The Final Fantasy

[Navras]

"Find any survivors! Gather everyone outside of the camp, pick up anything that can be used or salvaged, leave the dead!"
The Vextorian general barked his orders to all those around him that had survived. This battle was unexpected, it was sudden, quick, and disastorous for them. The number of casualties was currently unknown. Only after getting everyone and getting everything out could they tally up the total number of survivors. He himself had been wounded in battle. With that injury and the catastrophic damage to the camp, right after the emperor himself had paid a visit to them! He was sure to be demoted, if not executed for this. The general looked over to the right and saw Kain shoot up the flare, he assumed that it was in the hopes that a Vextorian air ship may be nearby. He walked over towards Kain, cradeling his injured arm as he went. "Kain!" He shouted to him, waving his good arm to get his attention.
_

"What were the casualties?" Godrick asked one of the more high ranking rebels who had survived.
"At least fifteen deaths and many more injuries, including the captain comander sir."
"Dead or injured?" Godrick asked, turning to the man.
"Dead sir."
Godrick turned away from the rebel and looked down at the ground. The death of the captain in commande meant that he was in charge from now on, and now with less that fity men to operate with...
"Was the operation overal succesful in your eyes?" Godrick asked the man, looking at him again. He smiled and nodded. "Right..." Godrick nodded and stood up. He looked around at the small mountain valley that they had temporarily inhabited. If you had been here the whole time, you wouldn't even know that a battle had just taken place not two thousand yards away. "We got luckey today," Godrick said. "The Vextorian soldiers are becoming more and more advanced, one of the ones I fought was able to summon." The rebel gasped. Godrick looked at him and said, "Get the wounded to the caves a couple of miles away. If we can hide in those catacombs for a while, we might be able to recoporate. Also, once we're there, tell everyone to gather in the deepest cave, save for the wounded. As the new leader of the Vextorian rebellion, I need to rose the troops don't I?" Godrick smiled, clapped the rebel on the shoulder and said, "We leave in three minutes."

[---------------]

OoC: General is the highest rank, except during an actual war battle. So I am assuming you're affraid of the executives demoting you.

PS: Kain is a Lieutenant General, which is a couple of ranks below General.

IC: Kain looked to his left to see the General calling him over. Kain rushed to him. "General," Kain said, aknowledging his superior, when he saw that the General had a broken arm. He quickly pulled out a potion and poured it on the General's wound, and watched it heal almost instantaneously. "General, we should put out the fire. We need someone who knows Water-Magic."

[Navras]

"No," the general said to Kain, rolling his arm around a couple of times. "It's too late, with that oil burning, the camp is hopeless... we have no choice but to withdraw." The general clapped his hand on Kain's shoulder and said, "Gather any survivors that you can and any supplies you can find! Our rendezvous point is a mile away from the camp, out of this canyon that was our undoing." The general let go of Kain's shoulder and looked down at the ground. "This is a sad day for Vextoria..." After saying his piece, the general walked away from Kain, shouting orders at anyone he could see that was still alive in order to keep them alive.

[galesonic]

Maxwell managed to get to the rendez-vouz point of the Rebellion and noticed them rounding up the wounded and moving out. "they must be taking them to a safe place." he wondered as he continued. Using the spells he drew from the Vextorian soldiers during the raid, he managed to use Cure on some of the wounded, but had to save some stocked for Godrick. He took a few minutes to look around and then found him. He ran directly to him and gave a salute. "I got the information of spells from the Vextorian soldiers you asked me to get, Godrick." he said as he took out a list. "Apparently, they have the same basic spells we do, with the exception of Sleep and Silence. although, the navy part of Vextoria was there too, since I also found Water as well."

[Navras]

OOC: Galesonic, since you're able to absorb spells from enemies, I need you to do two things. One, I need you to put in your App in the OOC thread the new spells that you learn. Two, let me decide what spells you learn. I can't have you learning something like curaga in the third battle can I? Anyways, make the change in your app please.
IC:

Godrick turned to Maxwell as he saluted him and nodded in return. After hearing his report, Godrick nodded and said, "Alright, you did good maxwell. But I doubt anyone from teh navy was there seeing as we're roughly a hundred miles from the sea." Godrick smiled and patted Maxwell on the shoulder. "As for the spells, you'll have to show me just how to use them later. If we can teach these to everyone, that we would have a distinct advantage over the Vextorians." Godrick took his hand off of Maxwell's shoulder and pointed over to where there others were helping whoever they could. "For now, go and help the others. In a minute in half, we leave for the safty of the caves. And in twenty minutes time, I have a message for the rebellion. I will expect you to be at my side." With that, Godrick turned and walked away from Maxwell, pondering inside of his mind just what he might say to those who have lost loved ones or friends.

[Serenity the Candyman]

Johnathan nodded and followed the Emperor to where ever he was taking them both. [i]A special force? It sounds like the Emperor is really in trouble[/i] Johnathan thought as they walked. "A Special Force, like a unique team of men with highly established talents?" he inquired. "I would like to say it is an extreme honor to be qualified for such a position." Johnathan was hoping this would open up the Emperor more.

[---------------]

Kain nodded, and went into what was left of the camp. There was little signs of life; any survivors were already with the General. Kain then searched the camp for any materials. After a few minutes, it had seemed that everything was charred. However, if the last room he searched, he found a couple of potions. He grabbed them and began walking out, until something caught his eye. In the rubble was something shiny. Kain quickly reached in and pulled out what appeared to be a silver box. He opened it, and feasted his eyes upon a prismic shard made of what appeared to be Crystal.

[i]No, not again,[/i] he thought, as he hid the Crystal upon his person and exited the camp. He then jumped high into the air and headed towards the rendevous point...

[Navras]

"Yes, you could say that they're a unique bunch," Emperor Despair said to Johnathan, sporting a rather devilish smile. They took a right down a hall way and continued down that way in silence for some time. After perhaps ten minutes of walking in silence in the same direction, they took a left and headed down and different hall. At the end of this hall (comparatively smaller than the last) was a large set of double doors. Emperor Despair looked around at the hall and the doors and said aloud, breaking the silence, "My goodness! It must have been months since I've been down this hall... I must remember to explore my home a bit more thoroughly..." Emperor Despair stopped just in front of the doors and turned back to Johnathan. "Now then, I leave opening the door to you. Inside you'll find another small hallway, if I remember right, that leads to another door that requires a key, of which I have. Wait for me there."
_

[Serenity the Candyman]

"Understood." Johnathan said as he began moving through the door into the hallway. [i]The Emperor smiled?![/i] thought Johnathan as he made his way. [i]Of all things. I almost dont know what to say to it. And what his his purpose behind getting this group together? So many questions going through my mind that it is hurting my head. [/i] Johnathan began rubbing his forehead. [i] This is a very long hallway[/i] he thought as he was getting closer to the door. Finally, in front of him was a large, Steel Door, and he waited for the Emperor to come with the key.

[galesonic]

"Right." Maxwell stated as he walked towards the injured and started rounding up the medical staff, which happened to be soldiers who were in the operation that knew how to make potions. They managed to make potions to lessen the pain of the injuries, but couldn't cure them. Maxwell could use Cure, but he would run out seeing how many were injured and how little he had left. He picked upa cot with an injured soldier and started moving him to another part of the point, at least to make him comfortable before they move them the cave for cover. "Make enough potion to cure them of pain. If we cannot, I may have to put them to sleep." he told a medical soldier who just said 'yes sir' and told the others. The medical staff was working harder than expected. Though the plan worked flawlessly, it still cost a lot of casualties for the Rebellion.

[Navras]

Emperor Despair promptly and silently walked up behind Johnathan to the large steel door. He reached into the pouch of his robe and removed a small diamond shaped piece of green metal.
"This is the key," he said, holding it in the palm of his hand so that Johnathan can see it. "This metal is special and precious. It's not natural, or rather, I should say there wasn't enough of it in the world for us to put it to good use. So we had to manufacture it. Once you step inside this room, you'll receive a key of your own so that you can come and go as you please from this place. Now then, shall we see what's inside?" Turning away from Johnathan, he raised the key to a small diamond shaped hole in the door. Placing the key inside, he took a step back. Putting his arm across Johnathan's should, he said, "You had best do the same. It can be dangerous standing too close."
The door began to rumbled and quake as though it were alive. There were many clicking and whirling sounds from inside of the walls. Finally, the door began to lift up, sliding up into the ceiling. Emperor Despair and Johnathan were suddenly bathed in light as the door climbed past their heads. After their eyes had recovered from the initial shock, they were beheld to a glorious sight.
Inside were several dozen people, running about, helping others, assembling, reporting, and assessing. The room was alive with the buzz of voices and activity. Emperor Despair took his first few steps inside of the room, leaving Johnathan behind where he stood. Upon his entering of the room, activity swiftly came to a halt inside.
"Hail, his Majesty Emperor Despair!" someone called out. In response, everyman inside stood, saluted their emperor and called, "My lord!"
"As you were gentle men," Emperor Despair said, waving his hand. They called out "Sir!" and went back to whatever it was that they had been doing. Emperor Despair turned back to Johnathan and said, "You're not going to see everything from just standing there. These men are some of the others that I've chosen to head this project out, as you will be soon enough. But the real surprise is yet to come. Come, they're being stored in the back." Without another word, Emperor Despair turned and walked deeper into the throng of people, not waiting for Johnathan to follow.
_

"Kain," the general called as Kain drew closer. He walked over to Kain and motioned for him to stop. "In total, our loses reach well into the better part of a hundred plus men. They were here only minutes, and yet..." The general turned away from Kain and looked at his remaining men, most of which were either helping the wounded or carrying supplies. Those that weren't were standing in line, trying to reform their lines in case the enemy came back.
"This is catastrophic," the General said to Kain. "With these loses... I just know I'll be demoted, if not executed. I take full responsibility for this..." Turning back to Kain, he clapped his hand on his shoulder and said, "You're going to be taking up the mantle after me soldier, as you're the second highest in rank here. If I'm not executed, it'll be an honor to serve under you. Go on, go talk to your troops, they'll need some sort of pep talk after this loss..." With that, he turned and walked away from Kain, wondering just what his punishment was going to be.
_

"What?" Emperor Mundous asked angrily, slamming his fist on his portable throne inside of his Air Ship Julliard.
"Sir, the battalion that you addressed early this morning at dawn, it's suffered cataclysmic losses sir."
"What happened?" Emperor Mundous demanded, standing up and glaring at the soldier reporting his bad news to him.
"They were ambushed, my lord, by rebellious men."
"What are they're losses?"
"My lord... It's hard to say, but from the reports we've gotten and the distress signal we received, the entire camp was lost and the death toll in well over a hundred sire."
Emperor Mundous gritted his teeth, hatred filling his eyes at defeat by a bunch of lowly rebellious scum. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Send a Medical Airship to the camp, get the wounded out of there. Also, have the commanding general executed on the spot. Failure cannot be tolerated, not if we are to defeat my brothers and take the throne as our own!"
"My lord," the soldier said, bowing to his emperor.
"Who is the one with second highest rank there?"
"A soldier named Kain my lord."
"Put him in charge. Instruct him to have the troops retreat from enemy territory for now, regroup with the battalion that I'll be sending just outside of the border and then overwhelm those pathetic worms called rebels!"
"My lord!"
_

*Ten minutes later, at the Rebellion hide out in the Tiny mountains*

Godrick stood in front of everyone with Maxwell at his side. He looked around at all of those before him, less than forty if he had mentally counted right. All of them had lost some one dear to them today or would later on that night should sickness take hold of them. What could he say? That he hadn't foreseen this happening? The truth was that he did, and so did they. If they hadn't, they're fools. Godrick took in a deep breath and began.
"Our captain commander is dead," he began, pausing to see if he invoked any reaction from anyone. when he didn't, he continued. "That means that I'm in charge now. That means I have to say something to comfort you don't I? Well the truth is that I can't. You've all lost a loved one or a friend or a loved one or friend is injured and unable to hear my words now. I can't bring back the dead, that is a privilege no man can grasp." At this, there were a few upset cries throughout the crowd. He raised his hands for quiet and continued. "I may not be able to bring the dead back to life, but I can bring Vextoria to it's knees! I can liberate your country, I can give you freedom! All that I ask in return is for cooperation! People, you can't change the world without getting your hands stained. It simply can't be done. But I have no problem with staining my hands with the blood of any Vextorian soldier that stands in my way, do any of you?" There were calls of no from several people in the crowd and a murmur began to spread. "Vextoria has not only sullied your people and your land but the land of thousands others and dozens of countries! Please, I ask you, rally behind me! there are three nations still independent from Vextoria, but that won't last long, not without help! I can provide that help, you all know this! Today's operation was a smashing success, it went even better than I had imagined it would in fact. But Nations aren't won with less than fifty men, you all know this. I and whoever wishes to go with me shall go to each of these countries, rally as many troops as we can, and under my guidance, we will win your country back, we will avenge the death's of those whom you cared about, and we shall raise the blood-stained flag of the rebellion over the corpse of Vextoria's Emperor Mundous! Death to Vextoria!"

By now every man and woman was supporting Godrick, cheering him on in the hopes that Vextoria would finally fall. Godrick waved his hand at everyone and turned to Maxwell. "These people are few but they're proud and strong. Divide up those who want to go with us and those who want to stay behind with the wounded. Split them up into four even groups, as even as possible. At dawn, he leave for our neighboring country for help."

[Serenity the Candyman]

Johnathan followed the Emperor through the crowd of people running about like hysteria has set in. "My Lord, if it isnt too much to ask, what kind of operation is going on in this room?" he asked , almost running into a man not paying attention to where he was walking. [i]The Emperor most be out of his mind to have such chaos happening in here. And further more, a surprise is yet to reveal itself? This was surprise enough. I dont think I could handle another surprise from the Emperor, Lord help me.[/i] Johnathan was feeling really lost as the he and the Emperor weaved in and out of people and the work. [i] What is this, some kind maze or cover-up....Wait! Maybe this is a cover-up for a bigger operation, which I am about to be shown. Well, Emperor, any day now. [/i]

[---------------]

"But General," Kain began, but gave up, knowing it was useless. The General was definitely going to be killed. Kain turned to look at the rest of the survivors arriving. [i]Pep talk?[/i] Kain thought, [i]Not possible. I'll just have to assume my new role immediately.[/i] Kain jumped up into one of the higher trees, where everyone could see him. "EVERYONE!" he yelled, "DROP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! TEND TO THE WOUNDED! ANY WHITE MAGE THAT KNOWS TELEPORT COME SEE ME!" Kain then jumped down from the tree and waited.

[Navras]

"It's not too much to ask at all," Emperor Despair said to Johnathan without turning to face him. "What you see here is the birth of a brand new military faction," illustrating his point by raising his hand and waving it above his head. "As of this moment, there are a total of seventy three, not counting you and me of course, most of which are for research and development as you might very well guess. The next largest group would be the designers, of which I help out with extensively, and after them come the testers and after the testers are my personal knights."
Emperor Despair stopped in his place and turned to Johnathan, a warm smile on his face. "As of this moment, there are a total of eleven knights under my command. Each of these knights as a unit of it's own and together, they form the-"
"My lord, my humblest apologies for interrupting you," said a man who was shrouded in a dark red cloak. Turning to the man, Emperor Despair sighed and said, "For goodness sakes Gerimiah, will you take that ridiculous cloak off?"
After a few moment of silence, the man Emperor Despair had addressed as Gerimiah saluted and said, "My lord." He reached up with his left hand and undid the cloak hiding his features, letting it fall to the floor. What he was hiding became apparent then and there. The man named Gerimiah appeared to be wearing a mask over the right half of his face. The mask was simple enough, red colored metal mixed with three strips of black alloy and a yellow marble eye. In addition, there were four sizable metal tubes sticking out of his back and his left arm and shoulder appeared to be made of metal as well. Gerimiah turned and looked at Johnathan uneasily, waiting for him to ridicule him in some what by the look in both his yellow eye and his almond brown one. When Johnathan didn't say anything, he grunted and undid his pinned up blond hair, letting it fall to it's full length past his shoulders.
"That's more like it," Emperor Despair said, smiling more. He turned to Johnathan and said, "This is Gerimiah, the eighth knight that I brought to this chamber. As you can see, Gerimiah was badly damaged in battle some years back. We were able to sustain him, but he couldn't have a life of his own. Then a miracle happened and we were able to restore his lost limbs with even better ones. Now, Gerimiah, was there something you had to tell me?" Emperor Despair asked, turning to Gerimiah.
"No my lord, it can wait until later."
"Very well then," Emperor Despair said. Gerimiah Bowed and walked away, leaving behind his crimson cloak and giving Johnathan one last glare.
"You'll have time to converse with him later. For now, let us press on, that surprise I told you about is just ahead." And without another word he took to walking again.
_

"Why should we?" one of the Vextorian soldiers asked Kain.
"Yeah! Where's the general?"
"He wasn't killed was he?"
"No, he survived I know he did!"
"Than where is he?"
"Where's the general?"
Two things were now very apparent. One, that everyone was still too rattled to realized that the general was most likely to be killed. And two, they did not have much respect at all for this foreigner that their majesty gave such a high rank to without working for it.

[---------------]

OoC: Kain's been there for 15 years and they still aren't used to them?! Dayum.

IC: "ENOUGH!" Kain yelled, loud enough for the entire world to hear him. The entire camp went silent. "Now is NOT the time to be arguing with me." Kain gave a small sigh; they [i]did[/i] deserve an explaination though. With a gentler tone of voice, but still loud enough for the camp to hear him, he said, "The General believes that he'll be executed for what happened here. He's now awaiting his 'fate'." Kain was about to resume barking orders. "NOW DO AS ORDERED! AND WHERE'S THE WHITE MAGE?"

[galesonic]

Maxwell nodded at Godrick's request. "I'll make sure we'll have enough." he stated as he went down to the soldiers. He had some time to get the soldiers to prepare for the eventual assault. He started with the closest to the 'podium' Godrick was standing on. Some soldiers were instantly deciding 'yes' or 'no', but most were indecisive. Eventually, all the soldiers got their answers and Maxwell got to his work to grouping them all up. After aabout an hour or two of deciding, he managed to make an equal four group team, give or take a few due to not deciding well. Normally, this would be easier, but all of them still had their brothers-in-arms' memories fresh in their minds.

[Navras]

After a few seconds of indesicion, the Vextorian soldiers decided that they believed Kain. There were several cries of, "My lord" from several soldiers. after a few minutes, a young looking soldier came forward to Kain and said,"My lord, no one knows the spell that you speak of my lord... I'm sorry..." With that he left Kain to his thoughts.
_

Godrick walked up to Maxwell a couple of hours later to see his progress. Seeing that things had been completed, he looked at him and asked, "Do you feel that we can win? can we beat Vextoria?"

[galesonic]

Maxwell pondered the possible plans for the assault. He thought of going head on, but it would suicide since we didn't have the element of surprise as we did before. Even so, the Vextorians probably increased their defenses from other territories. They'll never expect something from the inside. "If we go head on, he probably lose. We should probably do what we did before, but more precise. We could use one person as a distraction and bring some of the guards away from the main area, while our soldiers can attack." he explained. That plan is more complicated that we have done against Vextoria, but if its done right, we could probably lessen their troops and maybe their morale. But I'm still worried about the other factions, we haven't done anything to them yet and they have a chance to team up with Vextoria to take us down."

[Navras]

Godrick sighed, closed his eyes, and shook his head at Maxwell's answer. It was the exact kind of answer that he had expected froma soldier, someone who wasn't looking a head at the future or even the big picture. It was the reply of someone who didn't think they had much of a chance of winning.
"That's all well and good," Godrick said at last, "but it didn't answer my question: do you think that we can beat Vextoria?"
Godrick shook his head again and clapped Maxwell on the shoulder. "Get some rest," he said. "We leave tomarrow by the morning light. We leave for a new country, more men, and taking another step towards freedom." Without sayiing another word, Godrick turned away from Maxwell and walked off, calling back as he did, "Ponder over my question some more tonight, give me a better answer when you come up with one."
*Later that night*
Godrick couldn't sleep, no matter how hard her tried. His mind was a buzz with plans and possible outcomes and the entire concept of the Game he was playing in general. To take down an entire country, no, an empire that goes by the name Vextoria with only three counties: one would find it impossible to even conceive of such a plan. He rolled over in his makeshift bed of two blankets and his thougths drifted to the rumors that have trickled thier way through out the rebellion, not just here in Vextoria but in Argox and even Malbicous he was sure: The one true king had finally shown himself. The man who could and would unite the three empires under one peaceful banner. That was what they were fighting for. That was how the world should be, a just and kind world lead by a just and kind man, not so much a king, but still able to wear the crown with dignity. Could that man truely exist? could there truely be someone within the Rebellion who could accomplish such a feat?
Godrick did not know. As he passed that sleepless night, he sang the Song to himself several times and made a vow that should the rumors be false and there be no King of legend, that he would unite the world under one peaceful banner his self. Starting with Vextoria.

[galesonic]

Maxwell did as he was told by Godrick and pondered over the thought of the question. He truely thought the Rebellion had a chance to beat Vextoria, but he knew that being absolute was the real thing that Godrick possibly wanted. Thoughts kept rushing in about the magic they use. Most of the Rebellion use at times Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. Only an handful knew Cure as well as Sleep and Silence. That Vextorian soldier back at the camp summoned Ifrit to battle Godrick. It was very rare to see a Vextorian that wasn't in the empire's capitol summon a GF. Something then came into Maxwell's mind: his mage blood. During his teaching with his mother, he was given lessons on the use of magic. He then got up after rethinking and finally got his answer. "I know what my answer is" he said aloud as he got up from his spot and walked out of the cavern. He made it to the outside and looked at the sky. The moon was full and as bright as the one on his world. He could here the sounds of NightOwls calling thier bretheren. He could feel mana coming off from the grass, but that the only thing he could feel at this moment. "Mother, I know what you mean now. I have a decision to make and I have made it. I now will fight for what I believe in, instead of fighting because its the right thing to do."






[spoiler=Flashback]
A woman was walking through a forest. She wore a red robe with a hood attached to cover her head, signifying that she was a Red Mage.. Her skin was fair as well as having bright calming blue eyes with small strands of brown hair coming down from her hood. Next to her was a 9-year old Maxwell, scared to death of this forest. This forest it known to most people in the vacinity of it as the Forest of Malice. It was known throughout Balamb as the best place for expierenced fighters to get good training and the worst place for weak fighters to even step in. The mage walked carelessly through the forest, while Maxwell, with his gunblade at hand, was very scared and moved around to a defensive position ever time he heard a sound. This just made the mage laugh silently as they got to the center of the forest, surprisingly, with no monsters in sight.

"Now Maxwell." the mage started. Her voice was soft and elegant for someone of her kind. "I brought you here to teach you about the main ideas of magic and mana."

"Whats mana, mom?" Maxwell asked, suprisingly perplexed. His mother opened her hand and a glowing white ball appeared on top of it.

"Mana is the life energy of all living things. Every thing here: The tress, the grass, the monsters, even us humans have mana." she explained. "Mana is used in different ways, whether it could be to use it for magic as a way of attacking, defense, or healing pourposes. As a mage, my ways of life revolve around using magic. However, though it is useful, people do use it for evil pourposes as well."

Maxwell was perplexed by the explaination, but slowly learned about it. "But wouldn't mana be evil then?"

"No my son." she said as she ruffled his hair a little. "Let me show you. I want you to cast Fire onto the tree behind me."

Maxwell nodded and lifted his free hand up, starring straight at the tree. The tree was just a normal tree, probably inhabiting littling sapling and such, but he didn't know why he had to do this. His hand turned red as he released a fireball towards the tree. As it hit, the tree instantly was set on fire. Now, the saplings and peaceful monsters that were inside the tree were running away. Maxwell was scared that he did this. Suddenly, his mother threw the white ball at the tree and the fire stopped by it. The ball she had in her hand was Blizzard the whole time.

"You just did an evil thing." his mother said. "However, do you feel any different?"

"N..No. I don't." he struggled to say.

"That's my lesson. Mana does not determine who is good or evil. Its how you use it. By your sensing of mana because of your blood, you should be able to see what is in the open and what is blind. That is how a mage find their path. Now you have to make yours soon enough."
[/spoiler]

[Navras]

*Dawn the next day for the small rabbel of rebels in the tiny mountains*

Godrick stood outisde of the entrance of the cave he had tried to sleep in last night, unsuccessfully, and looked out at the morning sun as it rose over the peaks. Thougths had drifted last night from the chosen king to the immedeate future for them, getting accross the borders of this country past the Vextorian's and into the next to gather as many troops as they could. Then on to the next. once they had done that, they might be able to plan an assault against Vextoria... [i]might[/i]
"Godrick?" one of his guads asked. Godrickturned to him and motioned for him to continue. "We are ready to pull out sir, at your order."
"Right... is Maxwell up yet?"
"I don't know."
"Well find out. If he's not up, wake him."
"Of course." With that the guard went off to do his duty. Godrick turned back towards the sun and thought some more, already planning on what to do once he had assembled a force under his belt.

[galesonic]

Maxwell walked through the cave and ,managed to get near the entrance when a guard said that Godrick was looking for him. "Indeed I knew he was looking for me." he said as he dismissed the guard. He then walked to the entrance and noticed the sky. Though its still starting the sun rising process, the moon was still shining brightly as the night before. He noticed Godrick nearby and walked up to him. "I knew you were looking for me Godrick." he said. "Are you still awaiting my answer?"

[---------------]

Kain yawned, though he had not slept. He kept watch over the survivors through the entire night. They had to stop and sleep on makeshift beds of charred cloth and miscellaneous decaying plants. Most of the wounded died, leave still a good two dozen men, but they were becoming sick quick, as they were not used to the climate of higher terrain. The General had come back, to aid as much as he can, but still awaits his fate.

Some of the survivors started to wake. Kain looked up at the sky, hoping a ship would come soon. *Hint hint*

[Navras]

Godrick shook his head and said, "No, I'll let you take your sweet time with that. Really think about what I said, then give me your answer." Godrickt urned to Maxwell with a swerious look on his face. "This journey is going to be long a hard, it'll take many days and nights. Round everyone together and meet me over at the far north entrance of this canyon. All those that want to stay behind, let them stay to find refuge here. Tell them that when it's safe, and everyone is ready fro travel, to follow after us. Get this done Maxwell." With that, Godrick walked towards the northern entrance of the canyon to wait for Maxwell and the others.
_

Kains hopes were answered. Before long the airship that had carried Emperor Mundous became visible in the morning sky, and the soldiers below rejoiced, though not all of them. some feared what their emperor might say or do to them. Most were just happy to be out of the tiny mountains at last. Several minutes passed between the ship's first sighting and it's actual landing. By then, all of the Vextorian soldiers hadgathered around the area where the ship would land, expected to meet their emperor for the second time in days. However, their hopes weren't answered. Instead, when the ship landed and the hatch opened, they were greeted by a very elaborately dressed soldier, possibly one of the emperor's personal guards.
"Vextorian soldiers! Rejoice in our coming to save you, but despair in the consequences! The emporer has heard of this camps defeat and is not pleased. Tell me, where is the general leading this troop?"
"Here," said the general, pushing his way through the crowd so that he was in front of it, standing before Emperor Mundous' personal guard. The guard pointed to the general and said, "The emperor wishes to see you personally." The guard put his hand down and looked at the rest of the troops. "The rest of you file onto the ship single file onto the ship and secure an area for yourself. Our destination is the capital city where you will regroup with another battalion of soldiers and be sent off to a different destination." Without another word the guard motioned for the general to follow, who did so without a word. When they were both on the ship, the rest of the soldiers began filing in one after another.

[galesonic]

Maxwell gave a salute and went off on his way to round up the troops. He went to all the troops that originally wanted to go first. Some of them changed their answers because the only thing in the caves would be medics and the wounded. Even worse is that the monsters were getting wilder than ever. To even it out, he had to make some of them that originally didn't want to go to follow along, but they stay behind the frontlines to heal the wounded. He then managed to find a soldier who had a cat. The special thing about him is that they can communicate to each other. "How's the outlook of this mission?" Maxwell asked. "Oh, kitty says that the weather won't be a problem. The only things we have to worry about are NightOwls and Catchinchapillars." the soldier said in a raspy, seemingly crazy voice while petting the black cat. "However, kitty also smells signs of a big monster in the forest area." Maxwell didn't have to worry about the forest, since it would be rash to get to the destination through it. Its like putting lambs in the lion's den. He went off to find a guard and gave him orders to give a message to godrick. "Tell him we have all the troops rounded up, the weather is fine, but we have to watch out for monster. Just low-levels. Won't do much harm to us." the guard nodded and left to look for Godrick as fast as he can while Maxwell took this time to pack his gunblade and supplies.