The Final Fantasy

[Navras]

Emperor waited until the passage he had picked was finished with bfore putting hte book back delicately and smoothing down the spine. "These books, some of them at least, are as old as they come. I have several hundred of the very original version of stories here, as well as books that have been long since forgotten by time. The greatest stories in history are held here, so many of them unknown by so many." Turning to Maldevus, Emperor Despair put on a fake smile. He didn't like Maldevus. He didn't like him at all. The only reason that he was allowing him to even be in his kingdom was because before long it would all be his anyways and he had a few uses of his own. So for now it was beneficial to play the estimed host and emperor and make his requests formal and neat, as any emperor should.

"What I want, Maldevous, is the world." Turning away from Maldevus, Emperor Despair made a gesture with his left hand for Maldevus to follow, which he obediantly did. "You see, This world belongs to me rightfully. I am the oldest of my brothers as I was born first by only mere seconds, I am the wisest and by far the most powerful, and while they squander thier power away on trying to gain land that is already mine, I bide my time and strength, applying it to arries that only need tending to. Like for example, teh Chaos Islands, where my brother Organis is constantly pushing his borders adn trying to take the islands. If he were to gain them into his power, he would have a crucial advantage over both of us, me and my youngest brother, by controlling more of the world than a third, as well all currently do." As he spoke, Emperor Mundous led Maldevous up the central staircase of the library, occasionally grazing a book he was especially fond of or nodding to one of his scholars. "But I grow weary of this tiresome war, and I wish to to come to an end. That, is where you come in."

Taking a left at the top of the flight of stairs, Emperor Despair led Maldevous over to a large iron colored door and opened it, telling Maldevous to close it behind him as he came though. Maldevous followed and did as Emperor Despair asked, closing the cold iron colored door behind him. When they were inside, all was dark save for a few dark green lanterns hung high up on the walls, lighting their way. "Do forgive this room being dark, it's neccessary you see." Maldevous accepted that answer without another question, waiting for Emperor Despair to get to the point of all hsi talking. For a few minutes, both were silent as they continued walking straight down this dark hallway. "Project X, as I have affectionatly named it is what I have created in order to end this long and boring war."

"What is project X?" Maldevous asked, thinking that it may be a convenient thing to know what it was that Emperor Despair was planning.

"A secret, as you can very well guess. A shiled, a sword, a suit of armor, however you look at it, it's what's going to end the war all together. This Project will grant me ultimate power, but not before I have first desposed of at least both of my brother's armies. This is, more specifically, where you come in. For the last few years, my top minds in all of Malbicious have been colaborating together in order to create something extraordinary, a new weapon system like no other and with it, Project X will become a reality and I shall have obtained ultimate power. But, why take my word for it? See for yourself." Emperor Despair suddenly stopped. Surprising Maldevous, he almost bumped into the emperor. Almost. Reaching into his clothes, Emperor Despair pulledo ut a small emerald colored diamond shaped Three seconds passed beofre anything happened. When it did, the stone lit up brightly and many emerald colored pahtways spread out on teh surface of hte door, followed shortly after by the door opening up automatically. A brilliant light shone through fromt eh room beyong that made Maldevous cover his eyes and wince. Emperor Despair, his smile widening, walked into the room and crossed hsi arms behind his back. Maldevous followed shortly after and looked around.

All about were men working, here and there there were dozens of men, surrounding giant Collosi covered in huge white canvas. Many were holding tools and weapons while man y more simply had apapers in there hands. There was a loud clatter of machinary and of footsteps, but shortly atfer Emperor Despair walked in it all stopped. Each person in there, save for Maldevous, gave a sallute to their emperor and shouted, "My Lord!" Emperor Despair smiled and waved his hand, signaling that they get back to work and like a hive of ants they did. Emperor Despair turned and looked at Maldevous and smiled, "Impressive isn't it? What you see before you is the new generation of warfare, war in which men are not the only things you must worry about. But these! My collosus! Children of my imagination and the perfect weapons of war. It will not be long before they are all completely finished. I have had ordered seventy proto types created to be tested in battle and two higher class models to be made for the men who will be leading my children into battle. You, and Gerimiah Jinjo."

Turning around, Emperor Despair saw just the man he had mentioned heading towards them. A tall man, he storde over to them with machine like precision, his black and red mask standing out among the other men there. As he approached his Emperor, he gave a bow, exposing the four tubes in his back, and a salute. "My lord, is there something you need?"

"No Gerimiah. I am just showing your new sub captain his unit that he is to use in the times up a head along with you. May I introduce Maldevous? He will be serving under you and your unit of Prototypes."

Gerimiah looked over Maldevous with cold and calculating eyes. He obviously was not impressed. Even less was he impressed by the look that Maldevous gave Gerimiah at hearing that he would be serving under him. It didn't matter though. It didn't matter who it was that was serving under him, as long as they stayed under him, Gerimiah was not at liberty to be picky about his subordinants. Giving his Emperor another bow, Gerimiah said respedctfully, "I shall show him around from here my lord."

"Thank You Gerimiah. I know you will do an exceptional job at showing Maldevous around. Notify me the instant that all 72 untis are operational." Turning on his heel, Emperor Despair left Maldevous with Gerimiah to attend to business of his own. With these new weapons, Project X, and now Maldevous under his control, how could he not win against his brothers and the Rebellion? All the power of hte world was to be his. nothing coudl stop him now.

-

Looking over, Godrick saw that only one tent was left standing and was not on fire. Try as his men might, the oil beares simply weren'ta strong enough force to get past the guards set up around the tent. It looked as though he would have to do it himself. As he was thinking this, his opponent struck his scythe up in the air and released a thick red mist around them. Grunting and cursing oder his breath, Godrick took a hold of his scythe with both of his hands and tried to find his opponent. No good, the mist was too thick. But it didn't matter now. All that mattered was that that last tent fall and he and his men get out of the camp. forgetting about his enemy who had cast the red mist, Godrick charged as fast ashe coudl out of hte mist towards where he had last seen the camp. Breaking out of the mist, Godrick gave a thunderous roar and charged forward, bringing down a Vextorian soldier in a single swing. Looking at the small opening he had created, Godrick first charged up a thunder spell and shot it at the soldiers before him, knowing all others out of the way. After that, in a rushed frenzy, Godrick charged up a fire spell and shot it into the tent, igniting it and all that was inside. That was it, the camp was now on fire.

Reaching behind him into his pack, Godrick pulled out two things. He tossed the first up into the air, igniting it between his fingers as he did, and released a large dark purple smoke signal; the sign for the rebels to retreat. The second was a smoke bomb, which he threw onto the ground and quickly made his retreat up the slopes with the rest of the his remianing men, what was left of them. They had succeeded in Destroying the camp. Godrick's only concern was that the damage had been too great.

-

Lookgin around quickly, Tarin saw the dark purple signal smoke that Godrick had told them was the sign to retreat. Giving one last look at her opponent, Tarin turned and fled away with the others as fast as she could, suing what remained of her energy to sprint as fast as she could, knowing that until she was back at Godrick's side she wouldn't be safe again. At the same time, she was over joyed. The mission had been a success. Vextoria's camp was destroyed adn they would have to pull out now. Her country was truely hers again!

[Otaku-sama]

The rebel commander charged into the camp, straight through Qiang's brigade. Qiang watched in horror as the commander barreled through his troops, slashing at them furiously before lighting the last tent on fire. A purple smoke signal signaled the end of the attack, with all rebel fighters withdrawing from the fighting. Qiang rushed down to his brigade to check for casualties. Most of them were veterans who survived both the fighting and the commander's onslaught. However, one soldier was downed, bleeding profusely from a large stab wound that went through his breastplate. Qiang rushed to the soldier and removed his helmet. Removing the helmet revealed that the dying soldier was very young. His face was rather peaceful despite his wounds, his eyes slowly losing their life.
"Chief...Give this...to my mother..." the young soldier said, using the last bit of strength he had to pull a silver locket from his neck, "Tell her...I love her..."
Qiang took the locket from the soldier's hand and held it with a clenched fist. After he did, the soldier's face became serene and his eyes went blank. His arm fell to his side and his head titled limply. Qiang and the rest of his brigade hung their heads in a moment of silence for their fallen comrade. After, the brigade quickly went to work putting out the fire. Qiang noticed that other brigades were using water to put out the fires, which only spread the burning oil. Qiang threw sand onto the fire instead, and the rest followed suit. While he did this, Qiang noticed the young mage girl trying to escape with the rebels. Qiang knew that the penalty for rebellion was death and he could not stand to see another young life lost for nothing. Grabbing his bolas and some rope, he left his brigade once more and pursued the girl. Once he was in range, he twirled the bolas over his head and threw it at the girl. The bolas wrapped around her legs and made her fall to the ground. Qiang quickly caught up and tied her arms and legs. Without speaking, he threw her over his shoulder like a sack and walked back to camp.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The rebels were in retreat, their leader proving to be a coward and running from a one on one confrontation with one who was strong enough to stand alone against him. Vincent turned his back to the retreating rebels and made his way back towards his soldiers who were already salvaging everything they could. He briefly saluted the group of men, and this was returned by every one of them. Following this gesture, he returned his blade to it's place on his back and began assisting them in the salvage effort.

"Sir," one of the soldiers began, causing Vincent to turn to face him, "What are we going to do about the fallen?"

"We have neither the time nor the man power to give everyone a proper burial." Vincent stated, after having smothered one of the nearby fires. He turned his head back towards the already extinguished command and supply tent, noting that the lamp oil had been saved, along with enough rations to get the rest of the soldiers back to the Vextorian Capital. "We will set the whole of the remains of this encampment ablaze, and send our brothers and the enemy alike to the ancestors in glory. Any man who dies in battle dies with honor, and we shall make this place their funeral pyre." Finishing his statement, he and ten other members of his company of now only thirty six continued with the process of smothering the remaining blazes whilst twenty followed behind them and salvaged whatever they could, with the exception of the armor and weapons of the fallen. Behind them, the final five surviving soldiers under his command began spreading the lamp oil across whatever there was in the camp that remained flammable, including the bodies of the fallen.

OOC note: Hey Trollestia, I finally decided to look this up. A brigade consists of three to five thousand soldiers. There were only ever one thousand soldiers in the Vextorian camp so there was only ever a battalion present if we're going by the US Army forces break down. If you're using another Nation's military breakdown, I apologize. I tend to assume people go by the American setup.

[PikMan]

Maldevus was not all that pleased about what had been said. Project X would end up ending the war if it was completed, and Maldevus's plan involved keeping the war going. If the collossi were to be released, then his planning would go to waste. So now there were 2 things to worry about; The rebellion, and Project X. See, if the rebellion were to succeed in ending the empires, they would control the world and make it impossible for Maldevus to achieve his goal.

--

Tarin fell unconcious when the bolas caused her to fall onto the hard rock below her. While unconcious, she flashed back to that one day, 5 years ago, when Maldevus destroyed her hometown. She was the first to spot the growing flames, but she was too late to warn everybody. Tarin managed to escape, but her family and the rest of her hometown weren't so lucky. Before she left on her long trip that would end with her finding the rebellion, she saw the figure of the culprit. His sillhouette against the flames would forever haunt her memory...

The next thing she knew, Tarin was wide awake.

[Navras]

OCC: Pikman is back, so he obviously has control of his characters again. I won't be using them anymore from now on unless he tells me otherwise.
IC:

Gerimiah survayed Maldevus for a total of seven seconds before making his initial guess about him. He didn't like him. He didn't like him one bit. He didn't like how he looked, he didn't like how he stood, he didn't like that he had been put under his command and he didn't like that he was assigned here in this most sacred ofm ilitary units when everyone else here had worked hard, put blood into these collosi and made them move. And here comes this new man, already given the privilage to see them. No, Gerimiah didn't like Maldevous one bit. He wasn't questioning his emperor's judgment, and he certainly wasn't going to go against orders, but that didn't mean that he would show this unprivillaged person named Maldevous a scrap of respect. Turning away from the man without so much as a word, Gerimiah walked away from him, already putting him out to the furthest reaches of his mind. He had more importatnt things to do, like unleashing Project X. He would deal with Maldevous after emperor Despair's dreams were realized.

-

"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?"
"We are not sure my lord."
"Find out and 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!"

-
"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."

[Asriel Dreemurr]

OOC: Just gonna post the status of the Vextorian army as it currently stands in the Tiny Mountains.

The Vextorian Battalion, or rather the two to three hundred soldiers that remained of it, had since regrouped atop one of the nearby cliffs in the opposite direction from which the rebel forces had fled the field. There were a few tents here and there, mostly being used as field hospitals to handle the large number of wounded which the battle had resulted in. The valley in which they had camped lay beneath them, now a raging inferno that was quickly destroying all traced of the camp that was once there, save for the charred bones and the armor and weapons which had been warped by the heat. There were several fires burning out atop the cliff, and lookouts stood watch over the area surrounding him. Seated near one of the fires nearer the cliff edge with the remaining thirty-six men under his command, Vincent found himself wishing that they had been able to camp atop such a cliff in the first place and had the advantage of high ground. The men were all in a somber mood, but this was a group of almost entirely veterans. Most of them, including Vincent, had suffered some wound somewhere on their body. The Dark Knight had mostly suffered only minor injuries, save for a rather severe burn on the back of his neck which had been caused by a flaming arrow which had grazed him and deposited some of the burning pitch. Needless to say, having ignored it during the heat of battle, he was left with quite a painful burn that would take some time to heal. The soldiers of his company had suffered similar fates, though they were certainly the best off unit in the whole of the battalion. Vincent turned his gaze towards one of the tents, as he noticed a little girl whom he had seen fighting alongside the rebel forces earlier waking up. He surmised that she was a prisoner of war and, as such, saw no reason to give her any grief except what she would prove herself deserving. He simply turned his gaze back to the fire, before pulling out a small hip-flask which he kept filled with strong spirits. As he did so, the others of his company did the same and soon they were all raised in a toast.

"To our fallen brothers," the officer began with more than a little sorrow in his voice, "that they may know that their sacrifice was not in vain for we still live to avenge them. And that they find a peace, which no soldier could ever have, in the afterlife amongst the ancestors."

"To our fallen brothers!" The company echoed as each man took a long drink from their respective flask. Vincent sighed as they all once more fell silent and turned their gaze to the fire, though he found his gaze drawn to the inferno beneath them in the valley.

[PikMan]

Tarin found herself inside one of the Vextorian tents. She was scared stiff, but decided that the best course of action would be to stay quiet and not attract attention to herself. It wasn't long before her thoughts drifted elswhere. [i]The other rebels probably think I'm dead. I know Godrick probably thinks so. Can't say I blame them, really.[/i] Tarin decided to lie back down and wait for someone to notice her presence. She tried to push the rebels and Godrick out of her mind, but this was easier said than done. Now that she was a prisoner of war, she may as well have really been dead...

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Seeing the girl, who wasn't really THAT much younger than him, return to her bed in the tent brought a bit of concern to Vincent's face. He had seen too much death that day to really care right now who was hurt, only caring that they WERE hurt(much to the contrary of most Dark Knights). As such, he stood up from the fire and made his way towards the tent whilst carrying his ration of what was essentially just chicken broth with rice floating around in it. He entered the tent without making the girl aware he was even coming in, simply finding a place to sit and offering her the cup of "soup"

"You must be hungry, go ahead and eat this." His voice was calm, almost friendly, as he said this, simply holding the cup out for her to take. His posture and tone would be perfectly designed to make him easy to trust at the moment, despite the armor, scars, massive red sword, and the fact that he was among the leadership of the Vextorian military expeditionary battalion.

[PikMan]

Tarin cautiously took the bowl. It was just then she realized how hungry she'd been for the past couple hours or so. After examining the bowl for about a minute to determine if it was safe to eat, she called it dinner and started eating it. [i]Still, [/i]she thought, [i]I'm still not sure what to make of this guy. He's the enemy, but he seems like a nice enough person. I guess I'll have to wait and make my own judgement. [/i]Tarin went through her mind to sort out what had transpired in her life recently. Let's recap:

-Tarin's homestown was destroyed by the actions of a puppeteering psycho named Maldevus
-She became part of the rebellion after wandering around aimlessly
-Took part of an ambush of the Vextorian camp
-Got in a fight with an enemy soldier after he called her a little kid, and
-Got kidnapped by said soldier for reasons unknown.

Tarin then remembered that halberd-wielding soldier, who she guessed was a dragoon. She still hadn't figured out the reason of her capture, but she decided to figure it out later. She remembered what he said, that he didn't like the idea of someone as young as her being in battle. He had a point, Tarin realized. [i]But now isn't the best time for philosophy, [/i]she thought, and went back to her meal.

[PikMan]

OOC: I'm just going to assume for the moment I can control Geremiah while Aimi's gone.

Maldevus looked over at Geremiah as he walked away. Maldevus didn't really like his new superior, and he could tell the feeling was mutual. But the captain wasn't a problem for now. His main concern was the Colossi. These threw a significant kink in his plan to keep the war going. He had to think of some way to work around this new development. It was lucky (for him, at least, not for the world by a long shot) that he had been summoned by Malibous, or else his careful planning would go to waste. After a few seconds, his options boiled down to two things: Commandeer them or destroy them. Unfortunately for him, he failed to take into account how his plan might be screwed up by a young Black Mage he thought died five years ago.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Maldevus lived in the same village as Tarin. He was the reason she studied Black Magic in the first place; See, when Maldevus realized Tarin knew what he was doing with those puppets of his, he was worried that everyone would find out. So, he burned the village down and faked his death.

Back in the present, Maldevus also realized he only had a limited time to make up his mind. So, he decided to (gulp) ask Geremiah.

"Um... Geremiah? I have a question."

Geremiah turned his head.

"When, exactly, are these going to be finished?" Maldevus asked, feigning impatience.

Geremiah shrugged. "I don't know," he replied with a look of hate, "and even if I did what makes you think I'd tell you?"

"That's a good point." Maldevus turned away and decided that meant he needed to do something as soon as possible.