A Change In Leadership

The next day, Roko announced a meeting that all combatants of The Earthbounds had to attend. Instead of annoyance or outrage, Roko instead got a lot of people coming up to him and asking "Does that include me?"

"Are you going to fight?" Roko scowled.

"I mean..."

The halfheartedness was so infuriating that Roko would have preferred them to get angry at him rather than waffling on where they stood and asking someone else to define their commitment to them. A deep seething part of him wanted to just cancel the meeting and leave the city entirely but he pushed through his apprehensions and arrived, begrudgingly, to the meeting he himself organized. Thankfully there were actually quite a number people who showed up to the meeting, more than enough to form an attack squad. At least, assuming all of them were willing to fight.

"Thank you all for coming today." Roko said with as much decorum as he could muster, "I'm glad you all didn't get lost and walked out the door while you still could."

Evidently not enough decorum as his little jab that just kinda slipped out drew a mixture of displeases glares at him.

"Ahem." Azimuth coughed to draw attention away from Roko, "I'm sure you all remember when I told you about this a few days ago but this is the help that was sent to us by Memoria Auspice. This is the crown princess of Momokami, Momo and..." Azimuth paused at Roko before whispering, "Do you have a title?"

"No." Roko crossed his arms.

"That's not going to inspire confidence."

"Neither will lying."

"This isn't a matter of truth here..." Azimuth placed a hand over her head.

"Just call him 'The Nameless Sword'." Momo grinned.

"What kind of title is that?" Azimuth frowned but returned to address the assembly, "This is The Nameless Sword, Roko."

"Yo." Roko said, the people still not quite ready to welcome him warmly.

"These two will be leading our future rebellion efforts. I expect each of you to treat them with respect and approach them with an open mind." Azimuth said.

A small bit of mutterings rippled across the crowd, many of which sounded displeased and a some of them even rolling their eyes.

"What now?" Azimuth hissed at Roko.

"If you're here, I expect you still have some sense to risk your lives." Roko said loudly, "Life maybe peaceful for you now but this life was never about you or your family. We're fighting for something greater than just us so be ready to wager more than just yourself for this war."

Roko's speech seemed to gain some approval from some members but only exasperated the spirits of the rest of the crowd. He never really was good at speaking to a crowd. If anything, his annoyance and irritation was the only thing keeping the stage fright at bay.

"Things will move fast in the coming days." Roko continued, "Our first mission will be to retake Fort M48. I understand your previous attempt did not go well but I will be taking measure to make sure this attempt will go more smoothly. I do not promise success in any of my endeavors. That will all depend on your efforts."

Hearing about their first mission under new management was a repeat drew the annoyance in the room to a loud buzz as some people began to voice dissent among themselves while a scarce few tried their best to give these strangers the benefit of the doubt.

"L-Let's do a quick Q&A session!" Azimuth said quickly, "Just to get to know our new collaborators."

"Seriously?" Roko scoffed, "Well, whatever."

One of the rebels raised their hand.

"Yes, Theo?"

"Where are you from?"

"Another world." Roko answered.

This response drew even more ire as the ones who didn't believe him rolled their eyes and made derisive comments.

"Roko, can you not say the worst possible thing all the time?" Momo giggled.

"It's the truth." Roko replied, "Whenever or not they believe it doesn't matter to me."

"Ey, why should we listen to you?!" One of the soldiers barked without raising their hands.

"Because you're not getting anywhere as you are anyway." Roko replied, "You're not even trying so if you need some direction then why not follow me."

"What do you mean we're not even trying?! We fight hard everyday!"

"Your last operation on Fort M48 was half a year ago. Since then, the Earthbounds' activity has slowed so much that people have been wondering if you DISBANDED. I'd say you lost the faith of the people but it seems nobody even had any expectations for you. How lucky for all of you."

"Yo, what's your problem?!"

"What's my problem?" Roko's eyes locked onto the soldier who rudely asked that question, glaring him down with such intense seething rage that the man balked, "I come here expecting management to have made a few mistakes and maybe are doing some things inefficiently to cause the rebellion to lose faith in them. What I did NOT expect was for the soldiers to be so laissez-faire about the entire movement that they've become so indulgent in their frankly UNEARNED middle class status."

"What do you know?!" The man shouted back, "We fought hard for where we are right now! We've got families!"

"You know who else has families?" Roko said taking a few steps towards the heckler, "The people above ground. The people who, while you enjoy your moderate living space, are taking the FULL BRUNT of unfair tyranny. The people living under the attention of Sirius while you escape it. The people who even now act as a shield for you while you while your days away. Do you even understand what that means?!"

Roko grabbed the man by the collar and slammed him into the ground, "It means that you're no better than Sirius! No, at least Sirius has the gall to live in luxury at the cost of people's lives! You sacrifice the lives of your own people just to live in moderate health! You take the trust and hopes of the people who can't fight for themselves and light them on fire for warmth in the winter! While people with broken spirits shiver in broken houses with broken families. While these people can't see more than one meal a day! While they suffer in silence, you raise your complaints and put down your arms! You talk about your family?! This is a cause that's worth more than you and your family! It's worth more than my life, than my ideals! Is this injustice not the reason why you joined?! Is that better life you now know not worth giving to everyone else as well?! Have you never been back to the surface?! Can you really look a starving child in the eyes and talk about how okay your life is?! Why do you not care?! Why do you not realize this?! Why does someone from another world, who has no stake in the future of this city, has to be the one who has to get ANGRY on YOUR behalf?!"

Roko glared furiously down at the stunned man cowering below him. The rest of the room was equally silent, the soldiers having made room for Roko's advance on their fellow now stood silently. A thick sense of guilt finally breaking through their mood of apathy and cynicism. Roko breathed heavily, winded from his rather emotional speech. Momo began clapping to get everyone's attention as she spoke up,

"Now now. I think we've had a productive Q&A for now. Let's end it here for today and we can reconvene tomorrow to actually talk tactics."

As Momo spoke, Roko just shoved the man he was holding back onto the ground as he got up and left, not even looking at anyone else in the room. As he left, he could hear Momo continue, "Oh, if any of you want a little bit of combat practice with me, I'd be happy to start up a session right now."

The next day, Roko arrived at the meeting room where everyone else from yesterday was already there, including some more people that weren't there for the first meeting. There was an odd sense of respect now from the people who were looking at him which made Roko entirely uncomfortable but he quietly made his way back to the front of the room where Momo and Azimuth were waiting again.

"Welcome!" Momo said cheerfully to both Roko and the room, "To our rescheduled strategy meeting! Hopefully this time we will actually talk about some strategies!"

"First, if anybody would like to clear the air around our last meeting, the floor is open." Azimuth said with a knowing smile.

"Ummm..." The man that Roko threw on the ground yesterday stepped up, "I...We would like to apologize for yesterday. We probably weren't in our best shape and definitely got off on the wrong foot. I...we apologize."

All the soldiers in the room bowed in a polite apology that made Roko even more uncomfortable. He wasn't used to having so much attention on him, much less get apologized to in such a humble way by so many people. Roko scratched his head as he replied,

"Well...I certainly was a bit unsightly yesterday. And perhaps there were better ways to handle the situation. So let's just start over and say we're even."

The crowd seemed satisfied with that and straightened up, nodding among themselves as they prepared for the real strategy meeting.

"Now..." Azimuth nodded, satisfied, "You were saying our first operation is to retake Fort M48, Roko?"

"Yeah, well..." Roko crossed his arms, "As important as this operation is, I am fully prepared to fail on it. Fact of the matter is, this mission is just to get a grasp on all of your combat abilities and my own effectiveness as a leader by comparing this operation to your last attempt. Of course, if we succeed I fully intend to take the fort for ourselves but most important in this operation and in any operations by me going forward is all your survival. To that point, I want all of you to split into groups of three. Make good choices because you will be operating with your two teammates at all times during a mission. Should one of you be incapacitated or gravely injured, I want one of you to provide support to them while the other protects you from any enemies. The three of you are to then leave the battlefield immediately, no matter how far the operation has gone on and how successful we otherwise are so that you all can be treated. Our advantage right now is our stored resources. We have the support to bring you back but we can't bring you back to life so make sure you come back at all costs."

This change drew approval from most of the soldiers, some of them even immediately shifting to form up into their desired trios.

"From the records I've seen, the previous raid on M48 was done through the sewer grate in middle of the foyer of the fort. That's a key weakness of the fort that can't be taken advantage of by our enemies. It's our best way in...if it was our first attempt. It's surely guarded now after your failed attack. Is that you'd think. But after checking it for myself, I can confirm that no such defenses have been taken. Not even regular patrols around it at night. It's completely open."

"What the hell?" The soldiers all looked around, just as confused as Roko was surprised when he found it.

"Chalk it up to a sense of superiority." Roko shrugged, "Or maybe perhaps it's been so long that they never bothered to enact any actual defenses. Regardless, we'll take their lenience and turn it into hubris. The exact same operation done in the exact same way. If we succeed then it'll be a statement. To them that we're back and we're different from before, better than before. And to us that we won't be restrained by our past and can and will succeed."

This small motivational speech raised a small cheer from the listeners.

"That's not to say there won't be any changes." Roko continued, "Thanks to our new three member system, we can't operate as widely as before. Therefore, we have to be focused in where our troops move. The guardrooms are in the top floor so there's where a majority of our initial forces will go. As you are aware, there are still a group of active guards even at night so we won't be able to reach the majority of their main force without letting them trigger their alarm first. Regardless, I understand this was always a rule in this organization and I just want to reiterate and emphasize; 'No killing anybody that aren't armed or not trying to fight against you.' Remember, your real enemies are not those following the rules but the ones who are making the rules that oppress others."

The crowd nodded along, absorbing the information with focused interest. The meeting continued for several minutes as Roko continued to explain small details about their plot. The mission was in two days and that day came sooner than even he was prepared for.

"Are you sure they didn't put up any defenses?" Azimuth asked as they trekked through the sewers to Fort M48.

"Well we haven't been here before so you tell us." Momo smiled, "See anything different?"

"No..."

"Then it's fine!" Momo grinned, "Remember, our real fight is on the surface."

"That's not to say we don't need to worry about our current surroundings." Roko corrected as he lead the way with a torch in hand, "If you do see anything off, inform us immediately. We don't want to get ambushed during our ambush."

"I did not miss this stench." Their small platoon of rebels chatted among themselves in hushed tones, "The smell just gets so much worse the closer you get to Muldingirmus."

"Their sewer system is different from ours too. There's only a few spots still connected to the Mulapin side on the Dingirmus side. Really puts into perspective how such a small part of Muldingirmus can still produce so much shit."

This last remark drew a few snickers from the soldiers that Roko had to cut short as they arrived under the grate of Fort M48.

"I can't believe it." Azimuth moaned quietly, "They REALLY didn't put up any defenses after our last attack."

"Is that really so surprising?" Momo asked as Roko pass the torch back so their light wasn't visible from above.

"Well given how much of a prick Sirius is, not really..." Azimuth sighed, "But like...I had hoped we proved we were more of a threat than this."

"After half a year of inactivity, I'm sure they relaxed their defenses somewhat." Roko replied, in an off handed sort of way.

"I guess..." Azimuth said, not quite comforted.

"How do we make our entrance?" Momo asked excitedly.

"That's all on you Momo." Roko replied, "Use your enhancement magic, breach the grate and shoot down as many guards as you can see. Once the coast is clear, we invade."

"Ooo, I get the opening move?" Momo grinned, "You spoil me rotten, Roko."

"Just trying to make things easier for everyone."

"Alright, let me prepare."

Momo walked up under the grate, crouching down as she prepared a jump, pulling one arm back while she drew her other arm in, lightning sparking out from her hand in anticipation. And in an instant too fast for the rebels to comprehend, Momo jumped up, throwing her prepared arm forward, wrenching the grate from the ground, as Momo flew several meters into the air above even the floor of the fort. Momo make an initial turn around in midair, noting the amount and positions of all the shocked guards that were looking up at her. And in her next spin, she acted. One unlucky fellow got the grate thrown at him while Momo released five bolts of lightning, not at her usual strength but fast and strong enough to knock them out upon impact.

Momo landed back on the ground, having cleared everyone in the immediate vicinity but sounds were already breaking out around her. People peeking in and reporting and the scrambling of more people hidden in surrounding rooms to sound an alarm and prepare for an ambush.

"Well, I did my best." Momo crossed her arms.

"Good enough." Roko said as he climbed out of the sewer, "Now we need to charge in as soon as possible."

"This grate really slows us down huh?" Azimuth scowled, "Only one person can climb out using the ladder at a time."

"Just jump." Momo said.

"Huh?" Azimuth blinked as she climbed out.

"Hey, you all down there! Just jump!" Momo called.

"Jump?" The rebels waiting in ambush murmured about in confusion, "You mean like this?"

The next rebel underneath the opening jumped up, a little halfheartedly, not expecting much. And was completely unprepared for when he rocked up through the opening and landed back onto the floor of the fort in stunned surprise.

"How-"

"Enhancement magic. Now go!" Roko snapped.

With this new advantage, the rebels all began leaping out in quick succession, breaking off into their designated trios and storming up the stairs to contain the guards in their sleeping quarters.

"Probably should've explained this in advance." Azimuth said as they watched her troops jumping out of the sewer.

"It was a pretty general thing we just glossed over in the planning." Momo admitted, "Break in and wreck havoc was about as specific as we got."

"I was too busy preparing the movement of our troops inside the fort that I neglected to inform them about your own abilities." Roko nodded, "Well, at least they're aware now."

"Enhancement magic huh?" Azimuth looked down at her own arm, surrounded with an aura of mixed color, "I didn't think it could be used on so many people at a time."

"Oh, I'm still learning with it." Momo smiled sheepishly, "Normally, I would be able to use all three on an entire army but I haven't quite managed that yet. I can handle this many people though."

"First I'm hearing of this." Roko frowned.

"Roko, you know I learned enhancement magic to buff all my friends."

"First I'm hearing that your enhancement magic is still in training." Roko clarified, "You're already ridiculous with that field of magic already."

"Thanks in part to you." Momo grinned, "And I'm always looking for a way to get stronger. Hell, I can't even say I've properly mastered enhancement magic since I still haven't even practiced one spell in particular."

"What's that one?" Roko asked.

"You know the one. The one that starts with A?" Momo grinned.

"You know, I forgot about that spell." Roko sighed.

"Roko, you MADE the spell!"

"But it's not like I can cast it." Roko scowled, "Anyway, it seems everyone's out of the sewers now. Now it's time for our job."

"Think we can handle it with just the three of us?" Azimuth said, preparing her crossbow as the foyer guards finally began coming out of the surrounded rooms, armed and armored.

"It's not a difficult job." Roko replied as he drew his sword, "We defend this hole, our only method of escape from here. Either we oust all these guards or we call a retreat. It's all up to your troops now."