Daybreak..6am early in the morning Clandestine awakes first along with a few men and woman gathering rations and water, the others soowing begun to awake as well and sharpen their swords,polish their guns and ready their shields. Ember sends her second-in-command an text message wishing her a safe battle and a swift victory. The crimson-haired woman smiles and awakens Minikio and Runi.
"Good morning" she says cheerfully as they sit up, looking out at the landscape that has seemed to have changed from the previous day.
Runi yawns and nods, but is still tired.
"Did you have another nightmare?" Minikio asks, worriedly. The girl shrugs it off and it was this realization that her,her friends and The Brigands of Dalidstad are all mere yards away from Fafir's Palace. Strange enough their seem to be no guards at the front gate. Could Fafir had estimated their arrival? Wouldn't be surprising for a primordial deity that has lived for billions of years.
"We might wanna ready ourselves as soon as possible, the sun is already rising and we are yet to be prepared. Ready yourselves now girls! Wake Mikki and her crew if you could please. I must do some light excercises before I get geared up." Clandestine says as she starts to stretch.
Runi knocks on the space ship door and Pega fully dress answers it with a laser gun of sorts,she escorts Runi in and introduces her friends. Mikki looks at Runi and quickly dismisses her. The other girls exist the ship and join the others at the massive camp.
It is full of tents and tents of every color imaginable,some are larger than houses,some are made entirely of metal and one tent seems to be made of stone or glass...The whole thing resembles nothing more than a giant rock garden.
"Are those really tents?" Runi asks incredulously.
"No silly, the tents look much like the tents of your own people but not really!" Mikki responds enthusiastically.
Pegas head swivels around.
"That is what I said!"
A voice suddenly appears next to her,followed by a huge shadow falling across the small group,they turn back and see a man who has appeared just out of reach of the rays of sunshine,he is a dark skinned man wearing an olive green tunic which reaches down to his ankles and blue trousers which have been replaced with a bright red belt. He also has on a pair of thick spectacles,a white turban adorns his head and he carries two large swords on either side.
"What do you think of our new home? I would love to know,do you find us a suitable host for you?" the man asks jovially as he walks over to one of the many tents.
Pegas eyes widen.
"Who are you!?" She yells, pointing her blaster at him.
The man does not speak his name,but only readies his own weapons and practice his own sword techniques. "Rest assured ladies,I am but a mere solider apart of the Brigands of Dalistad. We Brigands will once again see Luna and she will be our hero." The strange man replied. He and a diverse bunch trained their own way. The sun was getting higher and higher in the day. Clandestine had the binoculars handed to her and from across the no man's land betwixt them and Fafir's Palace,guards and Fafkin soliders draped in black were ready for a fight. Could Fafir have already known a attempt to rescue Luna would be made? If not,his clairvoyance and foresight,prove insurmountable.
"Hmm the big guy sent out some friends to play huh? Well,guess we better do what we can huh? I just hope,no one dies." Clandestine said a little worried. She motioned sign language to Kay and Mei,the two blue haired siblings gather sheilds, spears,maces and the sort for soliders who were empty handed. These Brigands were scrawny and looked no more than ninety pounds, yet Kay and Mei struck fear into their hearts by one loud wack across the ground. Immediately the weak solders straightened up their act and readied themselves.
Meanwhile, Fafir himself was dressed in all grey,from head to toe he wore a grey cape with bright red fur. The Beast God made his way to the throne and could only envision his enemies being utterly destroyed. Soon and very soon,by Quronessa's order or his own. Things were about to get hectic. He did wonder how long his newfound foes were camping out for? No matter,even in his weaken power,Fafir was indeed a force to be reckoned with. A Fafkin minion alerted him of the enemy outside through a communicator. Fafir laughed it off and gave the instruction. "At sunset you will have no mercy on them,do your best to defeat them and do not by any means. Hold back,otherwise I will eviscerate you." The Beast God commanded.
"Fafkin 14! What was the order?" Another Fafkin soldier asked? "At sunset,we strike, Lord Fafir did say to not hold back. However he didn't say to NOT kill them. Hmmph. Perhaps,we may wanna have some fun comrade." The Head Fafkin solder said. The other troops of Fafir's squadron took their respective places and awaited the setting of the sun,this confused Clandestine and her soliders. They wondered why did they not start to attack?
An eerie calm between two forces,one of pure unadulterated evil and the other,an force of rag-tag former criminals,outcasts, ex-cadets and the abnormal. They all stood for one girl and that girl is named Luna. Just then Azou,Luna's older sister walked out the space ship and could sense the tension and the danger in the air. She looked at the sun and saw its begin its descent. Now was a better time for a speech,so who better than the one who sacrificed her own life for her little sister when Ghost-Wound attacked Vei Shong Academy. The blue girl stood on a few boxes and noticed the Brigands and other troops were beginning to become intimidated and doubt. So she had to do something.
Murmuring and clamoring began to grow louder and louder. It grew into a little a mass panic,then Azou shouted quieting them down. Each solider gazed at this girl, most didn't personally know her,but they knew she was the Leader of the Ojoo Race. If she was able to teach thousands of her own kin,what was stopping her from leading the Brigands?
"Now listen up and listen good!! I am the eldest of Skyra Hrotha and Lord Unknown, my sister, YOUR Blind Saviour is in need of saving, she has helped us plenty, now it's OUR time to strike and it's OUR time to fight!! We can not be cowards and run with our tails in between our legs. Would Luna want that? Would the captives that Fafir so unfairly captured want that?
NO!! QUIT YOUR COMPLAINING, QUIT YOUR WHINING AND LET'S NOT JUST ALLOW FAFIR TO BULLY US!! We're takin' a stand and that stand is TONIGHT!! WHO DO WE FIGHT FOR!!?" Azou yelled. The massive throngs of Brigands and soldiers were uncertain and also confused,yet some began to understand what Azou was doing.
Clandestine stood next to the powerful blue girl and raised her fist in the air. A man with a trumpet stood on the far left and awaited to blow his horn. "THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU,NOR AZOU,NOR ME!! IT'S ABOUT NEO ITSELF, WE NEED TO SAVE IT'S PROTECTOR. You can be her protectors. So once again. WHO DO WE FIGHT FOR?" Clandestine said rallying everyone together. All the soilders shouted with a mighty voice with one pledge. "FOR AETHER,FOR NEO,FOR THE BLIND SAVIOUR!!!!" They roared. Fafir heard them and bursted out of the throne room window. He raised his hand signaling his troops to charge. The sun had set and the trumpet was blown.
Within seconds the Brigands charged screaming battle cries and raising their swords. "For Aether!! For Aether!" They yelled as they joined forces with the other soldiers.
Mikki ran towards the edge of the camp where the Brigands had left. Carnage soon followed as Fafkin warriors slapped and sliced their way through the once massive throng of people with mild difficulty.
"We must hurry,if any of them get too close then they'll be crushed under our feet and I don't know about the rest of you but we can't afford to lose anyone tonight." Mikki shouted urgently.
"Don't worry,I've got the plans in case of anything." Clandestine replied. "Let's go guys." She commanded her team. They started to form their plan of attack but the sound of the horn continued to ring throughout the area,the Brigand forces miraculously were beginning to overpower Fafir's lesser troops.
Just then Quronessa arrived in the scene. She overpowers most of the advancing Brigands sending them into rivers,trees and even the palace itself. She laughed and continued her own assault. She picked up a sword and swung,slashing it at several of the weaker Brigands who had managed to break through her line,but she soon found herself surrounded. A huge sword descended upon her and cut her down with ease. Shocked Quronessa quickly rose back up and healed herself.
"It'll take a lot more than a random sword to end me. Now since I'm surrounded how about I give you all a treat?" The woman sneakily said. With her own sword in hand she began to swing it,however it was stopped by none other than Azou. Azou told Mikki and Clandestine along with the others to go find Luna. She figured sense Galastrom's training, she'd be more than enough for Fafir's strongest commander.
Quronessa frowned and struggled to free her sword from the blue girl's hand. "You are despicable, working for a monster such as Fafir. I can see in your eyes,you lost yourself, well maybe it can be helped. I'm Azou." She smiled while she easily tanked a full swing from Quronessa's blade.
As the two women fight, numerous battles were happening at once.
The battle raged on around them and they found Brigands and soldiers engaged in combat. Mikki and Clandestine split ways,each one going in different directions to find Luna.
Inside the girls with Mikki and Clandestine freed the prisoners. They went their went own ways and dispatched any prison guards that dare trifled with them. All went well with Mikki until she and her band of prisoners ran into a dead end. All seemed lost,than she remembered she had Gala.
"Hey Gala wanna break a wall and not get yelled at huh?" Mikki asked the grey skinned beauty. Gala smiled and immediately destroyed the wall just by walking through it with her amazing durability. Astonished the prisoners followed Mikki out the lower west entrance that was on the second floor.
Meanwhile Corotani and Clandestine freed prisoners and helped them out the broken windows on the other three floors. That was until the two girls stumbled into Runi and Minikio. Runi had the three girls follow her to the basement wing. Once they left the elevator, they notice it was sparse and empty. What could this mean?
Suddenly they noticed something strange in a corner. Runi approached the corner to look at whatever it was and gasped seeing the same thing Mikki and Clandestine did. On the table lay Luna's unconscious form.
Clandestine rushed forward and lifted Luna's head with minimal effort. The girl's purple body was covered in dirt,sweat and smelled of funk. Her long black hair drooped. She quickly awoke and was very excited to see her old friends again. The girls equally were happy to see her and hugged her tightly.
Gala mostly tackled Luna and kissed her on her head and brushed her hair with her hand. "You in a gown? What did they do you Hmm? Gala will beat them up!! Is Mommy okay?" Gala asked Luna who couldn't help but cry hearing her voice. She smiled and kissed Gala on the cheek and booped her nose.
"Hehe..yeah. I'm okay,but we should probably get outta here. What's happening out there? How did you all find me?" Luna asked.
"Oh,we have some friends that can track you like an animal, they tracked you down with Fafir's signal and took out everyone who tried to escape," Minikio replied. Luna sighed in relief but her mood suddenly shifted into annoyance.
"Where is he anyway?" She mumbled angrily.
"Yeah we haven't seen him in awhile. Maybe he is hiding or avoiding us. Oh wait I know!!" Minikio said excitedly,she pulled out a device. Everyone looked at her with confused faces except Lunas who remained silent. Minikio turned on the gadget and it started to show Fafir in every detail,he was running and jumping in a large dark forest. There were small lights everywhere but still no sight of Fafir. "Hmmm maybe we should split up.." Runi suggested.
"No I won't let you leave,that guy kidnapped me remember? He had his goons do the dirty work." Luna argued.
"Look let's just get outta here, I wanna go home and rest from this horrid nightmare. Oh and girls..before we leave. I do have one more person that I think we should take." Luna said. The girls helped Luna to her feet and tended to any wounds.
"Who's the girl Luna? Look we need to hurry more guards may be own their way here so spill the beans." Mikki ordered. Luna yelled for the hidden girl to appear and Saruna walked out from the shadows. "I am Saruna,pleased to meet you friends of Luna. I can assure you,I can be a very reliable benefactor and supportive friend." The curly haired woman said as she dusted dirt from her dress.