Chapter 6: The Great Tactician

The castle was a beautiful piece of architecture, semi-gothic style, looming over both a valley and the ocean. Falco could see why someone would consider it a great place to hide someone important. It felt almost, unsporting to use the vast advantages that people like him and Samus held.

"Jellybean to Bluefeather, is the castle holding?" He heard crackle over his intercom. He groaned. He had taught Morgan and Lucina how to use the radio, and Morgan insisted that she take over the radio. And then she gave everyone codenames.

"Fal- um... Bluefeather to Jellybean." He rolled his eyes. "Castle is stable, but I don't think I can do much else without risking the package's safety." He took another pass to confirm.

"Samus to idiots!" Falco heard another voice. "Shooting lasers into a castle is already risking the package!"

"Codenames! It's 'Grumpster' to idiots!" Morgan sounded indignant. "How goes infiltration, Grumpster?"

"I'll report in when we get there, but we can see the castle in flames from here!" The sharp click of a radio ending transmission. Time for phase two. Falco thought to himself. He checked the charge on his blasters and reflector. This next part could cut it pretty close.

Samus was impressed by the efficiency of the small group of Shepherds that accompanied her. Pikachu, of course, was a dynamo on the battlefield. Small, fast, and with a long reach always have an advantage against swords. Panne was no slouch, kicking and throwing enemies into submission. Noire and Gaius provided ample support with their archery, though Noire didn't miss, and Gaius was more about quantity over quality. But the most impressive was Severa. It all seemed so easy for her. She was graceful, calm, and still brutal. It looked like she hadn't even broken a sweat. Samus couldn't help but envy it... just a little bit. At least I don't have that scowl. She thought to herself as she hit another soldier with her plasma whip. She could hear Panne laugh over the din.

"Human! That weapon of yours is a marvel! And you fight extremely well!" She kicked another soldier, his body going limp immediately. "I would have a duel with you after this!" Samus smiled.

"I'd rather keep a kick like that away from my head!" She teased. "But I'm down!" She swept the legs out from under another soldier, kicking him in the face. Gaius and Noire had reached the two, and group approached Severa and Pikachu.

Gaius looked towards Samus. "Now, I could be wrong, Ponytail, but I thought this was infiltration. You know, sneak in and try to blend?" Another shot. A soldier gave out a cry of pain. "That's kinda my forte, so I was looking forward to it."

Samus took a potshot at a man coming over the ridge. He froze and convulsed as the Paralyzer put voltage through his body. "That's the next step. I wasn't expecting 'Daddy's little girl' and Pikachu to go off on their own mini-crusade." She gritted her teeth. "We're going to have to get into the castle before everyone is aware of us."

"One step ahead of you!" Panne had already grabbed Noire, and headed towards the ridge. Samus and Gaius followed suit.

The group caught up to Severa and Pikachu quickly. Over the ridge sat several archers, and they had pinned down the two at the edge of the ridge. Falco's arwing could be heard shooting upon some soldiers below them. Must have been the one's that they had missed. Pikachu was the first to notice the other four, waving his arms frantically. Samus groaned.

"Alright, so we have six archers aimed at us." She looked at Gaius. "How many could you take out before they saw you?"

Gaius did some quick thinking. "Well … Sunshine Jr. and I could probably do it, but we'd definitely need a distraction ..."

"I'll take care of that." Samus quickly waved him off. "Panne, I need you to take Pikachu and Severa into the castle as soon as those archers fire on me." Panne nodded. Samus turned back to Gaius. "And if you let me get shot, I will make sure I don't die so I can kill you myself. Capiche?" Gaius nodded, wordlessly. "Good." Samus took a runners stance, and sprinted towards the ridge.

The fancy thing about rocket boots is that nobody thinks you have them until you're flying over them. Or through them. Samus used these baby's to get out of many of a bad date. And she only had to pay damages twice! So when she took that leap over Severa and Pikachu and turned them on, the extra 30 feet of air she got threw all the attention onto her. Every archer was seemingly frozen in place. The archers barely saw Panne carrying two passengers into the castle, and didn't even notice Gaius and Noire aiming at them until three of them were already on the ground. The fourth archer took aim at Gaius, and barely registered the boot aimed at his temple. Noire took out one more, and Samus took care of the last man with a well placed punch to the neck. She looked at the two archers, and nodded with approval. She motioned to them, and the three snuck into the castle, following the Taguel. The first corridor had no trace from the battle, somehow surviving several pass overs by Falco. However, it had probably been emptied. Samus had barely noticed Gaius slowly walk across the room.

"Now, if I had to hide sweets from Cherche here, where would I put them?" She could hear him mutter.

"Why is that relevant?" Severa sneered. Gaius put out his hand, signaling her to be quiet.

"Because, without knowing the layout of the building." Gaius sounded impatient. "I have to go by intuition. Casing a place like this can take weeks; I have a two hour window." He quietly sped over to a staircase to the right of the main hallway. "Ponytail, you and I will head downstairs. Pigtails and Cheeks will take the left upstairs, and Sunshine Jr. and Speedster will take the right upstairs." He motioned for everyone to go. Everyone silently took their positions.

"Why am I trusting you here?" Samus asked the thief. Gaius looked up, a lollypop had suddenly appeared in his mouth.

"Because if there's anything I'm good at, it's taking valuable things from others." She reluctantly smiled. He was strange, but that kind of confidence came from a professional.

"I'm not quite sure what our purpose here is."

Zelda sat on a large rock, looking across the sea at the now burning castle. The orange flames stood out next to the inky black sea and dark of night. She could make out a blue gnat in the distance, peppering the ground with blaster fire.

"Morgan believes that we are not needed. I'm willing to trust that judgment." Chrom seemed pretty sure of himself.

"If things go sour, though..."

"Then I'll need to use you." A voice from behind startled the princess. Morgan and Lucina walked up to Zelda, Sumia, and Chrom. "I'd rather avoid a large scale invasion with no real ships. That could be a real disaster!"

Zelda nodded glumly. "I guess I can understand that." She continued. "But why did everyone come, then?"

It was Sumia's turn to speak up. "Well, that's because Robin means a lot to all of us! If there was anything we could do, we would do it for our friend!" She looked at the castle. "I'm sure that you've met people like that. Or … people who would do that for you." Zelda frowned. Flashbacks of darker days came to her. Of a man, clad in a cloak of twilight …

"No signal yet, Morgan." Lucina brought Zelda back to reality. "Should we prepare our forces?" Lucina seemed just as eager to enter the battle as Zelda. Morgan sighed.

"Prepare them, but we should wait another half an hour." She conceded. Lucina raced off to the rest of the Shepherds. Zelda looked back at Chrom, who was holding back a sad smile. He noticed her gaze.

"Lucina wronged Robin before the events of his d … disappearance." Chrom explained. "She has spent the past year trying to find ways to make it right. Now that Robin could be back, she's been more determined than ever." He shook his head with a smile. "But Robin forgave her way before he left us."

"I can understand feeling indebted to someone you've wronged." Zelda thought back to several friends back in Hyrule. The black haired swordswoman, Link's adopted father, the old guardsman. She had been unfair to them, but they still did so much for her. Chrom sighed.

"Maybe that is just a burden we all carry from time to time." He mused. "Or maybe I'm just simpler."

Sumia hugged her prince. "Simpler isn't a bad thing. I find it quite charming." Zelda smiled at the two lovers, and stared back out across the sea.

"Jeez, what is this place?" Samus looked around the gloomy room. Several doors led to other dark rooms, filled with unpleasant devices.

"Guessing it's a cell block, Ponytail." Gaius was working on picking a lock on one of the doors. "Well, not guessing, more like … telling." The lock snapped open, and Gaius opened the door slowly. Samus could hear Gaius retch. Hopefully not who they were looking for.

"Not Bubbles, but whatever they're doing here." Gaius coughed. "Ain't normal."

"Gaius, there are 50 doors here, and most of them have locks." Samus kicked at a door. "Why can't we just kick them down?"

"Defeats the purpose of sneaking," Gaius stepped back from a door. "But I guess that's already ruined anyways." He swung his sword at the lock, hacking it in half. As doors opened, some people limped and stumbled their way into the corridor. However, that only seemed to happen once every three doors or so. As Samus worked her way down the corridor, she found a door with a strange inscription upon it. It was heart shaped, with dark eyes seeming to live through the wood. Crude triangles were etched around the main shape. Samus readied her jet boot. As she kicked it, she noticed the funny sensation of flying. Flying without planning to. She also felt her body slam against the stone walls of the cells. It was then that she felt the 10000 volts course through her body. Still, she was alive, and conscious. That second one was a little surprising. But both were pretty good, considering.

"Whoa, Ponytail, you okay?" Gaius was next to the prostrate bounty hunter. Samus groaned in pain.

"I've been better." She looked at the inscription. "Magic barrier. Should've known better."

"I'll say. This one looks pretty mean." Gaius tried to touch the door, but sparks flew before he could reach it. He backed away. "If Junior or Sunshine were here, this would be easy." As Gaius stood, pondering, both of them heard people coming down the stairs. Gaius quickly pulled Samus up, and dragged her up to the front. If it was Grimleal, then these prisoners were in more danger than Robin would be. "Back up! Back up!" He called out to the other prisoners. The prisoners complied, mumbling amongst themselves. Samus could feel their fear. As they reached the front, they ran into the other four members of their group.

"There was nothing upstairs, so we figured that he must be …" Severa paused, looking at the injured Samus. "Oh gods, what happened to you?" Her concern betrayed her fake annoyance.

"A magical barrier happened." Noire observed. "Pretty nasty one. Mom would know about this." With the last of her strength, Samus tossed the radio to Noire. Everyone gave the bounty hunter a quizzical look.

"Call her." Samus managed to say before finally passing out from the pain.

"Miss Tharja!" Morgan called out. "Henry!"

Henry and Zelda rushed from their tents, and Zelda could see Tharja almost … float to meet them.

"What is it?" Tharja was demanding and gloomy. "I could be hexing these Grimleal instead of just waiting, you know."

Morgan handed the radio to Tharja. "It's Noire, she needs assistance from you, and I thought Henry might be of help."

"And the princess?" Tharja motioned to Zelda. Zelda cleared her throat.

"I know how to work the radio? It would be time better spent helping instead of teaching you mundane technology." She winced. What a terrible reason.

"I say she can help!" Henry declared. "Let's listen to what Noire has to say!"

Zelda pressed the button, and put it near Tharja's face. "Just speak in it." She whispered.

"Noire, what is the meaning of this call?" Immediately with the interrogation. Mom of the year. Zelda thought sarcastically. Noire's voice crackled, but was clear enough to hear.

"M-mom, there's a magical barrier blocking a door in the dungeons." Noire sounded concerned. "Samus took a good shot from it, and she's unconscious." Tharja's demeanor changed, somehow it was more positive.

"Hmmm, tell me more, child." Tharja purred. "Was she unconscious immediately, or did she talk to you for a bit?" Henry chose to interject at this point.

"And is there physical damage, and what is it? Nya-ha-ha-ha!" Zelda stared at the dark mage. Laughing now?

"Well … Gaius says she was struck by lightning, but she was awake when we got here." Noire replied, the radio crackling.

"Impressive. Do you have any thunder tomes?" Tharja asked.

"Um … something like that."

"Good. One focused shot of electricity should be enough." Tharja muttered. "Water would work, but the resulting explosion might be more problematic."

"I think we can manage the first one, mom." Noire sounded a little more timid.

"I know, I got a little carried away." Tharja smiled. "Is that all?"

"Y-y-y-yes, mom!"

"Good, go take care of it." Tharja walked away from the group towards her tent. Zelda stared at the retracting figure. Henry cleared his throat.

"Don't let it bother you." He was grinning again. "Tharja isn't one for affection all the time, but she does love Noire." He backed away into his tent. Zelda looked at Morgan.

"Where do you find these people?" She whispered. Morgan shrugged.

"They kinda find us." She answered.

"Alright, I got an answer!" Noire looked triumphant. "We need Pikachu to hit the thing with a concentrated beam of electricity." Pikachu looked concerned, looking over at Samus, whom Severa was tending to. "Don't worry about that! The magical backlash shouldn't be too much." She paused. "... hopefully." Pikachu tensed up, but slowly walked over to the door. The pokemon stood several steps back, and began to charge himself. With a 'Pika...CHU!', the electric rodent shot out a thunderbolt that slammed through the barrier and into the door. The door was incinerated.

"Uh... Good job, little guy." Noire patted the Pikachu's head. Pikachu looked at Severa with a hint of smugness. Severa stuck her tongue out at him, and peered through the door. Samus groaned, shaking herself back into consciousness. As she entered the door, she saw a man with snow white hair, his face hidden by a large white beard. He looked like a wizened old man, until you got up close. Hidden behind the beard was the face of a young man. He was shackled to the wall, and looked like he had been beaten and unfed. Panne held Severa back, as Gaius carefully inched towards him.

"Bubbles?" He inquired quietly. "Is that you? Are you … alive?" The white haired man stirred.

"Gaius?" His voice was quiet, weak. He managed to smile. "It took you long enough." He tried to look around, but he passed out from the attempt. Gaius looked around.

"Panne, grab Samus. You and Pikachu will meet Falco at the Rendezvous point. Severa, clear a path with Noire for Bubbles and I to get through to Cordelia." Severa opened her mouth to protest, but realized it was a futile gesture. She nodded, touching her father's shoulder.

"We're going to save you, dad." She had fire in her eyes. "Just watch."

Samus limped out of the castle with both Panne and Pikachu, and almost as if it was karma itself, almost got hit by several blaster shots from Falco. At least it cleared the area for a minute. She thought to herself. She activated her Paralyzer, and shot up one bolt into the air.

"I hope they could see that with all the flames." Panne pondered aloud. Samus grunted. She hadn't thought about that.

"All we can do is wait." Samus muttered. By that time, the others had joined them. Robin was semi-conscious, but seemed to already be observing the battle.

"I hope we have an escape plan, Panne." Robin managed to say. Panne looked at him.

"Your spawn has made quite a good plan." She said confidently. "It just requires us to give a signal into the sky." Robin smiled.

"That's Morgan for you." He tried to smile, but instead groaned. "Who else is here?" Gaius laid him down carefully.

"There's me, Speedster, Ponytail, Pigtails, Sunshine Jr., and Cheeks, Bubbles." Gaius counted them off on his fingers. Robin rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I don't know nicknames, Gaius, I need names and abilities." Robin looked at Samus pleadingly. She blinked.

"I'm Samus, you already met Gaius and Panne." She pointed to Pikachu. "He's Pikachu, and Severa and Noire are covering us." Robin's eyes lit up.

"Severa's here?!" He shouted, then began coughing and heaving.

"Careful, Bubbles." Gaius looked concerned. "I don't know what they did to you, but it wasn't something you can just walk off." Robin grabbed Gaius's sleeve. He pointed to a small guard tower to the south of them.

"Is that the rendezvous point?" He growled. Gaius shook his head. "How much of this plan has gone wrong?"

"Almost all of it, Robin." Panne spoke. "Why?"

"I don't want to insult Morgan when I change plans." His voice was still gravelly. "But we're improvising now. If we clear out that tower, we'll have a safe place for everyone to land. And it's easily defensible for a short time." Gaius frowned.

"Bubbles, that's good for most of us. But we have a" He looked at Samus. "small problem."

"What's that, Gaius?"

The Arwing flew low above them, Falco trying to get a response from Samus. Robin looked up at the sky, dumbfounded.

"That." Gaius pointed. "Is bigger than the tower." Robin didn't respond, he just sat there, stunned. He felt something small tug on his sleeve. Pikachu was motioning to the tower.

"Right. You." He looked at Pikachu. "Get Severa and Noire. The rest of us will meet you there." He attempted to get up, and Gaius had to lift him. Pikachu raced off towards the battling youngsters. Samus pushed herself up. "Are you alright? From what I can tell, you took a curse head on. I'm surprised you're standing." Samus looked at the Tactician.

"I've had worse. Just had to shake it off." She said non-chalantly. Truth be told, it hurt badly, but there was no place for that right now.

The tower was already mostly clear. What was left of the army had clearly either fled, or was being held up by Falco. Panne, Gaius and Samus took care of the lingering soldiers quickly. As Severa and Noire reached the top of the tower, Pikachu reached Robin, who was sat against a wall. He seemed much more alert, discussing options with the others. Samus might not have noticed the three come in if it wasn't for-

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!"

"I missed you too, Severa." Robin smiled brightly.

Severa was holding back tears. "I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO LEAVE US!" She shouted. She ran to the tactician and, after thinking better of it, gently hugged him, sobs wracking her body.

"I missed you so much. I'm so sorry about leaving you, my dear." Robin put his arms around his daughter.

"And mom's worried sick, and Morgan couldn't sleep this whole week." She managed to still berate him despite her crying.

"I'll make sure to make it up to all of you." He reassured her. Samus felt bittersweet. Her parents were also taken from her, but she never got that happy ending. Well, not quite happy yet.

"I-I don't want to interrupt, but" Noire paused. "We still need to get off of this island."

Severa pulled herself away from Robin. "What do we have left? Our signal is getting lost through the flames of the castle!" Robin closed his eyes.

"Show me the signal." He said calmly. Samus pulled out her Paralyzer and shot it up in the air again. Robin stared at it, then closed his eyes.

"If I had a Bolganone or Thoron, this would be much easier." Robin sighed. "I'm going to need 5 panes of glass, a match, and 40 candles..."

Panne looked at Pikachu. "Or we could have our little electric friend help." Pikachu nodded enthusiastically. Robin looked at Gaius and Samus.

"That's pertinent information, you two." He sounded irritated. He looked at the rodent. "Can you shoot a bolt of lightning into the air." Pikachu responded by launching a Thunder attack into the air. The clouds took in the lightning and spread it throughout, creating a tree of light for a brief moment. For an instance, Carrion Isle had gone from midnight to midday.

The bright light that emanated from Carrion Isle was almost blinding, even at the Shepherd's camp. Almost immediately, Cordelia flew out over the open ocean. Morgan and Sumia scrambled to the stables to get their pegasi, as Cynthia flew off in pursuit. Morgan tried her best to hide her emotions, she even thought she did a better job than her mother, but her heart kept fluttering. She felt Sumia's presence.

"Your Majesty, are you nervous?" Sumia was taken aback, but pondered the question.

"Of course, Morgan, but I can't let that stop me." She answered. "If I did that, I'd have never married Chrom, or gone to war, or even become a pegasus knight!" She looked at the tactician. "Fear is normal, but we have to face it, or else we're just dooming ourselves to the inevitable." Morgan looked at the queen.

"That was … surprisingly deep." She said without thinking. Sumia winked.

"I can be if I try, you know." She took off out into the night sky. Morgan hopped onto her pegasi, and encouraged it out into the skies.

"Yo! That tower is way to narrow, you're gonna have to bring people down to me!"

Samus looked over the wall. Falco had landed his Arwing a good 40 feet away from the tower. He was currently shooting from the cockpit of the ship. Robin also looked over.

"Pikachu, protect me while I get Robin on the ship." Samus hopped up, and pulled Robin over her back. Pikachu looked concerned.

"You just got cursed, Ponytail, shouldn't you be resting?" Gaius asked. Samus looked over at him and grinned.

"You don't get as good as I am without a lot of bumps and bruises, Banana Split." She made her way down the tower, Robin in tow.

As she reached the bottom of the tower, she could see Falco covering the area with his blaster. Pikachu hid himself behind a corner, and starting zapping away. Samus tried to run, and stumbled a bit. Cursing to herself, she managed to keep her balance. As she reached the Arwing, Falco helped Robin into the cockpit. He kept mumbling to himself about 'Cordy can get me, I don't need help...'

"Like hell you don't, man." Falco muttered back. Samus motioned to Pikachu.

"Go with them." She commanded the Pokemon. Pikachu made a retching motion, but hopped into the cockpit anyway.

"Try hurling in my ship." Falco threatened. "See what that gets you."

Samus made her way back into the tower slowly, as she heard the Arwing take off. As she crawled up the stairs, she could hear whinnying. At the top of the stairs sat four pegasus and a wyvern. Noire and Severa were already sat upon Cynthia and Cordelia's pegasi, respectfully. Gaius was talking to the woman on the dragon, Samus assumed that was Cherche. Gaius hopped on, and looked at Samus.

"Get on with the queen!" He shouted over the wingflaps. She saw the queen closeby, and saw Panne on the pegasi that Morgan was riding. Samus slowly moved over to Sumia, who helped her onto the winged horse.

"So, have you ever ridden a horse?" Sumia asked. Samus shook her head. "Well, it's like that."

As the pegusus knights and wyvern rider took off, Samus looked down onto the ground.

"Alright, this is pretty damn cool."

Samus landed, and was met by a hug from Zelda. Tharja and Henry were also there.

"We heard you were cursed! I was so worr-" Zelda paused. Samus laughed and hugged her back.

"I get it, your Majesty." She smiled. "I'm fine."

"If by 'fine', you mean 'should have been dead on contact', than yes, you are 'fine'." Tharja interjected sardonically.

Henry touched Samus's shoulder. "Woo-WEE! That's a mother of a curse!" Tharja grabbed Samus's arm. "Don't worry, though, we'll get it all sorted out!" Samus protested, but she was suddenly much weaker than she thought. The two dark mages took Samus into Tharja's tent, leaving Zelda alone. She decided to go to the medical tent. That's where all the commotion was.

"Everyone back off! Only immediate family and medical staff can see Robin right now!" Lissa shouted at the other Shepherd's. Chrom crossed his arms.

"Not even his best friends?"

"Especially not you, Chrom! I know how you two greet each other." Lissa glared at her older brother. "You'd break his arm right now!" She clapped her hands. "Now DISPERSE!" The Shepherds reluctantly walked to different sections of the camp, grumbling to themselves. Zelda stayed behind, and sat on a stump that was conveniently there. She could hear people shouting through the tent flaps. She cautiously made her way to the tent. Cordelia and her two children were looking over Robin's bed, looking very concerned. Lissa, Maribelle, and another healer by the name of Libra were fussing over their patient, while Robin kept insisting that he was fine. She smiled. It was nice to see a happy turn of events.

Robin lay in bed as Lissa and Maribelle prodded him and poked him. He looked at his wife, who was failing to hold back her tears of joy. He smiled, touching her crimson hair.

"Missed you."

Thank you all for reading! As always, reviews are so appreciated! I'll answer any questions at the end of the next chapter. Next chapter, we finally end the Rescue Robin Storyline and begin the Marketable Presence Storyline!

Coming Soon: Chapter 7: Lofty Expectations