Must resist continuing the running gag HO!-DAMN IT!

Oh, and I think I know where to place this now.

Part 4

Discussion

For all that it was worth, we had some freedom

but that always came with a catch

the appearance of Chen Yin had saved our asses

but her being here raised more questions.

"You got a sense of timing I'll give you that Chen" I spoke as we walked around the castle town, Magoichi, Chiharu and the rest of the group. "When did you get here?"

"a week ago...I was in Mian Zhu and found Magoichi, along with a few others. Chances are we're both along the same lines, trying to figure things out"

"And how far along are you compared to me?"

"Chances are, Fu, you're further ahead. I know bits and pieces, but not enough to make any guesses"

"Joy. Looks like we've got a lot to do"

"Look you two, can you include us in the conversation? We'd really like to know what the hell is going on?" Chiharu moaned, scratching her head. We stopped next to a group of peach trees in full bloom, with some of the leaves falling to the ground. If it weren't for the situation this would be a lovely scene.

"No one really knows what's happened do they?" I tell her, then turning to Chen. "If you don't know who she is, before Jiang Wei came along, Chen Yin was the apprentice of Zhuge Liang, the Sleeping Dragon of Shu" I nodded. "And probably the equal to Jiang Wei"

"Nice...how does that help us?

"Not only do we have two tacticians, we've got a very smart girl and me"

"So an intellectual and a dumb ass. Great" I turned to Magoichi, shaking my head.

"Can we have some...privacy?" He put his gun on his shoulder, tapping Chiharu's shoulder.

"Let's get you guys some equipment. I know I owe...Fei Guan his armor back"

"Yeah, and you owe me my weapons back. I miss have the iron on my body and my weapon on my back" She turned and walked away first, Magoichi pointing to the others and motioning them to follow.

"Chen, tell the young ladies not to scare this one off. They should be dealing with the maps, might give us some idea of what's going on"

"Thank you Lord Saika" She did a bow as the rifleman walked away giving us a single wave as he led the group to, I presume the armory. "Follow me Lord Fu Xi..." I'll let that one slide.

She leads me into an oriental castle at the center of the courtyard, opening the door for me as we entered. For what it's worth, as I walk around I can tell the Japanese put a lot of tie and effort into making this. It's all finely crafted, excellently put together. The Mon of the Oda clan adorns just about every wall, with armor and weapons around every corner. You could outfit a whole group from the stuff here...chances are most of it's ornamental though. Leading up stairs, Chen barely made a sound, save for her feet on the ground and her breathing.

We eventually came to the top of the tower, and even before I got in I heard the shuffling of papers, the chime of armor as someone walked around, along with a sigh.

"This is starting to get annoying" An almost too calm voice spoke. It was deep, but feminine...and cold.

"All of these maps look...strange to me...I don't even know what these are meant to be" a higher still female voice spoke. It wasn't as cold, if anything it felt...warm. And an accent of sorts...it was familiar yet...wait...french? But that's from a different part of the world entirely.

"Your map wasn't exactly the most familiar either" We came to the top of the stairs, to one of those Oriental doors...it's Japan, what do you expect? "Come on, there's a link somewhere"

"So far all I know is everything's all jumbled up" Chen reached to the frame, pulling the door open and showing two women looking over the table at a bunch of maps. There were four windows, one for each wall with light from one window hitting a bed just right so that you could wake up to the sun in your eyes. The pair at the table both turned to her.

On the left was a soldier in bluntly fancy Wei armor, blue cape with pure white armor, no helmet to cover her head. I will admit, she was a beauty, black hair down to her shoulders, clean face and her armor starting at her chest, and a dark blue cape. She looked fit and young...but cold, if that makes sense. I know Wu was full of happy chappies considering not a lot happened, in comparison, but it was obvious something had happened.

On the right was another woman in pure white armor, which could be mistaken for the armor officers of Wei wore, but a lot more...refined then them, like the smiths had more knowledge. She had a flower in her blond hair, and looked a lot younger then the one across the table.

"Madam Chen" The young one spoke, doing a small bow. The older one stood up, crossing her arms.

"Took you long enough" the older one spoke, sighing. "Who's he?"

"Fu Xi...well, I was" I told them, nodding a few times. "I was the Demon of the battlefield in Wu...but I haven't exactly fought in a few years...nor actually kept what I had before"

"So you're basically useless. A Wu Soldier with no weapon is not something we can do with...you don't look like the Vet either" How many more times?

"As I have to keep explaining, it was a lifetime ago...but you've got the experience and skill of a vet with the body of a youth" I tell her, bowing. "What about you Miss?"

"Wang Yi..." She spoke, looking back to the maps. "See if you can understand her seeing as you both are as weird as each other" I look across the table to mysterious girl number 2.

"I am Jeanne D'Arc" Oh, I can see how Wang Yi is confused...WAIT!

"Jeanne D'Arc?" She nodded to my question. "Maid of Orleans...Savior of France" She raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I know the first one but Savior?" must be before she erm...hmm.

"It's an honor to meet you Miss" You probably don't know, but her name got mistranslated when she became famous, so Jeanne D'Arc became...

Joan of Arc...one of my heroes. You have no idea how much I want to scream in joy right now. But with more pressing issues, we return to the maps. I look them over, seeing what they were doing. Chen pointed bits out, but to put it in laymens terms is a lot easier.

They had a map of China and Japan each, with a large map in the middle, with the maps getting linked with rope and daggers, putting each location to a point on the large map. So far it was a mishmash of locations to points, putting Xu Chang near Echigo and Luo Yang near Odawara, Chang An was in Kai and Cheng Du was playing host to Owari. This made little sense at all, it was like Japan and China got mashed together. I didn't see any French places so that's one less thing to think of.

"Alright...before I do anything else...what exactly do we have to work with?" I ask, leaning on the table. The trio look at me, giving me varying looks.

"The Rebels have a large number of fighters, ranging from Musketeers to straight up fighters" Chen tells me. "A good range so we can handle a variety of situations, however the Rebels compared to the other forces are small in number"

"The Wei section is comprised of a variety as well, but no Cavalry" Wang Yi speaks. "To be honest, the archers could do with a leader, and we don't exactly have a lot either"

"Get Sarah on that, she's the best archer I knew back in the war" I told her, nodding a few times. "What about you Jeanne?"

"French knights, refugees and mercenaries" she told me. I nodded again. "We had a fight with the English as soon as we got here so we have some injured"

"So...not a lot to work with on the whole" I sigh, looking around the map. "Did anything look familiar when you got here?"

"Non"

"Well, guess it's safe to say the most we can expect from France are the fortifications. As for Japan and China, they are the major players here" I looked up, seeing Wang and Chen exchanging distrusting looks. "Once we have some sort of order, then we can deal with each other. Right now, we should focus on that"

"You tell that Shu scum over there that" Wang Yi told me.

"Well, I'm not exactly happy to be working with a Wei bitch either" Chen replied.

"Knock it off you two" I tell them, cracking my neck. "Have your fights once we've found our leaders...not to mention a place for the refugees" they both sigh, Wang turning away.

"I'm going to warn you now Chen...if I see the bastard Ma Chao...I will not be responsible for my actions"

She storms out of the room, leaving us three alone inside to think. Well, seems Ma Chao has someone who hates him as much as he hates Cao Cao. I turn back to the maps, finding Azuchi and looking around it. So far we knew Mian Zhu was in the same area. So Cheng Du had lost one of the defensive elements it had. But Gaining Owari was a big gain if Nobunaga was around there..

"Who's scouting Westward?" Jeanne asks, pointing to the expanse.

"I believe it was...oh, think, think...Wasn't it that Inu, Iaysa...the one who's always fighting with the ninja girl" wait a minute.

:"Did the ninja girl call this...Ina anything?" I ask. Chen turns to me, trying to remember.

"Something...she kept saying about how Ina was a bear warrior...Ina kept saying to me and her about how us 'good looking ladies will find some good looking men" oh boy, where have I heard that before?

"Lady Ina...one of the Hojo retinue...the Ninja was one of the Sanada clan's. In fact the one in question may be the personal one for Lord Yukimura Sanada" I speak, getting looks from the pair. "How Long ago did they leave?"

"They left about...5 hours ago...about 2 hours after you got here" That can't be a good sign.

"And when were they meant to report back in?"

"An hour ago...we don't have the manpower to check on them" I turn around, heading for the door. "Lord Fu Xi"

"I'm going to get some gear and go after them" I told her, opening the door. "Considering the way things are, we can't leave here in small groups. Jeanne fought the English before, and me and my friends were taken captive. Who's to say old grudges won't surface or indeed that they don't get attacked by unknowns" She sighed, shaking her head.

"Point taken..."

"Chen, I'm going to the armory then heading out to find them. We need all the info and manpower we can get right now...and considering Jeanne's already fought the English, that's not a good sign"

"What can we do?"

"Try and find something...anything that'll give us an idea of what's going on. This isn't just two worlds mixed together, otherwise it'd be messy. Something else is going on and we need to know what. Study texts, maps, anything" I stepped through the door, turning back. "And be ready...we may need to fight sooner rather then later"