Here, I believe I owe gratitude to the fellow fanfiction writers that have reviewed, favorited, and has subscribed/watched this story. Firstly, I would like to thank theoneWARrior for encouraging me to continue writing and reviewing my stories. Secondly, I would like to thank TheSovietWarMachine for also reviewing. Thirdly, I would like to thank A-QueenOfFairys, Almighty Tallest Angie, and HaHaHappiness for favoriting this story. Lastly, I would give all you peoples reading this story a big hand and a thank you. A picture of Aelita in this story is now featured on my profile on DA, though some have already seen it. Old English is used less in this chapter.

Ensemble VI

Schaeffer Castle
Rivendell, Lyokonis

May the Twenty-Second, 12:31 PM

"You mean we have to actually go there?!" Jeremie yelled at the elderly seer.

"Yes, if you want to restore peace to the kingdom you must!" the seer snapped back. "I thought you were intelligent, but now I see that I am mistaken!"
"Okay, okay" Jeremie said, calming down. "Just tell us the roads and places we must travel through. Digitropolis is full of places filled with dangerous pitfalls and obstacles."
"True, true…" the seer said, calming down. "First, you must train to effectively use the elements. You all must train to unlock the fullest potential of the blades you wield, as they cannot be unlocked under normal means" the seer said, nodding towards the rest of the group. "Secondly, then, you will have to go on foot to the-" the seer was saying, before he got cut off by a figure that was as mysterious as the darker side of the moon, and almost as frightening as the monsters that people could imagine, who had let out a loud shriek that startled everyone in the room.

The thing them jumped down from the shadows of the castle room, and landed on the stone floor below, in front of the 6, thus letting them see it more clearly. The thing itself was large and quite muscular, but had an eerie white tinge to its skin color- a color much like phantoms might have. However, the skin seemed flaky and leathery, much like a dragon's skin would have. It was covered in layers and layers of dark clothing, and it had a black pendant with a silver eye of XANA imprinted on the rough metal. Half of its face was covered by the black hood it sported, with monstrous black bat wings protruding from a tear in its black and red cloak, sprouting from around its shoulder blades. Its feet were abnormally large and it had black claws at the end of the toes and fingers, which looked quite sharp and lethal, should the thing decide on its prey.

"I apologize for interrupting this… get together, but I have a message from my master" it said, in a surprisingly cool and silky voice.
"Well, tell him we're not listening" Odd said, stepping forth with his blade drawn, baring his teeth to make his threat more pronounced.

"Shame," the thing said, not at all ruffled by the threat. "My master was hoping to get a word across before he annihilates you all." He said, looking at the five warriors and the elderly seer.
"… what's the message…?" Aelita asked tiredly.

"Oh, it's nothing much, Princess." It said, leering at all of them. "He bids that you surrender by the next full moon, otherwise your mother and father would have to… ah, be executed."

"Leave them out of this!" Aelita snarled, getting ready to give this thing a piece of my mind.
"I didn't drag them into this." it said in a bored manner before continuing. "You have several days. Make good use of them." It said, with a sneer before flying off through the stone window set high into the wall.

May the Twenty-Ninth
Birchwood Village, Lyokonis
1:10 PM

Ulrich wandered around the town, lazily patrolling for common criminals while searching for something that would try to help him unlock the true power of his blade. His blade, the supposed sword of the winds, was supposed to contain a power that was shared throughout the other five blades. The true power of the blades, along with the other five, was supposed to contain something that was special… something that could not be unlocked under normal circumstances… but how? How do you get something that's probably not there? It had already been a few days since the thing appeared and ominously told them Lord Xavier's message. As Ulrich mused on the current situation, he currently walked into someone that was walking in the opposite direction. Ulrich looked up, and knew who he was, and knew that this was probably not going to end on a good note.

"Watch it kid!" the man shouted in a gruff voice before looking down to inspect Ulrich, eyes widening. "Oh… hello… boy"
"Hello to you… father" Ulrich responded curtly.

"Well, if you're still wandering the streets, I believe that you have grown into a fine peasant I remembered you as"
"Hmph" was All Ulrich managed to say before he was interrupted.
"I must say, Ulrich. You've done some pretty work on your sword mastery, but your skills are no match for Excelsior!" his father said as he shouted the last few words and flexed his muscles and stroked his beard as he did so, in order to make a point.

Ulrich muttered something incomprehensible in his murmurings of anger. He was always overshadowed by his father, who had served valiantly in King Schaeffer's army for the most amount of years, along with a few other people that had first signed up. His father was tall and muscular, and he liked to show off to other people and boast about his exploits and conquering of countries. He had never lost in a battle he was in, and when King Schaeffer's forces fell to Lord Xavier's, his father was away trying to conquer neighboring lands. He was always stuck-up in his behavior, and never let anyone humble him or hurt his pride- lest they would be subjected to his wrath.

"Just think, soon you'll be my equal… or not" his father laughed jubilantly at the thought, and walked away.

Ulrich said nothing, but watched as his brown-cloaked father strode out of his sight, his hand still on the blade as he continued laughing at his son's slow progress. Ulrich then sighed and continued on his quest back to the fields in Mirkwood forest to try and tap into the power of his blade. The meadow felt nice under his cloth covered feet, and as he removed the cloth to feel the soft growth under his toes, he could not help but to look up at the sky and wish that his father was kinder.

"Maybe if my father was kinder and had raised me himself, then I probably would have been what you wanted. Then again, I would not have gotten to know four friends…" Ulrich mused as he lay back on the earth and watched the clouds, slowly closing his eyes until sleep came upon his eyes, the peace filling him. However, it was not meant to last, as the thundering of hooves rushed toward him at a breakneck pace.

Schaeffer Castle

Rivendell, Lyokonis
12:50 PM

"Jeremie, they are my parents! We have to!" Aelita argued.

"Out of the question!" Jeremie shouted after Aelita had spoken.

"Why not? They're bound to come after us anyway."
"Well… well… alright… We'll bring Knight Ulrich, the squire, Odd and Lady Yumi with us, though…"
"We'll have to split into two divisions. We can't risk having the army with us… we have to disguise them somewhere…"

Suddenly, Yumi came running through the castle as if wild beasts were after her. She pounded on the wooden door that Jeremie and Aelita were in, raggedly breathing as she tried to get air into her lungs. Opening the door, both of them shared equally confused looks before Yumi grabbed both of their arms, and without answering their questions on what was going on, she pulled them into another corner of the castle before stopping, her fatigue and lack of breath finally catching up to her.

"Lady Yumi… what's going on?" Jeremie inquired.
"Run!" She responded in the little breath she had. "They're here!"
"They… they…" Aelita said before realizing what she had meant and dashed to the armory.

Aelita had managed to snatch up her bow, her arrow filled quiver, and Water cress, still in its sheath, before Yumi pulled her to the stables outside on the castle grounds. Aelita got her arm freed from Yumi's grasp, and ran along with Jeremie, slinging the quiver onto her back and strapping the sword on, still clutching the bow as of her life depended on it. Finding the stallions wandering in the fields nearby, she let out a high-pitched whistle, and a white and golden horse trotted over to her. Aelita patted its head, and then mounted the horse in a single bound. Yumi ran to Ulrich's horse, as he was not here at the moment, and mounted it, pulling Jeremie along to ride with her, as his horse had been sent back to his master's house earlier in the morning.

A sharp yelling caught their attention, and they saw Odd bravely holding on his own before he was forced to mount his horse, and escape with the others. Aelita performed and about-face on her stallion, and notched her bow with an arrow, intent on getting the others to safety, or at least distracting their pursuers, who were now following them on horses that were as black as the night. She fired the arrow as they approached, hitting one in the chest and causing him to dismount his horse.

"Go, now! I'll hold them off!" She shouted at her friends, as they had stopped in order to try to assist her.

Without a single word, they understood, and they dashed away, the horses running quickly. Aelita kept firing bows, but stopped and left abruptly with her horse when she saw that Xavier had sent dozens after them. Aelita soon caught up to Yumi, Jeremie, and Odd, and they left for the Mirkwood forest. Spotting a familiar figure in the fields, they rushed towards it with intent to protect him.

Mirkwood Forest

1: 15 AM

Ulrich opened his eyes in a hurry before he was scooped up roughly by a familiar person with pink hair, and set upon a horse without the horse itself stopping. He noticed other familiar faces as they went into a heavily treed section of the forest, but did not ask what they were doing until they had stopped. Jeremie then explained as best as he could, while Yumi helped when he was stuck, or did not know about something until Yumi told them about it. Odd lead the three horses to a small meadow where they can roam, but not be seen until people wander far into the woods.

The rest of the group heard a sound of leaves being moved, and saw that Aelita had taken post on the top of a tree, in order to survey the land and act as a lookout, using her eyesight to scan the land, bow at the ready with an arrow already notched. She took off the small golden ring that served as a crown, and placed in a bag that was tied to her belt, tying the bag with rope several times in order to deter thieves. With the forest serving as a cover, Aelita saw the black-armored pursuers with their reinforcements and hounds stop at the edge of the meadow, confused on where their targets were. Aelita took the opportunity to scrawl a message on a piece of cloth that came from the excess of her bag with the juices of the wild berries nearby, and fire the piece of cloth with an arrow at their would-be pursuers.

The arrow landed in front of the pursuers' horses, startling their horses into rearing and nearly unseating their riders. Both sides took a reaction to this, Jeremie and the group fearing she gave up their position when she fired, and the pursuers thinking that someone was attacking them. However, their leader picked up the cloth stained with the berry-juice and plucked it from the arrow, reading the message as a grin slowly spread across his face. He then signaled to the rest of the soldiers, and they galloped back to Lord Xavier's castle, bringing the message along with him. Jeremie looked up at Aelita, who game a grim smile, and slide down from the tree, landing on the ground.

"They bought the bait." She said simply.
"… What did you write… wait, you can write too?" Jeremie inquired.

"I just wrote a mock surrender note. Nothing big, just a plain note saying that I will voluntarily give my freedom up and will arrive in a few moons" Aelita explained.

"… and how long do we have until Xavier finds out that you have lied?"
"Not long, though, so we have to gather our forces and attack when the moon fails to appear for the night, thus giving us an edge"
"Then we head into Digitropolis!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"Correct," Aelita nodded. "Ulrich, you round up the remainder of my father's forces, Odd, you build a camp, seeing as you have lots of experience building homes whenever your family's home is destroyed. You'll also go with Ulrich tomorrow to rouse the spirits of the villagers as well, to gain their support. Jeremie, and Yumi, you're with me when we attack in a few nights. Ulrich, you'll go rouse the fighters and lead them to the outskirts of Digitropolis tomorrow."
"Sounds like a battle plan to me." Ulrich said, nodding as he realized all the possibilities that flooded through his mind.

Lord Xavier sat in his throne in the throne room, gazing outside at the lands below as the thought of conquering more lands and expanding his empire. His thoughts were jarred as a wooden door slammed, a servant entering the room to deliver the message that the warriors have brought. He kneeled on one knee, and bowed his head in respect as a show of submission to a person of a higher power. Lord Xavier was then brought back to reality as he resumed his usual dark scowl and the tone of unpleasantness.

"What is it this time, worthless peon!?" he roared.

"My…my…my liege… the soldiers…they have…" the servant stuttered.
"Have what?" Xavier shouted back. "Did they fulfill the mission I ordered them?" he said in a softer tone.
"No, not in the way you wanted them to…" the servant said, but quickly continued when he saw Lord Xavier was about to explode from anger. "They brought back a message from the girl…"

At this, Xavier snatched the message from the servant's hand and he looked over it, his eyes darting as he grew more and more excited, his anger fading away temporarily to joy, an emotion he rarely felt or experienced.

"… I will surrender peacefully… come to terms… will arrive in a few moons… Princess Aelita… This is wonderful!" Xavier exclaimed at the last part. "So… she accepts defeat… well… find her and send an escort. I don't want any tricks" he ordered with a wave of his hand.
"Yes, master…" the servant replied before getting up and leaving the room quickly.

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I know Ulrich's father is a jerk, and that's why he is one here. You hate me for interrupting conversations with another situation and doing time jumps, don't you? Aelita really is a warrior princess here. :) Peon means servant (or slave).