Chapter 5: Can't we get a break?

The soldiers surrounded us, their swords drawn, ready to strike. "Keep the silver-haired one alive, he is too valuable an asset to lose." What about me? Don't I deserve to live too?

"Yea, we won't go down that easily, Thunder blade!" A giant sword of lightning appeared over us. It had to be over 10 feet tall and slammed into the ground, slicing through one of our enemies. The lightning burst through the ground sending a powerful shock through several more unfortunate to be near the attack.

Genis ran toward one who had survived the attack, jumped into the air and kicked him in the face. He grabbed the sword out of his hand and tossed it to me. I carefully caught the hilt. Now would be a good time to know how fight. "We can't use magic here."

"Wait, why? You just used a spell."

"They gave us some kind of drug making it impossibly to gather mana. The only reason I could use thunder blade was because I had charged it into my kendama before," he explained as he barely dodged a sword aimed for him. "We're going to have to fight hand to hand here." I tightened the grip on my weapon wondering how in the world I could defend myself. Well, only one way to find out!

One aimed his sword at me, which I raised my blade to block, but his superior strength allowed him to push my blade back, sending it into my shoulder and knocking me to the ground. I barely rolled out of the way to dodge a stab aimed for my heart, but I saw a path of blood along the ground where I had rolled. The sight of my own blood on the ground was appalling, but this wasn't the time to let my queasiness get to me.

My shoulder was throbbing, telling me to stop and heal it, but I knew I couldn't focus on the pain in a time like this. I got up and slashed my sword at my enemy, but he easily blocked it. As he deflected it, I thought I saw an opening so I aimed my foot for his chest but he merely grabbed it out of the air and tossed me to the ground. He thrust his blade at me, which I was barley able to block. I got up, trying to put some distance between us. He we clearly stronger and more skilled then me, so I did the only thing that seemed logical; I threw my sword at his chest. He had started running at me, causing him to be completely off guard as the metal pierced his chest.

The blood flowed from the wound, covering the metal floor in a crimson river. He fell to the ground, trying to pull the blade out of his chest, but his strength was fading too quickly. He glanced up at me and I could see the pain in his eyes. I knew he wanted the pain to go away. His life began to fade.

I backed up, and turned away. There was something about a dead body that just freaked me out. Sure, I knew that death was a part of life, and that I was only defending myself, but even so a dead body just seems so unnatural. I looked up at the other soldiers and was amazed to see that Genis was fighting half dozen enemies, in hand-to-hand combat. As one swung is sword at him, he dodged it, thrust the ball of the kendama into the foes face before jumping, and kicked the soldier in the stomach sending him into two of the others. In the game, he always stayed behind the others but after so many fights, I could see how he would have learned how to fight with out magic, but I never would have guessed he'd be this strong.

I was broken out of my thought by the sight of a soldier charging at me. I grabbed my sword out of the corpse causing its flesh to splatter around the ground. I couldn't bring myself to look at the face of the one I had just slain, and ignored the gruesomeness of the scene. Instead, I just gripped my blade, ready to fight once again. He pulled back and thrust his blade toward me, but I dodged to the side and swung my sword at him again. Sadly though, I couldn't match his speed so he blocked my attack. He spun, slicing his blade across my right thigh before I could react. The searing pain caused me to drop my sword. As I looked down, I saw blood flow down my leg. It was my blood…

Focus Tiger, ignore the pain and defeat the enemy.

I used as much strength as I had but he blocked this attack even easier. He pushed my sword back and the force of it threw me onto my back. The soldier stood over me ready to deliver the final blow. Maybe I could use the same trick as before. I grasped my blade and thrust it at him forcing him to take a step back. "I won't go down that easily," I yelled at him.

"A novice swordsman had no hope of getting out of here alive." Sadly, he was right. I didn't know how to fight, but I couldn't just give up. Was I just going to die here? No, there had to be a way out.

I stabbed my sword into the ground and used it as leverage to once again rise to fight. I changed at him once more, but he easily ran his sword through my left side. "When will you give up?"

The pain was more than I could take. What was I thinking? I don't know how to fight; I avoid confrontation whenever possible. So how would it be possible for me to even stand a chance? It's over.

I hear a scream, causing me to turn and I see Genis had just been slashed across the arm. He was gripping it, trying to hold the blood in, but to no avail. The crimson liquid flows out covering his hand like red paint. I have to try doing something.

Ignoring the pain the best I can, I run toward him, but my leg gives out and I fall to the ground. I hear several more slashes go through his flesh. It's over; there is no way we win now.

"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life. Revitalize!" I've heard that before…

Soon the floor was covered in magic runes, and the pain in my body faded. My wounds where blood was flowing out like a river now closed. I looked beyond our enemies and saw Raine holding her staff, but she wasn't alone.

"Tempest Beast!" Lloyd called spinning through the air, colliding with the soldiers around Genis and knocking them away. He held the duel blades of fire and ice. "Now," Lloyd said pointing a blade toward the few standing enemies, "Which of you bastards hurt my friend?"

Our foes began quacking in fear as they backed up. However, one stood his ground and tried to rally his comrades on. "It's only one swordsman, how strong can he be?"

"You fool," another one said, "I'd recognize that red outfit anywhere. It's Lloyd Irving, the hero of world regeneration."

"I see some of you know of me. You should also know I won't show mercy to those who hurt my friends." Lloyd charged at them, and with movements so swift and skillful that my eye couldn't follow, three corpses fell to the ground. One turned to run, but was quickly run through with Lloyd's sword.

As Lloyd pursued the fleeing enemies, Raine continued using her healing spells to mend our less serious wounds. She also used recover, freeing us from the poison that crippled our ability to use magic. Once we were fully healed, and Lloyd made sure no enemies were following us, we continued finding our way out of this prison.

_

"You okay now Genis?"

"Yea, thanks for saving us Lloyd. I don't think we could have held out much longer."

"I was impressed though. Maybe you should fight close range like I do."

"I think I'll stick to blasting things from afar with magic, and letting you get beat up."

"Thanks Genis…"

"Anytime Lloyd."

_

How long must we walk through these same metal corridors. Did they hire a decorator whose specialty was boring? How did anyone manage to find their way around here? My legs felt like they were going to fall off with all the walking we had been doing, but according to Raine, we were near the exit. I hoped that by near she meant about 7 seconds, but I have a feeling it would be longer.

Not to make this time completely unproductive, I decided to practice with the mana manipulation. Repeatedly gathering the energy in my hand and releasing it made it easier to control. It was starting to feel more natural. After all, the odds were good we'd run into more enemies by the time we escaped so I wanted to be not a complete deadweight. In the past hour of traveling, I found I was able to gather it without too much difficulty now, but probably not fast enough to be helpful in battle. It would be something at least.

"So, you're a swordsman too?" Lloyd asked seeing the sharp metal object in my hand.

"Not really. This was the only weapon I could find during the fight. I'm just lucky I didn't kill myself with it."

"Well, when we get out of here I can teach you some of the basics. I don't know how good of a teacher I would be though."

"I'd be honored to learn for you. Thanks."

"Dwarven vow number 1: We must all work together for a peaceful world."

"Well Lloyd," Genis said, "If you're going to train him, you might want to use wooden swords."

"Why?" we both asked.

"Well, it wouldn't surprise me if Tiger cut his arm trying one of your artes."

"Y'know what Genis?" I paused for a second trying to think of the perfect come back line.

"What?"

"You are probably right." I had to admit, coordination is not my friend. Back at home, I confounded many of my friends with the ways I managed to hurt myself. "You willing to give me a few more magic lessons Genis?"

"Sure, maybe I can get you to be somewhat competent."

"Works for me." With the help of these two heroes, maybe I could defend myself well enough to fight my way out of a paper bag. Then maybe I could figure out what in the worlds was going on.

I still couldn't believe how incredible Lloyd was with his swordsmanship. The dance of his blades as he cut down those enemies was truly a work of art. It was as if his blades were a mere extension of his arms, while my sword was only a tool. If I could wield a blade adequately and know several spells, I'd be able to defend myself. I doubt I could be as strong as the heroes, but that didn't mean I was completely hopeless.

"This should be the last door before the exit," Raine said as she opened the door.

"That's as far as you go," an elderly man holding a staff said. He had long white hair and I sensed something from him. It was a great power, but how I knew this, I did not know.

"Who are you?" Lloyd said pointing his blade at the old man.

"You break into my base, kill my men, steal my prisoners, and then have the gall to ask for my name? You humans are so arrogant"

"So you're the commander here," Raine concurred.

"Yes, you may call me Lord Orion. Now, if the half-elves would come with me, I'll forgive this little trespass."

"How bout this," Lloyd countered. "You get out of my way, and I won't kill you for hurting my friends."

"Lloyd," Genis quietly said, "That's a pureblood elf, a powerful one at that."

"It's four against one, how hard can it be?" I liked the way Lloyd thought, but I had a feeling Genis was right; this wouldn't be an easy fight. I began gathering mana in my hand. If anything, I could distract him, making an opening for the others.

_

A/N: Some of you might have noticed I switched to past tense for this. While present tense can make the story better, this is much easier to write for me. Also, I've been trying to keep Tiger from turning into a Mary-Sue, but I'm not sure how well I'm doing at this.

Anyway please review, I know your out there, and if you don't then, well, I'll be sad…

Also, I won't be able to update this story for a couple weeks, which I'll explain next chapter…