Chapter 14: Paparazzi

Courtney's Resistance was planning their next move inside the Screaming Gopher girls' cabin. "Where do you suppose the rest of our ex-opponents might be?" Courtney asked.

"I can't say," Leshawna responded, "I think I heard something about them going to Boney Island…"

"Boney Island?" Courtney asked, "The cursed place?"

"Yes," Harold answered, "There's a legend of there being a ghost there who has enough power to nullify the effects of any and all attacks except for one light tome that's so advanced that no monk in history has ever been able to wield it."

"Wait, is that the CI Tome that that soldier on the mountain was talking about?" Courtney asked, "Why would anyone deliberately seek out that ghost?"

"Legend has it that only one who could wield the CI Tome could save the world from a tyrant with the Fire Emblem," Harold said, "If someone can defeat the ghost they can also beat the Fire Emblem itself."

"Okay," Courtney said, "But it sounds so… dangerous…"

"It is," Harold responded, "But we have to take that risk if we want to see those people again." Then it became quiet.

"Did you guys hear that?" Courtney asked. "It sounded like feathers and hooves."

"Feathers… and hooves? That's characteristic of a Pegasus knight," Harold said, "Do we have one outside? Maybe she's a long lost ally. I'll go check."

"No!" Courtney shouted, "Harold, it's too dangerous. If she's an enemy, you are the last person in this army who should consider attacking her, except DJ. Let Duncan take care of it."

"Gosh," Harold said, "Fine…"

Duncan wandered out and saw a woman on a flying horse surrounded by about four dozen soldiers of varying vocations. "Yep, guys, it's definitely an enemy," Duncan reported back. "It's Blaineley."

"Blaineley?" Courtney asked, "What's she doing here?"

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure she's up to no good," Duncan responded, "And we should take her down."

"Maybe we should try negotiating first," Courtney offered. Then Courtney's Resistance exited the cabins. She ran up to Blaineley and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Well, we're trying to see the mighty Courtney's Resistance when they're unprepared. We're taping this battle, you know. When it's on TV, you will become a laughing stock, and more importantly, you'll all be dead! Josh, you're going to speak about that juicily, aren't you?" Blaineley announced.

"What?" Josh asked, "Celebrity news is one thing but murder?"

"It's not murder, Josh; this is a war," Blaineley said, "If we kill them we're just fighting for our side."

"Well, I will have nothing to do with it," Josh responded.

"You will, and you will like it," Blaineley said, threatening to aim a spear at Josh.

"Oh, yes, yes, of course, madam," Josh responded, and then he headed to the southwest, where he was around Courtney's Resistance. "Did somebody take a catty pill or something? MEOW."

This battle was very large, so all of them were in the battle. Additionally, Harold and Tyler had both acquired new skills. Harold could now join Noah and Gwen in being able to heal wounds, and Tyler was now able to shoot arrows. Or rather, he knew how to work a bow, but the arrows seldom if ever hit the target he wanted. Even when they did, they did a negligible amount of damage. He preferred to use axes, even if he was even more inaccurate with them.

Courtney, meanwhile, had an agenda of her own. She walked over to Josh, and called out, "Josh!"

"Oh, Courtney," Josh responded, "Great to see you again, honey. You know how I said I'd help you out?"

"Yeah?" Courtney asked.

"Well, now's the time," Josh answered, "I'm technically supposed to side with Blaineley, but let's you and me face it. That lady's a bizzatch."

"I couldn't agree more," Courtney responded, "Thank you for your help."

"Don't mention it," Josh said.

Trent and Sierra worked closely with Gwen and Cody to help take down a half-dozen horsemen. One of them attacked Gwen and almost killed her, but she was able to take him down. Trent picked up Gwen over his shoulder and carried her to Bridgette. Cody would have liked to, but he was too small. Slightly frustrated, he headed over to a building that had a closed door and leaned against it.

"Phew," he said, "There's a lot of enemies out here!"

"Hi!" a familiar voice shouted.

Cody screamed in panic, and then turned to see that it was only Ezekiel carrying a lance that was longer than he was. "Where'd you come from?"

"The house behind you, eh?" Ezekiel responded.

"But it was locked…" Cody said, confused.

"I know," Ezekiel responded, grinning, "I climbed out the window 'cause it's more heroic."

"Whatever," Cody responded, "Just don't touch anything."

Ezekiel, ever disobedient, walked up to an archer and attacked him. He did a negligible amount of damage, but he was glad he hit at all. The archer planned to counter Ezekiel as soon as he could move to an appropriate distance, but before he had the chance, Eva picked him up and flew out of the archer's reach.

Alejandro, Katie, and Sadie blocked an area where more soldiers in heavy armor were appearing, although Alejandro had to move out of there very shortly, because although they preferred to attack Katie and Sadie, there were only so many that could, and the one who did not was wielding a lance designed to easily take down mounted soldiers, and was fast enough to inflict two blows on him. He rushed over to Bridgette who healed him completely.

Josh, who was wielding a staff that could heal from afar, helped Katie with her wounds, much to Courtney's gratitude.

Geoff and Duncan were trying to fight off a wave of mages, but most of them were too fast and there were too many of them. Gwen, Harold, and Noah stood by to either help the boys fight off the mages or heal them when they finished. However, DJ was already around for the purpose of healing, so they took on the job of the former more than the latter.

Leshawna was also being attacked by a lot of people. Notably, several archers who couldn't quite reach Eva were futilely shooting dull arrows at Leshawna's armor. Leshawna was getting tired of this so she took Ezekiel from Eva, plopped him on the ground, and allowed Eva to go up to one of the archers. This was good because she was able to kill most of them in one blow, but bad because if they attacked her she would get injured highly.

However, Tyler was standing by, and managed to hit and kill one of the archers. The other archer, meanwhile, had another plan. He plotted to attack Ezekiel. He shot Ezekiel with two consecutive arrows, but was luckily not strong enough to kill him. And of course, Josh came to Ezekiel's rescue.

Soon, only Blaineley was around, and Courtney decided that it would be a better idea to just leave. However, Blaineley was not prepared to let her go. She took her spear and readied it at Courtney. "What do you want?" the cornered Courtney asked.

"Oh, what else would I want?" Blaineley asked, "To make your resistance look as silly as possible."

"This is no time to be silly!" Courtney exclaimed.

"You have no idea how showbiz works, Courtney," Blaineley said, hitting Courtney closely with her spear. Courtney was injured. Bridgette put a stop to that swiftly.

This angered Geoff. Geoff walked up to Blaineley and attacked her, although he was not strong enough to kill her. "Blaineley…" he muttered angrily.

"You?" Blaineley asked, "I thought I was fighting more interesting people."

"Yeah, well you thought wrong," Geoff responded.

"This is almost too easy," she said. He succeeded in weakening her, although she seemed to have the ability to heal herself after the blow. She attacked Duncan from afar with her spear.

"No," Duncan said simply, "We don't need cameras right now."

"Come on," Blaineley asked, "Isn't your resistance a dysfunctional mess?"

"None of your business," Duncan defended, "And I'm sure no more so than your silly show."

Blaineley missed, thankfully, but Duncan and Courtney agreed that getting out quickly was the best idea. They led the rest of the resistance away from the cabins.

"Hopefully, she'll just leave," Courtney said.

"Wait, Courtney," a voice called.

"Oh, no, it's her," Courtney griped. "What do we do?"

"Wait, hold on," Blaineley said, "You showed yourselves to be very impressive. Could it be… you're the one?"

"The one?" Courtney asked.

"The one who can wield the CI Tome…" Blaineley said. "If so, you can beat the ghost of the island, and in doing so, beat Chris."

"So what does that mean?" Courtney asked, "You're going to execute me?"

"If you truly are the one, it wouldn't be right of me to deprive Chris of the opportunity to fight you at full power," Blaineley said, "Here. I have the CI Tome. You take it."

"You're just… giving it to me?" Courtney asked.

"Yes," Blaineley said, "I can't use it. But I think you can."

"Thank you, Blaineley," Courtney responded.

"Don't thank me," Blaineley said, "Or I'll change my mind."

"Okay," Courtney said, "Then in that case, I'll see you again someday."

"Maybe," Blaineley responded, "Maybe not."

"Josh," Courtney said, when she ran into the reporter again. "Thanks for helping us today."

"Whatever. You guys deserved it," Josh said, "Now I have to go back and hide. No offense to you guys but this war is getting intense!"

"The CI Tome," Courtney said.

"Now we have no reason not to go to Boney Island," Harold said, "Maybe defeat the ghost and show that the Fire Emblem will not make Chris invincible after all."

"Okay," Courtney said, "Here we go."

Meanwhile, Blaineley flew back to Chris, Chef Hatchet, and the Network Executive's location. "Hey, guys," she said.

"So, Blaineley," Chris said, "I assume that means a victory."

"Not exactly," Blaineley said, "But I did find something interesting."

"What?" Chris asked.

"I think Courtney is the one to wield the CI Tome…" Blaineley answered.

"What?" Chris asked, "No!"

"Chris, it would be advised that you remain in hiding," the network executive told him.

"But come on! A challenge might make things harder but it will also make it better," Chris said. "Come and get me, Courtney. If you are the one, I know you. You'll just get cocky and then think you can challenge me without training. Then, I'll beat you and the world will still be mine."

"I thought you'd see the things the way I did," Blaineley said. "Well, I'll be seeing you, Chris."

"Oh, Courtney," Chris said, when he was left alone, "You and I are not so different. You'll soon see."

Author's Note: Goodies for this chapter include unit descriptions (Ezekiel), death quotes (Ezekiel), alternate battle dialogue (Tyler triggers Ezekiel; Ezekiel fights Blaineley; someone else fights Blaineley; Blaineley dies), alternate versions of the beginning and ending dialogue (Leshawna died; Harold died; Duncan died; Blaineley died), Courtney and Sierra's Support (Level B), Alejandro and Bridgette's Support (Level B), Katie and Trent's Support (Level B), Geoff and Duncan's Support (Level B), Duncan and Gwen's Support (Level B), Gwen and Trent's Support (Level B), Cody and Sierra's Support (Level A), and Harold and Leshawna's Support (Level C)