Ok, so I'm updating. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I only got one last time, and I was really sad. T.T; and now for something completely different.
I don't know if I made this clear in the first time that I introduced BMC, but the wall is really tall. Like really tall. As in the two story houses that are built around the inside of the wall are like a 4 story drop from the top. Now you may be asking, 'why is this crazy author telling me this?' well, it's because you need to picture a huge wall in order to understand some things in the story.
Begin Chapter
"I hate guard duty," Rock thought two days later. He had started guarding the wall yesterday, and thankfully was allowed to wear a comfortable shirt this time with chain mail underneath. "At least everyone should be here today." Overseeing the wall is not a lot of fun, especially when you have to endure the not so witty taunts of Maiju.
"Hey Lucio, so when's your family supposed to be here? Because I'm going to love denying them entry," Maiju yelled up to the top, but was surprised at what he saw, or rather, what he didn't see. Rock had disappeared. "Abandoning your post?" All of the sudden, a small fireball hit his armor.
"I'd like to see you try and keep them out," came Rock's disembodied voice. After searching the turrets for Rock, Maiju gave up. The only proof that he was still there were the pebbles and small fireballs that hit Maiju randomly.
---
"How much longer 'till we get there?" whined Deako. Everyone was making their way though the Yhugata Jungle, and it was taking quite a while. Every so often either Gutsman or Deako would get stuck, so Forte, Blues, or, if they were causing a scene, Netto had to cut them out of the undergrowth.
"We get there when we get there," Forte yelled as he spun around and glared at the berserker. "Jeez, how many times do we have to tell you that it's a ways to go?!"
"Fifteen?" whispered Netto to Meiru and Enzan. The two youngest snickered while Enzan smirked. Forte growled at the two behemoths as he stormed off towards the south. Everyone cleared out of his way as he passed. After he was twenty feet in front of them, the Ops felt someone push them slightly to get them moving again. Netto looked up, and saw Blues behind him and Enzan, while Roll was beside Meiru. "What's his problem?"
"He's just not used to being stuck with people and/or navis with such exuberant personalities," Blues explained. "He's used to being alone." Netto frowned at the retreating form of the dark knight that led them. After a few minutes, they arrived at the Hideen Valley.
"Time to start heading east. We should be there by nightfall," Forte yelled back at the group. He had started to overtake them again now that he was out of the brush.
"Netto, why don't you go with him and make sure that he doesn't run off?" Searchman suggested. Netto looked up at the two taller navis on either side of him for confirmation before running to catch up with Forte.
"Good idea, de gutsu?" asked Gutsman.
"Well, Forte won't attack him because of Rock, and I think that he's become attached to Netto a little bit," Blues stated. Everyone stared at him flabbergasted. "What?"
"Forte hates humans, Netto especially. Netto's stopped him countless times, so why should he be close to him?" asked Searchman.
"Even he has a speck of humanity in him. He's seen all of us with our Ops, and probably felt a little left out. Netto's missing Rock, so Forte decided to take care of Netto like we're doing. Haven't you noticed how his temper's been getting shorter the closer we get to BMC?"
"I thought that he just wouldn't want to see Rockman," Laika stated. "They are enemies."
"We're his 'enemies' as well," Blues said with a shrug. "I think that he deep down wants an Op."
---
"Forte, wait up!" Netto yelled as he ran to catch up with the taller navi. He saw Forte sigh and slow down.
"What is it kid?" Netto stopped for a second to catch his breath before answering.
"You said that you'd help me with this new ice spell," he said. Forte turned around and smirked.
"I said that I might help you. I'm not a mage, so I don't really know how all of that stuff works," he replied. "But what the heck. Where's the scroll?" Netto smiled and rummaged through his bag and pulled out the scroll.
"All that I don't get is what does Rock mean when he says 'use the humidity, if there is any,'? What is humidity again?" Forte sighed as he studied the plain that was stretched in front of them.
"Humidity is water in the air. Rock's saying that if there's water in the air, you can use that for a quick shot instead of having to wait for it to come out of the ground," he explained.
"Oh, ok," Netto said as the started to think a little bit before he too looked over the plains. "What's that?" He pointed to a small black dot on the horizon.
"That's probably BMC," Forte said as he squinted to try and make out some details. "You may want to cover your ears." Netto did with a confused look on his face. "HEY GUYS," Forte bellowed. "NETTO FOUND BMC, WE'RE ALMOST THERE SO HURRY IT UP! Bet ya five gil that we can out run all of them, even Blues and Enzan."
"No need to bet, I know we can," Netto smiled as he put the scroll back, tightened the straps on the backpack, and started to run, Forte right beside him.
Meanwhile, back with the others…
"What are they doing?" asked Roll.
"They want to race probably," Enzan said. "Want to try and beat them?"
"Sure," Blues replied as they tightened their backpacks and started to chase after the two retreating figures.
"Stupid boys," Roll thought as she watched Deako and Gutsman try and figure out if they could overtake the four other guys.
---
Rock was officially bored out of his mind. He was sitting on the wall overlooking the field trying to tune out Maiju, who decided that verbal attacks against the mage would be more effective. "And then I'll make sure that they're locked out." Rock rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, and I'll get my team to help me get them into the city, baka," he sighed. "Why me?"
"But that's illegal. You can't smuggle people into the city. That's against the law."
"And denying my family entrance is also against the law."
"Since when?"
"Since the king found out that they were coming." Maiju stopped for a few seconds.
"So I'll just let the whole city know that two fighters, and a red mage will be allowed to roam our city freely."
"Go right on ahead, the king's already told them." Maiju paused again.
"Well, I bet they'll smell."
"Can't be worse than your insults." Maiju went silent, and Rock smiled as he looked across the plains. He thought that he saw two figures running across it, but it must've been the sun.
"Rock, think fast!" Maiju yelled, and Rock barely had time to fall back onto the wall before a massive fireball hit where he'd been seconds before.
"That's what I do Maiju," he replied as he found some more pebbles to throw down. He restarted his previous bombarding just as a vibrant Coeurl(1) leapt up on top of the wall.
"Message from the king to a one Lucio," he said with a bow. "And yes, I know that a talking coeurl is quite odd, and it's to be expected that you gawk at me for a few seconds." Rock smiled.
"What is the King's message?" he asked. The coeurl stood back up and recited the message. "Lucio, if your family has arrived by dinner, escort them to the main dining hall, after they have freshened up in your tower. I wish to dine with all of you tonight. King Charles." Rock shook his head in understanding.
"Thank you," he smiled. "What's your name?"
"Tau," the leopard like creature replied as he stretched. "Oh I don't want to go back to that stuffy old palace." Rock laughed a little. "I prefer to be outside where I can run around some. Not that I mind being fed, groomed, and comfortable when I get to sleep, it's just that I want to run around, stretch my muscles, things like that."
"Well, you're welcome to join me in annoying Maiju until my family comes, and then you can 'escort' us to the castle. I'm sure that the girls would pet you, and compliment you." Tau laughed a little bit.
"I'd like that," he said as he sat down.
"So Lukio, who's up there with you?" Maiju sneered at the wall.
"Tau, the talking coeurl. He's going to escort me and my family to the castle tonight," Rock smiled from over the battlements. He saw the smirk slide off of his face. "So you'd better not give them any crap, you hear?" Maiju snarled.
"Fine." Rock smiled as he looked to Tau. The coeurl was lying down on the wall with his paws over his snout to try to stop from laughing.
"I never knew that the elites were so….immature," he said as soon as he got himself under control.
"Well, it's true," Rock smiled as he looked back across the field. He no longer saw two small figures, but ten people approaching the walls, four of which were running. "They're here," he whispered.
"Really, where?" Tau asked as he peered over the battlements. "That mismatch group?"
"Yep. Only the black mage is 'related' to me," he said. "The rest are close, close friends."
"They're here? Are you sure?" asked Orinda over the link.
"Positive. I can almost make out my Op, Op's and my rivals, and our enemy turned friend for the time being." Rock started to beam with happiness.
"Maiju, they're running across the plains as we speak. They should be here in an hour."
"An hour?! Jeez, how slow are they?"
"Only four of them are running, and it looks like they're racing. There are six of them walking."
"Why don't you go and get them if they're within eye sight?"
"Because I'm not leaving my post." Maiju seemed to do the 'dang it' motion (stomp your foot and snap your finger thing).
"I'll go meet them," Tau suggested. "I can take the dragons and maybe some Hiryuu(2) to help them arrive sooner."
"Ok, just be careful, they haven't had the best of times with dragons," Rock smiled.
"I'll be sure to have the people in the stables put the BMC saddles on them," Tau said as he leapt off of the wall and ran towards the stables.
---
Tau ran all the way into the inner courtyard in about twenty seconds. Not bad for a fourth of a mile. "Stablemen, we need Orinda and several Hiryuu saddled to pick up Lucio's family. Put the BMC saddles on, if you'd be so kind," he panted. The stablemen got to work, and two minutes later, the dragons appeared.
"So we are to go and pick up the ten people outside of the wall?"(3) one of the Hiryuu asked.
"Yes," Tau replied. He did a quick headcount, and found that all the elementals dragons were there. "You three feel like picking up Lucio's friends?"
"He has saved our rider's lives, we owe him at least this much," Indra, Tabor's dragon said with a shake of his mighty head.
"Ok then, let's head on out. Would one of you mind carrying me out of the city, I don't feel like jumping the wall right now."
"Sure, hop on!" Damini, Min's dragon smiled as she lay down and allowed Tau to mount. "Hang on to the reigns." Tau grabbed them with his teeth as the dragons took off. As soon as they were thirty feet from the outer wall in the feild, Damini let Tau off, and he started to run towards the two closest people.
---
"Run faster Netto, they're gaining on us!" Forte yelled as he looked over his shoulder.
"They're not what we should be worried about," Netto said as he stopped, pulling Forte back with him.
"What?" Netto pointed over his shoulder. "Crap, let's go," he said as they started to run back towards the rest of the group. As soon as they all got back together they heard a voice.
"Calm down, calm down, the dragons just want to give you a ride to the city!"
"Who said that?!" asked a freaked out Deako. Blues searched around a bit, and saw a strange orangey-yellowish looking leopard-type cat running towards them.
"I did," it said as it came to a stop right in front of him. "Man it feels good to run." As they were gawking at the strange animal, it stretched, and the dragons landed. "My name is Tau; I'm one of the 'messengers' of the King. I volunteered to bring the dragons here so you wouldn't have to walk all of the way back." He looked a the group. Suddenly, the younger girl was right beside him petting him and scratching his ears.
"He's so cute!" Meiru squealed.
"Thank you," Tau replied with a smile. "So, will you ride to the city, or would you rather get more blisters by walking?"
"We'll ride," Searchman said as he approached one of the dragons cautiously. "Whose dragon is this one?" He gestured to the dark green one behind him.
"She is Lykaios' dragon Eranthe," Tau explained. "The gold one is Min's, and her name is Damini."
"Let me guess the blue one's Rock's, and its name is Rocky jr.," Forte smiled.
"Do you mean Lucio?" Tau asked, confused.
"Yes, Forte did mean Lucio," Roll replied.
"Well, you're wrong Forte. That dragon's not Lucio's, but Tabor's, and his name is Indra. The red one is Rock's and his name is Orinda."
"Cool, I call Orinda!" Netto said as he ran over to the red dragon. As soon as he got close, he saw the coeurl run up beside him and cut him off.
"Perhaps you should all introduce yourselves to the dragons that you will be riding," Tau suggested. He leaned in and whispered to Netto, "Dragons are very proud creatures."
"Oh, ok. Hello Orinda, my name is Hikari Netto. I'm…" "Rock's Operator, yes I know," he growled. Of course Netto didn't understand what Orinda said, and took it the wrong way. "What did I do wrong?"
"Oh, you don't speak dragon, of course. Orinda just finished your sentence. Roughly translated, he said that you were Rock's 'operator', whatever that means, and that he knew that it was you," Tau smiled. Orinda lowered himself and allowed Netto to climb on. Tau looked around and saw that most everyone had climbed upon a dragon. "Everyone, listen up. You're going to need to hang on tight to the reigns, and the saddle horn if there is one. Riding a dragon is not like riding a chocobo, so hang on." Everyone agreed to an extent, and Tau started to run towards the city, followed closely by the dragons.
---
"Where'd the dragons and that coeurl go?" asked Maiju ten minutes later. He looked to the top of the wall, and saw Rock staring at the horizon. "HEY!"
"They went to get my family. Chill," Rock replied as he watched the dragons take off. "How's Netto doing?"
"Well, he's an ok rider. I can tell that he's never ridden anything before," Orinda replied. Rock chuckled. "It'll take us two minutes to get there."
"Thank you so very much," Rock said. He could feel the 'your welcome' coming from his dragon. "Maiju, they'll be here in a few minutes, so get ready."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know," he grumbled. Just like Orinda had predicted, two minutes later the dragons landed, and Tau ran up. "Welcome to BMC. My name is Maiju, can I help you?" he said in a monotone.
"Aw, come on, you can do better than that!" Rock yelled from the wall. Maiju glared, and got a small fireball to the head as a reward.
"ROCK!!!" Roll yelled. Maiju gave her a funny look.
"What the hell?" he asked.
"Come now, everyone has nicknames Maiju," Tau said as he started through the gates. "Everyone please follow me." Rock watched as his friends walked through the gate. Right then, an mage walked up to him.
"Lucio, sir, I'm here to relieve you of your position," he said.
"Thank you." Rock gave a small bow before he started down the stairs. A minute later, he found himself on the bottom of the stairs, tackled by Roll.
"I missed you so much," she said, almost cried into his shirt. Rock hugged her back.
"It's ok, I'm here, everything's going to be ok," he said, trying to soothe her. After a few more seconds, she stood back up, followed closely by Rock. Next it appeared to be Netto's turn to greet him. Netto ran and hugged him as well, but Rock had his balance this time, and he didn't fall over.
"Jeez, can we go and get a shower now?" asked Forte, thus spoiling the mood. Rock just rolled his eyes and signaled for Tau to lead them to the castle. Not once did Netto leave his side.
As they approached the castle, Rock heard a familiar shrill scream. "Lucio!!!" Netto looked up at his navi, and saw the look of dread on his face. He turned around, and saw a, in his opinion, slutty female black mage heading towards them. "Lucio who are these people? And who is this in particular?" she asked, pointing to Roll. Rock thought for a minute, looking at Roll, and whispering something in her ear that made her blush before she nodded a yes, prior to answering.
"These are my family and friends, and this in particular is my girlfriend Roll. Everyone this is the most horrible person you will ever meet, Caitlin."
"Uh Rock," Netto whispered to his navi. "I think that you made her mad." Rock looked a Caitlin, and noticed that she was turning purple, almost green.
"Guys, run," he said as he pushed Netto towards the castle.
"What?"
"Run!" he exclaimed as he grabbed Roll's and Meiru's arms and forced them to start running. Everyone decided to follow his example. As soon as he was sure that they would keep running, he let go, and started to 'talk' to Tau. Tau then took off towards the castle. "Come on, I know a place to hide!" Everyone nodded as they followed him into the keep. He led them off of the stone walkway and around the towers to a stable. They ran inside a small barn looking building before they stopped to catch their breath.
"This castle is huge," Blues said as he looked at the towers behind the wall of the stable.
"Yep," Rock replied as he walked over to Blues. "See that huge tower?" Blues nodded. "That's where we're trying to get."
"And why would we want to do that?" Forte sneered.
"Because there's no way that Caitlin, Maiju, or any other idiots from their team can get up there. Before you ask, I know because that's where I live."
"How get up, de gutsu?" Gutsman asked.
"I was hoping that the dragons could take us up. That's how I usually get up there," he replied.
"Oh perfect," Forte exclaimed as he rolled his eyes. "Do you ever do something that doesn't have to do with dragons?" Rock sighed.
"Yes, but they help out almost all the time." He looked outside of the stables. "Anyone see Caitlin?"
"Just who is Caitlin?" asked Laika. After making sure that the coast was clear.
"She is a mage from the other group of 'elites', the only other girl. So she's kind of like Min. And she has a crush on me, and I can't get her to leave me alone, no matter what I do. Trust me; I've tried to get her to leave. That's why my team has the tall tower," he explained.
"So why don't we just take the stairs?" asked Deako.
"I don't feel like wearing out my legs again," Enzan replied.
"Plus, we blocked off the stairs," Rock shrugged.
"Wh-why?" asked Meiru. She and Roll had just finished catching their breath.
"Well, the reason we told the king was to make it a 'stronghold' that could not be overtaken. The real reason is because everyone else was sick and tired of the 'surprise attacks', from Caitlin, and real attacks from Shiro and Maiju," he said as he lied down in a haystack and sighed. "Orinda, how long would it take to get everyone to the tower?"
"Well, if the four others help, ten minutes, but you'll alert Caitlin to what you're doing," he replied.
"But you could get the quote unquote kids up to the top of the tower before she got here, right? The rest of us can hold our own in a fight," Rock stated.
"Fine, we'll take them up; just make sure that they don't freak out when we pick them up." Rock heard the dragons start to move in the back of the stables.
"Rock-kun, what was that?" Roll asked with a hint of fear in her voice as she hurried to his side.
"It was Orinda and the other dragons. They're going to take us to the tower," he said as he sat up, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"But they can't take us all up at once," Forte stated.
"I know, so they'll take our Op's up first, just in case something happens," Rock said, lying back down.
"Do you think that something will?" asked Netto as the dragons came out.
"Well, Caitlin's P.Oed, and she probably went to get Alger and/or Shiro. So we'll get as many of you up as we can before they get here," Rock yawned as the red dragon pushed him with his nose to get his attention. Rock looked at the dragon, and seemed to remember something. "Oh, you aren't going to ride the dragons this time, they're going to carry you in their hands, so don't squirm."
"Is this safe?" asked Deako as the gold one grabbed him with both of its hands.
"Perfectly," Rock smiled as the dragons took off.
"You know that that girl will know that we're here now, right?" asked Searchman.
"Why do you think that I sent our Op's up first? Because we can fight better than they can," he explained as he stood up and stuck his head outside of the stables. "Great," he said as he ran back. "Caitlin's coming, and she has Shiro with her."
"And they know that we're here," Forte stated. "Should we fight?"
"If we do, it won't be pretty," Blues said, looking outside. "Wait, they're being stopped, by some guard guys. And it seems that the dragons are on their way back."
"Good," Rock replied as the dragons landed again. "Are they ok?"
"They're fine. A little freaked out, but fine. Lykaios was there, so he's probably sending them through the showers," Orinda smiled as he picked up Rock and Roll. The other dragons picked up their 'riders', and took off.
"Rock!" Roll screamed in terror.
"Calm down, its ok. We'll be there soon," he said, trying to comfort her. Orinda made it to the tower first, and set the two mages down. "Thank you." The dragon nodded and flew back to the stables. "Come on, we'd better get in line for the showers." Roll gulped and grabbed Rock's arm. He led her inside, and down the flight of stairs to the bedrooms.
"We have some extra rooms here," he explained as they walked around the corner. "And I think that Lykaios forgot about them." He led her to one of the rooms, and opened the door. The room was clad in white, and a window showed a gorgeous view of the town. The furniture looked like it came out of a painting. It had two beds with a small end table in between them. There were two armoires and a small sitting area. Rock looked at Roll, and smiled when he saw her 'opinion'. "Do you like it?"
"It's wonderful!" she exclaimed as she laid down on one of the beds.
"The restroom's right through here," he said, leading her through a small door. The restroom was quaint, with a small toilet, a bath tub, a shower, and a sink on a cabinet. "There're towels in the cabinet, and there should be a robe in there too."
"Did you do this for me?" she asked.
"My team and I did this to all of the extra rooms here. I knew that you were coming, so I got special rooms for you and Meiru and the rest of the group." Roll smiled and hugged him again. She pulled away and smiled when she saw that he was blushing. "I'm going to see if I can commandeer a shower and I'll meet you back upstairs."
"Ok," she smiled as he left the room. He started down the hall again, and ran into Forte.
"Where's my room?" he asked gruffly.
"This way," Rock sighed. He walked towards a room at the end of the hall. "You don't have to be so rude, you know." Forte rolled his eyes as Rock opened the door to a dark purple room. "Does this work?" Forte walked in before nodding his head.
"This is actually a nice color scheme. Dark purple and black, highlighted with neon purple, not bad, not bad," he said.
"Bathroom's through that door there. Just come upstairs when you're done," Rock said as he left. He hurried back to his room, and entered just in time to see Netto wearing a spare robe leaving his bathroom.
"Hey, the shower's open. I have a question, though," Netto said.
"What is it?"
"What should I wear to the dinner thing tonight?" Rock thought for a second.
"Do you have a second set of those clothes that you were wearing?" Netto nodded. "Just wear that then. And could you tell everyone to just wear what they have, and tell the three other people here to not dress fancy?"
"Ok, you're going to take a shower now?"
"Yeah, you have no idea how grimy you can get just standing in the sun all day." Netto smiled as Rock went into the restroom. Fifteen minutes later, he came out wearing his robe and towel drying his hair. He dropped the towel to his shoulders, and went to the armoire. After rummaging through it for a few minutes, he pulled out a semi nice outfit. He got changed and went upstairs, where he heard laughter.
"And here he is now," Min said as he walked into the sitting room. She had been talking to all of the Ops, Searchman, Gutsman, and an embarrassed Forte.
"Ok ok ok ok ok, continue with the story!" Netto said quickly. Min laughed.
"Ok, so I start to chase Lykaios through the town, and we wind up at the castle. I arrive just in time to see him get surrounded by the fighters. I zap them, and while they're down, tell Lykaios to run and find Tabor and Rock. He rushes inside and they start to attack me. I start firing lightning and lightning arrows at them, trying to block their swords and shields. It took me five minutes to destroy them all. Afterwards, I rushed into the castle, and ran into Lykaios, Rock, and an unconscious Tabor. I zapped Tabor to wake him up, and we fought our way up the stairs. We get to the top, and try to get to the edge. Two minutes later we're on our dragons and flying away," she finished.
"That's a good story," Meiru commented. Min smiled as Blues and Roll entered the room.
"Oh, Rock, what's this I hear about you having a girlfriend?" Min asked in a slightly teasing tone. Both Rock and Roll blushed. "Are you serious?" Rock smiled and walked over to Roll.
"Sure am," he smiled as he hugged her.
"Man, I wish that I could've seen the look on Caitlin's face when you said that," Min laughed as Tabor and Lykaios entered. "So, are we going to go eat dinner now?"
"Yeah," Rock said as they walked to the balcony. "Lykaios, can you create something to take us all down at once?"
"Fine, but Caitlin might be able to get on it," he joked.
"Just do it." Lykaios shrugged and raised a platform to the balcony, from the ground. He then added railings before telling everyone to 'get on'.
"Are you sure that this thing is safe?" asked Enzan as he looked to the ground.
"I am ninety percent sure that it won't break, if that's what you mean." Enzan gulped before Blues pulled him onto the platform. As soon as they were all on, Lykaios lowered them slowly, and a minute later they were on the ground, and the platform put itself back into the earth.
"There you are," said a guard who ran up to the group.
"Kolya, we told you that we'd be a little late," Min groaned as they started to walk towards the gate.
"Yes, but the king wanted me to 'escort' you or something. I don't know," Kolya voiced. "Well, we should get going." Min rolled her eyes as Kolya turned around, and he led them to the doors of the main dining hall. As the guards opened the door, he bowed and walked away.
"This is it," Roll whispered to Rock.
"Don't worry, he's nice," he whispered back as the doors finished opening and they were led inside and to the table. They sat down and looked to the king. He smiled at them before calling in the food.
"Dinner is served," said one of the chefs as they sat the silver platters on the table. Everyone thanked the chefs and waiters as they began their meal.
End Chapter
(1) a Coeurl is a leopard like creature with two long 'whiskers' on either side of it's face. if you really want to know what it looks like, google image search it.
(2) Hiryuu are friendly dragons that I have serving the king.
(3) This is the 'animal speech'. To people, it would sound like growls and howls, so I 'translated' it for you.
Ok, I know that I haven't updated in a while. I was working on an essay all Christmas break, and had very little time to write. But with school starting up, and basically a free period every other day, I think I'll be able to update soon. Thanks for not giving up on this story. And PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!