissa's complaining annoyed James, here he agreed with her. He was really hoping that the Feroxans had hot cocoa.
"Stand beside my horse, milady. She'll shelter you from the wind." Frederick offered, which Lissa gladly accepted.
As they continued walking, they came to a fortress that spread as far east and as far west as they could see. "So, is this the fortress?" Yume asked no-one in particular.
"Yes, the Longfort. It stretches along the border of Ylisse and Regna Ferox." Chrom explained. James had to admit that the thing earned its name seeing as according to his map, it stretched all the way across the continent.
"The khans that rule Ferox have grown quite wary of foreigners." Frederick warned. "Still, don't mistake a lack of hospitality for open hostility. This simply calls for a bit of diplomacy." he than assured, still James felt that something was about to go very wrong.
"Negotiation's not my strong suit, but I'll do my best. Remember, everyone: your actions here reflect back upon Ylisse." Chrom said to the group, sounding rather nervous himself.
And upon reaching the foot of the fortress, things did in fact go very wrong. The moment they arrived, James saw feroxi troops moving into position. "Chrom we've got trouble, the Feroxi are mobilizing." he informed Chrom while making sure that his Driver and gashat were ready for use at a moment's notice.
"What!? Why?" Chrom questioned as he reached for his sword.
"Dunno, but we should get ready for the worst." he advised solemnly.
"Alright, what do you suggest?" Chrom asked.
"Snipe, Virion, and the two of us had west, the others head east, and we coordinate when to head to the top." James planned out in his head by observing the feroxi positions. "This assumes of course that we have to fight." he added dryly.
Once the shepherds had been discretely arranged for battle, Chrom stepped towards the gate. "Halt! Who goes there?! Called a blonde female knight from atop the wall.
"In the name of House Ylisse, I seek audience with the Khans!" Chrom requested of the knight as he stepped forward once more.
"Not another step, my bold lad! I've lancers at the ready!" the knight warned as several soldiers armed with lances ready to skewer Chrom at a moment's notice.
"Wait, we're not your enemy, we were sent by Exalt Emmeryn to talk something that benefits all of us." Yume tried to explain.
At this point a young man wearing a heavy fur coat and hood walked out to join the knight. "Ah, but you see, you're not the first imposters to try to get thorough by saying your from Ylisse." his voice was distorted by something making it hard to tell what the voice actually sounded like.
"How dare you! You are in the presence of Prince Chrom, the exalt's own blood!" Frederick shouted out, clearly enraged. This only seemed to produce laughter from the hooded man.
"Yeah, and I'm King OOO!" while both the Ylisseans and Feroxi were confused by the mention of a king they had never heard of with such a strange name, for the Riders, that was their neon sign for a clue.
"Ah, you never change, do you man?" John called out jovially, he was glad to see his friend again.
"Nope! And I don't plan to." he called back, the distortion now gone. In an instant his expression went from joyfull to dead serious. "Anyway, I still have a job to do, so if you want to prove that you are who you say are, do it the Feroxi style, on the battlefield!" he declared, dramatically flourishing his coat as if it were a cape.
"Rgh... Emmeryn won't like this at all..." Chrom grumbled. "Please, good lady! If you'd just listen—"
"I've heard quite enough! Attack!" the knight cut him off.
Before anyone could act, the lancers on the wall all threw their lances at Chrom. If the Riders were transformed, they could probably do something, but as they were now, they could do nothing. But, as Chrom braced himself for what was to come, he was whisked away by a white and blue blur.
Chrom had closed his eyes in anticipation for the attack, but opened them a second later when he realized it wasn't coming. He was surprised to find himself sitting safely on a pegasus, he was even more surprised when he saw who was controlling said pegasus."Sumia…?" he muttered more out of surprise than disbelief.
"Better hold on tight, Captain. Could get bumpy." Sumia suggested firmly, but softly.
"R-Right," Chrom responded as he tightened his grip on the pegasus and readied his sword arm.
It was then that Chrom noticed several lancers preparing another volley, "Sumia!" he called out to warn her.
"Right!" she responded, as she gracefully maneuvered the pegasus back to the ground while avoiding flying lances.
Once they were firmly on the ground and Chrom was standing on his own two feet, Sumia let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Oh, Captain, I'm so relieved I made it in time," She happily exclaimed.
"That goes double for me, Sumia!" Chrom exclaimed back, before noticing something "And this—is this the same ornery pegasus we met on the road?!" Chrom exclaimed while equal parts surprised and impressed.
"Oh, she's a sweetheart, isn't she?" She said cheerfully before remembering how the pegasus had nearly injured Chrom "...Once you really get to know her…" she added that last part rather nervously.
"Well, many thanks to you both" Chrom responded jovially.
"I think the pegasus is blushing!" Lissa called out.
"Everyone, focus, we've got more problems than whether or not the flying horse is blushing!" Yume urged.
"Finally, someone gets it! If you wanna get through, you're gonna have to beat us." The Feroxi commander called as he pulled out both a Gamer Driver and a Yellow Gashat and afixed the belt to his waist.
"Wait!? You're saying we have to fight a Kamen Rider!?" Lissa shouted in shock.
"Yep!" he called back as he activated his gashat.
Bakusou Bike!
As the game area formed, racing trophies appeared across the battlefield.
The other Riders followed suit and activated their own Gashats.
Mighty Action X!
Taddle Quest!
Bang Bang Shooting!
As their games areas formed, Bang Bang Shooting fired out steel barrels painted to look like some kind of green ooze was leaking out.
All four riders inserted their gashats.
Gashatto! Let's Game! Metcha Game! Mutcha Game! What's your name?!
"Henshin!" all the Riders called out as the Shepherd Riders simply tapped their icons, while the Feroxi Rider kicked his.
"I'm a Kamen Rider!"
The Feroxi Rider's helmet featured 'pigtails' that resembled bike handles and had spiked pink 'mohawk' down the middle.
"Kamen Rider Lazer" Ex-Aid commented on their opponent. He then turned to Sumia. "Anything I should know about pegasi?" he asked.
"Phila said pegasi can fly far afield, but they're highly vulnerable to arrows." She stated matter of factly before looking down at the pegasus. "Don't worry, girl. I'll watch out for archers for both our sakes!" She assured her mount.
"Alright, you go east than." Ex-Aid decided before turning to Chrom. "Change of plans, I'll go up and deal with Lazer." he said firmly.
Before Chrom could question how he would do that, Ex-Aid leapt up, creating brick blocks beneath him whenever he needed a boost.
Once he stood at the top he and Lazer squared of as the both deciding against using their weapons, Lazer throwing what looked like weaponized bike tires of to the side.
Meanwhile with Chrom and his group as they went west. They had only been walking for a minute when Chrom suddenly stopped.
"Huh, what is it boss?" John asked as Chrom began to look around nervously.
"It's strange, I feel like we're being watched." he said with a tone that was clearly trying to hide his nerves.
"You mean like a g-ghost?" Virion muttered in response.
"Ha! If it's a ghost, than all I gotta do is kick it's ass!" Snipe responded confidently.
"Uh, guys?...Guys! Right here, guys!" a voice called out seemingly from nowhere.
"Who's there!? Where are you!?" Snipe demanded violently as he summoned his weapon.
Gashacon Magnum!
He wildly pointed his gun in all directions.
"I'm standing in plain sight, sir. Right he—" as the owner of the voice said that suddenly became visible.
"BWAAAH!" Chrom cried out before he realized that he knew this man, and quickly ordered Snipe not to shoot.
"Oh! I-is that you, Kellam? When did you arrive?" Chrom asked.
" ...The same time as you. I've been with you all along. Er, I AM still a Shepherd, right? It's quite the honor, after all. I'd hate to lose it. Sometimes I—" he rambled worriedly.
"Of course, Kellam. Forgive me." Chrom apologized. "You're just so...quiet, I completely—"
"Quite all right, sir, quite all right. I've been told I'm easy to miss." Kellam assured him.
"Well, it is still fortunate that the enemy didn't spot you." Virion noted.
"I've been calling to you and waving my arms for several minutes... I don't think they've so much as glanced this way." Kellam revealed.
"Uh, almost sound like you're disappointed by that." Snipe said, noting Kellam's tone.
"Well, I just... I'm glad you finally saw me! Just try to keep an eye out from now on?" he quickly changed the subject.
"Anyway, let's get moving, and be on your guard, James said that there were lots of archers this way.
"Well, they will find that they are no match, for I, the archest of archers." Virion boasted.
"Oh, yeah, well good luck when you have to move into their range and I don't," Snipe boasted back.
"Hm, and what it that supposed to mean?" Virion questioned with a mocking tone.
"Simple, my weapon has a longer range, more power, and even if they do get a hit on me, I'm better protected." he emphasized this by beating his hand against his chest plate.
"Well then, I see a contest is in order, whoever can subdue more enemies is the Shepherd's greatest marksman." Virion proposed.
"Seems easy enough, you're on." Snipe agreed and of course, made sure to shake on to make sure they adhere to the bet.
No more than a minute after they had shook hands did an arrow fly out of a nearby forest, striking Kellam's armor and breaking in two, doing no damage to the knight at all.
This was quickly followed up by an enemy lancer who was quickly incapacitated by Chrom. This was met with a rain of arrows from the forest.
"Captain, stay behind Kellam, their arrows can't piearce his armor!" Snipe advised. "And Virion, behind me! Like I said, I'm better protected than you are!" Both followed his advice, though Virion was reluctant.
As it stood, Snipe and Virion did the bulk of the fighting, with Kellam throwing a Javelin at a closer target every once in awhile.
As they continued to fight off the seemingly endless horde of enemies, Snipe began to slow down, something Virion noticed right away. "Mon anami, the mark on your chest plate is nearly empty." Virion pointed out, referring to his rider gauge.
"What, this is no problem, I can keep going for… for hours." Snipe assured shakily. Virion frown heavily at this, he knew when someone was lying to him. As he watched another arrow fly towards Snipe, he knew what he had to do.
In order to save his comrade, he threw himself in front of the arrow which wasted no time embedding itself in his back."W-Why?" was all Snipe could say.
"Because, no man is useless, except a dead man." Virion proclaimed, though his attempts to sound poetic where hindered by the massive blood loss and hemoptysis. He shortly there after collapsed on the ground.
"Chrom!, Virion needs medical attention now!" Snipe yelled at his captain with a fiery passion in his voice and in his heart. "Kellam and I can handle this, GO!" wordlessly, Chrom obliged and rushed Virion to Lissa for care.
Snipe quickly shot a nearby barrel and threw the orange energy item at Kellam.
Chōhatsu!
Suddenly, all of the enemies stopped firing on anyone but Kellam, who remained unharmed. "Uh, why are they only attacking me when they can't hurt me?" Kellam asked, more confused than anything.
"Because, as far as combat is concerned, they can't see anyone but you." Snipe responded before further explaining. "I needed them to stop shooting me so that I could do this.
Mission Phase 2" he declared as he pulled open his driver.
Gachan! Level Up! Ba-Ba-Bang! Bang-Ba-Bang! (Yow!) Bang Bang Shooting!
Zu Kyūn!
He switched the gashacon magnum into rifle mode and loaded in his gashat.
BangBang Critical Finish!
He dropped onto his belly and carefully took aim at every one of the Feroxi archers and locked on, he than adjusted his aim only slightly to avoid killing their future friends. He then fired a massive barrage of green energy shots that exploded on impact, knocking out the entire enemy force.
As Snipe laid on the ground, looking at what he had accomplished, he didn't seem to notice as his transformation gave out, revealing light cuts all across his body, staining his clothes red. "Haha!, I guess I really am the Shepherds' best marksman!" he proudly proclaimed before passing out, leaving Kellam to rush him to medical care as well, but not before picking up a key off of one of the Feroxi soldiers.
As Brave walked eastward with her notably larger group she couldn't help but wonder why there was such a difference in size, before she could voice her questions, she was asked one.
"Excuse me, but can explain how exactly you were able to don this strange armor?" It was Miriel who posed the question.
"Oh, well I don't really know the technical specifics, but I know that it requires a Gamer Driver and more importantly, a Rider gashat." Brave explained while pointing at the relevant objects.
"Then these are the only requirements?" Miriel inquired, it was around this point that Brave noticed that she was taking notes.
"Well, no, there is one other thing, you have to be immune to the negative effects. And while I don't know exactly how it's done, but I know we don't have what we need to give someone that immunity." She explained.
"I see and what would be necessary to-" Miriel started before being interrupted by Frederick.
"We're to meet with the enemy any moment now" he declared firmly, as sure enough in a just a few seconds, they were beset upon by a large group of lancers.
Gashacon Sword!
Brave was able to help keep them in one place by using her sword to repeatedly melt and refreeze the snow, resulting in sheets of ice that posed no threat to Miriel and Sumia. Unfortunately, no caught a swordsman who was coming up behind Brave.
Brave was caught off guard when she was struck from behind, however, that swordsman was quickly taken down by Vaike and Miriel.
Shortly afterwards, they retrieved a key from one of the down troops. "Alright, now we just need to wait for the signal to head up top and finish this." Brave stated as she prepared to storm the top of the fortress.
"Proceeding with level 2"
Gachan! Level Up! Taddle! Meguru! Taddle! Meguru! Taddle Quest!
Standing atop the tallest portion of the fort, Ex-aid looked as if he just had a profound realization, but instead he just kicked Lazer in the gut. Lazer responded in turn by grabbing Ex-Aid by the leg and using it to flip him flat on his face.
He was met by Ex-Aid sliding on the ground to hit his knees, causing him to fall to the ground. They both quickly got to their feet and continued to fight for several minutes without either gaining the upper hand.
Things changed ever so slightly when Chrom and Snipe appeared to the west, followed by Lissa and the rest of the Shepherds appeared to east, led by Brave.
Lazer rushed Ex-Aid and, opened his driver.
"What?" was all he could asked before he was unexpectedly transformed.
Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty, Mighty Action X!
When a Rider levels up, it causes them to face in the opposite direction, normally this isn't really much of a problem as they just turn around. However, it does become a problem when you aren't expecting it.
As soon as Ex-Aid's level 2 body formed, Lazer grabbed him by the arms and pulled them back to keep him from doing anything.
As the shepherds stormed the top of the fortress, they were met with little resistance as the heavily armored knights were at a notable disadvantage to Miriel's magic, which bypassed their armor all together and Chrom, who carried a rapier for the precise task of taking on armored opponents.
The other enemy troops were quickly handled by the other Shepherds, particularly Snipe was putting in a lot of hard work, though some of their comrades, Brave especially, noticed that Lissa was staying very close to him.
Snipe and Brave flanked Raimi as Chrom faced her head on.
As Lazer tried to hold Ex-Aid in place, he became decidedly more nervous when Ex-Aid started to laugh. "Really, man?" He asked jovially, "have you really forgotten that one move that my counterpart has in Ganbarizing." he said mockingly. Lazer tried to let go of Ex-Aid and dodge, but it was too late.
A bright yellow flash came from the faceplate on Ex-Aid's back, blowing Lazer back several feet. "Pachi Pachi Eye Beam!" Ex-Aid shouted enthusiastically.
"Alright, fine, I guess I can go all out, 2nd gear." Lazer proclaimed before opening his driver.
Gachan! Level Up! Bakusou Dokusou Gekisou Bousou Bakusou Bike!
As the energy screen moved over him, he transformed, into a bike. A Honda CRF250L if Ex-Aid remembered correctly. "Hey, Hey you there." he called out to a nearby, nearly unconscious Feroxi, who looked around confused for a few seconds before laying his eyes on the motorcycle, not quite sure what to make of it.
"Hey, I know that I'm a weird looking thing, but I'm still your commander, so come over here." Lazer barked at him. He nearly panicked but still did as he was told. "Okay, move the yellow thing on my back to the holder on my side." the confused soldier continued to obey the talking bike. "Now press the button twice and stand back." again, he was obeyed.
As Lazer was going through so much trouble, Ex-Aid went ahead and prepared his own finisher.
Bakusou, Mighty… Critical Strike!
Lazer charged at Ex-Aid at full force, who countered in turn with a roundhouse kick. When the two finishers connected, there was a small explosion that knock both riders back and cancelled out their transformations.
As Chrom and Raimi squared off, "Let our battle sound out the truth of your words!" she shouted out as she charged Chrom, who barely managed to deflect her lance with the armor on his shoulder while stabbing her in the side with his rapier.
Chrom made a silent gesture to Brave, who threw him the gashacon sword and Taddle Quest gashat, undoing her transformation."I will not fail!" he proclaimed as he inserted the gashat into the sword.
Taddle Critical Finish!
The sword was wrapped in flames as jumped into the air a spun around, shooting out fire in a wheel with Chrom in the center and Raimi in the way. The force of the flames knocked Raimi back causing her to land flat on her back, unable to continue fighting.
"Then your claims were...true..." she muttered before slipping into uncounousness.
Shortly afterwards after both Raimi and Lazer had recovered, Lazer revealed himself to be Yume's brother Daiki, a fact which surprised both the Shepherds and Raimi, but didn't phase the Riders at all. Afterall, they obviously recognized their good friend.
"A thousand apologies, Prince Chrom. I truly took you for brigand impostors. But no frauds could ever wage a battle as you just have! I will send word of your arrival to the capital and escort you there personally." Raimi declared to Chrom and the Shepherds.
"That would be most appreciated, thank you." Chrom replied politely.
Raimi than left to take care of the arrangements.
"Wow, she's like an entirely different person." John commented.
"In Ferox, strength speaks louder than words. You should have known better than to think you could just talk your way into an alliance." Daiki said.
"So can we get going, Chrom?" Lissa requested.
"Yes, it's not getting any warmer." he informed his sister.
"Oh, yeah come to think of it, I should be going soon. Boss is gonna want to hear about this, so I'm gonna go get my associate Olivia and go." Daiki declared, though the mention of a girl put a wide smile on John's and a small scoul on Yume's.
And with all said and done, they made their way inside for shelter and warm food.
Game Clear!
Next Time: 第１外伝僕はWEAKLINGいる
Paralogue 1: I am a WEAKLING/Sickle to Sword
A/N: So this, very pleasantly took much less time to write than the last one, and it's also one of the longest things I've ever written, clocking in a 13 pages and more than 4000 words! I am so happy that I was able to get things done so much faster and I have all of you to thank for that, if not for you guys, I wouldn't be a fraction as motivated as I am to continue this. So, we now have all four main riders and Lazer works for Ferox, ultimately not a big thing, but I felt that it adds variety. Also, next chapter is out first paralogue, and the first chapter which Japanese name is significantly different from the English one. So, I'm looking forward to my first side-chapter which will more character focused than the main story, speaking of, I would just like to say that I am planning releasing the Xenologues in the form of full seperate, but still canon stories on the site if you don't want to sit through the DLC chapters. Wow, this is a long author's note so this is Time-Space lord Eon saying,See you next Game.