I don't know, but it seems that it gets harder and harder to produce the chapters. I'm not sure why, but I haven't been as motivated to work lately than I was just starting out. Yes, I still enjoy it, but it just seems my chapters are...more forced outside a few scenes that I enjoyed writing. Not sure if this is noticeable or not, just giving you all a heads up. But there are parts that I'm very excited to write (albeit, in the third arc in particular), so I'll try to finish this. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

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All reviews were answered over PM because of the delay of another week before this chapter was released.

Disclaimer: I do not own Earthbound or anything in this fic except the plot and OCs.

Knock, knock.

"Who's there?" the voice of the mayor called. "I'm in the middle of dealing with this war. And the city's matters, so you better have a good reason for coming here!"

Ninten sighed. Paula normally would've given him a look for that, but she couldn't blame his exasperation this time. She was also exasperated with the treatment they were receiving here. Granted, they didn't recognize the Princess of Eagleland, but Paula would've taken listening to the over-glorified arena known as the Congress of Eagleland over this any day.

"I'm one of the Royal Guard," Ninten called. "I'm here to speak with you over the precise matters you are complaining about."

Paula heard incoherent grumbling from the mayor's office, followed by the shuffling of feet. No doubt the mayor was coming to greet them personally now that he knew a representative of the Royal Family was here.

No sooner had she determined that than the door opened, and the face of the stout and somewhat pudgy man appeared, scowling at them.

"A Royal Guardsman? Here?" he questioned incredulously as his first impression. "What is this, some kind of a joke?" he scoffed as he sized Lucas and Ana up. But then his eyes landed on Ninten, or more particularly, his weapon. "Well I'll be damned…" he muttered, eyes widening in shock and awe. "They let someone as young as you join the Guard?" the mayor asked.

"I can use PSI," Ninten replied evenly, but Paula could tell he was barely suppressing a scowl.

"Oh, well it should be a privilege to serve the Polestars so honorably at such an age," the mayor nodded in approval. Paula took that moment to reflect upon how unfair the entire system regarding PSI users was.

She did not brood long upon this topic though, as the mayor took one glance at Paula and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets as his jaw hit the floor (figuratively; probably would not be healthy if it was literal).

"P-Princess Paula?" he sputtered.

The princess in question simply nodded in confirmation. "Well, this certainly turned out to be quite an interesting day indeed," the mayor mused, his shock not fading. "They told us you were being held captive with the rest of your family."

"That is false, for you see me before your eyes," Paula said.

"So you know about your family?" the mayor questioned.

"A few weeks ago, my friend overheard that from a Pigmask group around the proximity of Tazmily village," Paula replied.

"That explains it." The mayor nodded as he went back to his desk. "Well come on! Don't we have matters to discuss about the war?"

The group nodded simultaneously as they huddled around the map the mayor was laying out on the desk.

"I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself earlier," the mayor apologized. "I am Andrew Felix, mayor of Fiveopilis, at your service."

"Thank you," Paula said. "But first, we need an overview of the situation. The latest news we had was a few weeks old, and I'm sure a lot has changed."

The mayor sighed. "Well, the top military leaders aren't giving me a whole lot of stuff that doesn't concern me, but they gave me the general situation in Central Eagleland." The mayor took a deep breath as he gestured to the part around the eastern border.

"Right after the coup, the Pigmasks went on an all-out offensive originating from the eastern part of the country. They took over at least four or five city-states within days and two more fell within the week. But their offensive has sputtered out, with them struggling to hold three of the city-states. They still have one under siege, Ellay, which is apparently their main effort. I'm not entirely sure why, but that was their plan. The General in charge of Central Eagleland, General Alexander Xavier has dispatched reinforcements to break through and establish a link to the city so that we can hold it. In fact, they were rallying here."

"Where are they now?" Ninten asked.

"They just left the city a few hours ago," Mayor Felix replied.

"What?" Ninten yelled.

"I-I'm being honest; the force had left hours before you four showed up."

"What is making them up?"

"Mainly militia, but there are a good number of regular soldiers in addition to a handful of Special Forces troops," Mayor Felix explained.

"And they're headed for Ellay?"

"I said that," the politician grumbled. "Try to pay attention in the future."

Paula was about to open her mouth to put him in his place, but a simple shake of the head from her best friend stopped her.

"What are the directions for their route? We have to catch up to them."

"Normally I would rebuke you for your lack of respect despite the fact that you're a Royal Guard…" Paula scowled at that. "…But I can tell that the princess herself would be valuable moral support for the soldiers, so…we're here," he said, pointing towards the center of Fiveopilis. "To get out, you should go left out of the Town Hall building and continue straight south. The Colonel will lead the reinforcements through the plains and into the swamp here…" His finger traced all the day down to the swampy area in question. "Pigmask defenses are weakest at that point. They'll cut through it to squeeze behind enemy lines and open up a larger hole to break the siege."

"Thank you," Paula said. "Well, let's go!" she stated as she glanced back at her friends.

"Wait!" the mayor called. "Take these badges; it'll let you be identified as 'friendly' to the army," he explained as he gave each PSI user a badge labeled 'Eagleland Army'.

"Thank you," Ninten said. "Now, let's play some catch-up with the army."

Eagleland's Special Forces were the elite of the elite in the army. They were the best trained, best equipped, and the most disciplined out of everybody. Their officers were likewise among the top graduates of military academies, and they (along with rank-and-file soldiers) were trained from the use of firearms to operating behind enemy lines. Unfortunately for one Special Forces Captain, patience with the undisciplined militiamen she was assigned to command was not one of them.

"Why are we even going this way, Captain?" one of them grumbled, only exacerbating her already bad mood.

"This is the best way in to be able to break the siege," the captain replied. "It would be much easier to not go through the swamp, yes…if you don't mind being slaughtered and the failure of our mission."

"But Maggie, we're exhausted and some are dead before they even saw battle!" the militiaman protested.

"Soldier, you do not address your commander by their first name!" the captain rebuked, glaring at him. "And if you really want to, you can find your own way through enemy lines without following us through. Clear?"

"Y-Yes Captain Holland."

Captain Holland sighed in relief as the soldier backed down, though she knew that there would be more idiotic questions that she didn't have to deal with in Special Forces.

It was beyond her why she was assigned to these rag-tag grunts; she could deal with the reservists since they at least had basic training, and she thought of them as pretty poor compared to Special Forces who would instantly follow orders without question (to an extent of course). These militiamen were far more unruly than the soldiers she was used to, and it didn't help she wasn't the most tolerant ever since she was younger. She hoped that they'll act better in battle than on the field with all the grumbling they were doing. If they constantly questioned her, that could lead to more people dying at best, the battalion's complete destruction at worst.

The captain's mind drifted back through their march through the swamp. Several soldiers had reported catching glimpses of Pigmask soldiers, and a few archers had picked off at least three or four, yet the commander did nothing. Holland's instincts were screaming that something was wrong. The Pigmasks should know they're coming, so why haven't they met them on the battlefield yet?

Not that she was complaining because the complex formation they were having difficulty maintaining in the swamp would only hinder them further in the initial stages of the battle, and whoever has the initiative in a battle has the advantage. But she had to accept there was nothing she could do. She couldn't leave her unit to ask the commander personally and she didn't trust any of the militiamen to actually convey her message the way she wanted it to. For now, she had to live with the situation and make the best of it.

Fortunately, it seemed as though they would be in better shape if a battle came because they were now on solid ground. 'Finally; a break from slogging through that filth,' Holland sighed in relief. It wasn't that she minded being dirty; ever since she was little, she could care less about appearances, but it also would make the march a lot more bearable than before.

But she would've taken the muck over what happened seconds after she set foot on the ground any day.

Due to her alerted state, she was able to register the pink horde that had suddenly popped into existence almost immediately, diving for the ground. The cries of several soldiers informed her that not all of them were so quick to react. But glancing around, the captain was pleased to see that a number of militiamen and soldiers had followed her lead. 'It was a trap after all,' she concluded as she raised her shield to try to protect her face from the laser blasts whizzing above her. They must've waited in the undergrowth to catch their forces by surprise.

As she took a quick glance above her, Holland's eyes spotted a brief ripple above her before it faded, like when someone threw a stone into water. She could tell the signs of a psychic shield being deployed. It was a good thing they had the two PSI users accompanying them or else they wouldn't stand much of a chance.

She was one of the first to get off the ground and charge, bashing a Pigmask with her shield. She took another on with her broadsword, the duel ending swiftly with the point of her sword through her foe's neck. She saw other soldiers and militiamen battling Pigmasks in similar duels, though it wasn't always her side that won them.

She tripped a particularly careless Pigmask who was hell-bent on tackling her. She thanked him for his intentions by stabbing him in the back. But a terrible roar nearly caused her to freeze up, but she managed a glance to her right to witness the gruesome sight of a soldier being torn apart by some kind of a mechanical lion. 'What?' she nearly gasped, but managed to hold it back. She was about to take action against the new threat when a barrage of arrows honed in on it, piercing through multiple locations of its body. A daring soldier charged up to it while it tried to shake the arrows off, plunging his pike through the neck, causing it to go limp.

She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the...creature wouldn't harm any more soldiers, but it couldn't have been the only one, could it?

Sure enough, to her right there was some sort of a cow with a snake's neck and tail overwhelming a soldier. It had disarmed him, and was about to trample him when Holland stabbed it. The cow-thing fell onto the ground where another stab was sufficient to end its life.

'What the hell are these things? And how are the Pigmasks using them?' she wondered as she helped the soldier on the ground up. "You all right?" she asked as she yanked her sword out of the cow-thing's body.

"Yes ma'am, I'm fine," the soldier replied. "But I've never seen anything like that...what was it?" he wondered.

"We can worry about that after we get out of here alive!" Holland barked, taking a battle stance against another cow-thing, the soldier retrieving the pike he had lost and extended it towards their common enemy.

They had been in the swamp for hours, barely stopping at all. Paula was rapidly approaching exhaustion, and she could tell that none of her friends were faring much better.

"Ugh," Ana groaned. "How much longer until we're out of here?" she asked. To her credit, this was the first time she complained since they had started through the swamp, despite voicing her misgivings about this path earlier.

"About another hour," Ninten replied.

"Couldn't come soon enough," Lucas muttered, staggering briefly.

"Look, if we find someplace to rest, then we can take a break," Ninten said. "But I'm not sure where in this godforsaken swamp would be a good place around here…"

"Is that a dry area over there?" the princess asked, pointing in the direction she saw it.

"...Looks like we found our resting place," Ninten confirmed, the group letting out a collective sigh of relief.

"Finally, some rest," Lucas sighed as he trudged toward the 'rest area'.

As they clambered onto dry land, Paula sat down on the ground as she examined her condition. Her clothes were all caked in grime and even her hair and face showed signs of dirtying. Not to mention the exhaustion that plagued her body. Despite all the training Ninten gave her, he hadn't exactly prepared her for long distance travel in tough terrain such as swamps. But that was justified since he really only taught her how to fight and survival skills.

None of the other three looked much better, but it was Ana who fared the worst. She had practically collapsed on the ground, not used to the rigor of daily life on the move. Paula had to admit that the world the books portrayed failed to capture the hardships of life away from civilization adequately. Not that nature didn't have it's beauty, but things like swamps are not exactly sightseeing destinations.

Lucas at least was able to sit up like the princess, though he still appeared quite exhausted. Paula couldn't help but be a bit envious on how his signature cowlick managed to stay the way it was when they first met. She berated herself for being petty, but that didn't change her feelings.

Ninten to his credit was trying to get Ana into a more comfortable position, leaning her against the tree, but his composure showed many signs of weariness, and it didn't help that his Giant Knife dragged him down during their march. But given his hard breathing, it was a wonder his asthma didn't take ahold of him. Either way, all four of them had spots of grime from head to toe.

"I…didn't realize how tired I was," Lucas muttered, his tone betraying his complete exhaustion.

Paula took this opportunity of rest for some reflection. Just three days ago they had left Fiveopilis to catch up to the army, the first two going relatively smoothly across the flat plains and a forest, but they weren't too bad. However, the third day saw them reach the swamp within the first hour of their march. The mucky terrain significantly slowed their progress and made them so miserable to the point that they occasionally forgot why they were going this way.

But they had to catch up. They had to join the army or else they might not make it through the war.

"Let's rest for a while," Ninten said. "No way we'll actually move in our condition." Paula nodded in agreement.

Captain Holland bellowed as she thrust her sword forward through the belly of a mechanical and twisted. The lion jerked and fell limp in less than a second. Holland didn't get a moment's rest, being forced to raise her shield to block a rifle, but she saw the Pigmask fall out of the corner of her eye. She nodded to her partner, silently thanking him for the assist before looking around and spotting another group of targets.

"Hey! That's the commander over there!" her partner cried. Holland turned her head 180 degrees to see her partner's hand pointing towards a group of soldiers not too far away from their position.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked. "Let's go!"

Holland led the charge, bashing a Pigmask with her shield and stabbing through the organic skin of a cyborg mole, but her partner's sudden gasp attracted her attention, and she followed his gaze up.

The sight made her stomach turn to ice.

Hovering right above the battlefield was a single boy with bat-like wings, dressed in black. "Who is that? And what kind of rank is that supposed to signify?" her partner asked.

"Either someone high on the chain of command or a PSI user...possibly both corporal," Holland replied.

"But why would they put a kid on the top?" the corporal asked.

"Let's not worry about that now and instead worry about what he's about to do!" the captain snapped as she saw several arrows hone in on the mystery boy; all of them either missing or bouncing off of a shield harmlessly. Even one of the PSI users firing off a PK Thunder didn't even seem to slow him down. On the contrary, the electricity was all diverted to his yellow sword, which seemed to glow brighter because of the attack. Captain Holland noticed that the Pigmasks in front of her had stopped fighting, and were kneeling before the masked figure in awe.

Holland would've taken advantage of the opportunity to bring as many of those pig-snouted bastards down as she could, but the mystery boy pointed the bladed weapon right at the Commander's small force, the soldiers doing everything they could to either kill as many Pigmasks and creatures as they could or try to kill the mysterious boy hovering right above them. He raised it, the sword sparkling with pure electrical energy.

"Hit the ground!" someone called. Having a gut feeling what was about to happen, Captain Holland dragged her partner down onto the ground, putting her shield over both of their heads.

That's when a brilliant flash of light accompanied by a massive explosion nearly blinded and deafened them.

Now somewhat rested, the group of four was back under way, slogging mile after mile through the miserable terrain. But despite that, Lucas's mind couldn't help but wander uneasily the further in they went. He knew he felt something…But he didn't know exactly what. It felt…familiar though. 'What is this?' he wondered to himself.

"Hey Lucas, you okay?" Paula asked from behind him.

'Evidently, I must not have concealed this as well as I thought,' Lucas mentally sighed, being more careful to hide his emotions. "I'm fine," the blonde replied. "I was just dwelling on a thought I had, that's all."

"About what?"

Lucas's eyes couldn't help but narrow in slight irritation, just wanting to be left alone right now. "It was nothing." Lucas knew that Paula doubted his response given the gaze she was analyzing him with. He felt a bead of sweat travel down his neck, nervous that she might press.

Thankfully Paula didn't, opting to fall silent instead. For the next several minutes, the slog continued in silence. Thankfully, due to their rest it didn't seem as bad as before they stopped, but getting this dirty was uncomfortable to Lucas. Granted, practically running the family farm for the past three years gave him quite a bit of taste to dirt and grime, but the swamp was not like that. Thankfully, the grime in this area was not particularly deep, so overall they did not get much dirtier than they already were.

Lucas was so wrapped up in his thoughts that his brain didn't immediately register that his foot caught on something in the water. He heard a cry and realized it was his as he landed face-first in the muck. His reaction to that was far quicker however as he jerked his head above within a second, breathing heavily from the shock.

"Are you alright Lucas?" Paula asked. Lucas glanced at Ninten and Ana who were in front of him, their expressions essentially asking the same question.

"I'm fine...I just tripped," Lucas mumbled.

"On what?" Ninten asked. Paula frowned as she knelt down around the spot Lucas tripped, hands moving around in the water. Evidently, she had found something given that both her hands converged on a single spot, followed by a quick tug. It was enough to dislodge the object from where it lay; some sort of a sword with a very thin blade. Paula swung it around a few times (far enough away from anybody).

"A rapier? What's something like that doing all the way out here?" the veteran wondered.

Paula shrugged as she held the blade by her side. "It looks quite new too...It's odd that something like this wound up in this forsaken spot."

"Maybe one of the soldiers dropped it?" Ana suggested.

"Unlikely," Ninten retorted. "They normally would carry weapons like these in sheaths. If it was dropped, wouldn't we have found it in the sheath?"

"What if they took it out to practice?" Lucas questioned.

"Training in the swamp? During a war?" Ninten replied. "I don't have the foggiest idea on what could've happened...the only reasons weapons are taken out of their sheaths are to train, to examine the weapon, or to-" He froze, eyes widening at whatever he had just realized.

"Or to fight..." Paula finished.

"But if they died, wouldn't we have found any...corpses nearby?" Lucas asked, shaking his head to repel the mental image that had popped into his mind.

"They could've dropped it during a retreat," Ninten said. "I've seen it happen when soldiers are panicked and need to get away from their enemy."

"Are you saying we're walking into a trap?" Paula asked.

Ninten gravely nodded. "We shouldn't go any further. Right now we need to track down what is left of the reinforcements and join up with them."

Lucas was about to agree when he saw a horde of pink emerge from the bushes right in front of him. "Behind you!" Lucas cried as he charged up a PK Love Beta. Ninten twisted his way out of the firing line while at the same time facing their enemy. Before the Pigmasks realized they had been spotted, they were slammed by the PK Love, sending them flying through the air, most likely dead. But there were more behind them and closing fast.

"Don't retreat! We have to fight until we get an opening!" Ninten growled as he cut down several more Pigmasks with his blade.

Lucas slammed a foolish Pigmask who tried to grab him with his bat, then kicked another on the knee and bashed him on the head. He was about to defend from another when a bolt of lightning slammed into him, the Pigmask now lying on the ground with the occasional twitch.

"Don't think you have to fight alone," Paula said, cutting down a few more Pigmasks with 'her' rapier.

"Looks like Ninten and Ana are holding their own," Lucas observed, glancing over as Pigmasks fell from Ana's PSI barrage, and those that didn't were taken out by Ninten's blade.

"Let's try to split their forces!" Paula called. Lucas nodded, blasting several more Pigmasks away with his Love Alpha.

It seemed as though the attack fizzled out, the survivors sent squealing back into the undergrowth. "Don't follow them," Ninten ordered. "We won't be able to catch up the way we are now."

"Is everyone okay?" Paula asked.

"I am."

"That was easier than I thought."

"Ana?" Paula looked at her pale face.

Ana gagged as she doubled over as Paula quickly rushed to her side. Ana gagged again, and then she threw up, bile spilling on the ground.

As Paula comforted her, Lucas knew he couldn't blame her for her reaction. He remembered his mother's death, how her screams pierced the air and the Mecha-Drago looking at them as they drifted down the river staring back. Lucas wished he hadn't seen the fangs glistening with blood, because that sight caused him to throw up right then and there, and he still got the shivers just thinking about it. For someone who hadn't been exposed to such bloodshed...no doubt would be very tough adjusting.

He glanced over at Ninten, also standing on the side. "She'll be okay," he said. "At least, I hope she will. I've seen veterans of bloody battles, whether they're shell-shocked or okay. How war affects people is...unpredictable, and that's an understatement."

"Shell shocked?"

"It's a term we use for those who seem to be in a 'trance' after a battle," Ninten explained. "It's horrible."

Lucas nodded, looking away from the duo on the ground, wanting to give them some privacy. Ana just needed time to sort things out, and in the meantime, they needed to be able to make sure nobody attacked them.

"Something doesn't seem right though..." Ninten muttered. "I thought they'd attack us with more, yet we were able to beat them off easily..." Lucas nodded in agreement before resuming his observation of their surroundings.

About a minute later, the blonde felt a tap on his shoulder and looked at his raven-haired friend. Ninten pointed ahead, directly at three pink spots in the buses.

It was obvious who they were, and Lucas was already charging up a PK Love Alpha without waiting for instructions. He let loose the barrage on the unsuspecting soldiers. He heard their squeals as they were hit and sent sprawling, either knocked out or dead.

"We have to move before more come in," Ninten said, turning back to Paula and the now-recovered Ana.

Before he could continue, the sound of stomps seized their attention, Lucas whipping around to see...some sort of slab of clay with arms, legs, and a face charging right at them.

However, a PK Freeze had intercepted it, freezing it in a chunk of ice. Ninten drew his Giant Knife and slashed the block of ice (and the clay-thing) in half in the exact same motion.

He quickly whipped his head around. "It's too late to run! Take cover!" he ordered as a horde of Pigmasks with several strange creatures mixed in with their ranks charged out of the undergrowth right at them.

Lucas quickly ducked behind a large rock just before the first barrage of lasers made contact with the stone. He felt it shake as he pressed his back against it, though it held. He glanced to his right to see Ninten behind a similar rock while Paula and Ana had fallen back into some bushes, managing to weather the storm with their PSI Shields.

Lucas growled as he launched a PK Love Beta at where the fire was coming from. He watched as several Pigmasks were hit with others scattering. Paula fired off a PK Thunder Beta, connecting with a mechanical mole and a Pigmask.

However, most of the Pigmasks had closed in too close for comfort, forcing the PSI users to fight hand to hand at this point.

Lucas kicked the first attacker on his knee and backhanded him, sending him sprawling in the muck. However, more of those strange creatures were incoming, Lucas narrowly dodging a mole with drills for arms. Lucas blew the whole lot away with a quick burst of PK Love Alpha.

"Just what are these things?" Lucas wondered as several of his foes recovered.

Paula jumped in front of Lucas, hands blazing with fire. She let it loose on the mechanical fiends, incinerating several of them while the survivors rolled in the muck to extinguish the flames.

"I don't know, but we have no time to worry about that!" Paula replied, slicing and thrusting her rapier as more Pigmasks tried to close in.

Lucas glanced in front of her to see even more Pigmasks mixed in with more of those creatures charging directly towards the princess. 'Not if I can help it,' he growled as he charged up a PK Love Beta, letting the hexagons lose on the rebels. Paula gave him a look of gratitude once the last of the Pigmasks she was fighting fell.

The duo nodded at each other, reaching an unspoken agreement. They charged, Paula blasting several more adversaries with PK Thunder as Lucas clobbered some of the strange creatures and Pigmasks with his bat and fists. It seemed as no matter what the Pigmasks could throw at them, the PSI users were able to eliminate the small groups the Pigmasks sent in to attack.

Despite their successes, far more Pigmasks were incoming though there weren't any more of those weird creatures among them. Lucas glanced over to his right where he saw Paula make fried pork out of Pigmasks and cut down a few mechanical moles. Ninten was carving a swathe of destruction with his Giant Knife to Lucas's left, with Ana firing beams to cover him and take down any that survived his charge.

Lucas fired off a PK Love Alpha to cover Paula as she staggered back from a hit. "You okay?" he asked, running over to the princess.

"I'm fine…but we're losing," Paula replied, looking around. "There's too many of them; we can't take much more of this."

Lucas grit his teeth in frustration. "We have to keep trying," he replied, clenching his fist.

Then, Lucas's eyes widened as he registered that same feeling that had been bothering him before, only stronger. Lucas stiffened as he looked wildly around. 'Where? Where is that coming from?'

"Lucas!" Paula cried grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "What is it?"

"Sorry," Lucas apologized; realizing he nearly lost his head there. "I felt something...something familiar," he said. "But I can't put my finger on it." He felt the same sensation pulsate through his body, but this time directing him in a specific direction. The blonde teen looked upward.

He couldn't exactly make eye-contact with the other boy hovering in the air, but it was about as close as it could come with him unable to see through the masked boy's visor. He barely registered Paula's voice as he stared down his adversary; all sounds of the battle suddenly became muffled as the sensation became stronger, strong enough to make him feel lightheaded and dizzy.

But that brief contact passed, Lucas's senses returning to normal. The mysterious adversary pointed his yellow sword at the boy his gaze was focused on, sword sparkling with electricity. He raised it...

But before he could bring it down, a PK Beam Beta nailed one of his wings. It was enough for the mysterious adversary to go spiraling through the air, crashing on the ground.

It seemed as though a pause had come over the battle. All the Pigmasks who witnessed the sight could only stare at the dust cloud that formed from the crash. The few chimeras left were dispatched by Ninten's blade or Ana's PSI; Paula and Lucas only stared at where their foe had crashed. But Lucas knew that he was not dead; his PSI was telling him that his foe was still quite alive and able to fight.

Both the princess and the villager glanced at each other, the latter stating, "It's not over yet," as he charged his PSI.

Sure enough, an energy blast streaked from out of the smoke, making contact with both Paula and Lucas's shields. They flared a reddish-yellow, but then shattered into millions of fragments. The smoke cleared a second later, revealing their enemy standing up, looking unharmed outside some torn clothes with blood and other fluids on it and dirt all over his uniform.

"Ninten! I can take him!" Lucas declared, his glare not wavering for a second as he and the masked boy stared each other down.

"Have Paula help you," Ninten called. "If he was able to survive a fall like that and still be able to fight, then your odds alone are bad. Me and Ana can take the rest of the Pigmasks."

Lucas would've protested, but at that moment Ninten was forced to contend with a few Pigmasks, and the chaos of battle again reigned supreme over the area.

It was Paula who made the first move, the princess hurling a PK Freeze Beta at their adversary as Lucas put PK Counters over them.

Their adversary strafed to the side, evading the attack and at the same time his right arm seemed to change. It seemed to separate into multiple panels, which reassembled into some sort of an arm cannon.

"What?" Lucas gaped in disbelief at the sight.

Paula growled as she unleashed a stream of PK Fire Beta against the Pigmask officer's cannon blast. However, it wasn't strong enough as the blast was able to cut through the flames and connect with Paula, sending her sprawling onto the ground.

"Paula!" he cried, trying to run over to use Lifeup on her wounds. But his foe didn't give him the chance, as Lucas noticed his counter shield dissipate into the air again. He was barely able to dodge the masked boy's sword slash.

Lucas growled as he whipped out his bat, charging it with PSI to give it the durability to enable its survival against a sword. Lucas swung with his bat several times, his adversary deflecting or parrying every single attack. Soon, the PSI user knocked Lucas's bat aside, exposing an opening in the blonde's defenses, slamming him in the chest with his arm cannon. Lucas's vision blurred as he fell backwards, gasping for breath. As his vision refocused, he could see his enemy standing above him, a foot on his chest and sword pointed directly at him.

However, he was forced to block a stab from a rapier, forcing him to abort his finishing blow, parrying Paula's relentless attacks. As Lucas sat up, Paula used a PK Thunder Beta at point-blank range after one such parry. It caught the masked boy completely unawares, the attack connecting with his chest, forcing him to let go of his sword. The masked foe quickly recovered and went on the attack, coming in so fast she had no time to block his punches and she too dropped her weapon.

Lucas finally recovered from his injuries swung his bat at his enigmatic foe, only to meet the hard surface of his arm cannon. Lucas had no time before his adversary seized him and threw him onto the ground. Lucas managed to kick the inside of his knee, however, and send him to the ground, the blonde taking this chance to roll away to a safe distance to assess the situation.

Paula had retrieved her rapier and was looking worse for the wear, and Lucas felt as though he wasn't much better. Despite the damage they managed to do on their foe, he was still able to fight, and they were running out of PSI energy after the prolonged battle. Lucas glanced to the left to see Ninten and Ana fall back to them, the four friends back to back.

"There's too many of them!" Ana panted through her breathing.

"Get us out of here Ninten!" Paula ordered.

"Consider it done," Ninten smirked as he used his already-charged 4th-D Slip, up the entire group vanishing from sight.

"Thank goodness that worked," Lucas sighed in relief, noting how close of a call they had.

"We're not out of the woods yet, so don't relax now," Ninten told him as he began to walk through the temporary dimension. "For now let's just find someplace to rest and recuperate. We're in no condition to search for the survivors."

"Hopefully it'll be easier than trekking through the swamp," Lucas flatly stated.

So how'd I do? I hope this wasn't as bad as I feared...Well, that was worded incorrectly. I don't think it was 'bad' per se, but not as good as the other chapters. But anyway, I'll have more time to work on fanfics in general over Winter Break, therefore allowing me to take a day off if I feel the need, but the next chapter hopefully would get out in one week, along with the one following that. Well, have a great day!

PSI Encyclopedia

Social Class: Unlike Europe in the Renaissance era, Eagleland has no nobility to boast of. Instead, some of the concepts of a Republic were transferred when the Confederation was formed with elected representatives to give the feel of 'democracy' to the ordinary citizen. However, it is the city-states that have the real authority.

Eagleland's Special Forces: The central Eagleland government has the authority to field two small forces of trained soldiers as a standing army. One of these is the Royal Guard, the personal force of the Royal Family. Then, there's the Eagleland Army, not as elite as the Guard, but one of its sub-branches, Special Forces, comes close. They are more numerous than the guard and they are trained in not only hand-to-hand and weapons combat, but also guerrilla warfare and coordinating as a team.

Pigmask Ranking: The Pigmasks are…unique in how they distinguish between ranks. As opposed to more stripes or special-colored armor, their outfit is color-coded depending on their rank. Pink is just a regular enlisted soldier, which is just one entire rank. Blue are Captains while Green signifies Major. These two designations are among the more common leaders that are on the field. White is Colonel, which there aren't many, so they use this as an excuse not to go into battle with their troops. Black are Generals, which are too important to risk in a typical battle, only when they truly need the personal leadership of the General.