Chapter 3: Land of the Wild

"…help…dying…!" gasped Edward and then he fainted.

"Edward!" said Leonardo.

"Ah, don't worry about him." said Sothe. "He's always like that."

"But…"

"Just hurry up and drag him along then…" sighed Sothe.

Leonardo said nothing as he helped Edward up.

The Dawn Brigade and its allies were traveling through the scorching, hot desert in Begnion. As the wind carved the rocks and sand tumbled about, they face unknown obstacles…

"Ow!" said Micaiah clutching her foot. "My foot!"

"What's wrong, Micaiah?" asked Nolan.

"I dunno, I hit something hard!"

"Well, it's just a god damn rock." said Nolan. "What else could be here?"

"No wait…" said Leonardo leaving Edward to Sothe. "It's not a rock…"

He bent down to pull at the object stuck in the sand.

"It's…a dagger I think." said Leonardo holding it up.

"Ugh…whuz going on…?" moaned Edward as he regained consciousness.

"Apparently, we found something really shiny." replied Micaiah.

"Woot, another weapon for me." said Sothe as he took the Baselard.

"Micaiah!" yelled Nailah catching up. "I think we need to slow down. Rafiel's getting tired."

"No…I'm fine…I wish to not be a burden to anyone…" said Rafiel with a wan tone.

"No you're not!" said Micaiah. "Look at you! We're gonna take a break here now."

"I-I apologize…"

"Please, no need too." murmured Micaiah.

Therefore, everyone took a break and sat on rocks.

"This is SO boring…" said Edward as he made a big yawn.

"Quit complaining…" sighed Leonardo.

"Oh, screw this!" shouted Nolan as he randomly smashed a rock with his axe.

"Dude, why the hell did you just destroy a rock?" said Sothe with an annoyed look.

"Cause I'm having the most sh*ttiest time of my life!"

"You have no life…" muttered Edward as Nolan walked away.

"Oooo…" murmured Sothe.

A minute later, the group heard a noise.

"You people!" yelled an orange sage that was coming toward the Dawn Brigade.

"Tormod?!" exclaimed Sothe.

"Who?" asked Micaiah.

"State who you are and where you're from!" said Tormod.

"Shut up, Tormod. You already know who we are." replied Sothe.

"Huh? Oh, my bad."

"So what brings you here, young ones?" asked Muarim.

"Well…we're just passing through here…" said Micaiah. "And yeah…"

As Micaiah was talking, Sothe noticed a wary glance from Vika to Micaiah.

"…and that's why." finished Micaiah.

Hm, then how about we join you on your little wuest since we've got nothing better to do!" said Tormod.

"Um…sure." said Micaiah. "Be my guest."

The Laguz Emancipation Army (LEA) then settled themselves with the Dawn Brigade.

* * * * * *

As the Greil Mercenaries trudged along in the sand…

"Oh my god…" groaned Ike. "Soren, how can you stand this?!"

"Well, I don't see a problem…" replied Soren.

"Waah!" yelled Rolf in surprise as he tripped.

:Rolf, you okay?" asked Oscar.

"Yeah, I think so…Hm? What's this?" Rolf pulled something out of the sand.

"…It's a Dragonfoe." replied Soren.

"What's that?" asked Mist.

"It grants the user the skill Dragonslayer."

"What?" said Haar.

"Nevermind…" sighed Soren.

Suddenly, a sandstorm was starting to whip up.

"Aw, not now…!" said Ike shielding his eyes. "I can't see anything!"

"Leave it to me!" said Janaff flying overhead.

"I hear a bunch of footsteps far away…" said Ulki right behind Janaff.

"Oh boy…it's that Micaiah girl again." Janaff flew back down. "Commander Ike, we have company up ahead." reported Janaff.

"I wonder who." said Ike.

"Plus, they seem to have the LEA on their side too."

"Sothe and Tormod!" exclaimed Ike. "What a coincidence…!"

"It's not like we're unprepared…" said Titania.

Suddenly, there was a screech. Janaff was in hawk form trying to protect Reyson who was in heron form from a wild laguz. Apparently, there were a lot more cats and tigers coming as everyone could see.

"Everyone! Quickly to battle formation!" commanded Ike. "And Janaff…how come you didn't see this?!"

"What?! It was so sudden!" shouted Janaff flying back into battle.

* * * * * *

"Ack!" Edward was pushed back from the blow of a laguz in tiger form.

"Where do all these laguz come from?!" said Sothe as he evaded several attacks.

Leonardo was already up on a cliff sniping down the laguz coming towards his companions.

"Behind you, Leonardo!" yelled Micaiah as she started a spell.

"Ah!" Leonardo barely dodged it receiving a couple scratches on his shoulder.

Then, there was a bright light swallowing up the wild cat.

"Hah!" Micaiah, with one quick hand motion, finished off the laguz.

"Thanks, Micaiah." said Leonardo.

"No problem, and I think we should go back down there cause…" Micaiah slowly turned her head around to see five tigers glaring at them.

They immediately started their way down the cliff.

"Holy…" Edward was watching the chase from the bottom of the cliff.

"Aren't you gonna do something, boy?" said Nolan.

"Well…how?"

"Throw something."

"Yeeaa…I'd rather not cause I have such bad aim." said Edward. "Oh, wait! I know!"

He ran off and grabbed Leonardo's extra bow. "Hopefully he won't mind…"

As he came back, Sothe was there with Nolan.

"What?! You use bows?" said Sothe.

"Not really, Leonardo once taught me a little on how to use one." replied Edward pulling the bowstring back.

"Oh, boy…" mumbled Sothe closing his eyes.

Meanwhile, Micaiah and Leonardo was running until they stopped abruptly.

"By the goddess, it's a dead end and we're like 50 feet off the ground!" said Micaiah.

"We can jump on the rocks down here." said Leonardo pointing towards the big hill of rocks.

"What? You expect me to do that?"

"Well…if you don't wanna get killed."

"…fine." said Micaiah as she started down again with Leonardo behind her.

Suddenly, a slim object flew right past Leonardo's face and went into the stony wall beside him. "Whoa…!"

He took the arrow out and examined it.

"What?! This looks like my arrow…!" said Leonardo. "That's it, Edward…"

"Leonardo, what are waiting for?" asked Micaiah.

"Sorry, it's nothing." replied Leonardo as he continued downwards.

Back down on the ground…

"Oh…whoops." said Edward sheepishly.

"Here, gimme that." said Sothe was he took the bow and hoped that the arrow hit.

"You almost hit it at least." commented Edward. "Let me try again."

"Too late, they're already here…"

They prepared to face the 5 laguz as Leonardo and Micaiah stopped behind them.

"Edward…give me…the bow." said Leonardo panting.

"Oh yeah…Here." said Edward as he quickly handed him the bow.

* * * * * *

"…these laguz aren't normal…" murmured Soren as he defeated one with Elwind.

"Huh?" said Rolf beside him.

"Yeah, these aren't normal. One was cursing and swearing at me." said Boyd.

"…they're being controlled." said Soren.

* * * * * *

End of Chapter 3