Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyria Chronicles or its characters as they belong to SEGA, but I do own my Original Character in this story, Emery Declark.
EPISODE TWO: Forest Scramble
I hate the desert. Really, I do. I don't know how anyone could ever live here. After our battle against Maximilian, we rested at camp and I expected that we would head out the next morning, but no. We're stuck one more day in the desert because of our next mission. Squad seven has to occupy the camp located atop the Northern Barious Mesa.
At least the Lieutenant has decided to give me a break from the frontlines. For this operation, he decided to split into two teams. One team is himself (In the Edelweiss, of course) and Alicia. The other team consists of Largo, Marina, Rosie, Vyse, Noce and Ted. In all honesty, I have confidence that this mission will be a piece of cake.
Speaking of cake, while everybody is out on the aforementioned mission, I decided to stay back and help Jann prepare some food for our men. Jann is really nice. He reminds me of my mother – if my mother was a flamboyantly gay male lancer, of course.
"Hey, Jann, can you pass me that apple right there?" I spoke, pointing to an apple near Jann. He smiled and handed it to me, although he looked a little confused as to why I needed an apple.
"Honey, I thought you were preparing the meat? Why do you need an apple? And what's that sauce you're preparing?" Jann asked as he prepared desert.
In all honesty, I was preparing a very traditional meal from my homeland."Well, this is how I'm accustomed to cooking meat. You boil it with carrots, celery, leeks, parsley, lovage, onions, peppercorns, and some salt. You then serve it with a very nice apple horseradish root sauce. It's very simple and tastes delicious...at least to me."
Jann smiled and walked over to look at the meat I had been boiling. It wasn't too impressive of a slice, but it was better than nothing. "I've never really seen that recipe before, sweetie, but it smells really tasty! It looks really delicious, too! For a little boy, you really know how to cook."
"T-Thanks. It's really all my...mother's doing, though. If she hadn't needed so much help in the kitchen then I don't think I would have learned how to cook." I nervously smiled. I sincerely hoped that the other men in my squad didn't think I was feminine or gay or anything like that because I hung out with Jann and liked to cook. I really don't want my cover blown.
"Honey, sorry if this is too personal, but did something happen to your mother? You seem to always sadden whenever you mention her..." Jann cautiously asked me. I froze.
"Mother!! Mother! No! Why? Why did you do this to her, you bastard?!" I stood over my mother's dying body, looking into the eyes of the Devil. He smiled and stared back at me.
"Emerence, was it? Your mother was a sinner. She deserved death by my own hands for what she had put me through. You, too. You deserve death as well, you insignificant wench. After all, this is entirely your fault. Had you never had been born, your mother would still be alive." The Devil spoke as he walked over to me. I froze.
It wasn't my fault. It was all his fault. As the flames began to spread and engulf the building we were in, I began to feel both anger and fear. Angry toward him and fear that I would actually die.
And then he showed up, my knight in shining armor was there to save the day.
"Um, I take it back, sweetie. Obviously it's way too personal and–" Jann spoke, only for me to cut him off.
"Uh, oh, um, I can tell you... You see, I never knew my father and I have no brothers or sisters so my mother was always the most important person to me. However, my mother was killed by...Imperial soldiers. They killed her and burned our home. I'm pretty much an orphan now. I don't have any family. I don't have a home. All I got is a hatred for the Empire and the will to fight." I turned the stove off and took in a deep breath. I could feel Jann's arms around me, hugging me. Thankfully I'm flat chested.
"Oh, I never would have guessed! You always look so strong that I never would have even imagined you'd gone through something so painful and sad. But you know what? So long as Mother Jann and Papa Largo are here, you'll always have a family in squad seven, honey!" Jann said. If I wasn't pretending to be a boy, I would have cried at those sentiments. However, the more I thought about them, the more I wondered if they were true. Would squad seven still be family if they found out I was a girl? Or would they just abandon me?
Jann at least wouldn't abandon me. At least, I hope he wouldn't. "Well, now that your meat is done cooking, why don't you help me with desert, sweetheart?"
Sweetheart? I froze.
"A-Alright, Jann... I'll help you out."
The past can haunt you in the most mysterious ways.
The mission was a success. The only thing that went wrong was that Alicia was shot, however it was a minor injury apparently. It was so minor that Alicia had even volunteered to help with breakfast the next morning. How strong of her. Alicia is truly an amazing woman.
By the way, most of the men in our squad loved the meat I cooked last night with Jann. They said it tasted really good! Salinas said it was one of the best things he had ever tasted and Nils looked liked he enjoyed it, too. Cezary didn't like it, though. He made that clear. He also took his opportunity to poke fun at the fact I can cook. Thankfully Jann defended me. Believe me, when Jann gets mad it is terrifying! Jann didn't even allow Cezary to have desert!
Now, we are headed back to Randgriz. Squad seven's morale is pretty high. We were able to trek all the way from Barious into the Kloden Forest in only one day! It's night now and the Kloden Forest seems to be occupied by Imperial forces. The Lieutenant has told us to stay on high alert as we make our way through this area.
"Squad seven, halt." Lieutenant Gunther commanded through our radios. He then proceeded to get out of his tank, "This next area doesn't seem right. It's too quiet. Before we proceed further, I will send out a team of scouts to investigate. Musaad, Emery and..."
The Lieutenant struggled over the last scout to pick, but finally came to a conclusion, " And Ted. You three will go out and scout the surrounding area. Understood?"
I sighed and looked at Ted. All three of us scouts gave a unison, "Yes, sir!"
Scouting with Ted sounded like a death sentence. What was the Lieutenant thinking?
We were gone longer than expected. We had run into a large group of Imperial soldiers and could spot a Mortar Cannon nearby. We needed to report this to Lieutenant Gunther. The Lieutenant was right. This area was incredibly dangerous. And now we had gotten ourselves into a situation that looked very hard to escape.
Musaad, Ted and I hid ourselves behind a group of trees. We wanted to head back to where the rest of our men were, but no. As we were heading back we ran into a group of soldiers. There was probably a good fifteen or sixteen of them. There also was another problem: a light tank.
I could probably sneak by them unnoticed. Musaad probably could, too. Ted, however? I really don't think so.
"Musaad, do you have a plan?" I whispered, looking at him. Had it been day out then we might have been discovered in our current position.
He sighed and looked at Ted, "Hey, you. Ustinov? You can run fast right? You look like your fast on your feet."
"Yeah. I'm fast on my feet," Ted paused dramatically, "But not on my hands!"
If I didn't have a gun in my hands and we weren't trying to evade the enemy, I would have definitely had my palm to my face due to Ted's apparent disregard of the current situation, "Ted, this is no time for jokes. Musaad, I think I have a plan. Alright?"
Musaad nodded. I looked over at Ted who gave a goofy smile, but also nodded. "Alright. There seems to be fifteen soldiers out there that we can visibly see. From what I can tell, there looks like there is three of each troop. Lancers, Snipers, Engineers, Shocktroopers, and Scouts – all of them are out there. Each of us will throw a grenade into an area that holds multiple soldiers. Our primary target will be Engineers, Scouts and Shocktroopers. After we grenade the enemy, shoot as many enemies as you can. And then run toward the tank's radiator and into the forest. Musaad will run first, Ted will run second and I will follow up last."
"Y'know, I actually like the sound of that plan, boy. Not only do you got a thing for leadership, but you got a good strategical mind on ya, too. I'm game." Musaad spoke, looking at me and then checking his gun to make sure it was loaded.
I looked at Ted, who smiled, "Sounds like a plan, E-boss. I'm ready."
I sighed and then grabbed a grenade. I looked at my fellow scouts and then turned, "Musaad, throw your grenade first. Ted, you throw yours after his. I will go last. Remember: aim for areas that are full of engineers, scouts and shocktroopers. Snipers are fine to aim at, too, but not a necessity. However, do not go for lancers. Explosives do barely any damage off of them."
Musaad nodded, looked for an area of troops and then threw his grenade. He hit a scout, two shocktroopers and a lancer. The blast was able to kill both the scout and two shocktroopers, but didn't damage the lancer at all.
Ted then threw his grenade. He hit a sniper, engineer, and a scout. The resulting blast killed all three of them.
Then I threw my grenade. I aimed for a shocktrooper, engineer and a lancer. This was the biggest group I could see. The resulting blast killed both the shocktrooper and engineer.
Following that, Musaad then held his gun and aimed for a lancer, killing him, before he ran toward the light tank's radiator and into the forest. Ted followed behind him, aiming for a sniper ace, who dodged his bullet. Despite this, Ted followed behind Musaad.
I was up next. I aimed for a scout. I missed, too. However, I proceeded to run toward the tank. Not the best idea I've had.
The scout I had not hit was shooting at me. I had taken a hit to my shoulder. I was about to stop and turn around to fire back, when I heard a shot from the forest. Before I knew it, the scout behind me had stopped shooting and I was clear. Had Musaad saved me?
I met up with Ted and Musaad in the forest, clear from the enemy. Both of them looked at my shoulder.
"That looks like it hurts," Ted said and took out his Ragnaid.
He used his Ragnaid to numb the flesh that had been revealed when the shot had ripped the shoulder of my uniform. Musaad then stared at the wound, "Oh, this is nothin'. I've seen much worse wounds then this. Let me take this bullet out. As soon as it's out, just wrap some cloth around it and we'll make it back to the rest of squad seven where we'll have a medic treat ya."
I winced as Musaad took the bullet out of my arm. It still hurt, even though Ted had numbed it with the Ragnaid. I was thankful, however, that is was only my shoulder and not my legs or stomach or head.
"Thanks, Musaad. You were the one who saved me back there, too, right?" I said as I wrapped my wound with a bit of material from the black turtleneck I wore underneath my uniform.
"Nah, that wasn't me. I was already makin' my way away from the enemy. I think it was Ustinov here, who looked back and saw you were in trouble. Right, boy?" Musaad put an arm around Ted, messing with him like an older brother would.
Ted blushed, "I-I was worried after I heard those shots. I had to turn around. Luckily I did. You sure weren't making it as a solo act! The crowd was eating you up...and not in a good way..."
I smiled, which caused Ted to nervously laugh.
Note to self: investigate rumor that Ted is a bisexual. His current behavior and nervousness is beginning to unnerve me. However, I can't be mad at the guy. He practically saved my life.
"You know, Ted, you aren't as incompetent as you seem. And you're actually a little funny, too." I laughed and looked at him.
"Really? You think I'm funny? At least someone in this squad besides the boss man does!" Ted practically beamed from the compliment.
I nodded and began to walk forward, "Yeah. You heard me. Now, let's get back to the rest of the squad. Daybreak is coming soon and we should arrive before then."
Ted and Musaad nodded. We then made our run back to the rest of squad seven.
If anything, getting lost in the forest with Musaad and Ted has taught me one thing: people aren't always who you think they are.
We arrived a little after daybreak to find that the enemy that we had encountered in the forest not long ago was coming for squad seven and even worse, they had reinforcements. Both Lieutenant Gunther and Alicia had gone missing after a blast from a mortar cannon had hit them. They had been gone for a rather long time. To make it even worse, a small detachment of our squad was also missing.
Our once high morale was now at an all time low. Largo was commanding the squad in its current state. Rosie and Isara were at each others throats. And the multitude of soldiers left were not too happy with how this situation was being handled.
We really needed the Lieutenant back. He would know what to do in this situation. He'd compare it to something like bug hunting or bird watching and he'd smile and tell everyone it would be okay.
I missed the Lieutenant, even though part of me is still terrified by him.
Largo looked relieved to see Musaad, Ted and I. He said that a good squad can't function with only one scout in this current situation. Wavy was in the small detachment of our squad that was missing. Noce had been our squad's only scout since Alicia and Lieutenant Gunther were missing as well. Noce isn't the best scout to have around when Alicia is off missing with Lieutenant Gunther alone in the forest, by the way.
The missing detachment consisted of Homer, Marina, Jann, Mica, Wavy and Vyse. They had gotten separated during the mortar blast that also separated the Lieutenant and Alicia. Our current squad consisted of me, Musaad, Ted, Noce, Rosie, Salinas, Wendy, Alex, Nils, Hector, Herbert, Cezary and of course, Largo. A good portion of our squad was out looking for both the missing detachment and Lieutenant Gunther and Alicia. Truthfully, I'm not too worried about the missing detachment. Vyse is probably leading them right now. He's a pretty experienced leader.
As the enemy drew closer, Largo looked a little worried. There were two tanks approaching, a good number of enemy forces, a mortar cannon nearby, and a slew of Lancers that looked like they would love to get a shot at the unmanned Edelweiss.
It was at this point that Largo decided to issue orders. He would be going into battle along with Rosie, Alex, Cezary and Hector. The rest of us would be on alert for surrounding enemies and our missing comrades.
I didn't like this plan at all, but I couldn't disobey orders. The enemy was crashing down on us. We were severely outnumbered and they knew our tank was out of commission. They had set up a strong barrier around their base camp. The Kloden river separated us from the mortar cannon. And to top it all off, the enemy had a sniper ace with them that was itching to take some shots.
I was right in that the lancers were aiming for the Edelweiss. Luckily, Nils and Largo easily took out the tank closest to our camp so that wouldn't try to damage the Edelweiss, too.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone. It was the Lieutenant. He had heard the sounds of gunshots and came running toward this area. Alicia wasn't too far behind him.
I was happy he was back and could now issue orders and command the Edelweiss. Isara quickly ran over to him and guided him toward his tank, briefing him along the way.
"Welcome back, sir!" I yelled, looking at the Lieutenant. He smiled and continued along his way.
The battle proceeded rather quickly after that. Squad seven was to launch a tank offensive. Largo and Nils went and destroyed the other tank, Cezary, Rosie and Alex took out a good number of enemy soldiers, the Edelweiss broke through the enemy's defenses, Cezary took out the enemy ace and Alex went and captured the enemy's main base camp.
Mission complete.
Only an hour after we captured the enemy's base did Vyse and the rest of the missing detachment return. Apparently, they had stopped to help a small village nearby that was under attack. No one from our squad reprimanded them for doing such a deed.
After everyone was assembled, Lieutenant Gunther gave a sigh of relief and told us we all did a good job under such dire circumstances. He then asked if everybody was up for marching back to Randgriz instead of resting at camp. All of us wanted to be back at headquarters so there was no question about it: we continued back to Randgriz.
It was the first time in a long time that I was glad to see a city instead of nature. Usually I preferred the latter. Cities never had an appeal to me. I preferred animals, hiking and the smell of fresh air. However, the Barious desert and Kloden woods had taken it out of me. It had been my first time out with squad seven and I had already experienced so much with them.
It's funny how war can bring people together.
I looked around, the enemy was on all sides. I didn't know what to do. They wanted to kill me and I didn't want to die. What was I supposed to? Where was my knight when I needed him?
I put a hand to my head, running my fingers through my long hair. That was it! I had the perfect plan! I just needed to find an Imperial soldier and it would work!
I looked around, noticing a scout nearby. I took a small knife and ambushed him from behind, killing him in one strike. I proceeded to take the essential parts of his uniform and dragged him toward an abandoned shack I had earlier seen. I threw my uniform on top of him and cut off a good portion of my hair in hopes that I wouldn't look as feminine without it.
I walked out of the building under the guise of an Imperial soldier and set the building on fire.
Emerence Declark died that day. That was what I, under the guise of an Imperial soldier, made clear.
I proceeded to find my way out of my homeland, adopting new clothes along the way.
I was an orphan, homeless, and heartbroken. I no longer had my knight in shining armor.
And now I was in Gallia.
War can also pull people apart.
End EPISODE TWO.
A/N: Soooo, I added a little flashback, hm? A little insight? I hope you enjoyed it. Gah, Jann, stop being so lovable. Seriously. D: And Emery stop being so damn amazing. Let's see, I hope the flashbacks were okay. I wanted to try a new way of implementing flashbacks. I just threw them into the scene rather than making them separate. I wish I could post some of the flashback stuff I wrote while I should have been writing this. Flasback!Emery is so much fun to write as. She's a little different than normal Emery. She makes less jokes and is pretty strict and has longer hair. So basically, let's recap what you guys learned about Emery this chapter: her mother was killed by an Imperial man whom I shall refer to as "The Devil", her mother and "The Devil" had some sort of past together as evidenced by his words, Emery has a "Knight in shining armor", her homeland has weird food (points to anyone who actually knows what recipe she gave! It's a real recipe!), and in order to escape her homeland, she had to disguise herself as an Imperial soldier and fake her own death. Yay! Oh, hey, by the way, I was thinking about killing someone off in this story as a way to illustrate the brutality of war? I know a certain someone dies, but that's not enough. Any opinions on if I killed off a character? Reviews please! Oh, and as an added treat, I have Emery's battle quotes today! Yes, I am that dedicated to Emery to not only come up with potentials, but battle quotes as well. FFFFF. Reviews would be appreciated.
--Emery Declark's Battle Quotes (Because all squad member's have them!)
-Selecting Unit (What she says when you select her to move or attack.)
"I'm getting to it."
"Roger that. I'm up."
-Attacking (What she says while attacking the enemy.)
"I'll take you out."
"Get ready!"
"Die!"
-Killing a Foe (What she says after killing an enemy.)
"That's what you get for messing with me."
-Enemy Sighted (What she says after seeing an enemy.)
"There's the mark."
"I see the enemy."
-Team Attack (What she says if she attacks with someone else.)
"Let's take em' out together!"
"All it takes is a little teamwork."
"I'm here, teammate."
"I'm here for you, Salinas." (Salinas)
-(P) Potentials (What she says whenever her personal potentials activate.)
"I'm not diggin' these roads. They're too unnatural." (Activating Child of Nature)
"I'm gonna go kill some Imps...for mother's sake..." (Activating Imp Hater)
"Orders are orders. Everyone assemble and move out." (Activating Born Leader)
"Hehe...with this many people...I could be found out..." (Activating Secretive)
-(B) Potentials (What she says whenever her battle potentials activate.)
"I can see the enemy clearly now." (Activating Sighting)
"It takes more than numbers to take me out." (Activating Power Scout)
"Those things don't work on me...sometimes..." (Activating Dud Mine)
"Alright! I'm up for another go!" (Activating Double Movement)
-Healed by Ragnaid (What she says after someone heals her.)
"Thanks a lot."
-Rescuing an Ally (What she says when she rescues someone from being unconscious.)
"Come on, Medic! Hurry!"
-After Medic Visit (What she says after the Medic evacuates someone.)
"Do everything you can. Please!"
"I won't forgive you if you die!"
"Nils...you can't die..." (Nils)
"C'mon, Jann! You can pull through!" (Jann)
"You're better than this, Salinas. Much better." (Salinas)
-HP Critical (What she says when you select her and her HP is low.)
"I've been through worse..."
"...This actually hurts a little."
-Before Unconsciousness (What she says if her HP reaches zero and she falls unconscious.)
"I can't...believe it..."
-Death (What she says if an enemy picks up her body or more than 3 turns pass after unconsciousness.)
*MAJOR SPOILER (Not Going to Reveal atm! This would spoil who she ends up with!)
-Enter Squad 7 (What she says upon entering your squad.)
"Hello, sir. My name is Emery Declark and...I hope we can become the best of friends?"
-Exit Squad 7 (What she says if you were to dismiss her from your squad.)
*MAJOR SPOILER (Not going to reveal atm! This would spoil an upcoming event!)