Sorry for the late update, real life circumstances kept me away from being able to write on Monday. Nothing serious, but it did keep me away until I was far too tired to be able to write, so I had to finish the chapter early Tuesday morning.
One reviewer under the guest name a long time fan asked if there was a chance of a physical publication. Sadly, the answer is no, there will not be a physical publication of this story, simply because I wish to take no part in any potential legal issues... this is a fanficiton and I am using copywrite material I do not own.
As for if the entire story has been planned out or just the flow? Well... a bit of both. All the major plot points, where each act will take place, and what the major events will be have long been planned out. Some of the finer details have not been. This includes the fates of some characters, who will live and who will die, who Isaac will end up romancing, and such have yet to be 100% decided.
Who knows? Maybe it'll all be happy happy... or maybe I'll go total G.R.R.M. and just say fuck it and kill a bunch of characters off because I can.
Who knows? You'll have to stick around to see the outcome.
As usual, review or send a PM if you want to know anything.
Ionia
Syndra was not happy….
Mind you, she had been in worse situations before… but this one was pretty close to topping that list.
Didn't help that I had NO fucking sleep last night. Syndra internally grumbled as she watched the clouds move around out of sheer boredom. The army was once again on the march, which meant Syndra once again found herself sitting on a horse, tied to another horse.
The sleep deprived mage let out a long sigh, hoping at least she could maybe fall asleep while riding… but she had a feeling that would end with her tasting the dirt road. Forcing herself to stay awake, she glanced about her. Most of the soldiers, if not all of them, were already starting to either ignore her, or were already getting used to her presence.
Not like she was doing much that warranted attention anyways… there was very little for her to do while the army marched along. With her magic restrained that is.
And don't even GET ME STARTED on that! Syndra sneered out of sheer spit as she glanced down to the bracers on her arms. Out of everything THIS is what pissed her off the most. March with an army? Sure, she could deal with that. Having to deal with a bunch of self-righteous assholes who served the whims of the elders? Fine, she could cope with that. Having her powers restrained?
Fuck. That.
Syndra knew she could overload these feeble restraints… but doing so would leave her drained for a brief period of time, which would give the soldiers chance to put new ones on her. On top of that, it would only make her situation worse… she would have to bind her time.
Of course, there's also one more thing…
Syndra glanced to her left, where her unofficial captor sat in his saddle, head bobbing very slightly as his horse trotted on.
Archangel…
Out of all the ways to finally meet with him, THIS is how it happened.
She had finally gotten her chance to pick his brain for answers on his powers, and she did. Only, it left her with even more questions.
He says his powers are hardly understood… normally I'd call bullshit on that but why do I feel like he was telling the truth? Syndra frowned. Well… at least most of it, I know he's hiding something.
Then there was when she got pissed at him last night and tried to smash one of the tent's wooden rods over the back of his head… its almost as if he had known she was going to do it before she did it!
Syndra scoffed. Not almost… he turned around and caught it in his hand, like he knew exactly where I was aiming for…
She remembered that Archangel had more then one ability aside from his dark mag…. Dark matter powers. Whatever the hell dark matter was… if she believed Archangel's words then even his world didn't have a complete grasp on the subject either.
I wonder, how many powers does he have? Is that a meta-human thing, or is it exclusive to him?
Then she remembered his words…
"Same way they make any meta-human gain powers." He answered honestly. "Through rigorous training, injections, and round the clock torture for your entire childhood."
Syndra felt another frown coming on. After those words, their entire conversation died. Syndra had no idea how to respond to that. She recalled from his interview with that one reporter (who coincidentally is the same reporter who is tagging along with the army) that he had been enhanced by some external means, but the interview never went into much detail on how. Archangel's words didn't give her much to go on, but they didn't paint a pretty picture.
Maybe the source of his powers is… extreme stress? Syndra had pondered his words for hours… even in her sleep she couldn't help but think about it.
Speaking of sleep… Syndra had noticed Archangel stirring in his sleep. He slept in his armor, but Syndra had seen his body jerk randomly throughout the night. Nothing violent, but the spasms were frequent enough that Syndra had determined that Archangel had likely been suffering from nightmares for the whole night.
He slept for more several more hours then me… at least that's what it looked like. Although, I can't say he had a good rest. Syndra observed her temporary warden through the corner of her eye. Given the way his head is bobbing up and down, and since he's encased in full suit of armor…. Maybe's he's sleeping right now?
Syndra leaned her head back and resumed her cloud watching with a sigh.
In a way we are more alike then I thought, our powers I mean… his knowledge of his own abilities seem to be even worse then me of my own…
She wanted to know more. She planned on drilling him some more for answers, but Syndra had a hunch that such questioning wasn't going to get her anything concrete. That left her with two options, and she intended to take both.
Option one, she wanted to see him in action with her own eyes. Given that they were on this campaign together, she would have plenty of chances with that. If she could see his own powers with her own eyes, she could observe them for anything that might give her a hint to their origins.
Thus, potentially furthering the growth of her own powers.
Two, she had to wait until this campaign was over and bring him back with her to the Celestial Fortress, but it by force or otherwise. She had to move the damn thing anyways since it was part of her sentence. Although, to be honest with herself, Syndra hadn't made her mind up of whether or not she was actually going to obey Karma's sentencing.
I've been against them this whole time, why should I suddenly listen to them now?
Of course, that would be assuming the Ascension we're camping up in her old home now. The thought of that alone irritated Syndra.
It's a floating fortress… why wouldn't they seize it? Seeing how I basically abandoned it to them. Syndra scowled. On the other hand, that would give her a reason to convince Archangel to come with her to the Celestial Fortress… even though she knew virtually nothing about him, she could at least tell that when it came to fighting the Ascension, Archangel was willing to do just about anything.
Even go as far as to stick his neck out for me at his own expense in order to gain an ally against them…
Syndra had mixed feelings on that. On one hand she despised the whole notion of hero types, why should anyone stick their neck out for someone they don't even know?
On the other hand… it HAD saved her from a fate she considered worse then death.
Syndra sighed, watching a very odd cloud formation coming together.
Too bad it's hot out too… I'm starting to sweat. Normally I'd just cast a spell on myself but… She sighed. Damn restraints.
How on Runeterra had she gotten into this situation?
… Right…
Syndra felt her rage spark for a moment before dying off. Zed. That son of a whore.
At least with her current situation, she had a chance to get back at the backstabbing bastard… and the Ascension. Her vengeance would be swift.
Now… her main worry was surviving the boredom of army life for the next few weeks until this damn campaign was over…
She risked another glance at Archangel… whose face was hidden behind his helmet's visor.
I wonder what he's thinking… what's his endgame?
At times like this, Luka was happy he had endless stamina and endurance. If not, he doubted he could handle walking in his hot, sweaty armor for days at a time as he marched in the army with the sun beating down on him.
Really wishing we had an IFV or a dropship or SOMETHING here… this whole lack of technology in the army sucks. Luka thought as he marched with the troops… although they were all giving him a wide berth.
Instead of watching the clouds or staring at the dirt, Luka focused on the image in his HUD.
"Knight to F8." He heard Archangel's voice over the COM. The image on his HUD shifted.
Luka scowled. The schwien had just taken his bishop!
He furrowed his brow slightly as he glanced about the transparent chessboard in his HUD, and even though he hated the fact he was losing this game, Luka was indeed thankful to whoever had designed the software in the suits used by TRANS-Ops.
At least SOMEONE had the kindness in his or her heart to install a chess game in these suits. Luka thought as he studied the board.
Although, it was minorly irritating how something as useless as the chess game managed to survive their zapping to Valoran and not something more useful like their suit's shield generators… but then again that was a hardware problem and not a software problem.
"I'd suggest moving your queen, mon amie." Goth advised him. Luka Agreed.
"Hey…" He heard Archangel grumble. "No AIs."
Luka grinned. "You didn't specify that at the start of the game kid. Queen to C6. Check."
The image in his HUD updated with his move… and same image was now missing one of Archangel's rooks.
"Bastard…" Archangel sounded a little upset. "Don't see me asking Mute for help."
"That's because I wouldn't give it to you anyways." Mute's voice joined the conversation. "You're a big boy Isaac, you can play chess on your own. Mom's got more important things to do."
"First, eat a dick. Second, never refer to yourself as mom again. And third, what the hell could you possibly be doing right now?" Archangel argued back.
Luka sighed and rolled his eyes, he knew where this was going.
Here they go again…
"Oh me? I'm running simulations in the background on how we could beat an Ascension deployment with our current standing forces. A far greater use of time then playing a virtual board game." Mute replied with a tint of sass.
"You can go over a hundred of those in a matter of seconds!" Archangel barked. "That kind of thing doesn't take hours for you!"
"And yet YOU wouldn't let me scan that damn book!" Mute half-shouted back, before her tone turned a hundred percent sass. "You were all like oh no Mute! It would only take you a nano-second to scan each page and then tell me what's important! Instead YOU had to hog it for weeks-"
"OH, TOUS LES DEUX TOUS LES DEUX BOUSCULES!" Goth suddenly screamed. "You're both giving me a headache!"
"Shut up Goth!"
"That's not even possible, you're an AI!" Were the two responses said in unison by the other duo.
"BIEN SUR, CE N'EST PAS POSSIBLE! C'EST LA BLAGUE QUE VOUS IMBECILES!" Goth shouted back, going complete French on the two of them.
What do you get when you put a German man, a Canadian man, and two multilingual AI's together in a room? Luka sighed and hung his head. When you add Jackhammer and Stark into the mix, how the hell did Oracle never get an aneurism? Better yet, how the hell did our squad end up with the highest body-count during the Ascension War?
As he wished the three of them would just shut up so Archangel would take his turn… Luka chewed on the inside of his mouth when he remembered something.
… Right… because Archangel went off his ficken rocker for a bit there…
After setting up their tent (which had gotten a little easier), Isaac went to go find the captain of the sixth cavalry regiment. He had left Syndra back at the tent, again, although this time it had been her decision. Given how the soldiers treated her, Isaac wasn't all that surprised… although he had his gripes about leaving her alone when he was supposed to be keeping a close eye on her.
She didn't run off on the first night… no reason for her to do it tonight… right?
He also told her he may not return until much later, since he not only had to see the captain, but he also wanted to speak with Ahri regarding the memories she had absorbed. Although, he might leave that for another day if this thing with the Ionian captain took too long, or if it pissed him off too much.
Syndra didn't really seem to care either way.
Glad to have such a cheery companion… although I'm not really one to talk.
After asking for directions, Isaac had made his way to the section of the camp where the sixth was making its home. It was rather obvious too, seeing how it was where all the horses were being held.
Oh, there's mine… Isaac thought, spotting his as he walked past the horses, who were being fed and attended to by a group of soldiers.
He had to ask a passerby soldier for directions to the captain's tent, and upon reaching it, he found a pair of guards watching over the entrance. Expecting them to stop him with the whole "what business do you have here?" ordeal (and which Isaac had a snappy comeback all set and ready to go), he instead saw one of the soldiers' nod at him.
"Champion Archangel?" The soldier asked.
"Yeah, that's me." Isaac responded.
"The captain told us you would be coming by." The guard said, raising the tent's flap for him to enter. "Go on in."
"Well, this is a nice surprise." Mute chuckled. "Why can't they treat us like this all the time?"
Because we aren't allowed to have nice things… Isaac thought as he entered the tent. It was slightly smaller then Irelia's tent, with only a single table and bedroll present. Leaning over said table was a tall man with his back turned to him.
"Captain of the sixth?" Isaac asked, getting the man's attention. "You wanted to…."
His voice trailed off as he found himself genuinely surprised at the man's familiar face, with a black goatee that went down to the base of his neck.
However, as similar as he appeared, Captain Ren Yokoyama looked like had he aged an additional ten years since Isaac had seen him last.
"…. Huh…" Mute muttered, clearly just as surprised as Isaac was to see the captain of the Ionian troops that had escorted them to Bilgewater.
"… Captain?" Isaac couldn't help but let the surprise leak out of his voice, and shook his head slightly. "Wait, what?"
Ren gave Isaac a slow nod in response, his stoic face never changing. "Archangel." He greeted. "Good to see you survived Bilgewater."
Isaac stared at the man for a moment before shaking his head.
"Hold on! Time out!" Isaac exclaimed, as he made a T sign with his hands."They told me you were dead!"
Hell, they told me ALL the Ionian troops that went with me to Bilgewater died.
Ren raised an eyebrow just slightly, then looked down at himself. "Well, I appear to be quite alive, thank you very much." He replied in a much calmer voice then the tone Isaac was using.
"How?"
"When that demon ship appeared over the city…" Ren began to explain, but waved Isaac over to the table as he did so, "I knew it was bad news. I ordered everyone to abandon ship, but my soldiers failed to heed my warning soon enough. The ship caught fire right after and I jumped. Almost drowned too. They must have told you I was dead because I didn't get back to Ionia until the night Syndra was arrested."
Well… huh.
"What about the rest of your men?" Isaac asked, and immediately knew the answer when he saw the captain shake his head.
"Those who managed to jump ship in time were still wearing their full armor, while I was not. They never made it back to shore." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "My soldiers and I will avenge them."
Well…. good on you for surviving that.
"So…" Isaac began, trying to change the subject from the doom and gloom. "I guess I'm under your command then?"
Ren shrugged. "That depends. Are you willing to take orders?"
"Honestly, a few minutes ago I wasn't sure." Isaac nodded. "But that was because everyone in this army hates my guts. If you're in command, I'll be alright following orders, as long as you let me have some freedom during battle to deal with the bigger Ascension threats, should any appear."
Ren nodded back at Isaac. "I see no problem with that. Very well, welcome to the sixth cavalry regiment." He extended a hand outward to Isaac.
He took it and a firm shake.
"Now then." Ren looked Isaac up and down. "You still shit at riding a horse?"
Ionia
"Keep your eyes and ears peeled." Riven spoke just loud enough for everyone to hear. "And someone keep an eye on the trees."
Hitomi raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because Lhotlan are known to ambush merchants and caravans from above." Riven answered.
The group was walking at a decent, but cautious, pace along the dirt path through the forest. Hitomi glanced around her and noticed that everyone was spread out, a few meters between each of them, and had a grip on each of their weapons. Hitomi herself was near the rear of the group, with only Master Yi behind her.
Hitomi felt around for her combat knife, it being the only weapon she had left. Knives were not her thing… Ryo was better with them.
Ryo…
Hitomi shook her head and pushed the thoughts of her missing friend out of her mind. Instead, she glanced at everyone's weapons. It would be better if she just duplicated one instead.
That lead to a new problem… magic.
She had noticed right away that some of these… League Champions… had their weapons enhanced with magic. Or was it enchanted?
Either way, she couldn't duplicate anything with magic… at least, not as she was now. When she focused on Riven's weapon and tried to get a fix for how to duplicate it, she would get this wicked headache. Same went for Wukong's staff.
The only ones she seemed to be able to get a fix on were Master Yi's and Yasuo's swords. Yi's sword seemed very impractical from Hitomi's stand point, so instead she focused on Yasuo's blade.
As she focused on the samurai's blade, she could quickly tell that it was master-crafted… someone clearly had put a lot of effort into making that blade. Which made her feel a little guilty that she would be making some kind of half-assed duplicate of it.
Still, a katana was something she had a level of practice with. It would be her best bet.
"So… you speaking from experience here, Storm?" Jackhammer asked Riven.
"I… may have been with one of those caravans in question at one point in time…" Riven replied. "And… I assume Storm is your stupid nickname for me?"
Hitomi stopped listening to their banter as she finished getting the feel for the structure of Yasuo's weapon. She opened her visor and rubbed her eye, feeling the fatigue of the past wearing down on her.
Of course I'm tired… I couldn't sleep with those damn nightmares.
Zed had plagued her every moment asleep. In her dreams she had watched him kill her friends over and over again… and his voice! It was nothing but nightmare fuel!
She put more effort into rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, although it felt rather uncomfortable given how she was rubbing her eyes with a metal gauntlet.
"When the mind is a prisoner to the past, sleep rarely comes easy." A voice whispered to her right.
Hitomi let out a small yelp as her head darted to the side to look over her shoulder. Yi had somehow gotten right behind her.
The others threw questioning looks back at her in response to her sudden yelp, but she quickly waved them off. She got a few odd looks in return though…
"What?" She whispered back at Yi when everyone had looked away.
Yi didn't look back at her, but she could see his mouth form into a frown.
"You stir in your sleep when you have nightmares." He said. "The others have seen it, but no one will say anything unless you want their help."
Hitomi scowled. It was none of their damn business!
"I don't need help." She growled.
"Your inability to sleep tells us other wise. But one must want help before it can be given."
Hitomi opened her mouth to snap back at Yi, but quickly closed it and took a deep breath.
Easy girl… easy… you're just pissy because you've had next to no sleep for the past few days. He's just trying to give you some sagely advice... no need to bite his head off…
Although… Hitomi couldn't deny that the way Yi spoke with his holier then thou tone and phrasing annoyed her. It pissed her off that he talked down to her like a parent or teacher to a child.
Hitomi let out a sigh. She had a feeling Yi wasn't going to leave her alone, so she decided to change the flow of the conversation.
"So…" She began. "You said that you once lost yourself to revenge?"
If her question had caught Yi off-guard, he didn't show it.
"Yes." Yi answered after a pause. Hitomi thought that was it but then he continued. "You don't know much about this world's history yet, do you?"
"Umm, no."
"Ionia is an island nation… isolated from the rest of Runeterra. It allowed us to pursue whatever arts and culture we desired." Yi's face suddenly fell. "However, on the mainland, one such nation saw this as a weakness, and desired expansion. Noxus invaded Ionia over a decade ago, determined to take the island and its resources for their own. They slaughtered the people, bringing death and destruction wherever they went."
Yi paused for a moment before continuing. "My home village… was one such victim of the invasion. It had been utterly destroyed and in my sorrow, I pledged myself to vengeance… and I gained nothing from it. I only returned to my senses upon meeting my student."
Hitomi mulled over his words. "Who?"
A faint grin on Yi's face appeared. "I believe your senior calls him… Caeser?"
Caeser…? Oh!
Hitomi glanced from Yi to Wukong, noticing how he was doing the exact opposite of everyone else around. Jackhammer, Riven, and Yasuo were all walking with a sense of caution, while Wukong had his staff laid across his shoulders behind his head, arms resting upon it, and whistling some kind of tune to himself.
He appeared completely at ease, given that they were apparently walking through hostile territory. He only stopped whistling when she heard Riven shush him, which was followed by Wukong muttering something along the lines of "buzzkill".
He's… nothing like Yi…
"Your… joking, right?" Hitomi asked. "He's nothing like you. Not even the same weapon."
"Wuju style is not restricted to the sword." Yi replied, his face becoming neutral again. "And it is not only Wukong who helped me. Forgiveness for the individual helped push vengeance away from my mind. After all, Riven was very much alike you, afflicted with nightmares over the horrors of the past."
Riven… what?
Even though Yi wasn't facing her, he must have somehow seen the confusion on her face, since another small smile appeared on his face. "Yes, Riven. She was once a commander for the invading Noxian army."
… huh….?
Hitomi's eyes ventured to Riven, who had her head on a swivel as she led their party through along the path. She appeared far to young to be a general or anything. That made no sense.
Even less sense if she was apparently one of the invaders… why would she be helping them now? Scratch that, why would they even ALLOW her to help?
Hitomi turned back to Yi to ask, but stopped when she noticed a frown appearing on his face.
"I'm afraid this conversation will have to wait child." Yi said, coming to a halt and raising his sword up in front of his face. "It appears we are no longer alone."
Hitomi blinked. "What?" She asked as she also came to a halt.
Yi turned his head to her. "Tell me… have you looked up anytime recently?"
Hitomi blinked again, before realizing what he meant.
… Kuso…
She slowly tilted her head backwards and looked up into the canopies of the trees above. There, slightly off to the right and perched on the thick branches, she saw several humanoid forms carrying a variety of weapons from spears, to swords, to bows, to… feathers?
All of whom, were staring down at them. Some were up high, others were less then ten meters above them, allowing Hitomi to get a clearer look at them.
These must be the Lhotlan… great… we've walked into an ambush.
They definitely appeared human… although Hitomi could easily see the differences between them and humans. From the waist up, they looked almost completely like humans, minus the large ears and each one of them had some kind of cloak draping over their bodies on one side. However, upon closer inspection, Hitomi could see that said cloaks were entirely made of feathers, and seemed attached to their bodies.
"Ah… shit." She heard Jackhammer mutter. Hitomi looked back down at her teammates, and saw how they too had all stopped, looking upwards.
Riven sighed. "I thought I said, watch the trees?"
Wukong gave a nervous chuckle. "Uh… I thought Yasuo was doing that?"
Yasuo just sighed in response, and Hitomi saw how he was slowly pulling his sword partway out of it's sheath.
Hitomi quickly realized that they were in a potential combat situation, and arm darted up to the side of her helmet, closing her visor. She was met with the sight of her HUD powering back up, and highlighting all the Lhotlan above them with warning signs.
There must be… Hitomi narrowed her eyes as she counted. Kuso! They outnumber us ten to one!
However, the Lhotlan only slightly stirred in their places. None of them seemed to actually make an offensive move.
Before she could voice that, she heard something that sounded like someone eating… very loudly and obnoxiously. She glanced back down to her party, and saw that they had all turned around to look at something to their left. She followed their eyes and saw a single blonde Lhotlan lying down on a branch with his back leaning against the trunk.
Unlike the others above this one, who was very clearly a male, appeared to have no weapon and looked as if he was paying Hitomi and the others no mind. Instead his attention appeared to be completely on nearly eaten apple in his hand.
He too had a cloak, but unlike the others in the trees, his cloak had no feathers. His torso was bare, showing off a rather attractive set of macules. He had greenish grey pants on that only went down to his knees but also covered his stomach with a small degree of protection. There were a pair of avian skulls hanging from a rope around his waist, and from the knees down his lower legs appeared avian in form, with talons for feet that Hitomi was willing to bet were razor sharp.
To Hitomi, his entire appearance screamed a little tacky… although she had to put an extra effort in to not stare at the man's chest.
He's… fit… Hitomi thought, trying focus on the situation at hand, not the attractive appearance of this particular Lhotlan.
The blonde avian related humanoid took another loud bite out of his apple.
"Wow… you know, these apples are something else!" The blonde male began to speak between chews, before looking over down at Hitomi and co. and pointing his finger at them and giving it a wave. "Let me tell you!"
Hitomi couldn't help but be a little confused by the action.
Huh…? Are they ambushing us or are they trying to sell us on apples?
The blonde took another bite from his apple, leaving only the apple core left in his hand. He turned the apple core over in his hand, inspecting it, before looking back down at them with a mischievous grin.
"Apple core?" He asked.
Hitomi didn't like the grin on his face at all… it reminded her of the grin Connor would have when he was about to pull a prank of sorts. She looked away from the odd bird-man and back to her comrades, who were looking up at with confused expressions.
Except for Jackhammer… who still had his visor up and was wearing his usual wide smile.
Uh oh… Hitomi thought. Given the look on Jackhammer's face, she knew she was not going to like where this was going.
"Say no more?" He asked back at the Lhotlan.
…. Huh? Hitomi tilted her head to the side in confusion. Seeing how Riven, Wukong, and Yasuo were responding, they appeared equally as confused.
She looked back up at the blonde Lhotlan, only to see that his grin had somehow multiplied in size and now had his attention fixated on Jackhammer.
"Whose your friend?" He threw the question back at Jackhammer.
Hitomi looked back at Jackhammer. Her senior appeared to be in thought for a moment before looking over his shoulder at Yasuo and motioning with his head towards him.
"Him." He said.
Before anyone could question the point of this conversation, the Lhotlan threw the apple core up in the air, and brought an open palm down at it. Hard.
The apple core soared through the air and smacked Yasuo in the face, causing the samurai to stumble backwards for a moment in clear and utter surprise.
"Ow!" He shouted, bringing a hand up to his face and wiping the remains of the apple core off his face.
Jackhammer let out a holler of laughter, which was quickly joined by Wukong's. Hitomi on the other hand joined Riven in the being totally confused department… and she had no idea what Yi was doing.
Yasuo scowled, looking up at the Lhotlan who had thrown the apple core and was now holding his sides as he too laughed his ass off.
"You know… I was just thinking when I woke up this morning…" Yasuo mumbled with a tint of annoyance in his voice. "…you know what would be interesting to experience? Rakan's bloody spit!"
Rakan…? Hitomi raised an eyebrow at the name, trying to remember where she had heard it before.
Then she remembered. Last night, at the camp, when she was eavesdropping. She had heard them talking about how Rakan was the one they wanted to negotiate with for passage.
Hitomi looked the blonde Lhotlan up and down.
THIS is Rakan? THIS is the guy they want to negotiate with?!
Hitomi sighed. They were so screwed.
Rakan snorted one last time before his laughing fit died down. Once it had subsided, he stood up straight and leapt off the branch, landing next to Jackhammer and performing a twirl on the spot. As he finished his cloak flashed once before it's appearance changed into one made entirely up of feathers, similar to the ones his fellow Lhotlan had in the trees above.
"Ta-da!" Rakan shouted, taking a dramatic bow. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week."
Hitomi groaned. Yep… they were screwed. Their faith, hopes and dreams had been placed in the hands of an idiot.
I can already tell that Connor would've gotten along great with this guy…
Rakan stood up straight, pulling a coin out of no where and flipping it high into the air. He jumped to the side, leaning on Jackhammer's arm, throwing his hand out into the air and catching the coin without so much as a glance at it.
Ok… he's smooth, I'll give him that much.
Hitomi could see that Rakan was quite tall, easily over a head taller then her. However, when standing next to Jackhammer, Hitomi could see that her superior was easily the taller one.
Rakan tilted his head back and gave a grin, throwing a finger out to the side to point at Jackhammer as he looked about at everyone else.
"I like this guy." He grinned. "Good sense of humor."
And with that Rakan pushed himself off Jackhammer and began to walk from champion to champion, grabbing each of their hands and shaking them.
"Wukong! Good to see yah. Yasuo, no hard feelings! Riven! Oh, come on! Don't scowl, but good to see you're as uptight as always. Yi! Good to see you've still got that killer poker face." He gave various greetings and comments to everyone as he shook their hands (or in the case of Yasuo and Riven, forcibly grabbed a hand an shook it).
As he went from Yi to Hitomi, he did another twirl on the spot before dropping down on one knee in front of her and producing a rose seemingly out of no where, presenting it to Hitomi.
"And hello there, pretty lady." Rakan winked at her. "Don't think I didn't see that beautiful face under that helmet."
Hitomi's went wide-eyed as she felt her face heat up. Her gaze fixed on the rose.
W-w-w-w-w-wh... HUH?!
Out of either shock or reflex, Hitomi's hand darted out, slapping Rakan's hand away from her and knocking the flower out of grip. The Lhotlan winced at the impact of Hitomi's gauntlet striking his hand and immediately took a step back.
"Ouch! That's some arm on you!" He grimaced, rubbing his hand before looking back down at Hitomi with a grin. "Feisty! Just like the love of my life!"
T-the love of your life?!
Hitomi couldn't help but groan. Great… not only was this guy an idiot, but a playboy too…
Hitomi was about to tell the avian human thing to back the fuck off, when Riven suddenly cleared her throat.
"Rakan…" She began, but was cut off when Rakan raised his hand and gave her a finger wag.
"Ah, ah, ah." He said, as if chastising her for being bad. He turned away from Hitomi and walked into the center of their group, hands out in the air. "As happy as I am to see my good… friends… I'm afraid we have a slight problem."
Hitomi felt the tension in the air starting to get thicker. She had bad feeling about this, and judging by the fact that Yi was pushing past her with a firm grip on his sword and how Yasuo was edging his blade out of it's sheath, she had a hunch she wasn't the only one.
Rakan, seemed to pay them no mind, as he twirled on the spot yet again.
"You see…" Rakan continued to speak with a smile on his face. "You guys are kind of…. ON OUR LAWN."
And on that que, Hitomi heard shuffling and noise above. Her head darted upwards and saw that all the other Lhotlan, who had been high up in the trees, had dropped down to branches closer to the ground.
All of them had their swords drawn, bows had their arrows notched, and spears were ready to be thrown.
They were clearly ready for a fight.
Kuso! Hitomi thought as she heard her own comrades take up fighting stances of their own, expect for Jackhammer who had simply lowered his visor, but otherwise made no motion.
Hitomi thrust her hand out to the side and focused her power on her palm… and a sword identical to Yasuo's appeared in her hand. She gripped the duplicated sword with both hands, ready to fight.
How did it get like this…?
In the center of all the chaos, stood Rakan with his back turned to Hitomi, his attention on Jackhammer as he brought a hand to his chin and appeared to be appraising the larger man. Rakan seemed completely at ease with the entire situation.
Hitomi quickly hatched a plan. If she took Rakan hostage, maybe they could get out of this situation!
She took a step forward to dash at him, but she didn't even get two steps ahead before two objects imbedded themselves in the ground in front of her, causing her to freeze in her tracks.
She looked down at the two objects, and saw that they were… pink feathers?
Hitomi felt a chill rush down her spine, and on reflex she cartwheeled backwards. Not even a split second later, someone slammed into the ground where she had been a moment ago.
Hitomi brought herself back up to a fighting stance, and narrowed her eyes, gauging the newcomer who stood a mere meter away from her.
This Lhotlan, was a female. She had a blue hood that covered her head, with dark pink hair that stuck out, covering part of her face and leaving only a single yellow eye exposed with a pink line drawn on her face underneath said eye. Upon closer inspection, Hitomi could make out some scaring on her face too.
Her shoulders were also covered by her blue hood, which gave way to a jerkin that covered the rest of her torso that matched the color of her hair. Her legs had royal blue wrappings that went from her upper thighs all the way down past her ankles. Her feather-cloak was more varied in color then Rakan's, it started off dark blue at her shoulder, and then slowly turned into a shade of purple around the middle, before becoming pink at the bottom.
Hitomi looked the female Lhotlan up and down again, and she couldn't help but think that this newcomer had a truly exotic appearance.
However, the dangerous smirk on her face only served to irritate her.
The female took up a fighting stance with her body turned to the side, with one of her talon'd feet off the ground as if she was ready to pounce. In her hands, she had more feathers between her fingers, holding them as if they were throwing knives.
Hitomi scoffed at the sight. Feathers? You can't be seri….
He thoughts trailed off as her HUD highlighted the feathers with a small warning, detecting traces of unknown, but dangerous, energy in them.
She bit her lower lip. Magical feathers that could be used as weapons? Why the fuck not?
This whole world… is screwed up.
Hitomi was ready to make a move on the newcomer, when she saw Jackhammer slowly raise his hands up in the air.
"Woah! Woah WOAH!" Jackhammer shouted. "Easy people! Easy!" He turned his head to Hitomi. "Princess… calm down. We're here to talk remember? Not fight."
Hitomi bit down on her lip even harder, feeling a bit of pain course through her body. After three seconds, she sighed and released the pressure on her lip, letting the sword in her hands dispel at the same time.
The action caused the female Lhotlan opposing her to raise an eye brow, no doubt taken a bit by surprise at seeing the weapon in Hitomi's hand vanish into thin air.
The tension in the air was still suffocating though. Rakan glanced around him, and Hitomi saw the surprise on his face as he saw all the weapons drawn around him, as if he had never noticed them.
"Woah! Woah, is right guys!" Rakan raised his hands and motioned down boy with them. "Easy guys, easy." He turned around and blinked when he saw the female.
"Oh, hey babe!" He suddenly called out to the female, whose back was turned to him and was still facing Hitomi in a fighting stance. "I thought we agreed that I had this one."
The female Lhotlan scoffed. "This one tried to make a move for you. Did you really think I would do nothing?"
Her usage of "this one" was clearly in reference to Hitomi.
Rakan paused for a moment before shrugging.
"Good point." He said before turning back to Jackhammer.
Babe…? Hitomi thought, as she looked the female up and down again, her thoughts drawing back to the conversation the night before. So that means…. This must be Xayah then…
Rakan slapped his hands behind his back and started to pace around the area, as if he had no issue in how tense the entire situation was… or the fact that no one else aside from Hitomi had lowered their weapons.
"Now then…" Rakan began to speak, a grin still on his face as if he was enjoying the entire thing. "I see we have not one but TWO outworlders trespassing in our land. Hmmm….."
He paused for a moment before approaching Jackhammer, poking his suit. Aside from following Rakan with his head, Jackhammer made no movement.
"Wow." The male Lhotlan mumbled. "This really is some high-tech stuff. You'd never see anything like this anywhere in Ionia… not even in the Kashuri Armories."
He took a step back from Jackhammer and walked off to the side, a hand cupping his chin.
"So… I know that that one…" He pointed at Hitomi as he spoke, "is a she… so that means YOU…" his finger slowly moved from Hitomi to Jackhammer. "… must be Archangel! Right?"
Hitomi blinked in confusion. Jackhammer didn't move for a moment before he let out a quick and very loud snort.
"FOR REAL!?" Jackhammer let out a quick HAH, before continuing. "Sorry baby, but Arch is about thhhhhhhhis tall." He motioned with his hand at about five feet off the ground, much shorter then himself, and clearly shorter then Isaac's actual height.
… Well okay maybe only a little shorter then his height…
Rakan's head jolted back as if he had been shot, a confused look on his face.
"Huh? Then who are you?" He asked, seemingly bewildered.
"Name's Jackhammer baby. Arch's unofficial best friend and his greatest pain in the ass." Jackhammer replied with enthusiasm… and Hitomi knew he had to be grinning under that helmet.
Hitomi moaned. WHY was Jackhammer the one taking the lead in negotiations? She looked at the others, and saw that they were carefully watching both Jackhammer and Rakan, but also paying careful attention to the armed Lhotlan in the trees.
A tense silence fell over the entire group for a few seconds, before Rakan snapped his fingers.
"Oh that's right! I heard rumors of there being other black armored outworlders! Jackhammer huh? No idea what that means, but that's an awesome name!" He leaned forward clasping his hands together. "Soooooo that means you know where Archangel is huh?"
Jackhammer shrugged. "Nope. Buuuut knowing my boy Arch, he'll be wherever the fighting is the thickest… so he's probably at where we're going."
Rakan leaned back and tapped his chin with a finger. "Is that so? Now that I think about it, what brings two outworlders and four of my fellow League champions through Lhotlan territory? I mean, there's NOOOOO way you guys didn't know this was our turf."
At this time, Riven spoke up. "We're on our way to the Placidium to meet up with Irelia's army."
That seemed to get a small reaction out of the Lhotlan. Hitomi saw some of the Lhotlan above them in the trees whisper amongst themselves. Xayah raised an eyebrow in question, taking her eyes off Hitomi to look over her shoulder, but aside from that she didn't lower her guard. Rakan joined her in raising an eyebrow.
"Oh really?" He asked. "Does this have something to do with that recall order?"
Riven nodded. "Yes. And I'm assuming you guys ignored that?"
"We don't answer to humans." Xayah growled. "The fact that Karma even SENT us a recall order is an nothing shy of an insult!"
"You know…" Rakan looked Riven up and down. "…now that I think about it, why are YOU answering that order Riven? You're from Noxus. Now… I'm not an expert on the relations between human nations, but everyone knows Noxians aren't welcome anywhere in Ionia… especially those who took part in the invasion."
Riven didn't answer, but Hitomi saw how her eyes seemed to drift off. She remembered what Yi had told her about the white-haired woman.
"She's here on my request." Yi spoke up for the first time, lowering his sword as he did so. "Please. We seek no conflict with the Lhotlan. We only seek passage so that we may assist the army in their cause."
Rakan turned from Riven to Master Yi. "Annnnnd why would we give you guys passage? Trust me. The only reason Xayah and the others didn't cut you guys down the moment you entered our land was because you're all… well, almost all, League champions." He raised a hand and made a motion with his fingers, as if asking Yi to pay up. "Come on… lets hear it."
"The Ionian army is marching upon Zed." Yi stated. "His recent actions have provoked an armed response."
Hitomi noticed how at the mention of Zed's name, the Lhotlan all stirred. She heard some of them above her hiss, and she also saw how Xayah tensed up at the name.
Right… I remember! They said Zed's been taking shots at the Lhotlan!
"Oh really now?" Xayah asked, turning away entirely from Hitomi to face Yi. "And what, pray tell, caused this change of heart? The Order of Shadows has been raiding Lhotlan territory for years, and yet Ionia did NOTHING! Why the response now?"
"You heard about all those kidnappings lately?" Yasuo asked, joining the conversation.
Rakan answered for Xayah. "Yep. Hard to miss how some of the places we used to frequent have turned into ghost towns. Even some of our own people have gone missing. Word around is that some group of outworlders calling themselves the Ascension are responsible, hence why I was hoping that one of you two was Archangel." He pointed to Jackhammer and then Hitomi. "I heard he's the expert on them."
Hitomi rolled her eyes. If they wanted to know about the Ascension, both she and Jackhammer knew just as much!
Yasuo nodded, lowering his sword and placing it back in it's sheath. "Well, as it turns out, Zed's been assisting the Ascension. To what end, no idea. But apparently Karma got ahold of some evidence proving he's been in cahoots with them. Now Irelia's leading an army to take the Order of the Shadow head-on."
Again, the Lhotlan started to talk amongst themselves. Hitomi looked around and saw most of them scowling, likely at the mention of Zed's name again.
How was someone that hated by everyone, that terrible of a man, yet had was a League champion?
This world made no sense….
She saw how the smile on Rakan's face was entirely gone… instead she saw a serious expression cloud over his face as he and Xayah shared a look.
"Is that so…" The male Lhotlan muttered.
Silence fell over the group for a moment before Rakan turned back to Yi with a grin.
"Well that settles it!" He suddenly proclaimed. "You're all coming with us!"
"Huh?!" Hitomi couldn't help but shout out in surprise. It seemed she wasn't alone, as Riven, Wukong, and even some of the Lhotlan echoed that response, including Xayah.
"What?! Rakan! You can't be serious!" Xayah shouted out her disproval. "Humans can't be trusted!"
"Hey!" Wukong raised a hand in protest. "I am CLEARLY not human!"
"Oh! I am quite serious!" Rakan nodded several times. "We ignored that recall order because… well… reasons! But if this is a chance to take the Order of Shadows out of the picture, miella, then we might as well hear them out!"
Amidst the various shouts of both disapproval and approval from the Lhotlan, Rakan leapt forward and grabbed Yasuo's arm, causing the samurai to shout in surprise as the Lhotlan male pulled him along past Riven and down the road.
"Come along my kin and human friends! We've got a meeting with the Consul!" He shouted with a cheer as he dragged along a struggling Yasuo, ignoring shouts from Xayah as she ran after him.
Hitomi blinked. She couldn't believe it…
Neither could the others it seemed, as they were all frozen in place, except for Yi who was already following. Jackhammer eventually shrugged and followed them. Riven and Wukong shared a look.
"See?" Wukong grinned. "Told yah we'd be fine!"
Riven just rolled her eyes… Hitomi had to fight the urge to join her.
Is this world FULL of weird people!?
Ionia
Night had fallen by the time Isaac had finished with the sixth. As he made his way through the now borderline deserted camp, he inspected his newest weapon.
The spear was more like a pike, given its length. Ren had Isaac get on a horse for a bit and ride around to get a feel for mounted combat. Thankfully, Isaac's quick learning meant that by the end of the first hour, Ren was convinced that Isaac didn't need any more practice.
However, Isaac felt that the spear would be almost useless against the armor of a Shock Trooper… but then again, the momentum from a cavalry charge plus Isaac's enhanced strength might give it enough oomph to breach said armor.
The better question was, would the spear shatter upon such impact? Isaac was willing to bet yes.
Still… a new weapon was a weapon. Worst case scenario, Isaac would use the Demacian longsword.
Of course, he could also dismount partway through the combat. But he would have to wait and see what would happen.
While practicing with Ren's instructions… something had dawned on Isaac: the Ionian troops had no idea how to fight the Ascension.
Shock trooper armor would likely stop any blade or spear or arrow the soldiers here had… leaving only the mages to stand a chance. And even then, I saw how some of the Ascension's Shock Troopers were using anti-magic shields and such…
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had only one conclusion to this problem…
He had to teach the damn Ionians on how to fight Shock Troopers, since the likelihood of the Ascension sending a unit of said soldiers to assist Zed was a very high possibility.
The likelihood of the Ionian troops willing to listen to me educate them is slim… that means I'll need to bring this up with Irelia first.
He would handle that tomorrow… tonight, he needed to seek out Ahri and find out more about what she may have seen in the minds of those two prisoners.
Just as he thought that he rounded one of the tents, and immediately froze.
Up ahead, leaning against a crate with his arms crossed, was Asshole Number Three.
To Isaac, Asshole Number One was Shyvana. Asshole Number Two was Galio. And Asshole Number Three was Shen.
And now Asshole Number Three, aka Shen the Asshole, was standing right in his path in the middle of the night… and Isaac had a feeling he didn't just stumble upon the ninja by chance.
…. Bastard… I have a feeling he's been waiting for me.
But how the hell did he know what path he would take? Not even Isaac knew what route through the path he was going to take! That meant one thing and one thing alone…
Shen had been stalking him.
Isaac thought as he glanced around him. There was no one around… he was alone with the ninja who clearly had it out for him.
Guess we're doing this…
Isaac stood up straight and faced Shen, who had turned his head to see Isaac and had pushed himself up straight, turning to face him.
"Seriously…?" Mute groaned.
Isaac had to agree with her statement.
"Archangel." Shen greeted him with a single word.
"Asshole." Isaac responded in kind.
If Isaac's tone of voice and hostility meant anything to the ninja, he didn't show it.
"For years I have sought to maintain the balance between this world…" Shen began, and Isaac already started to roll his eyes. "And yet I find outworlders everywhere in sight. Your presence in this world disturbs that balance."
"You think I WANT to be here?" Isaac threw his arms out to the side. "Sorry, jackass, but I don't exactly care for-"
Isaac stopped talking the moment he saw Shen's eyes glow, and his HUD spout off a warning.
Knowing what was coming next, Isaac threw the spear to the side and made to draw one of his swords. However, one moment Shen was in front of him, the next, he was gone.
What?
Isaac drew his sword nonetheless, but as he dropped into a fighting stance he felt a chill go down his spine.
Behind me?!
Isaac dropped into a roll, and as he came back to his feet he spun around, lashing out with a blade to parry the incoming attack.
Sure enough, he was met with the satisfying sound and feeling of metal upon metal as he blocked Shen's sudden attack.
He turned to fully face Shen, and saw that the ninja was gripping his sword with both hands, glaring down at Isaac with glowing eyes.
Bastard!
Isaac pushed Shen off and unsheathed a second blade, swinging at Shen with a flurry of attacks. To his annoyance, Shen kept up with his dual assault, dodging and parrying as he went.
"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO US?!" Mute shouted in his ear.
Not now Mute!
Isaac saw Shen lash out with a kick and he was forced to dodge it, only to have to parry off one of Shen's blows a moment later.
As he deflected the blade, Isaac thrust forward with his free sword, aiming to stab Shen through the chest. However, as soon as the blade was about to strike home, Shen vanished.
What…?
Isaac stood up straight, blades at the ready, glancing around.
"Not bad."
Isaac's head darted over his shoulder, and was met with the sight of Shen having returned to his initial position of standing by the crates with his arms crossed, and his sword back in it's sheath.
"What the fuck was THAT about!?" Isaac cussed at the ninja as he turned to face his random opponent, ready for another assault.
"Testing you." Shen simply responded.
Huh?
The ninja lowered his head. "Watch yourself Archangel. Our truce remains in effect until Zed is dealt with."
"What?! You just attacked me you son of a-" Isaac began to cuss the ninja out again when he suddenly vanished from sight yet again, causing Isaac to drop back into a ready stance.
A minute went by… and then another.
"I think… he's gone." Mute observed.
… Guess so…
"What do you think THAT was about?" Isaac asked as he lowered his arms.
"Not a single clue." Mute shrugged. "Forget Ahri, I can't figure THAT guy out."
Isaac bit his lower lip. "Shit… I'll bet as soon as were done kicking Zed's ass he's going to be a problem…"
"Agreed." Mute nodded. "Think we should tell anyone?"
Isaac thought about it as he sheathed his swords and picked up the spear where he had thrown it. "Blitzkrieg and Ezreal yes. It might help to bring it up with Irelia too, but this might be something beyond her control… if anything from the last time is to be believed."
Last time, Shen didn't seem to care too much for Irelia's orders. That meant that Shen could operate independently, and Irelia had no control over him.
That meant that even if he told Irelia that Shen had just attacked him, her influence was limited.
On top that that, if she was trying to keep Shen and his ninja order in cooperation with her and the army, there was even less should could do.
Christ… THIS is why I'm paranoid.
Isaac let out a sigh, standing back up straight and glanced up at the star-light sky. With a shake of his head, he turned back towards the direction of his tent, his mood too ruined to speak with Ahri tonight.
Screw it… I'm going to bed…
Although, he knew that only nightmares awaited him.
Unknown
"Ahem. Greetings ladies and gentlemen, brave men and women of the Ascension. After much contemplation, our leaders have decided to move the date forward for Operation Attila. Our most recent string of high-profile mission failure against the Runeterrans has made us appear weak. And we are anything BUT weak."
"Time to remind the world that we are a force to be feared!"
"Therefore, all combat units to take part in Operation Attila are to begin preparations now… as we have only a week before we launch the assault. This is Flammenschwert, over and out."
AN: Given how I seem to struggle with deadlines on Mondays, I'll be changing the update schedule to Tuesdays instead... hopefully that will solve this issue. Therefor, the next update will be on October 10th.
If there are any glaring errors in this chapter, please let me know.