Just a heads up I skipped the second Devastator fight because well….What's there to talk about? Giant alien comes out of nowhere A.B.E. must kill. I honestly think there's no real point in bringing it up. Or maybe I'm just being lazy like usual. Last time on Code name FE: With the Necronomicon in hand S.T.E.A.M. takes off aboard an upgraded A.B.E. to with the hope of finding a means to end the war. What will happen to them? Let's find out!

Chapter 19: A line in the sand

Soon after a scuffle with a Devastator A.B.E. brought the team safely aboard the Liberty along with the Necronomicon. However they were still being chased by enemy aircraft.

Henry was manning a Steam Cannon at the side of the ship next to Robin who brought his Thoron tome.

BANG

Henry blew one of them to pieces and Robin's spell priced through the other which fell slowly toward the ground.

"You alright there Robin?"

Using his most powerful spell multiple times tired the tactician out. Now he was painting heavily on one knee.

"I….think so yeah…." Robin said between breathes. "Please….tell me that's….the last of them though…"

"I'm afraid I've got bad news for you." Henry said looking into the distance.

Soon eight more ships appeared taking place of the two they destroyed.

Robin sighed "Of course."

"Now what?" Henry asked.

"All hands, your attention please."

Everyone's attention turned to the president's voice on the wireless.

"The Liberty is now leaving Washington."

Everyone gasped.

"But I promise all of you we will not leave our beloved capital in enemy hands. We will come home one day. After we have rid our earth of this unholy menace. On my honor, we will return."

Everyone remained silent.

"That is all."

With that Henry and Robin went back inside as the Liberty left the frozen ruins of the city.

"So what now?" Henry asked.

"Carter went to the library to begin deciphering the sections of the Necronomicon that involve these monsters." The president said.

"I'll go see if I can help." Robin said.

"I'll go with you." Lucina said.

"We might as well go too. I'm curious about this book." Marth said to Ike.

"Sure. Beats doing nothing."

Soon the otherworldly warriors went into the library.

"Any luck professor?" Ike asked.

"Not much so far."

Robin looked at the book on the desk.

"Is it just me or does the Necronomicon look….familiar?"

Suddenly his vision went red and his head started to hurt.

"Argh!"

Lucina ran up to him.

"Robin! What's wrong!?"

As soon as the princess placed her arms of his shoulders the headache died down.

"S-sorry Lucina. I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Ike and Randolph gave Robin a confused look and Marth looked at him with concern.

"In any case. What exactly is this book professor?" Ike asked.

"As you know it is referred to it as the "Book of power."

"And that power is what you used to create Dark Science." Robin said.

"Correct. But it is also referred to as the book of dead names. That is what Necronomicon translates to."

"Book of dead names?" Lucina asked.

"Indeed. Long ago it was referred to as Al Azif. Azif is a word the Arabs use to refer to nocturnal insects. But it also is a reference to the howling of demons."

"Where did this book come from?" Marth asked.

"It was written a very long time ago by a man named Abdul Alhazred. However very little is known about him or what made him write this book. Actually one of the reasons that we wanted to learn more about your world is because we believe that Abdul may have visited it long ago…."

"Really?" Ike asked.

"It is only a theory mind you. But it is indeed possible."

"May I look at the Necronomicon?" Robin asked.

"If you like. I have opened it to the page that based on my research should have info on these aliens."

Robin walked over to the desk and looked at the book.

"Do you think the book was written in our world?" Marth asked.

Randolph rubbed his chin and thought for a moment.

"An interesting hypotheses. Though I cannot say for sure. However from what Robin told me, your world has its fair share of magic. Perhaps the ones who created magic in your world helped Abdul write about the dark magic mentioned in this book. Perhaps they could have been gods or some other form of ancient beings."

Randolph turned to see Robin staring at the book.

"I was told that you have been studying what you can about our world but I doubt you will find much in that book. It is written in some form of ancient script. It took me years to translate what we have now."

"I wonder if the writing is from our world as well. What do you think Robin?" Ike asked.

Robin didn't answer.

"Robin?"

"How can this be!?"

"What's wrong?" Lucina asked.

"I…I can…read it!"

"What!?" Everyone asked simultaneously looking at Robin is shock.

"But how!? I've never seen anything like this!"

"Remarkable." Randolph said.

"How is this possible?" Lucina asked.

"I don't know but I don't think we should complain." Ike said. "Maybe Robin can find the weakness to the aliens."

"Can you read all of it?" Marth asked.

"Most of it. Some of these words don't make sense to me."

"They could translate to ancient terms. I'll help." Randolph said.

"We'll go tell the others." Ike said.

With that they left Robin and the professor work in silence.

The team gathered in the briefing room to discuss what Robin and Randolph discovered.

"The Necronomicon is a fascinating resource. Take a look at this." Randolph said turning to the monitor in front of the team.

The projector showed a page of the book that had an image of a star shaped monster.

"Isn't that the monster that attacked us at the college?" Ike asked.

"The "Starface" that grabbed me, yes." Randolph said.

"There's more. Look." Robin said.

Under the Starface was a giant monster with large tube shaped limbs and a sideways mouth.

"What the heck is that!?" Tom asked.

"It is called the great Shugguth." Randolph said. "It's a living factory of sorts, creating alien warriors. And what it creates it can also control. The perfect being…."

"According to the Necronomicon, over 200 million years ago the aliens used the great Shugguth to form a civilization on this planet." Robin explained.

"For reasons unknown, they eventually returned to their home in the stars." Randolph said. "But first they sealed the great Shugguth deep inside the earth."

Tiger Lily was the first to speak up. "So they probably meant to come back someday…."

"And use the Shugguth to rebuild their empire." John finished.

"So you're saying that they aim to revive the Shugguth and "reclaim" our planet in their name." The president said turning to Randolph and Robin.

"That sums it up." Robin said. "We believe that they have partly revived it to create more monsters here but not enough to be able to bring it to the surface of the planet….yet." Robin said.

"I guess that answers where these dastards are coming from and how there are so damn many of them." Ike said.

"The world seemed a whole lot simpler a month back." John said.

"Their slug will not help them when they face me." Califia said.

"It takes more than words to win a war." Fox told her.

"She's right." Lucina said. "We're losing this war already. If they were to unleash that monster upon us now.…"

"Here's a thought!" Scarecrow said. "This great Shugguth is the brains of their operation, right? So why don't we try to destroy it?"

"I have thought of that as well." Robin said. "Like we said the Shugguth is what controlling the aliens it created. Without it they will be immobilized and will be left with only the small group of aliens they sent to revive the Shugguth."

"That'd sure slow 'em down if they ran out o' troops." Tom said. "Just might be enough to win this war!"

"It might not be impossible…." Randolph said.

"We have to try at least. We mustn't give up hope after we have come this far." Marth said.

"I agree!" Lion smiled.

"Wit'out faith, dere can be no miracles." Queequeg added.

"Exactly." John said.

Henry turned to the team.

"Let's go wreck ourselves a Shugguth!"

Everyone nodded.

"Robin, Carter, do we know where the Shugguth is?" The president asked.

"The Necronomicon did reveal its location." Robin said. "But from what Carter told me we're going to have a hard time reaching it."

"Professor." Randolph said still looking at the monitor.

"Right. Sorry." Robin said rolling his eyes with a smirk.

"Why will it be hard to reach it?" Kathrine asked.

"Because it is buried directly beneath the South Pole." Randolph said.

"What is that?" Marth asked.

"One of the coldest places on the planet." Milton explained. "It is a frozen wasteland."

"Rather fitting for a bunch of ice aliens." Henry said.

"Thank goodness." John said.

Everyone gave him a confused look.

"The South Pole? No way are we gonna land in any bushes or trees there."

The team laughed.

Marth and Ike were in an empty room in the Liberty training with Robin and Lucina.

Soon Marth knocked Lucina over causing her sword to fall out of her hand.

Ike's strike caused Robin's sword to fly out of his grasp.

"You need to defend your blind spots." Ike said.

"You have both gotten stronger." Marth smiled.

"We still have a long way to go." Lucina said getting up.

"Yeah, you were even holding back on us." Robin added as he retrieved his weapon.

"Good. If you can tell the difference that means you're improving." Ike smiled remembering that his father told him the same thing during his days as a trainee.

Marth picked up Lucina's sword and looked curiously as he held the hilt.

"Is something wrong Marth?" Ike asked.

"No it's nothing. Here Lucina." Marth said returning her sword.

"Thank you."

"All hands, we are approaching our destination." The president said over the speakers. "Report to the briefing room immediately."

"We should get going." Robin said.

As the team went out Marth stopped for a second.

"Why did it feel oddly…familiar when I picked up her sword?"

"Marth, are you coming?" Ike asked from ahead of him.

Marth snapped out of his trance. And hurried his pace to catch up with the others.

"Perhaps it was just my imagination."

As they meet up with the rest of the team the ship was passing by a canyon.

John whistled.

"Well, that's sure a pretty sight…"

"True but I'm now learning that "A frozen wasteland" means something else in this world." Robin said sarcastically looking out the window.

Henry turned to the president.

"Sir, this doesn't exactly look like the South Pole."

"Patience, son." The president smiled. "Take a look!"

In front of the Liberty was a massive gate on the wall of the canyon.

"What is that?" Ike asked.

"Welcome to the Boiler room." The president smiled.

"This is the Liberty, requesting permission to land." Kathrine said.

"This is Boiler room. Permission granted, Liberty." A voice responded over the wireless.

"This will only be a brief stop." The president said. "Once we land, begin outfitting the ship for extreme cold and prepare the new prototypes."

"Aye, aye, sir!" The tactical officer saluted.

The large doors opened and the Liberty entered the room.

"This world just gets more and more interesting." Ike grinned.

"Tell me about it." Robin said.

The team waited as the liberty was being configured along with A.B.E. which was receiving a colossal drill to dig into the enemy base.

"Look at the size of that drill. No way I'da beaten that sucker." John grinned. "I can hardly wait to take her out for a spin."

"Won't be long now, John." Henry smiled. "She'll be up and running soon enough."

"Then our final battle against these monsters approaches."

Henry and John turned to see Marth and Ike walked up to them.

"Where have you two been?" Henry asked.

"Discussing battle tactics with Robin and the others." Ike said.

"Robin and Scarecrow are truly great strategists." Marth said. "And Fox is also very cleaver."

"Yeah, reminds me of another Fox we met before." Ike smiled thinking of another friend from the sub space incident.

"You two should give yourselves some credit to." John smiled.

"Yeah. We would've been lost without you two." Henry smiled.

"Funny. I was about to say the same about you and John." Marth smiled.

The group laughed remembering when Henry said the same thing the first time they met.

"We all really have come a long way haven't we?" Ike smiled.

"We sure have." A women's voice said behind them.

They looked to see Lucina and Robin walk up to them.

"I must say, I miss Chrom and the others. But after everything we've all been through I'm starting to feel like this team is also a family to me." Robin smiled.

"You know what? I made fun of the idea at first but maybe there's something to this "invisible ties" theory of yours." Henry told him.

"This world is quite something." Marth said. "It is a pity that Roy isn't here. He always enjoyed learning about faraway places."

"Roy? Who's that?" Ike asked.

"Wait…you mean Roy from the kingdom of Lycia!?" Robin asked.

"You heard of him?" Marth asked.

"Of course! He is another legend spoken in our world! Everyone remembers him in our time as the Young Lion! And a hero!"

"But weren't they from separate timelines?" Lucina asked. "How did you two meet?"

"This was my third time being sent to other dimensions."

"Come to think of it." Ike said. "You seemed familiar with Link and some of our other friends before what happened with Taboo."

"Indeed. There was another dimensional incident before that. That is where Roy and I meet along with many others."

"Sounds like you went through a lot." Henry said.

Suddenly a voice appeared on the speakers.

"Attention: Enemy troops approaching! All units, report to battle stations! Repeat! Report to battle stations!"

"They found us already!?" Marth asked in shock.

As suggested by Masterelite28 I decided to have some of ?'s influence on Robin regarding the Necronomicon. Thanks for the advice it was a great idea! I also made a callback to our boy Roy. Will our heroes keep the base safe from the aliens? How did they find them and the Boiler room? Why did I write over 2000 words just to cover the intro of level 10? Find out all this (Well at least I know this chapter wasn't short.) and more next time!