Holy Lands - above ground - morning

The main entrance/exit was being blocked by a large number of our boys, so we had to go through the secret passageway Vella showed me last night. While getting there, Richard healed my chest, so it’s good as new. We almost got caught a couple of times when trying to get out, but hey, we managed somehow. Kicking open the door to the house we’re in, we exit to see that it’s still morning.

“Is everyone okay?” Alex asks.

Marie gives him a thumbs up, Richard gives him an, “uh-huh.”, and I just say, “Present.”

Safe to say that all of us are here, well, except for the others.

“So Proxy, you got the rundown of the whole situation, right,” Marie asks me, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, I got it. So that Walter douche got everyone drunk to mind to control them, right?”

“Nailed it in one.”

“Well then, what the hell do we do?”

“I don’t know yet, but we’re gonna do something. First, we need to call a meeting.”

Marie’s meeting is basically all of us sitting on the ground in a circle. Marie sits up, Alex with his sword in hand, Richard crisscrossing in a neat and straight manner, Nunnalé with her leg lying on the other, and I’m just squatting with my feet flat on the ground.

“Why the hell are we sitting on the floor?” I ask her, drawing a circle on the soft ground with my finger.

“Who cares about that,” Marie swiftly shuts me up. “Anyway, we have a massive problem. Most of our forces are against us now, the enemy has another large number of units on their side; the girls. We’re outnumbered, but, if we can gain our troops back, then we can match them, or outdo them in terms of power.”

“But how do we get the boys back?” I question.

“Simple, if they’re drunk, all we have to do is either knock them out, or bath them in a cold shower. Seeing how we don’t have cold water or any means to shower them in it, we’re gonna have to knock them out. Though, that’s the hard part. We could try to fit all our men into the banquet hall, there we could ambush them, but I don’t know… Maybe it'll be too many for us to handle. We'll have to go slow on this if we don't wanna get killed.

As much as I just wanna rush in there and kick some ass, I know we’re gonna need some help, a lot of help, so yeah, we’re gonna need to find a way to get our boys back. How the hell that's gonna happen without us getting overwhelmed is beyond me, and sure, Nunnalé could fight them all off, but we don't want them to turn up injured. A cold bath would do since it could help sober them up… Cold…cold...water...river… Riverbank! Holy hell, I got it!

“Marie, what if we dump some of them into the riverbank there? I know where one is, and it’s really cold, really cold.”

Alex snaps his fingers, getting where I’m going with this. “Ah, perhaps you mean the one we sled into from the weapons museum!?”

“Read my damn mind.”

I give him a high-five.

“How big is it?” Richard asks.

“It's big enough for a whole pool party.”

“Not very descriptive, but better than nothing, I guess.”

Marie places her hand on her chin, pondering our next move. “...I don’t know how well it’ll work out, but if we can throw them inside the water, then I guess it could work. But how are we going to knock a bunch of guys into the water?”

“Don’t worry about that, me and Alex got that covered. We’re going to need your help though.”

“You got a plan?” she asks me.

“Oh yeah, we do, right, Alex?"

“Indeed… We do?”

“Yeah, remember, shield sledding?”

“Oh, I see! Then yes, we do have a plan!”

Marie and the others simply shrug their shoulders. “Well, if you guys have an idea how to get them in the water, good luck. However, I doubt this will work on all of them. How about we use the banquet hall to ambush some of them like I said before?”

“Hmm, if we are able to catch them by surprise in there, there would be very little room for them to move around in, causing a lag in their reaction time to us,” Nunnalé states.

Okay, yeah, it seems like we’re coming up with a plan here. Now, how we go about doing this is gonna need a bit of tweaking. But I think I got this.

“Marie, mind if I plan out the teams?”

“Sure.”

Giving me her blessing, I have the okay to spell out my plan. “First, we’re gonna hit up the water bank. There’s a small ramp that hurls someone over the railing, but we need the railing to be gone, so Nunnalé, Richard, can you help get rid of it?”

“Sure.”

“Affirmative.”

“Cool, after that, you two are gonna run decoy. Nunnalé rallies one sect of men into the banquet hall, where she and Marie will ambush them. Richard, you gotta bring another half to me and Alex. We'll help the people out of the water; we’ll talk about how you can signal us when you brought them. Other than that, that’s how we should go about this.”

Marie's mouth is gaping open, as if she’s seen something spectacular.

“What?” I ask, confused by her expression.

“That’s...a coherent plan! You made a full-blown plan!?”

“What, I’m not a moron!”

“Sorry, it’s just...you should do that more often?”

“Fine, maybe I will! How’s that!?”

She gives me a thumbs-up. “Terrific, but don’t hurt yourself when you do.”

You wisecracking witch!

Alex stands up from the ground. "Right, now we know what to do, let’s not waste any more time on this matter, let us depart!”

“Brother, before we go, let me go get my weapon.”

“Be quick.”

Marie runs off to the bus to get her weapon.

“Proxy, are you going to shield sled?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Can you not swim?”

I scratch the back of my head. “Yeah, you let me worry about that. In the meantime, let’s get our heads in the game!”

“Great, then I shall have my head in the game as well. However, I wish to know if you are okay.”

" You mean the wound? Richard healed it already.”

“That is not what I mean. Does your heart feel fine? You were attacked by Vella, after all.”

“That… Well, it’s just, I don’t get what’s going on. One moment, I thought Vella was a normal girl who acted a bit odd at times but wasn’t too bad to hang with. But when she attacked me, I was scared and confused. But that’s not even the end of it; when we were leaving, she was smiling like usual, as if she didn’t try to gut me. It's like that innocent smile was corrupted for me, showing me nothing but a haunting visage of a girl. Honestly, I don’t know what to do anymore, I don’t if the Vella I got to know was the real one. Maybe she was playing me from the start? Maybe I got us all in trouble for no good reason, to save someone that didn’t need it. I’m sorry guys…”

Even now, thinking about it sends a chill down my spine. It’s not just because she was smiling, it’s because I know it’s fake now. I mean, if she was willing to smile at me, even if she was about to kill me, what does that say about our time together, does that mean the things we did were just a ploy?

“Proxy, Vella's words conveyed nothing but regret, contempt, sorrow, and genuine fear. I don’t think these feelings are from someone who was pretending to be hurt. The fear was much stronger than the other emotions, it was even drowning out those emotions.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and while I think she might have been manipulating you, there had to be a level where she got to like you since she held regret and sadness.”

“I am in the same camp of thought. Proxy, there is clearly something wrong down there. I suspect those girls are being used to allow us to let our guard down, then use us as they see fit on the orders of that man and the elder. If that is so, then it falls onto us to not only save our allies but to save those girls as well. More importantly, Proxy, you started this battle because you understand the injustice happening, so you must see this battle through to the end, that is what an honorable man would do.”

He’s right, I can’t go around acting moppy just because I almost got opened up like a bag of chips. I started this thing, I’m sure as shit not gonna punk out now.

“Thanks, almost lost my cool there for a sec, guys.” I cross my arms and puff my chest. “Why the hell am I acting so sad! I am the number #1 badass/delinquent of NewPort island, and a proud member of the anti-bandit army, I can’t go around acting like a sad sack! I’m gonna give this 100%!”

“That’s the spirit! We shall be victorious, and we shall allow no one to stand in our way.”

“Hell yeah, we’ll kick their asses!”

“Will you two…” Sensing something behind me, I dodge while Alex gets bopped on the head. Turning to see a pissed-off Marie, I let out a short laugh, only for her fist to hit me square on the forehead. “...Shut up!”

Richard nervously chuckles to himself. “Well, at least they’re fired up, am I right?”

“I suppose so, but I don’t want to draw any attention to us. Who knows who can be out here. So let’s get down there before bandits come around and see us.”

“Yes, ma’am,” we all say in various tones, mine in a painful groaning sort of way, just like Alex.

As everyone moves out, Alex gets up, offering me a hand up. “Come on.”

I take it, he lifts me to my feet. “Thanks.”

“Proxy, I would like for you to know you have my support always, so no matter what, I shall save our allies, these girls, and aid you in saving Vella.”

“I know I can count on you. Thanks.”

“Now then, shall we be off?”

“Hell yeah, let’s kick some ass!”

“Yes, let us kick rears!”

“Yeah, we need to work on that."

…

Walkin' across a rocky road that seems stable enough for an entire bus to pass by, I pay attention to the old bloodstains on this sheet of paper in my hand. The stains point to where the owner of it is. So far, I’ve been trackin' him for a while now, but he keeps moving, so I've never seen the guy. I bet treatin' that animal's wound held me up from meetin' him.

“Man, this is gonna take forever. Wish I had a bike or somethin’ to hurry this thing.”

Walkin' develops good feet, but that doesn’t mean I wanna walk everywhere. But bitchin’ ain’t gonna help me one bit, so I better just shut up and just keep on truckin'. Reachin' the edge of the high-up road, I can see a small village from here. Looking at the blood, it’s pointing towards the place. Would you look at that? Guess I found the guy. However, there’s more road to take. Taking a look down, I see a bunch of trees that could be good to land on, if I know what I’m doing. Welp, screw it, time to wing it.

Taking out my sword, I take in a deep breath, then I exhale it. Right, time to do this. Steppin' back for a moment, I prep myself to jump off the road, down to the trees.

“Here we go!” I dash off for the edge of the road, jumping off when my foot touched the edge. “Yahooo!”

Underground town - weapons museum - afternoon

Richard and Nunnalé helped us set up the trap by getting rid of the guardrail. Now, all we need to do is wait for the signal and we’re good to go.

Before we got here, we wanted to see how the guys would act under this hypnosis crap, so we tested a few things. 1. Their reaction time is slower, and their reflexes are poor. 2. they’re still able to run, but it’s not any faster than a jog. 3. Their combat skills have diminished greatly. 4. they seem to be reliant on the girls next to them for any complex orders, or in general.

So overall, we should be able to get them to their senses if we play our cards right. While walking around the museum, I spotted a boomerang in a display case. It has a nice wooden design to it, light brown that’s easy on the eyes, as well as some metal parts near the two ends and in the bridge of it. Taking it out, I twirl it around, looking at the symmetrical design of it. Never know when you need range attacks, so where’s the harm? I put it in my jacket pocket.

“Proxy, we should get ready. The shields await us outside.”

“Got it.”

Stepping outside with Alex, two large, round shields wait on the ground.

“Okay, Alex, stay behind me, but don’t get too close when we go down, got me?”

“Understand, I’ll keep my distance.”

“Good. Now, we wait…”

A minute passes as we sit in anticipation for this to go off. Then, a loud whistle goes off, like a starting gun. We push against the ground, speeding off toward the river bank. It takes no more than thirty seconds to reach the riverbank, so if we continue the way we’re going, we should be able to make it soon. The wind rushes past us, clarifying that we’re going faster. The riverbank is in sight, along with some of the men from the army. There, Chip is in that crowd as well.

“Alex, spread out your arms!”

Spreading his arms, he stands on his shield. I copy him, getting ready to knock as many of them in the river! Though, I just hope I don’t drown while doing this. Coming in hot, I hit as many of them, dragging them into the water with me. I take in a deep breath before being submerged in the water. The cold liquid wraps itself around my body, cooling my whole body. I try to move my limbs, but the water is keeping me from moving. Any resistance is futile on my part. The cold hands of the water slowly drag me to the depths. Shit, I know I’m stupid, but this is pretty damn stupid of me! As I slowly sink to the bottom, someone enters the water. Richard swims his way to me, past the others. He grabs my arm, pulling me towards the surface. Water splashes upward when we hit the top. He puts my hand on the edge of where the guardrails used to be.

“You idiot,” he calls me, angry for some reason. “You should’ve told me you couldn’t swim! Why the hell didn’t you!?”

“Sorry, kinda forgot that detail.” I stick out my tongue while closing my eye and lightly knocking my head with the front of my knuckles.

“Moron, don’t act like it’s nothing!”

Dragging my other hand out of the water, I climb to the top of the platform, coming out of the water.

“Go help Alex get the others! I’ll drag them out of the water when you bring them up.”

He just nods and dives back into the water. I lay on my back, trying to calm myself down. I knew that either Alex or Richard would get me, but being in the water is the worst for me. It’s like being in a tight space with no air and little breathing room, only worse…

Then, like a battering ram to the head, my sense goes off. Opening my eyes, a large fist is closing in. I push against the ground with my left arm, rolling to my right! Pushing up, I’m able to get on my feet. But a second figure delivers a swift kick to my chest. Even though I blocked it, it still hurts like a bitch; the bones in my forearms are rattling like an alarm bell.

The first attack would’ve caused damage to my head, the second is negligible, but it would still be a problem if my opponent landed the blow. Using the heels of my shoes, I stop my momentum. The two enemies in front of me are Vran, and Gil, whose dull eyes give away that he’s being controlled, and he attacked me.

“Give up,” Vran tells me. “We’re much stronger than you.”

Her tone of voice is much more assertive, certain, and threatening.

“Probably, but we’ll never know.”

“Your muscles pale before ours, we’re just going to kill you.”

“Then come and try it, but just so you know, I’ve fought Gil already.”

Stand around, I take on a stance, anticipating their next move. She’s not joking, they could overwhelm me if I’m not careful, or even kill me. Since Gil is under their control, it’ll be tough, but he won’t be fighting at his fullest.

With a step that turns to a leap forward, Vran lunges herself at me, throwing a straight jab my way. I jump back only for her to leap forward again. She's quick to throw a punch while keeping up with me. Her legs are made for jumping and her fists will be devastating if she manages to catch up to me. I stop to moving back, allowing her to catch up. Her weight shifts to her left as she uses her left arm to hit me. I Brush it aside, but barely. It was heavy, enough for me to feel the sheer weight when pushing it aside. She’s quick to follow up with another punch. I redirect it, but she counters by grabbing my shirt’s collar. She throws me overhead with that one arm, without using her center of gravity to do it either; pure strength. My body flies towards Gil, who’s lined up to hit me in the back. Unable to dodge it, I do my best to rotate my body to block the hit. Surprisingly enough, I managed to do just that, but my bicep sure as hell hates me for it as it throbs.

Not skipping a beat, I get up, only for my sense to kick in. Vran’s kick from behind fails to connect since I bent my head forward. I put as much distance away from them as I can, however, they chase after me, closing the gap in a heartbeat. Damn, I don’t have time to breathe.

They both go on the offensive, throwing out powerful punches that shoot the air my way. Without getting in the way of the other, in perfect succession, unleash a barrage of punches. Blocking them is not an option, each one is powerful enough to either break through my defense, or break my arms. Backing up, they’ll just chase after me. So what do I do? Should I just go forward…? It sounds stupid, insanely stupid, but thinking about it, it’s the only thing that might keep the bones in my face safe. Screw it, let’s do it!

Waiting for the right timing, for their bodies to swing in the direction I need them to. Any hesitation, a single misstep, or misread, and it’s off to the pearly gates. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, god damnit, I hate waiting! Screw it, if they won’t give me an opening, then I will! I stop moving, putting up my arms to guard. They reel back their arms, getting ready for a strong punch. In an instant, they let their attacks fly, twisting through the air as they zone in on my arms. Each second is counted in my brain, adrenaline fueling me as they close in, each second feels like an eternity in itself. My brain is overcharged, waiting for that golden moment. Then, like a beautiful sunrise, it comes! A second, that’s all it takes for me to leap forward, below their punch, then jump forward again behind them. It takes two seconds for their heads to turn, their eyes laser-focused on me. I can see the confusion in hers. That in itself is a golden moment. Using my Hind leg while performing a backspin, I go for a high kick against Vran. It landed without any type of resistance. Gil, not disturbed by my sudden attack, continues his offensive. While he’s still strong, I know what I have to do.

“Sorry Daniel, but I’m gonna copy you for a moment. Putting my left hand forward, unclenched while I have my right still balled up, I wait for his next attack. Gil throws a single straight punch. Perfect. Steady breathing, my body glued to this spot, my posture straight, and my eyes narrowed on Gil’s fist, I grab ahold of it, guiding it forward, manipulating his momentum to drag him closer to me. Not wasting a moment, I strike his head, my muscles tightened as I performed this. His face is rock solid, but with this technique, even I’m able to deal massive damage.

He steps back, slowly getting away from me. Then, he stands still with his head and arms hanging low. Vran and I wait to see what he’ll do next. Did I hit him a little too hard? I wasn’t controlling my strength when I hit him since this is the first time I’m ever doing this move, and even then, holding back on Gil is a braindead thing to do.

“Proxy…” He whispers my name as he brings his head up. Seeing his face, instead of seeming hurt, he looks baffled. He swipes up some of the blood coming out of his nose. “...Did you hit me?”

“Y-yeah,” I answer, nervous for his response.

“...Good job. It was a solid blow, enough to give me a nose bleed. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it. Care showing me some other time?”

A piece of me is relieved by his carefree attitude. But the important thing is that I was able to knock some sense into him again.

“Sure, I show you later, but it’s good to have you back, Gil.”

“Yeah, whatever that means.”

“I’ll tell you later, but for now, we have to defeat her.”

Turning my attention to Vran, gawking at me, her eyelids wide open. “How did you...that’s impossible. You aren’t supposed to be able to beat us in strength or speed!”

“Guess what, I just did.”

“No, that’s just… I refuse to believe it!” She takes up a stance suitable for a grappler. “...I won’t let you tell me my strength is fake! No way!”

“Fake?” Gil steps in front of me, facing Vran down. “...Nobody said your strength is fake.”

“You don’t need to, 'cause I know you’re both thinking it! She’s a girl, there’s no way she’s able to fight back or even be strong. You’re wrong, I can be!”

“I swear I am not, and I’ll prove it.” Gil puts his right foot forward with his right arm above his head, and his left beside his torso. “...I shall be your opponent. Whether your strength is real or not shall be tested through this fight, so I won’t hold back.”

“Neither will I, I’ll show you that I am strong, I will!

“Gil, you… Don’t steal my fights away from me, you bastard!”

“Sorry,” he says, acting unaware of the situation.

“Why you…”

As I’m about to give him a piece of my mind, Richard calls out to me from the water bed. “...What are you doing, come and help us!”

Oh, shit, I totally forgot.

“This isn’t over,” I tell Gil.

He simply gives me a thumbs up, showing his white teeth. This bastard!