Chapter 5: Animal House
"So, let me get this straight." Robin said rubbing the brim of her nose obviously agitated. We shouldn't be talking about this right now because we were at a bridge over a small river while Risen are attacking us. Chrom was leading the Shepherds against the 15 or so Risen. Robin and I were in the back of the formation. Chrom was up front with Stahl and Sully. Vaike was with us because he forgot Stahl and myself, along with his axe. Fredrick was protecting Lissa and they were behind Chrom and Co. Virion was sniping beside them. The Risen were turning out to be very easy to take care of.
"You want to keep the wild dog we found because it bought a Risen that was trying to kill you?" She said pointing at the German Shepherd sitting by my feet. It was looking at Robin with a happy expression, panting and tongue waging. How she could resist this adorable face was beyond me.
"Yep." I respond without a sense of doubt in my voice. 'I just want this adorable, badass, huggable, killing machine as a pet damnit.' Robin just looks at me then back at the dog and sighs.
"We'll talk with Chrom later, but right now I'm not going to worry about it. Let's get back to the fight." She said. She pulls out her tome and jogs over to the fight. I pump my fist in front of myself.
"Yes!" I say excited. I look back down at the dog who looked young, around 1 or 2 years old at most. It looked at me expectantly. "All right boy…" It growled. "Girl?" I say. She stopped growling and barked out a happy bark. "Neat, I'll give you a name later. Right now, we got to go catch up with the rest of the crew, stick close and only attack when I say so. I don't want you to get hurt. Understand?" I ask hoping I ran into the smartest dog in all of Ylisstol. She barked out another bark. 'Well damn, I did.' I chuckle and we run towards the fight.
Chrom sliced a barbarian while Stahl sliced a mercenary. Sully stabbed a solider and Robin blasted another solider with a thunder spell. Lissa tended to a hurt Virion and Fredrick was taking care of a merc just outside of a fort. Vaike was now joining the fight after Miriel joined the battle with his axe. They ran to my left taking care of a barbarian. My dog and I ran towards the bridge where a solider was guarding it. It spotted me and rushed forward with his bronze lance. I pull out a knife and chuck it at the Risen. The knife sailed smooth and pierced its chest but it still ran strong. I pulled out my sword and waited. The Risen went for a jab to my chest. I parried the attack and rushed in for the kill. The head fell but became smoke before it hit the ground.
The other Risen guarding the bridge rushed forward with his axe raised high. I snapped my figures and prayed that she would listen. Trying to buy her time I blocked the upcoming attack, holding my sword flat over my head while he tried to push through. She did listen! She rushed in and mauled the Risen while his focus and axe were on me, earning a K/D score of 2/0. Go dog!
She ran back to my side. I kneeled to welcome her with scratches between the ears and some encouraging baby talk. "You were so good out there! Yes you were! Who's a good girl? You are! Yes you are!" She wagged her tail and gave me a lick on the face. I laughed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. I stood up and looked back to see Chrom and Robin staring at me. Robin had an exasperated look on her face, while Chrom was amused.
"You found that damn dog today!" Robin pointed out.
"I don't care, I love her… and most dogs in fact." I say a bit sheepishly. Chrom just laughs and walks over to us. He then reaches out his hand to her. She sniffs it then gives it a lick. He smiles and rubs between her ears.
"Looks like we have a new shepherd." He says with a laugh. 'Score!'
"Dear Naga Chrom!" Robin cried out throwing her hands up in the air. "Can we get back to the battle please?"
"How many left?" Chrom asks turning serious. I walk over to my knife lying on the ground and pick it up.
"Seven I believe." Robin said scanning the battlefield. "Two soldiers, two mercenaries, and three barbarians."
"What the plan?" I ask.
"They are spread out evenly on the field so we should split up into three groups and take them on. One group goes to the left side and takes the Risen over there. Another group does the same on the right. The last group takes on the one in the back. He is most likely the leader. So he will be the strongest." She puts a finger to her lip, thinking. "We have ten, right?" she asks.
"I believe so." Chrom says. She just nods and is staring at the ground. I stretch my right arm holding the bronze sword away from my body. My dog lays down by my feet. Chrom is waving everyone else over to our position. Robin nods to herself and looks up.
"Got it. Group one will be Stahl, Sully, and Fredrick. They will take of the risen on the left. Vaike, Miriel, Lissa, and Jordan will be group two. They got the risen on the right. That leaves Chrom, Virion and myself to take care of the leader. Any questions?" We all shake our heads.
"Shepherds, Charge!" Chrom yells and we rush off to our little battle stations. Vaike is already out in front with Miriel behind him. Lissa is rushing behind me with my dog. "Slow down Jordan, I can't keep this up."
"Maybe we should get you into a training program?" I quip. A thud on my left shoulder proves I was heard. Vaike was engaged with one of the Risen. Their axes bounce off of one another.
"I can not find a possibility for a counter offensive maneuver if you do not eliminate yourself from the opponent's attacks." Miriel states blandly to Vaike. I turn back to the merc near Lissa and myself. He comes in for the slice near my stomach. I parry that with my sword and throw my knife which hit him in the head, killing him instantly. The soldier charges at us next. He jabs with his lance. I try to jump back but get a prick on my right leg.
"Damn." I mutter as Lissa tries to heal me. "Wait till the battle is over." I hoarsely reply. She jumps back, a bit scarred but nods. I sigh and look back towards the Risen soldier who is charging at me again. I parry this time, moving the lance to the left with my sword. I snap my fingers and it is mauled instantly by my dog.
Black smoke rises from the dead risen as she trots back over and sniffs my injured leg. I rub her head. Lissa comes over to heal my injury now. "Sorry for being rude to you. I just wanted to get this done so when you have to heal everyone we don't have to worry about them." I tell her as she has her staff over my leg. The pain leaves my body fast.
"Aww you care, how sweet." She coos. I snicker and shake my head. "But apology excepted, and it makes sense." She says more serious that before. I nod and look over to Vaike and Miriel. They killed there one and Miriel was chastising Vaike over something. Do I care? Not in the slightest.
Now that I got a better look at Miriel, she was around 5'4" but the hat made her 5'7". She had shoulder length dark red hair and a pale complexion. She wore glasses that connected to her cloak, which was black or a really dark green. I couldn't tell. She had on olive green pants that were too baggy for her until she shoved them in her boots which was really weird. She held a fire tome in her right hand and was adjusting her glasses with her left. 'She looks like a college lit student.'
"Ohh! You like Miriel don't ya?" Lissa asked snapping me out of my trance. She had a mischievous look on her face.
"Nope." I say flatly. Ending any idea of that. She visibly deflated.
"But… But… you were staring at her for a very long time." She is trying to salvage something out of nothing.
"Is it that odd that I want to know what and who another Shepherd is?" I asked and subsequently beat her at her own game. I wasn't blushing or doing anything that she could use to beat me. She stammered a little but just hung her head in shame of losing. I pat her on the head. "You'll most likely get me someday." I say before getting up. She giggles. I reach down to help her up. She accepts and we walk towards Chrom and the rest.
Chrom and Fredrick talk for a little bit with Robin before we march out again. I hum a tune walking next to Lissa and Stahl. Stahl was talking to Sully about some training regimen she is going to put Stahl through. Lissa was skipping basically. My dog was trotting in between Lissa and myself. I look down at her. 'I need to think of a name soon…What would be a good name, I've named things before and never had trouble. Hell, I've named my car… That's it!"
"Ridley" I say. Lissa and Ridley give me a look. "Her name is Ridley." I say pointing towards the dog. Her tail wagged in agreement.
"Ridley… cute but why?" Lissa asks.
"I like it, but I might tell you the reason later." I say cheekily. She huffed and puffed her cheeks out at me.
"Whatever, don't tell me." She threw her hands u and dashed forward to stand next to Robin. I laughed and followed her. They were talking about me when I caught up to them. "He wouldn't tell me why he named her that, he's being mean." Lissa complained to Robin.
"And you're over reacting." I say catching them both of guard. Lissa jumped and let out a squeak. Robin turned and scowled at me.
"It would be nice of you to not sneak up on people trying to gossip about you." She said in a serious manner but I could tell she was joking. I snicker.
"I'm trying not to get my good name tarnished." I say throwing my arm over her shoulder. She slumps down but accepts it anyway.
"You don't… whatever." She says. I pull my arm off and we walk in silence for a little bit. There was something in the distance. Most likely a tree but trees don't limp… or move. Chrom had caught up with us by the time I could make out what it was. An injured Pegasus was limping around. I'm pretty sure my eyes literally sparkled. This was an animal from legends! It looked as majestic as I thought one would, just limping around. Pure white hair and beautiful white wings. Its left wing was hurt, so was its right leg.
"Holy shit! That thing looks awesome." I exclaim, earning a growl from Ridley. "Don't worry girl I am not going to get one." Robin just sighs.
"Why, just why?" she says. Chrom just pats my back and walks towards it.
"It's a Pegasus, all right. I think its hurt." He says. He walks up closer towards it. "Let's just have a look here…" The Pegasus kicks its front legs at him and whinnying, making him back away. "WHOA! Down girl! Easy there!" He tries to calm it down.
"Captain, one moment!" A voice behind us says. I turn to see Sumia rushing towards us, only to trip on nothing. 'Wow. Really?'
"Sumia! Are you all right?" Robin asks rushing over to help her up.
"I should be fine. Thank you, Robin." She says walking slower over towards Chrom and the Pegasus.
"Sumia, come no closer. The beast is crazed!" he says earning another kick from the Pegasus.
"It's okay captain. I can handle this… Shhh… Easy now girl. I won't hurt you." She cooed to the Pegasus softly. It calmed down rather quickly. She reached out a hand to rub it on the nose. "Shhh…"
"Well damn." I say a bit stunned, Ridley gives a small bark in agreement.
"How did she calm it so quickly?" Robin asked stunned as well.
"That's incredible Sumia." Lissa cheered doing a little jump.
"I've never seen anything like it." Chrom said rather impressed.
"Oh, it's… it's nothing really . I just have a way with animals, I guess." Sumia admitted rather sheepishly.
"I should say so." He added
"You all go ahead, I'll dress her wounds and catch up as soon as we can." She said trying to lead the Pegasus away.
"We can make time to wait for you." Chrom said. Robin didn't like that at all but hid it well.
"I wish we could Chrom, but according to you we have to make it to Regna Ferox quickly." She said, hiding something in her voice. I snickered a little bit and Lissa just smiled.
"Thank you, captain. But Robin is right. Every moment is precious when all of Ylisse is in danger." Sumia said with a smile. Now walking back with the Pegasus.
"Right then. Be safe." He said giving a small wave.
"As to you captain." She said turning her head smiling at us back. We watched her go back, running into the others. They talked for a little before she went on her way again. The rest caught up with us.
"You sure it's okay to let Sumia run 'round on her own Capian'. Ole' Teach don't think so." Vaike said.
"She should be fine Vaike." He answered. "But we need to make haste." And with that he turned and walked on the path towards Regna Ferox. They all follow accept Robin, Stahl, and myself.
"Jordan, when did you get a dog?" he asked me. I smiled as Robin just sighed and walked in front of us.
"I'll tell you as we keep walking." I say. He smiles and we continue, Ridley to my right. We walk for around a couple hours before Chrom had stopped. He was talking to a villager. A bandit rushed forward from the woods. I rushed forward and tried to stop an attack on the villager until Chrom forced him to run.
"Chrom! What happened?" Robin asked doing the same thing I was.
"This is Donnel, his mother and the villagers were kidnaped and are being held hostage in his village by brigands. We are here to help him free them." Chrom says laying a hand on Donnel. He looks around my age and a little shorter than myself. He for a yellow tinted pot on his head for some reason. It fits him which is weird. He has on light brown pants with brown boots. His shirt is blue with a white collar. He looks nervous right now. He perked up as soon as he heard that we were going to save his mother.
"Aw, thank you, milord! Thank you! Just follow me, Your Sirness!" he said with a heavy American southern accent. We then followed him into the woods. Silently, or as silently as we could we reached his village. "This here's where they've taken up camp, Your Lordshipness."
Chrom looked a little put off by the name but ignored it to the best of his ability. "Er…right. Thanks, Donny. Stay close, now."
Donnel looked shocked. "Beg pardon, milord? You don't mean…? I…I can't fight, sir! I ain't never even stuck a pig before!"
"Oh, sorry. I just assumed… I mean… Look, just stay here. You'll be fine." Chrom said as Robin just looked exasperated, still trying to figure out what to do with Donnel.
"I wish I was as strong as you sirs and madams! Kick that scum out single handed, I would!" Donnel said.
"Then join." I say cutting off Chrom.
"But sir, I ain't…" he started.
"First off, we are the same age so no sir from you for me understood?" I ask him. He just gulped and nodded. "Second, the only thing holding you back is yourself. You have an opportunity to become stronger right here and now. So, you can become great if you want to. You just have to put in the effort and grasp at the opportunities given to you. You want to be a hero, don't you?" I finish up my motivational speech. Donnel had his head down. I heard a sniffle or two. 'Shit, didn't mean to make him cry.' "Hey Donnel, you all right?" I ask, concerned if I hurt his feelings.
He looked up a bit teary eyed. "Ngh… *sniff* A-all right. As you say, I'm no warrior. But I can be and these're my people. I gots to do what I can!" He said with a fire in his eyes that destroyed the teary eyes we say earlier. I smirk and pat him on the shoulder.
"Ready Friend." I ask him.
"R-ready." He gulped.
AN: Not very excited about this chapter as others but hey, what can you do. (Make it better) Any way not much shenanigans but we have a dog! I have loved dogs for a while, and there is a reason that she is named Ridley. It will be explained in the future, but for now, guess! I put the paralogue on the way to Ferox because it can and will explain a couple of things. and I like Donnel so win-win.
Next chapter will be here hopefully in two weeks. It will contain Ferox and stuff. maybe or maybe not the arena fight but definitely the Longfort. See yea then.
