A/N Two in one day?! XD Hope you enjoy the chapter. I'm on Thanksgiving break right now, and though I've got a bunch of study abroad application work to do (going to Tokyo in Spring Semester), I figured I had time to edit another chapter! Anyway, thanks so much everyone for over 200 reviews to this story so far! We're nearing the amount that all of Nexus had in total, and I bet this will reach a million words by the end of chapter 11. Woo! Well, here's the chapter:
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own any of the media I received the characters and settings from this story from. They aren't mine.
Nexus HWR 11.3 Summit:
Awul
Roy Mustang walked through a crowded grand hall in the direction of some stairs. The staircase led up to a set of double doors which would hopefully bring him somewhere quieter. The room was brightly illuminated by large chandeliers floating in midair all over the place. The tables and comfortable chairs on the sides of the room where some people were sitting were mostly also floating. This massive castle floating in central Awul over a city down below always got on Mustang's nerves.
Magnoshutatt, Roy thought as he crossed the room. They pulled out of the RNG before I could even tell them our plans for the new government. And now, these pompous witches and warlocks demand that the Summit take place in their own country. We should not have accepted this. The Renewed Nexus Government still possesses the most land on Awul. The Fuhrer walking towards the steps stopped as he spotted someone he recognized to his right, standing next to a fountain with a young woman at his side.
The two walking behind Mustang stopped as well and followed his gaze towards the fountain. Colonel Riza Hawkeye had on a blue uniform like that of the Fuhrer and General Alex Louis Armstrong who walked on her left side. "Let's greet them," Mustang said, sounding like he was only suggesting it because he felt obligated to.
The two blondes behind him nodded and followed after the leader of their State Military. The two Mustang was walking towards were talking with another couple who looked Mustang's way first and opened their eyes in a little surprise that the Fuhrer was coming over to them. The young woman with long silver-blonde hair and her husband with neck-length dirty blond, Queen Daenerys and King Alibaba, turned to the leaders of the State Military as they approached.
"Fuhrer Mustang," Alibaba greeted. "Good to see you decided to come. Heard you were trying to fight this venue," the young man chuckled as Roy frowned deeper. Ten feet behind Alibaba there was a quiet girl with pink hair standing in a white dress that had nothing on the magnificence of the Queen of Rhodar's long golden dress that shimmered as she moved.
"I was," Mustang said, not denying Alibaba's claim. "But it is done now. Nothing I can do but take part in this great accomplishment."
"Getting all of Awul's leaders together like this," Daenerys began, her expression discerning. She continued, "It would be a perfect opportunity for terrorists such as those Underlords to strike. I dislike this entire situation."
"I highly doubt there will be an attack, Your Majesty," Hawkeye began, making sure to bow her head a little once the younger woman turned towards her. Hawkeye stood back up in a respectful stance and continued, "Thousands of guards from several powerful countries are posted in and around the castle. The Underlords would be foolish to attack us today."
Daenerys hummed to herself and nodded. She looked at the older blonde woman carefully and tilted her head back. "What is your name?"
Hawkeye looked at the younger woman in surprise and confusion, but she answered, "Hawkeye, Riza Hawkeye."
Daenerys grinned and looked into Hawkeye's eyes as she did. "You seem like a strong soldier. If you ever get tired of following a man's orders," Roy's eyes widened as did his subordinates' while Alibaba chuckled nervously under his breath. Daenerys finished, "Come find me. I will find a position that better suits you."
Riza did not say anything for a few seconds, but Daenerys's friendly grin started to look more dangerous. "Th-Thank you, Your Grace," Riza said, bowing again and then glancing at Mustang who held his tongue in front of the Dragon Queen.
Alex Louis Armstrong chuckled himself once the interaction seemed to calm down a little, then he looked beyond the King of Rhodar and spotted the King's personal guard standing back behind him. The tall muscular man slowly opened his eyes wide, Rhodari, small girl, pink hair... Morgiana noticed the man was staring at her and she made eye contact with him. Armstrong turned and saw Roy had started talking with Alibaba and his wife again, so he walked a few steps away from them while they were distracted and towards the girl behind Rhodar's King.
"Was it you?" Armstrong asked, at first confusing the young girl who said nothing in response. "Who destroyed the Briggs' Fortress on the RNG's southern border?" He specified. Morgiana's cheeks turned a little red but she turned away and then nodded. She did not know how the man wearing the same uniform as those she defeated that day would react, but he did not seem to particularly dislike her for what she said. Instead he had a thoughtful look on his face and he continued, "My older sister went on for hours about you."
Morgiana's eyes opened wide and she turned back to the man and looked at him closer. Alex continued while their bosses talked together, "She was upset of course about her base and her men, but I could tell her angry rants and insults towards you were out of respect for your strength. I am impressed as well, Olivier is very strong."
The young girl Alex was talking to nodded her head as she thought about the female General in charge of the Briggs' Fortress. "Thank you," she finally said, and Alex nodded down at her.
"If everyone could please come this way!" The voice that shouted filled the entire room but the direction it came from was clear. Everyone looked towards the stairs and the double doors at the top of them. There was a young woman in the doorway holding a long wooden staff. She had long aqua-blue hair falling to her waist in braids and on top of her head she had on a black witch's hat.
"So that's Magnoshutatt's new leader?" Mustang whispered to his left at Hawkeye, neither of them tearing their eyes off the young witch at the top of the stairs. "The one who would only send us a letter regarding their split from our government, and who forced us to come here instead of-"
"Yes that's her," Hawkeye interrupted her boss who was obviously more than a tad salty. She sighed and then gained a small smile on her face at the sight of another powerful woman here. "Yamraiha, Chancellor of Magnoshutatt. Twenty-seven years old."
"Heh, you sure know a lot about Yam-san," Alibaba chuckled as he walked past the other two. They looked at him oddly as the Rhodari King smirked and strode forward. Bet they don't even know we're from the same world, Alibaba thought and chuckled some more.
As Alibaba, Mustang, and the others near them headed up the stairs, a group on the far side of the hall from the stairs glanced away at the exit behind them. Laxus turned back to the taller man next to him and Fleet Admiral Aokiji sighed as it could not be helped. Neither of them wanted to be there very much, but it was their jobs.
"Let's get in there," Mandy snapped. She turned and started walking after everyone else heading towards the other end of the room. She wore her black cloak and had her scythe in hand but Grim was not with her at the moment. Until recently she always had him at her side for protection, but she no longer felt the need for it. The short blonde girl would have liked to be one of the first people in the next room where they were actually meeting, but those she knew best were all right behind her now. She was heading into a room full of the leaders of their entire continent and she would make sure she was surrounded by people she could rely on. By the end of today they will all know of Mandy, she thought with narrowed eyes and a deep frown on her face.
Najenda shook her head at the short girl's back and then started walking after her. Laxus grumbled but followed along as well, and Leonardo stepped forward on his left side. Aokiji was the only RNG leader back here with them other than Mandy, but there was one other person walking with them towards the steps. This man had a blue cat flying over his right shoulder, and though he was technically "walking" towards the steps, on every other step no foot would touch the ground.
Yamcha had a bead of sweat dripping down his face and the man mentally groaned for getting himself in this situation. "Yamcha, you have to come along. Vegeta won't come and you're the only other Z fighter on the continent." I would have rather you took Gohan, who cares that he's a kid? The muscular man had on his orange gi as he did not know what else he should have worn instead, but once he showed up he realized he was definitely underdressed. Military leaders were all in full uniforms and royalty were dressed up, even Aokiji had on a white Marine officer jacket draped over his shoulders with 'Justice' written in Kanji down the back of it. This is going to be rough. I just hope they don't get me involved with anything important.
Over sixty people climbed up the steps to the double doors leading to their destination. The hallway on the other side of the doors was dark, but when the guests stepped through they were amazed to find the door's entrance was less of an opening and more a portal to someplace completely different. The dark air in the doorway shimmered when they stepped through the doors and they were instantly transported to an enormous circular room full of chairs. There was a stage that had a table with ten chairs around it in the center of the room, and then more rows of chairs surrounded the outside of the stage where some people were starting to sit down. Mustang sent Armstrong and Hawkeye to go take seats, but then he looked towards the table on the stage himself and wondered if he was supposed to just go up there if he was confident enough or wait for the Chancellor of this country to give him the 'okay.'
Yamraiha was currently the only one on the stage, having arrived there first after leading everyone else inside. The next man to step up on the stage had a knowing look on his face and he grinned towards Yamraiha who smiled back at him. Mustang stared at this man with long purple hair tied into a braid who he recognized from his negotiations after the Battle of Metropolis, but also from previous dealings in politics since arriving on Nexus. King of Sindria, Sinbad, Mustang thought, keeping a frown on his face while he did.
Yamraiha looked Mustang's way and opened her mouth. The Fuhrer got ready to move towards the stage as he was called up, but froze as the blue haired witch called towards him, "Alibaba, Daenerys, come join us."
Alibaba glanced at Morgiana and flashed her a smile before turning back and heading to the stage with his wife. Daenerys' two personal guards and Morgiana walked over to some seats near the State Military soldiers, though they left one space open between their groups in case the short man standing in front of them needed to sit.
King Thrall did not wait to be invited, marching up the steps towards the stage as well. The green-skinned Orc had long black braids and a bad underbite with sharp white teeth sticking up out of it. The High-Commander of the Horde, King of the Orcs, and ruler of a small country with a capital in Orgrimmar, Thrall broke off from the RNG like Magnoshutatt once it became clear they would not be destroyed if they did.
Already four of the ten spots at the table were filled up, and Yamraiha was likely to take a seat at one of the last six once the other spots were filled. Laxus turned to Najenda and motioned with his head towards the table. She shook her head 'no' at him, but Leo nudged her with his elbow and the white haired woman looked at the ninja turtle in surprise. "You've been on the council longer than either of us," Leo mentioned.
"And I'm not doing it," Laxus muttered. He already had a hard enough time managing Fairy Tail, taking responsibility for Pao here would be too much for him especially since training himself and the Teen Titans still took up most of his time. "So get up there," he said, this time reaching out and grabbing Najenda by the shoulder and shoving her forward forcefully.
Najenda stumbled one step forward but stopped herself and darted Laxus a look she sometimes gave her targets before an assassination. The man's eyes widened and both he and Leo got sweat on their faces before Najenda turned back around and walked towards the stage on her own accord.
Many people in the room looking at this woman walking over did not recognize her. A couple pulled out electronic devices they put over their eyes but lowered them a second later and whispered to those near them in confusion anyway as the identifiers and scouters did not help them figure out who this was. Yamraiha also looked semi-confused as she stared at this woman, but Sinbad called out from his seat, "Pao's representative! How did I guess that the Mayor himself would not grace us with his presence?"
Najenda smiled calmly yet in an extremely dangerous way as she walked towards a seat on the more empty half of the table near where Thrall was sitting, leaving a space between them while now being entirely opposite Sinbad. "Goku had some business to attend to in Aebrith. I will be enough to speak for Pao Town," she put her hands over the table, her flesh and blood one and her one made of green steel. The woman with a black eyepatch over one eye leaned forward and had an intimidating expression on her face that made Leo and Laxus glad they picked her for this.
While Najenda was getting to the table, Mustang had been examining the crowd around him and saw there were a few others who had not taken seats. There were many small towns and even cities that broke off from RNG rule after the Battle of Metropolis, but other than Durotar- Thrall's country, Atlantis- who had no representatives there from what Roy could see, and Magnoshutatt, none of those settlements would be considered for a spot at the table.
Almost as soon as he figured it out, Yamraiha looked his way again, and with a smirk on her face like she knew how much it had been bugging him, she announced, "Would the three representatives from the Renewed Nexus Government please step up?"
Aokiji rubbed his forehead but he got up from his seat anyway and headed towards the stage. They left several of the council members back in Metropolis while three of them left for this Summit. He walked up there and Roy approached his back, while Mandy floated up in the air with her scythe in hand. The girl lowered straight down onto the empty chair in between Thrall and Najenda, the two most threatening-looking people at the table, at least until she got there with her Reaper's scythe and cloak on. Mustang sat next to Aokiji, but directly across from him there was a space between Najenda and Daenerys Targaryan-Saluja.
Yamraiha looked like she would take the seat right in front of her between Sinbad and Alibaba, but there was no one sitting in the tenth chair yet. There were still a few people standing out near their chairs, darting glares at each other as if daring someone else to try and take that seat before them. They were really just waiting to see who the Chancellor of Magnoshutatt thought was the next most important after those currently gathered at the table. All of them wanted to be included in that group, all except for one man who shrank back in his chair as Yamraiha looked his way. "And one of the Z-fighters who rid our continent of monsters," the scar-faced one-legged man groaned as she finished, "Yamcha."
He flew out of his seat and towards the stage to take his seat next to Najenda and... the martial artist gulped as the Queen of Rhodar turned to him. He remembered the day a few months back when Krillin decided to leave Awul and she confronted him for invading Rhodar, which he had no idea he was doing at the time. Daenerys watched Yamcha sit down next to her and she humphed at his nervous expression before turning away, not very interested in him.
All of the others who wanted seats at the table and were preparing to argue over whoever got called up next closed their mouths and sat down. The room was almost silent, as very few people here wanted to risk pissing off someone who could potentially declare war on them. Even the largest country among them was nervous after their military capabilities were shown to be vastly inferior to that of smaller nations who allowed their people to use magic and weapons for the past two years. It was the Rhodaris who were making noise, mainly Alibaba who said something to Sinbad and Yam on his left side and the two of his old friends laughed about it. He turned right next and whispered it to Dany but his Queen just rolled her eyes.
Morg would have gotten it, Alibaba thought and glanced back out into the seats surrounding the table. Morgiana was glaring at him and he got some sweat on his face, spinning back around and looking more serious like those around him.
Yamraiha had finally sat down and she looked around at the nine people on Awul who held the greatest amount of power. The other RNG council members who did not come likely control less power, Yam thought as she smiled around at their ten person inner council. These three came to represent their government, interesting. I would have thought the Arbiter would have come instead of that girl there. Yamraiha was not the only one thinking this, as Sinbad and Daenerys were examining the same things.
"We getting this started or what?" Mandy snapped, her face in a permanent scowl that unnerved many around her. "Didn't come here to sit in a circle," she added, glaring over at the woman who she knew was just thinking about her.
Yamraiha got a bead of sweat on the left side of her face that she cursed herself for but smiled through nonetheless. "Very well," she said. The witch put her wooden staff down on the table in front of her and then lifted her hands opened up. "I hereby commence the first official Summit of Awul."
The young woman smiled as she clapped her hands together, and the lights in the room faded on the outsides of the stage while brightening in the middle of the room. The stage lifted up a few yards and then the empty spaces on the table in front of each of the people sitting around it glowed bright. Those parts of the table transformed from white marble to some sort of screen with a keyboard below it. They were both not physically there, but as Mandy tapped her finger down on one of the letters on her keyboard she saw it appear above the keyboard on the screen.
The young blonde girl looked up confusedly at what they needed computers for. She and the others around the table looked to Yamraiha who was typing fast, then reached her right hand to her screen and pressed in with her fingers like she was grabbing the screen itself. She threw her hand forward and opened up her grasp, and the window she just typed in flew onto each of their screens and to the center of the table where it floated as a holographic image.
"Itinerary?" Aokiji questioned. He read some of the list out in his head and leaned back on his chair with a sigh. "Day of the week? A calendar? International transportation system?" He scratched his stubbly black beard and glanced around the table to see what the others thought about this. Mandy had a scowl on her face, as did Thrall whose fists clenched over the table.
The Orc spoke up first, "I thought this was going to be an important meeting. You should have told us you were summoning our presences for this nonsense!" Thrall slammed a fist down on the table and his screen got all fuzzy.
"Read the first line again," Yamraiha said to the Orc who was getting ready to get up and leave.
The King of the Orcs calmed himself and reread the itinerary. "Important announcements," he muttered. He looked back up at the witch, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Yam began, "that I have something important that I need to announce, and if anyone else has something to say after-"
"What is your announcement?" Mandy asked. She interrupted Yamraiha mid-sentence and the ruler of the host country looked over at the young girl in surprise and some distaste as that was not professional or respectful. "I did not come to play games," Mandy snapped. "Get to it," she was tired of the look Yamraiha was giving her after only a couple of seconds and the witch started to see that this was a very impatient girl.
Mustang ground his teeth that the girl was embarrassing the RNG, but he had to admit that she was likely keeping many people who had thought that with the fall of Tetsuo and Trunks they had become weak fearful of their country. Yamraiha regained herself and smiled once more, as the news she had was good news. She turned right and the man next to her smirked and nodded his head, then she turned back and got ready for her announcement.
Yamraiha's small glance at Sinbad instantly put half the room on guard. Najenda lifted her eyebrows and Mandy stopped wondering whether or not she should just get up and leave. The way this woman looked at Sinbad, and the way he nodded back at her as if saying it was okay, it was suspicious to say the least. "The independent country of Magnoshutatt, and the Kingdom of Sindria have come to an agreement." Without pause or waiting for questions, she continued, "Magnoshutatt will for now on be a part of the Lower Awul alliance led by King Sinbad."
Murmurs filled the room as everyone in the darkened section turned to their neighbors and started whispering. Those at the table in the center of the room were mostly glaring at Sinbad. "I thought it strange," Daenerys began, her voice not accusatory but not friendly either. The young Queen continued while Yamraiha and Sinbad looked back at her, "That one of Sinbad's subordinates would take control of a country for herself. Now it makes sense why you came here and broke off from the RNG."
Sinbad's smile did not falter though Yamraiha looked a little nervous after that accusation. "I don't see what the issue is," Sinbad said with a smirk over at the silver haired Queen. "The witches and warlocks of this country chose Yamraiha to be their Chancellor, and she is one of the Eight Generals of Sindria, it is only natural that we closely ally ourselves."
"Before those magicians chose you as their leader," Mandy started and Yamraiha looked the younger girl in her dark emotionless eyes. "Did you tell them you were going to submit to a foreign King? Or did you hold off on that fact?"
Yamraiha saw accusatory looks from all around the room, even in the dark where she could not really tell if they were looking at her or if she was just paranoid. She grinned after a moment though and said, "I promised them I would break off from the old New Earth Government. I kept my promise to be rid of that rotten regime."
"Yam," Sinbad started, and the girl who was staring competitively over into Mandy's eyes opened them in surprise as she realized she forgot where she was for a second. She was about to turn away from the child when Mandy's irises turned green and flared like flames. Yamraiha could hear high-pitched screams in her ears and inside the green flames in Mandy's eyes she saw a body enflamed. It was her own- "Yam," Sinbad repeated and the woman nearly jumped out of her seat. The witch turned to Sinbad in surprise and she had so much sweat on her face that Sinbad's confident smile that he had had since sitting down faltered for a second.
The King of Sindria looked towards Mandy himself and his lips were flat as he examined her. Who is this girl? Where did she come from? Why does she have so much power, and why is she not afraid at all to use it in a place like this? His flat lips curved down a bit but he shook his head and a grin came back to his face. "Shall we continue?" Sinbad questioned and looked around. He focused on Aokiji and saw the Marine thinking hard on what Sinbad did, stealing their land in a democratic, "legal," way that yet seemed so underhanded to him.
"Do you have any other big announcements?" Mustang questioned, as this was already pretty disturbing to him and he did not know how he would like what came next.
"One more, yes," Sinbad replied. He reached down to his magical computer screen and started typing directly onto the windows. More windows kept showing up that he slid straight up onto the hologram in the center of the table. Most people in the room could not tell whether this was some sort of advanced technology, magic, or both. The fact that Sinbad knew how to use it this well meant that he was as involved with setting this Summit up as Yamraiha, and most of them were realizing he was probably pulling the strings the whole time.
I could leave right now, tell him I'm not playing his games. If I do though, he'll keep playing without me. I just need to beat this man, Mandy thought, her eyes narrowed into Sinbad's forehead the whole time.
Sinbad finally stopped typing and everyone stared at all the screens he had thrown up on the central blue hologram. There were pages full of numbers with the symbol for Credits, the currency used throughout all of Awul, next to them. There was a single map of the east coast of Awul from RNG lands in the north down to Rhodar's border, with Sindria's land smack dab in the middle of the coast. There were ports highlighted in Sindria and Rhodar, and red lines connecting those ports, across the Great Ocean on the map east of Awul, then past some more land until the red lines reached the large labeled country of Leam.
Alibaba smiled and leaned forward, getting a new vibe from what was happening. "Yes," he said excitedly. He looked towards Sinbad who had a semi-confused expression on his face as he was about to explain before being interrupted. "I knew we had to do something about the Emperor soon. I figured we would have to do it on our own, because the RNG and the others do not trade with Leam, but I'm sure if everyone helps out, King Titus will be happy to trade with all of Awul!"
"The Emperor? Leam? King Titus?" Aokiji questioned, looking carefully at the windows that were pulled up. There was very little about this place Leam up there except for numbers indicating profits from trade with them that seemed to be declining fast in recent months. The rest of the pages were showing more theoretical math equations, hypothetical situations, ones which showed much larger influxes of both Credits and natural resources.
Daenerys had realized this as well as she looked closer at one of the windows. "This window describes the benefits of trading with the Emperor." She turned and narrowed her eyes at Sinbad who continued to smile as he grabbed that window on his own screen and expanded it. Alibaba's excited smile faded as Daenerys spoke and he looked back at the enlarged window his wife expanded.
"The Emperor has been fighting a war with Leam for some time now," Sinbad began. "And while Leam has become less capable to protect our ships, less capable to pay for our support, the Emperor and his vast allies-" Sinbad minimized the window showing the increased profits by hypothetically trading with the Emperor. Then, he expanded the map and dragged Leam into the center of it on the hologram.
Everyone in the room stared at a map that depicted all of Aebrith. For many of them it was the first time seeing it, and their eyes opened wide as they wondered if it was to scale with the much smaller map of the continent of Awul. On the continent of Aebrith were many borders, but all of the lands inside those borders were currently gray. Sinbad tapped on the screen though and it filled in with color. As soon as he did this, his point got through to everyone in the room including Alibaba even if he did not want to admit it.
The bottom sixth of Aebrith, maybe more maybe less, was filled in pitch black. Above that section was a green circular area with rough borders and scattered green dots throughout the southern region around it, but no green areas touching the coasts. Everywhere else on the map was red: the coasts on either side of the green, above Leam all the way to the top of the continent and covering most of the large islands close to it.
"Titus is our ally," Alibaba said before anyone else could comment on the map. "We can not just start trading with his enemies. We don't betray our allies," he said this last part very seriously while looking into Sinbad's eyes.
"I agree," Sinbad said. "However, if we continue to support Leam, we may get more involved in their war than we can handle. A dozen countries make up most of this planet's landmass, and they are all allies." He let that sink in for a second. "I only suggest we do not make them our enemies, and that if it benefits our own nations and people, perhaps we begin trade with the Emperor's allies," he added that it was with the Emperor's allies and not the Emperor himself because of Alibaba's interruption, but this time the younger man did not jump out and say anything so he grinned and continued.
As Sinbad explained, Mandy examined the country that was filled-in green closer. The border of the country itself is within the green boundary. There are other green areas outside of Leam, not many, but some. There's also the question as to whether Sinbad is exaggerating this information or using a fake map. None of us would be able to tell from a first look. These numbers could help the RNG, but I know for certain that they will help Sinbad more. He is already taking land from the RNG. He is my biggest concern right now.
"Those other green areas around Leam," Mandy began, interrupting Sinbad and the others who had started discussing possible trade partners already in such a short time after him proposing the idea. He had so much planned out beforehand, she imagined in under five minutes he would be telling them all about a great trade deal he had set up already that would make them all rich. The girl saw Sinbad's smirk as he looked her way and she knew he thought he already had this. "What are they? The border of Leam ends yet you marked areas outside their borders as green. Why would you do that?"
Sinbad held up his hands defensively over the table. "It only made sense," he began. "If I was going to put all of the Emperor's allies in red, I had to put Leam's as well." The fact that only those other green bumps and lumpy areas outside of Leam were also on Leam's side seemed to make everyone even more convinced that they had to hop on the winning side already. Mandy almost regretted asking, but she caught herself as she was about to become quiet, and it hit her and made her lips curl up just the slightest amount.
Most people at the table had never seen this girl smile before. Her lips curled up from a frown and moved instead to a flat lip, but the left corner of her mouth inched up and Sinbad twitched. "The green side and the red side," Mandy began, her voice smug, the girl sounding victorious even as Sinbad kept his own calm smile on his face as he believed he still had control over the situation. "Those two sides do not represent the war between Leam and their allies, and the Emperor and their allies at all, does it?" Mandy asked.
Sinbad lifted up his eyebrows and his smile lowered a little. He became somewhat confused, because this girl in front of him had a knowing look and her gaze was taking him out of the controlling position he had constantly been in since first coming up with the idea for this Summit. He had sent his Generals out to Aebrith to look for business partners and made sure Yamraiha became the Chancellor of Magnoshutatt all leading up to today. It could have continued going to the next big step, but he suddenly became very nervous.
"What do you mean?" Daenerys asked this girl who had been keeping Sinbad more on his toes than she had, even though that was her original goal since showing up.
Mandy knew she had him and now that he lost his victorious grin, she lost the rush of the heat of the moment and her own lips curled back down. "Those two sides do not represent Leam and the Emperor, but two larger forces: The King, and The Resistance."
"What are those?" Thrall growled, annoyed that he was this out of the loop.
"The King?" Alibaba questioned. He had heard from his contacts in Leam about the King before. "So all that red area is the Cooperative?" He looked back at the map and realized just how outmatched the Resistance his friends talked about were.
Sinbad's smile returned and he shook his head slowly. "I do not know what the big revelation is, unless you just wanted to share with everyone that you knew who was fighting who?" His attempt to belittle her would have worked a lot more if someone did not suddenly stand up from the table.
Those at the table and everyone watching around the room saw this white haired woman get out of her seat and stand straight up next to the table. She stared at the map, at the horrible odds, the red all around the small bit of green, and it reminded her exactly of the War Against the Underworld. She even chuckled as she thought about how they could never just be on the winning side for once, as this was exactly how it was on her own world too. "I apologize King Sinbad," Najenda said as she stood there, forcing all attention on her. "But I must inform you that if you attempt to provide aid to Pao's enemies in any way, we will consider Sindria our enemy."
Instantly the room was in an uproar. No one knew what was going on anymore and Sinbad's eyes were huge. Out the corner of his eyes he saw Mandy smirking at him but the girl dropped her lips back into a frown after a second in case anyone looked away from Najenda and saw her smiling. She was enjoying this very much.
Alibaba finally asked what everyone else was already thinking, "What are you talking about?"
Najenda looked to the King of Rhodar and with a less threatening tone than she used with Sinbad she began, "The Mayor is currently overseas fighting with the Resistance. He brought along with him many of Pao's respected citizens, heroes in the War Against the Underworld, heroes who saved Metropolis, including one Timmy Turner."
"Which also means that the RNG will have to respectfully decline your offer to trade with our enemies," Mandy said to Sinbad in as disrespectful a tone as she could. Yamraiha was spinning from her King to the two women who just spoke against the plan and back again and she did not know what to do. Sinbad turned from Mandy to Aokiji and Mustang, the two men who were currently facing each other and speaking in hushed voices.
After a minute, Aokiji turned towards Sinbad and he stated, "I concur with Mandy. Timmy Turner saved Metropolis, and Son Goku saved all of Awul. The others who fought with them then and continue to do so now are our allies as well. And if Turner and Goku have made new allies, then they will be our allies as well."
"You would speak for all of the RNG?" Yamraiha questioned. She stared at the two men and continued harshly, "Millions of people are relying on you to make the right choice and you're picking the losing side of an unwinnable war for what?"
Sinbad did not stop her from speaking out, and what she said had many of the others at the table wondering what to do. Thrall scratched his green chin and he examined the map again, wondering what he should do himself for the benefit of the Horde. He knew the chiefs of the Tauren, Trolls, and other races who accompanied him here and were watching from the outer audience would want to discuss this with him further after the Summit.
When someone did respond to Yamraiha it was not either of the men she questioned, and the voice that echoed around the room made sweat cover some of the most powerful people on the continent's faces. "Do we speak for the people of the RNG?" Mandy questioned, her voice full of malice that sent shivers down the older witch's spine. Mandy's right hand clenched around her scythe's shaft, and since the black hood of her cloak was down, the witch looking at her could see the horns growing out of her already pointy blonde hair. Her horns twisted around and Mandy continued in a deeper voice, "You tricked this country into putting you in power so that you could get rid of one rotten controlling government and put it right into the hands of another. You do not speak for the people of Magnoshutatt. You sold them out to your King. In fact, if Magnoshutatt is no longer a country, just a pawn of Sindria, then why don't you go find somewhere else to sit? You no longer have a place at this table."
When Mandy stopped talking, a person could hear a pin drop in that room. Laxus sat back in his seat with an amused expression on his face, trying not to laugh while Leo sweat nervously next to him like everyone else in their row. "I believe things are getting out of hand," Sinbad stated suddenly. All eyes turned to the purple haired man who held up his arms in an open gesture towards Mandy who still had a very menacing look to her. "Yamraiha will still be in control of her own individual country, similar to how the King of the Cooperative," Sinbad motioned at the map, "allows those who ally with him to rule over themselves."
It sounded like he was still trying to advocate for joining the King for a second there, so Sinbad continued quickly to avoid confusion as he really was just making a comparison. "However, had I known beforehand that Son Goku was fighting with the Resistance, I never would have bet against him. Now that I know, I no longer believe the war in Aebrith is as one-sided as I once thought. I would like to continue examining our options for trade further, but first, I believe we would all appreciate a short break."
Mandy opened her mouth to chide at the King that he was the only one who needed time to regain his bearings, but before she could, Aokiji stood from his seat. "Good idea," he said and glanced towards Mandy who shot him a dirty look. He motioned with his head away from the table though and the girl began to wonder if there was something he actually needed to discuss now in private.
Most of the ten at the table got up, and Yamraiha picked up her staff. The flustered young woman who was starting to feel somewhat out of her league at this table kept a calm expression as she tapped her staff down on the ground and the stage lowered back to the normal floor level. Lights filled the entire room back up evenly and everyone else started getting up and stretching their legs. They were not in there for particularly long but the interactions between their world leaders were definitely intense. A few of the town leaders and village chiefs who were annoyed they did not get a seat at the table wiped sweat off their faces and were now glad they did not get caught in the middle of that exchange.
The room emptied out and Yamraiha announced that Magnoshutatt was open to all of them to freely roam only that she expected them to return from wherever they go to within thirty minutes so they could continue their Summit. Yamcha was leaning back in his chair for a while after everyone else left, hands behind his head as he stared straight up at the ceiling. What am I doing here? God the number of times I've asked that question in the last two and a half years. He shook his head and finally turned and floated out of his seat.
A small blue cat who stayed quietly sitting on a seat in the audience flew over to him, and Puar still had sweat all over its small body. "Yamcha!" It exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. "You did great up there!"
"Haha, thanks Puar. Didn't know not saying anything made me great," he pat his friend on the back though as she landed on his shoulder. The man who had become so adept at flying that it barely exerted him at all, thanks to his inability to walk correctly with a missing leg, floated out of the room and back towards the grand hall he was in before. As he left this time though, people gave him a much wider berth than on his way in and he sighed. "If I had known blowing up a bunch of monsters would have meant I gotta see these looks everywhere I go..." He began, but grinned by the time he faded off as he could not trick himself. He loved martial arts tournaments and baseball not just for the thrill of the sport, but because of the cheers and attention of the crowd as well.
Maybe I could get back into baseball, he thought as he floated down the steps. Set up a league. It will be more fun than back on Earth where everyone else was so much weaker than me. Here there could be dozens of powerful guys who wanna join up and start an intramural league, maybe even a professional one. The thought of standing at home plate with a baseball bat in hand again made the man in an orange gi smile.
Roy Mustang stood with two of his advisors and they watched as Yamcha floated past them only a few yards away but did not even glance their direction. He was looking straight ahead and grinning like he had this entire situation under his control. This man is a Z fighter. He has not spoken yet but we can be sure he has great plans for this Summit, Roy thought as Yamcha floated by.
"So you really didn't have anything to say?" A girl's voice snapped, making Mustang and his advisors turn around to see Mandy frowning at Aokiji who shrugged his shoulders at the girl a third his height.
"Sinbad is not a man we wish to antagonize," Aokiji said, looking into Mandy's eyes as he did. Mandy frowned but the Ice Man continued, "The NEG attacked his nation first, he has good reason to retaliate, but does not because we have pushed for good relations with Sindria. You must understand that Sinbad is not King Alibaba, and although you got the upper hand on that man once, be wary that you have now made a powerful enemy."
"He's already our enemy," Mandy said, her voice less of the whisper Aokiji was using. She spoke without worry that those talking in small circles around them would hear. Mandy lifted off the ground with scythe in hand and floated until she was eye level with Kuzan, putting her feet around the tops of the State Military leaders' heads. "He plotted and succeeded in taking land from our country. You see that right?"
Aokiji nodded as that much was clear from the second Yamraiha made her first announcement. Mustang stepped forward and looked up at the others' faces, "Next time we will need to do a stronger check if those inside our nation choose to split off." He saw Aokiji opening his mouth to argue but Mandy nodded her head and agreed faster. Usually Mustang did not agree with this girl, but he was glad she backed him up right there. Aokiji started to frown deeper, so Mustang continued, "We will not prevent a legitimate secession from the RNG, but if it is being pushed by a foreign influence, like Sinbad, so that he may take control instead, we should take measures to prevent it."
As the Renewed Nexus Government's present council members discussed primarily the first half of the first meeting of the Summit, Yamcha arrived over at Pao's group who were much more laid back. Najenda and Laxus were discussing a mission Fairy Tail was requested for that many of its mages teamed up to accomplish. Erza was leading the mission off the north shore of Awul about fifty miles on a mostly unexplored, uninhabited island that was shrouded in mystery.
Leo cut into their conversation when there was a small pause, "You know, I wonder if Aang is doing alright running Pao without the rest of the council? I think it might be best if-"
"Uh-uh, Leo," Najenda said and shook her head. The teenage mutant ninja turtle grimaced as the woman turned fully to him. "You're sticking with us to the end of this Summit. You've got some big shoes to fill, don't forget that."
Leonardo opened his eyes in surprise, then slowly nodded his head at the woman who was on the old council with the deceased Master Splinter. Najenda turned to Yamcha next, "And you," she began in an accusatory tone that had Yamcha and Puar gaining sweat drops on the left sides of their faces. "I gave you a second to speak up once the Resistance was mentioned. Next time, you should be the one speaking on Goku's behalf, not myself."
"Oh I think you did a great job," Yamcha said and chuckled nervously. "Besides, I'm not all that important-"
"No you're not," Najenda agreed with a nod of her head, making Yamcha's bottom lip drop. She smirked and continued, "But they all think you are. We can use that."
The woman quieted down and she glanced left quickly. The others followed her gaze and watched as a group of five walked their way, a large green Orc in the middle and varying creatures walking on either side of him. "The benefits from the Cooperative are many, and these fools want to ignore them," a blue-skinned tall troll with spiky orange hair hissed on Thrall's left side.
"You want to go to war with Son Goku?" Thrall growled back, a growl that made all of the other Horde Chiefs frown at the idea of it. The Orc Chieftain continued, "We would not even have to worry about when he returns himself, the military might of Pao would crush us without him..." The creatures walked past the small group from Pao who were all facing each other as if they were not listening, and Najenda and Laxus smirked as they heard what the King of Durotar said.
"Think they're talking about Vegeta and Gohan?" Leo asked.
Laxus nodded but Najenda smirked and added, "Not to mention the Master of Fairy Tail." Laxus looked at her skeptically but Najenda kept smirking and she said, "I've heard some stories about you Laxus Dreyar, the Lightning Dragon Slayer, the man who defeated two of the Underworld's highest ranks." Laxus stared at her with widening eyes as he realized these were not her own words but things she had heard from someone else.
I've got a reputation on this world, Laxus thought. He crossed his muscular arms in front of his body and grinned. It's about damn time. He kept grinning as he glanced over at the creatures walking away, "That Thrall is not as stupid as he looks. I would have been down for a good fight though if they really did want to go to war."
Laxus smirked but Najenda lost her own. "As stupid as he looks?" She questioned, lifting her eyebrows at the muscular young man. Laxus became confused and he nodded but she continued, "Why would you say that? Because of his race?"
Laxus got a few beads of sweat on his face and looked pretty uncomfortable from that question. "No, just that-"
"No," Najenda interrupted. She looked him in the eyes, shaking her head.
"It was a joke," Laxus said in a deadpan voice, guessing she did not get it as he was not really talking about Orcs as a whole as much of just the appearance of this one.
The white haired woman shook her head at him though. "Do you wonder why all the Orcs flocked to Orgrimmar? Question why there are not more Trolls or Tauren in the big cities of Rhodar and the RNG, or even in Pao?" Najenda kept frowning as she continued, "It is because when you say something like that, it breeds a sense of superiority over their race. They look ugly and stupid to us, so we treat them as such. And maybe you don't," Najenda continued quickly as Laxus opened his mouth to retort. "Maybe you really are tolerant of their people, but imagine a five year old Orc just heard you call one of his people stupid solely because of what he looked like. You could imagine why that boy would want to stay with his own people, why he would grow to hate humans even."
None of the others around Najenda said anything for a few seconds. Then Laxus scratched the back of his head and muttered, "Never really thought about it that way."
"How do you know so much about this?" Leo questioned, as he himself had never even thought about those things although he could relate to what she was saying as his entire life he had been called a freak by humans who saw the way he looked.
Najenda lost her deep frown and smiled softly, "I spent some time with the Alliance when they fought the Horde before the last treaty. The hatred between their races had been compounded over decades of observable racial-based conflicts and events on their world. It was eye opening," she finished.
"On a less serious note," Yamcha spoke up, half wanting to make Laxus feel less awkward, and half because he was feeling weird during this conversation too. He never really understood what issue people had with other races, especially since on his own world he voted for a blue dog to be president. He chuckled and started, "How do you think Goku's doing over on Aebrith?" He did not ask about Krillin as he expected his short friend was having difficulty locating his missing wife.
"I think they're all doing well, at least I hope they are," Najenda said, making sure not to sound too confident. "Though even the Mayor has opponents he can not defeat. I hope he has not yet run into one of those while fighting this 'King' of Aebrith we have been hearing about recently."
"Used to be almost no information about what was going on in Aebrith reached us over here," Leo said and scratched the back of his green head, fixing the blue mask tied back there into a better position. "Now I feel like every week we're hearing something else about it."
"Aslan had a lot of information to share," Najenda said. "I only wish the Mayor and the others had waited around a little longer to hear it all."
"Heh," Laxus scoffed. "Those idiots were too excited to leave," he shook his head as he thought about the big goodbye they had for the crew that debarked from Awul on the Thousand Sunny. "They'll be alright though," he added confidently.
"Yeah," Yamcha said, smiling lightly but not in a very confident way himself. Last time I went to Aebrith I almost got killed, by Satan. Not planning on heading back there anytime soon, he thought with a shiver, blue flames filling his memory.
The Summit started back up again and the group of ten at the main table worked together to discuss a calendar of twelve months, decide what day to start their dating system at: whether in the past, present, or future, and many other trivial things that had never been concretely defined on Awul before. A few guests invited to the meeting spoke up on occasion and it seemed to be allowed despite their positions around the outsides of the room, so more of them felt free to speak their minds and the Summit became a lot calmer and more open after the first rough patch they hit.
While they were in the middle of discussing a possible monorail system connecting the ten largest cities on Awul, Najenda felt her right arm vibrate. She darted her left purple eye down at the green steel of her arm as she lifted it above the table. A small panel opened up and revealed a screen below it that was black with a single white line horizontally through it.
Daenerys faded off from her sentence and glared over at the woman with whiter hair than her own, but Najenda had an extremely serious look on her face for a discussion about railways. "Is there a problem?" Queen Daenerys questioned.
Out from the arm Najenda was staring intensely at, a low voice obviously masked by some sort of voice distortion said two words. "Balbadd City." After those words were said, the white line that spiked during it flattened again and then the green steel arm's open panel re-shut.
"What about Balbadd City?" Alibaba asked, looking over at the woman with a steel green arm in confusion and a small bit of hostility though he was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Daenerys was glaring a lot more hostilely towards Najenda, and her two guards along with Morgiana all stood up from their seats nervously. Others around the room started whispering to each other and the entire Summit filled with noise.
Leo and Laxus looked at each other and both had grim expressions on their faces. They stood up and walked towards the stage where Najenda was already getting to her feet. She spun to Laxus who she knew was behind her and she nodded at him, "Go."
Laxus turned into a bolt of lightning that shot towards the exit of the room and vanished in a second. Alibaba jumped up now and he put his hand down on the hilt of his black sword. "What is the meaning of this? Is he going to our Capital?!"
"Representative of Pao, explain yourself!" Yamraiha shouted. Thrall slammed down his fists and roared out his agreement, and the whole room filled with angry shouts towards Najenda and Leo who was nervously standing behind her at the base of the stage.
Najenda ground her teeth as she regretted having to say this in front of so many people. They can not all be trusted. One or more of them could be corrupt for all I know. She was in a tight spot, but Alibaba's hand was clenching around the hilt of his sword and she grimaced. "That was an emergency channel one of my spies was only to use in an extreme circumstance." Everyone looked at this woman in confusion and many opened their eyes wide in surprise that she claimed to have spies.
"Do you have spies in Rhodar?" Daenerys growled. She stopped towards Najenda, "And what was that about Balbadd City? Are you planning-"
"My spy said 'Balbadd City,' which if he is risking breaking radio silence, and blowing his own cover to tell me, then whatever is going to happen there is going to be disastrous." Alibaba and Daenerys opened their mouths to shout, and Najenda ground her teeth again then snapped, "The Underlords." Sorry Lubba, after this you must return to Pao. They will discover it was you. Do not be stupid. "Return to your city," Najenda said, looking straight into the Queen and then the King's eyes. "Protect your people. If the Underlords were to attack, right now would be the best time while the two of you and Morgiana are out of the city. Balbadd is unprotected, which is why I sent Laxus ahead."
"You have a spy in the Underlords?" Sinbad questioned. Everyone at the main table were up on their feet now, and Sinbad scratched his chin as he stared thoughtfully at this woman. A town of a few hundred, maybe a thousand, and they did what my entire country could not. All who tried infiltration were killed in the recruitment process.
"Why did he only say the city's name?" Alibaba questioned, though his hand had left the hilt of his weapon. "What about when the attack is coming, or how, or-"
"Think for a second, if every member of the Underlords is involved with this mission, they would all know the where. Depending on how much information he or she gave though, the Underlords trying to smoke out my spy could potentially find him or her easier." Everyone else around Najenda looked at her understandingly, and a few of them were getting increasingly nervous. They had never heard of the woman before, yet she was representing the town full of the most powerful people on Awul, and she sounded like an experienced war General or spymaster or something.
"Is everyone in Pao this nuts?" The Troll chieftain muttered to the Blood Elf next to him. He suddenly changed his mind about wanting to trade with Aebrith's Co-op countries.
"We need to get back," Alibaba said. He and Daenerys rushed for the exit and their guards ran after them.
"The Summit is over," a loud voice announced. Everyone spun towards the table and saw Mandy getting off her chair and walking away from the table. "There is no point in continuing without Rhodar. Let us continue this at a later date." She lifted her scythe and tapped the butt of the staff down on the ground. The floor in front of her ripped open and a green portal shot out of it. She stepped straight through it and her voice carried back into the room, "Let's go."
Aokiji sighed and got off his chair. Making power moves until the very end, he shook his head but walked towards the portal and straight through it after the girl, giving a small wave over his shoulder as he did.
Hawkeye and Armstrong glanced at each other nervously and then up at Mustang whose fists were clenched over the table but knew he could not stay now that the other RNG leaders made it clear this Summit was over. He got up and walked towards the portal, and some sweat formed on his face as he had never gone through one of these green ones before. If it's anything like that black one that silver haired teen made though, it should be fine, he thought to calm his nerves. "Colonel, General Armstrong, take back our ship," he said, and his two subordinates let out sighs of relief that they did not have to step into the scary swirling portal that the scary girl created.
Najenda walked away as Mustang stepped into the portal. Sinbad turned to Yamraiha and the two of them talked, while other representatives all around the room spoke loudly with each other about the surprising early end to the Summit. The former assassin who left the room was trailed by a one-legged martial artist and ninja turtle on either side of her. "An attack on Rhodar's capital," Najenda said, some sweat rolling down the right side of her face as she did. "These Underlords have either doomed themselves, or have become stronger than I already feared. One spy is no longer enough to combat this organization."
"What are you saying?" Yamcha asked her.
Najenda stared straight ahead and said in an icy voice, "It's time for another war."
A/N Hope you enjoyed! This chapter we jumped back over to Awul to see what's going on, so I hope y'all liked the Summit. Even though they're not greatly involved with the main plot line, I don't want to leave out all these characters from the first Saga of Nexus, especially since they, might, come back into the fold later on. It seems even more likely now that all the leaders of Awul learn about the war between the Resistance and the Cooperative, though not all of them are as inclined to help the Resistance as others. The Underlords make their move! Lubba sends Najenda a warning, and everyone rushes to Balbadd to protect it! What will happen?! Next part of this chapter we head back to Aebrith, but this is not over, not for a long shot. Thanks for reading. 'Till next time!