*The camera turns on...seeing that no one was there to commentate.*
*Noticing that it was alone, the camera thought of the past moments it experienced...The good and the bad...The awkward moments...the Sunday night wrestling matches that took place on at midnight in a secret…*
*Oh wait, it's a camera...not a person.*
*Still with no one there to commentate, the camera switched to the chapter.*
*Chapter 4 starts.*
Chapter 4: Preparations and False Negotiations
When the group returned to Ylisse, Noire went with Chrom and Lissa to meet with Emmeryn, while the others went back to the Barracks.
Daniel pulled Connor aside, and when they were in private…
"So...Maribelle's capture...what're we gonna do about that?" Daniel asked.
"...Hmm...How about I sneak past anyone holding her hostage, take care of them, and bring her back to a safe location?" Connor said, mentioning the first thing that came to mind.
"Hmmm...I still wanna give Ricken his chance to shine, to be honest…" Daniel commented, "Otherwise I could have done that…"
"Okay...then I'll just modify my plan to hold off until Ricken gets his moment...and get both him and Maribelle out of harm's way. That sound better?" Connor retorted.
"Sounds good...I can even have a couple of my friends come to back you up, if you'd like…" Daniel replied.
"You got anyone who can turn invisible at a moment's notice?" Connor asked.
"A few actually," Daniel replied, "These two included…"
"Wait...Are there two other people here besides us and I can't see them?" Connor asked as he looked around in confusion.
"Not at the moment…" Daniel replied.
"Then why did you say 'These two included'? Is there two new people that joined that I didn't hear about?" Connor said back.
"They've technically been around, they just weren't with my group at the time I joined up," Daniel replied.
"Well...You mind giving their names in case I decide to have them be my backup?" Connor asked.
"Tsukasa and Daiki…" Daniel replied, smirking.
It wasn't long before Chrom came and told the Shepherds of the new mission, and they began packing to move out again. In spite of his original plan to hang back when they found a permanent residence, Ash'pur decided to join the group on this forey.
As he readied his Fire Warrior Armor, one of the Shepherds dropped in on him.
"Oh, Ash'pur," Lenora said, "I see you're packing."
"Indeed, Gue'la Lenora," Ash'pur replied.
"What does that mean, 'Gue'la'?" Lenora asked.
"It's the name of the...'human'...race in my race's tongue. I may look human but it's just a disguise, so as to not cause chaos with my mere presence…" Ash'pur explained, briefly shifting back to his original Tau appearance, with his blue skin, 3-fingered 1-thumbed hands, strangely-shaped legs, and hooved feet shown, before shifting back to his human-like form.
"...Yeah, you'd cause a panic, alright…" Lenora replied.
"Yes...would make it more difficult to gain a following here if everyone panicked at the sight of me…" Ash'pur replied.
"What do you mean?" Lenora asked.
Ash'pur thought for a moment, before saying, "Let me first tell you the way of life for the Tau Empire: the Tau'va, or Greater Good, is the central core of Tau philosophy and society: it holds that all sentient beings should strive to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number of beings in the galaxy. The Tau'va is based on the Caste system of the Tau, which divides the Tau into separate castes, based on their duties in the Empire: the Fire Caste, or Shas, of which I am a member of, is the soldiers, the warriors, the protectors of the Empire; the Water Caste, or Por, are the traders, merchants, and diplomats of the Tau Empire; the Air Caste, or Kor, are the pilots and ship commanders of the Tau Fleets, considering we have mastered air and space travel…"
"Air Travel?! And what do you mean by 'space'?" Lenora asked, a curious gleam in her eye.
"I mean we can travel amongst the stars," Ash'pur replied. "Then, you have the Earth Caste, or Fio. They're task in the Tau is linked to construction, agriculture, artisans, and engineering."
"It sounds like each Caste is linked to whatever element best fits their job: the warriors would be able to use fire as a weapon most easily, hence the Fire Caste; the Water Caste is most linked to water because trade, at least on our world, is performed through water ways and land paths; the Air Caste, since you have air travel, rely on the air to keep moving; and the Earth Caste performs jobs that bring them closer to the Earth…" Lenora commented.
"I see you're getting it…" Ash'pur replied, smiling, before that smile fell. "I, however, am of the Farsight Enclaves, and we have separated ourselves from the Empire, following our own way of life, where one earns their place through merit, not through how they're born."
Lenora nodded. "As interesting as the Tau'va sounds, I think I like the Farsight Enclaves' way of doing things better…"
Ash'pur smiled. "Our leader, Shaso'O Shovah, or 'Commander Farsight' in your tongue, has turned his back on the Ethereal Caste...those that follow him such as myself have noticed a disturbing trend in the Empire…"
"What kind of trend?" asked Lenora.
"The kind where commanders would follow Ethereal Orders even when it would lead to ruin of entire worlds...something is wrong with the Ethereal Caste...and we exiled ourselves because of our doubts…" Ash'pur's smile fell again. "In spite of our different ideology, we do not wish to cause a split in the Empire…So we left..." Ash'pur sighed. "It doesn't matter. I must get back to packing, and I believe you should too…"
"Oh, that's right. See you later, Ash'pur…" Lenora then left. Once in the Hallway, she thought, "Hmmm..." Lenora then spent some time afterwards, while packing, contemplating what Ash'pur was talking about with the Farsight Enclaves.
After the group was done packing up for travel (and battle if one were to happen), they all went with the Exalt to the Plegian border.
The reason was to negotiate the safety and return of Maribelle, who had been kidnapped and dragged her across the border in reaction to a complicated conflict that was from the result of tensions between the two kingdoms.
Of course, the complicated conflict had its truth be revealed...A Yilseen village was razed by Plegians and Maribelle tried to intervene...only to end up where she was now. But the king of Plegia, Gangrel claimed it was bandits that did the razing and that Maribelle crossed the border on her accord. When she was being 'sent' back, she attacked the Plegian escorts.
Connor and Daniel knew that was total hogwash, but kept it to themselves.
Then came the so called 'trade' to settle this mess. In exchange for Maribelle and keeping a 'good relationship' with Plegia, Gangrel wanted the royal treasure of Ylisse, the Fire Emblem.
Needless to say, the arrangement started to fall apart when Gangrel admitted what he planned to use the Fire Emblem for, to end the lives of every Ylissean. All because of a 'crusade' on Plegians in the past that was the doing of the previous Exalt of Ylisse...The same Exalt that was Chrom, Lissa, and Emmeryn's father.
Then Gangrel demanded the Fire Emblem, but Maribelle told Emmeryn to refuse, saying she be willing to die than be used as a bargaining chip for the repulsive character of Gangrel getting the Fire Emblem.
The negotiation of the 'trade' was ended by Gangrel, thinking that the time of talking was over...and now time called for action of the violent kind. He ordered several men under his order to attack Emmeyrn, believing he'll get the Fire Emblem...even if he had to personally remove it from cold dead hands.
Chrom, who was there as well, protected Emmeryn from the attackers, taking out one before threatening to do the same to others if they continued to attack.
Gangrel laughed after he pointed out this defensive aggression could be interpreted as a declaration of war...Which he used as a reason to send more men to slaughter the opposing party.
With that, Gangrel's right hand man (or woman in this case), Aversa ordered the brigand holding Maribelle to follow as they moved to a more remote location.
Once seemingly alone, away from the ensuing battle, Aversa watched Maribelle struggle to break free...
Aversa laughed. "Poor, stupid girl... Are you really worth fighting a war over? Years from now, you'll be remembered only as she who destroyed House Ylisse."
Maribelle was wrought with despair at that point. "No... That's not... Oh, Lissa... Please, no…"
Just then, a blast of wind magic struck the brigand holding Maribelle. Then, a young man came onto the scene.
"Maribelle! Go! You're free!"
Maribelle recognized her rescuer. "RICKEN?! What are you doing here?"
Ricken replied, "Just run! We can talk about it later!"
Aversa chuckled darkly. "Oh, is this your little boyfriend? Isn't he just precious."
Ricken was annoyed by the comment. "Don't talk down to me, witch!" He then struck Aversa with his wind magic.
"Nngh! W-wind magic?"
"Come on, Maribelle!"
"Right!" Maribelle replied. With that, Ricken and Maribelle fled.
Aversa hissed, as she watched them run, "Wretched whelp! I should... No. Our soldiers have them outnumbered. The brats will be dead long before they can reach their comrades."
With the enemy enclosing on the group, Sevon and Lenora quickly came up with a tactical plan.
Connor, on the other hand, had disappeared with Tsukasa and Daiki to accomplish the task of rescuing Maribelle and Ricken. Traversing through the battlefield invisible to the naked eye, they went north of the group's position.
After ascending, they went eastward to find Ricken defending Maribelle as he trying to hold out against three adversaires, one wielding an axe, another with a sword, and the last one with a tome.
The enemy with the axe charged forward, before suddenly stopping as a gunshot rang out. Then immediately came the pain which ended his life.
His comrades were spooked by the sudden death and were looking around before they got picked off by Connor with his .50 AE pistol.
Already visible since he fired the first shot, Connor approached the two, explained that he was with the Shepherds and that he was there to rescue them.
After some hesitation and questioning, Ricken and Maribelle agreed to follow Connor to regroup with the Shepherds. Connor also made sure to introduce Tsukasa and Daiki, before telling them to go on ahead and clear the path they used if there were enemies in the way. The two agreed to the order.
As the two progressed, they found enemies emerging from the nearby forts. Immediately, both began picking them off from afar, Tsukasa, as Kamen Rider Decade, striking using the RideBooker in Gun Mode; while Daiki, as Kamen Rider Diend, struck using the DienDriver. Both Riders were able to clear a path from afar this way, giving Connor, Maribelle, and Ricken the opening they needed to escape.
After reaching the safer and much more friendly starting position for the group, Connor let Ricken and Maribelle go off to join with his allies due to them wanting to help.
With those two gone, Connor made his way north to inform Tsukasa and Daiki that they were free to fight the battle their own way because Connor had to go regroup with Daniel. Activating his invisibility, Connor picked off any enemy that crossed his path as he maneuvered around.
Meanwhile, Daniel was fighting the Plegians, when, in a lull in the fight, he took a pack he had on his shoulder, opened it up, held his arm over it, and tugged on his sleeve...as a bunch of silver coins bearing the markings of reptiles, hidden up his sleeve, poured out into the pack. Then, he took out a belt from the pack, placing it on his waist. The belt had a coin slot on it, which he took and inserted one of the coins into. He turned a knob on the side, closing a capsule on the belt...before it opened again with an audible pop. Then, a bunch of parts flew out of the belt, before forming a suit of armor around Daniel, that had a helmet with a v-shaped visor, and across the armor was a small cluster of capsules like the one on the belt. On various parts of the armor was red stripes.
The Belt was a Birth Prototype Driver, one Daniel had managed to get upgraded to the standards of 'Complete' Kamen Rider Birth.
By the time Connor got back, Daniel was pummeling an enemy axe wielder.
A enemy wyvern rider spotted Daniel finishing off the axe wielder and was going to attack when both the wyvern and the rider got hit with a sniper bullet. The two plummeted to the ground, dead on impact with the rocky ground.
Reappearing visibly, Connor made his way over to Daniel, just saying with his voice being changed, "Yet another form you assume...I must ask, why?"
"..Wanted to use it…" Daniel replied, before thinking to himself, 'Not to mention the Desire was just OOZING from that bastard…'
Suddenly, an enemy combatant armed with a sword managed to land an attack on Daniel due to being distracted.
The armor sparked at the place of impact, and Daniel whirled around, striking the enemy in the face with his fist.
The stunned enemy was going to get pummeled, but was blown away by a magnum round fired from Connor's .44 Magnum. The air time was a second before the enemy landed on his back...not moving.
"Our guard must always be up...even as we think we can talk on the battlefield. That said, has the armor done its job, or do you now seek aid?" Connor asked.
"It did its job…" Daniel replied, before pulling a silver coin from the pack he'd dumped the coins in earlier.
"Nice coin...Did you steal it from a fountain to make your own wish?" Connor joked, before keeping his eyes out for the enemy.
"No...these things, well…" He inserted the coin into the Birth Driver, before turning a knob...which opened the capsule on his right arm, which released parts, which formed into a drill on his right arm.
"Drill Arm!"
"Well, they let me do this…" He then began fighting with the drill on his arm.
"... …. ..." was the response Connor had externally. Internally, it was, "Since when did he turn into one of those capsule slot-whatever things? I wonder...Maybe he'll turn into a slot machine and become a one-armed bandit one day."
Regathering his thoughts, Connor joined in on the fighting with his own version of something sharp on his arm. On his right arm was a gauntlet that had three massive claws that came from a creature called a Deathclaw.
He quickly slashed through any armor of the enemy as he took them out one by one.
Elsewhere on the battlefield was Ash'pur, in his Fire Warrior gear, and Lenora. The duo were advancing on the northern edge of the battlefield...when a wyvern rider appeared.
It was the enemy general, Orton. "I won't ask for your name. Only your life!"
To counter the taunt, Ash'pur announced, "You cannot stand against the Enclaves!" He opened fire with his Pulse Carbine, as Lenora began attacking with her magic. Both together were more than a match, filling the sky with attacks that soon brought the Wyvern down. Orton tried to get up, but a shot to the leg took him down.
"This matters not. Soon war will be upon...your soil... Heh heh..."
"And yet… … …" Ash'pur began, slowly approaching the crippled general. "None can stand before the Farsight Enclaves."
And with that, he fired his Pulse Carbine, hitting the man in the head, killing him.
The remaining enemies were dealt with as the group rejoined back down at the lowest point at the the battlefield.
Lissa, who was a friend of Maribelle, express her concern about Maribelle's condition. However, Maribelle pointed out that any harm that came her way was repaid back twice fold on the enemy...Which thankfully for the enemy was none due to Connor bringing her and Ricken out of danger.
The two Avatars also made sure to talk to Maribelle, which led to a comment (a complaint it sound like actually) about justifying something to commoners. That was made up for by expressing thanks for the Avatars' efforts in the battle that allowed her to be rescued.
While that went on, Chrom, Frederick and Emmeryn talked about what this battle meant now for the war it jumpstarted. It was agreed that Gangrel wanted this to happen, thus the war got started due to his intentions.
However, because this war was now going to start, the group had to return to Ylisstol to come up with a strategy to protect the kingdom of Ylisse from the forces of King Gangrel.
While the group was traveling back to Ylisstol, Connor made sure to talk to Daniel about something concerning the near future. But just before they even meet up to start talking, Connor just heard the tail end of a conversation….
"Again, Brother Thade, not YET! I need you for something important in the future…"
"Milord, my battle brothers are getting restless: you are in the middle of a war and yet we cannot fight in it…"
"Soon, Brother Thade...we just need to wait for the right moment…"
"... … ...Very well…" Then, the transmission cut out.
"You know….I never bugged you about it till now….But you sure there isn't any secrets you're hiding from me?" Connor said, slightly concerned about what he was able to hear.
"None you guys need to worry about at this time," Daniel replied, just waving it off.
"...If you say so. But besides that...I assuming you know what will happen once we get to Ylisstol. Is there any plan I should know?" Connor asked.
"Not really…" Daniel replied, sincerely.
"Then maybe you should know what I'm doing. I'm going to practice on my sniping...Though thinking about it, probably should make sure not to hit 'certain' people if I see them with the scope." Connor noted.
"Alright… … ...I'll get some of my gear and equipment ready...and maybe my copy of the OOO Driver as well…" Daniel mused.
"Well...See you later, I guess…" Connor said as he slowly walked off checking his equipment.
"Yeah, never know when this could happen...could be a few weeks, could be tomorrow…" Daniel replied.
Connor could be heard saying back, "I'd bet 50 'Hell' that it's going to happen tomorrow."
Daniel looked confused at that. "... … …'Hell'?"
End Chapter 4.
*Camera switches over.*
*ZS Connor and Dark Prelate Mitchell could be seen in front of the camera...completely unaware so far that the chapter just got done.*
ZS Connor: "Sorry about that...We forgot that we had to commentate for today."
Dark Prelate Mitchell: "So...up next is Chapter 4…"
ZS Connor: "And uh...we'll just start right now."
*ZS Connor goes to start the chapter...as it does not start at all.*
ZS Connor: *Offcamera* "Sorry about that we seem to be having problems…Daniel, can you come here and try to see what's wrong?"
*ZS Connor and Dark Prelate Mitchell switch spots.*
Dark Prelate Mitchell: "... … ...According to this… … ...Ah crap…"
ZS Connor: "What is it?"
Dark Prelate Mitchell: "It says the chapter already played…"
ZS Connor: *Getting angry* "Oh you have got to be-"
*A technical difficulties screen cuts in.*
*All it says is "Sorry Folks! Come back later!"*