I opened my eyes only to find someone hovering over me and my whole body lurched forward, my heart racing like a techno beat. I nearly bumped heads with Saris. Just before my forehead collided with his jaw, he stopped me by putting his hand out. The result was him catching my face like a baseball player catches a fly ball. The sudden stop made me fall back into the couch.

"Well, that's one way to wake up," he said dryly.

"Why were you hovering over me like that? It's creepy!" I sputtered.

"Waking you up. Get up, it's almost eight."

I looked at my yellow kid's watch. "It's barely past seven-thirty," I complained.

"Yeah. Get up."

Breakfast had already been laid out on the coffee table and I just had to sit up and start eating but decided to go to the bathroom first. By the time I got back, Saris' plate was already empty and Demi was in one of the chairs starting on her last slice of toast. I looked at my plate to see scrambled eggs and some toast of my own. An open jar full of some kind of red jam sat in the center of the table, knife sticking out from the top. Beside the food was a glass of milk and I thanked my friends for the meal as I sat down.

Just as I started to chow down, Saris picked up the papers that had our plans written on them and cleared his throat. "Okay, so what we'll do this morning is figure out what strategy we want to use against the army. We should pick a few different options because we'll need to communicate what we want to try with our allies, which is the next place we'll need to go. Keep in mind, they might have plans of attack too, so don't get too attached to the tactic we choose now."

"Sounds good," Demi said, finishing off her milk.

"Alright, there's a few plans here that involve some kind of flammable substance and spreading it on the enemy to deter their leader from using his powers. I like the idea, but A: how are we going to transport that much gas or oil or whatever, by the end of today and B: seems risky to have us carry it at all. They could see us, attack and we would be ash before we ever got close."

"Pass," I said in a disinterested tone, chewing on some bread. The jam was strawberry.

"Yeah, too risky," Demi agreed and Saris crossed it off the list.

Saris continued, "I think this goes without saying but Xander's idea of having everyone hide in the water like fish is-"

"Merpeople!" I interrupted, instantly regretting speaking up. I felt my face get hot; I was correcting the description of a stupid plan.

"...Merpeople. Anyway, it's a dumb idea," he crossed it off, then amended, "no offense."

I looked over at Demi who said nothing but smiled at me, lips tight, trying to restrain a laugh. Saris continued, but the more we went through the list, the more I realized that we had a problem. We were missing an important detail in all of our plans. We had methods of trying to defend or attack a larger force but lacked one of the things we would need to accomplish before the fight even began.

"Wait!" I interrupted Saris, who was listing another idea to use the cliff as a ranged station. "This is all helpful, but we first need to find a way to get the army where we need them, right?"

This seemed to disappoint everyone. Apparently, they had also forgotten about that detail. Saris said, "Well, we really only have one way to do that, don't we? Live bait."

"And who's going to volunteer for that?"

"I could have my double do it," Demi offered.

"No," Saris said firmly. "First of all, they've seen you before. It'll look suspicious and they might decide not to chase you down. And second, we'll need someone who will be able to run through them, not just near them."

"Why through them?" I asked.

"Same reason their leader attacked the graveyard; a show of strength. If we just shout at them, they'll come around until they realize that we'll run away from them. They won't want to keep chasing someone all day. Or they might send some scouts to try and kill off whoever we'd send but that'd be the worst of it. If we attack the inside and get through, they'll need to make a power play. If we make it look easy to get in and out, then make a run for it, the fire user will force his team to chase after us; at least a good chunk of them anyway. If he doesn't, that shows his team that he isn't as strong as he claims to be."

"Not to mention that it'll look like he doesn't care about his team," Demi said. "So, the three of us will be the bait? That seems too risky."

"That is too risky. I'm not suggesting that. I say, let me do it."

"No," I said, "You're too valuable for the fight."

"That's part of why it needs to be me. I'm well known and it'll be a big deal if they kill me. Zack's already told them I'm dead. It might blow his cover, but I think Fire King sees me as a threat. They're more likely to chase me down than someone they don't know anything about. But I'm also best suited to get in and out. I have the best stamina out of the three of us, I'm the fastest, especially with my power, and also they'll know that if they send scouts, those scouts will probably die."

"Maybe, but you don't have much for defense," I argued.

Saris put his hand on his chin in thought. "I could borrow your shield like we did with Demi's double."

"That actually doesn't sound too bad," Demi agreed.

I forced myself to relax, "Why am I the only one who ever disagrees with everyone else?"

Saris laughed, "It's not a bad thing."

"When we meet up with everyone, we'll discuss if there's a better person suited for the job, but right now, Saris is the one with the best chance to do it successfully and survive," Demi said.

Reluctantly, I agreed and we went back to forming a plan of attack. By noon, we had a plan that we could agree on. We'd have to see what our allies could do if we wanted a better idea of how things were going to go down. Before we left, we ate a quick lunch and found a bag to fit more food into, stuffing it full of bread, cheeses, fruits and nuts; anything that might last the day and not spoil. It would keep us full and we brought enough to help feed our allies if they were hungry. When we were ready, we left and headed west, towards the water and closer to the cliff where our army would be waiting.

For some reason, I didn't have any trouble trusting our new allies; I was actually eager to meet them. All I had to go on were first impressions, and that's only for the ones that I met, but somehow our common goal made me feel confident that they would help us and not turn on us or leave us for dead. It seemed like Demi and Saris felt the same way. At least, neither of them had voiced any concerns to me. I'm sure Saris would have told me to keep my guard up once we get to the beach. And while Demi didn't often showcase her thoughts, I had gotten to know her well enough to know if she was nervous about something, but she acted like everything was normal. The thought made me wonder if I was too relaxed about this. Realizing that I was overthinking it, I shook my head and started talking.

"So, what exactly is the plan when we get to the beach?" I asked Saris.

"We'll meet with everyone and have them elect a leader for their group."

"Why a leader?"

"It makes things quicker. The more people we try to convince of a plan, the less likely it is that we'll settle on one. After the leaders are appointed, we'll talk with them and talk strategy." Saris thought for a moment, "After that, we'll probably pick three or so people to lead the plan, unless we come up with a better one than the one we already have. It all depends on strategies. We'll have to play it by ear."

A few hours of walking went by. For a while, we talked about our plan, but it didn't take long to run out of things to say about that. I also think that Saris didn't want to linger on it too much. Maybe he didn't want to overthink it. Instead, we changed the subject and talked more about life back home and what we would want to do when we got back. We had already touched on movies and it seemed like we'd gravitate back towards that subject, but Demi asked a different question.

"What do you plan to do when you're back? You know, like day to day stuff."

"I'm not sure what I'll do when I get back," I stated. "After all of this, I'm not sure if I'll want to settle down and relax or not. Actually, I don't really know if I could relax after this."

Demi nodded, "I know what you mean. This place has changed me a lot. Some of it is good. I think meeting you two was really good for me." She sighed, "But, I think I'd like to find my parents and live near them."

"Would you still want to be a doctor?"

"I'm not sure. I might decide to do something a bit more isolated, but maybe that's not very good for me. Then again, after seeing so much death, maybe being a doctor isn't either. I dunno."

I turned my head, "What about you, Saris?"

"Well, there's someone I want to find."

"Rayne?"

Saris nodded, "I think I've had enough of working for the government. I think I'd like a normal job. Something a little less exciting than this."

"Yeah," Demi and I both agreed.

We didn't run into the enemy on the way to the beach and after walking past several buildings, I finally saw the shimmering blue of the water. I like beaches. I had fond memories of the beach while growing up. Fighting the waves near the shore, collecting shells or running after seagulls were just a few things that I had enjoyed as a kid. I couldn't help but smile when my shoes sunk into the hot sand.

"There's the cliff," Demi said, pointing to our right. "Not far now."

The cliff was taller than I expected, Saris said it was steep but I had imagined something a bit less tall. He did say that someone could die if they fell from the cliff, but he also mentioned that we could use some of our allies as ranged fighters from the top of it. Now that I was looking at it, I wondered if that would really work. Would anyone at the top be able to differentiate between friend and foe?

Chills hit me as we neared the cliff. The closer we got, the more people I could see and I was happy that so many had come to help us with our task. Still, we didn't have nearly as many fighters as Fire King had. What we did have, was a plan and we would need to get everyone together so we could share it. Maybe they already had plans of attack that would work better than what we had come up with.

Our arrival had gained attention. Everyone turned our way and, being the ones to have gathered everyone in the first place, it was our responsibility to speak up. I had apparently forgotten how to speak because all I could do was open and close my mouth without making any noise. Come on, Xander! Pull yourself together! You don't want to look stupid in front of everyone here!

Saris spoke up before I managed to. "Thank you for coming. We're all here to fight against someone who has wronged us all. Most of you have probably seen the army combing through the map. That's what we're up against." He paused and a few people began to mumble in disappointment. "Make no mistake, this fight is not going to be easy. Many of us will fall, but we need to make this stand. We have a plan, but we want to do this right. You might also have plans and we want to choose whichever one will work best in our favor. Here's what we'll do. Gather yourself into the teams that you arrived in. Declare one of your team as a representative for you all and send them to that building there." Saris pointed to a small shower hut. "We'll be waiting there. While we discuss everything, we should all be getting ready for tomorrow's battle. We brought some food and you're all welcome to it, although there won't be enough for everyone." Saris set the bag of food on a nearby rock and turned to Demi and me, "Come on." And with that, we followed him to the meeting zone.

While many were choosing leaders for their group, there were many who came right away, around ten or so, and it was clear that some of the people here had arrived alone; probably scavengers. They were all keeping eyes on each other, distrust and concern was plain to see on their faces. Saris spoke to them before anyone else had arrived.

"Are you all scavengers?" Saris asked. They all confirmed. "There are too many of you to act as your own leader. I know you don't trust others to act for you but we're all here for the same reason. Can you trust one of you to speak for all of you?"

"Who?" A large man with larger muscles and an even larger claymore sword, resting on his large shoulder asked.

"Actually, Ruffus, I was thinking you would do it." Saris addressed the scavengers, "If you don't already know, Ruffus has been here for nearly as long as I have. He's a smart planner and realistic, with two wins under his belt. Will you trust him?"

Ruffus looked around at the other scavengers. Many of them seemed to be thinking the same thing, 'Why would I trust him?', but then one of the scavengers in the back spoke up. "It doesn't really matter. It's not like I have a plan of attack anyway." That seemed to cause a spiral of similar feelings in the others and one by one, they all agreed that Ruffus could speak for them. They all returned back to the cliff.

A few minutes later, more people started to show up. I recognized a few of them, but I didn't know most of their names. Kain, the shadow walker that had talked with Saris and I in the graveyard had arrived. And Mel, the new girl from the church. She looked at me, smiled and waved and I returned the greeting warmly. One by one, more people showed up, declaring themselves as the leaders of their groups. When they stopped coming, the group nearly doubled the amount of scavengers that we had sent back.

"There's quite a few of you," Saris noted once people had stopped coming down. "But we'll make do for now. What we discuss here will need to be shared with the teams that you're representing. You're here because you showed promise in the eyes of your team. That might be a leadership quality, it might be because you're the strongest in your group or maybe you're the best when it comes to making strategies. Whatever the reason, you were chosen and you will be making decisions for your entire team. Don't take that trust lightly."

He paused to let that sink in. I noticed that he didn't call them the 'leader' of their groups, instead, calling them the group's representative and I got the feeling that it was intentional, like he was trying to show them that they had more responsibility without being better than the members of their teams. In a way, it seemed almost political, watching the wording of what he was saying. I was suddenly glad that I hadn't been the one speaking.

Saris continued, "Let me start by introducing myself and my team. This is Demi, Xander and I'm Saris. The three of us have come up with a plan, but we also want to hear if any of you have ideas on how to defeat our common enemy. Does anyone have a plan?"

There was silence for a long moment. Then someone spoke, "We kind of thought we'd just attack them head-on."

"That's more than a little risky," Saris said honestly. "There are a lot more of them and they're being led by a fire user that can kill someone within seconds. His power is unrealistically strong. A head-on collision will likely fail." No one else spoke, probably fearing that their plan would be shut down like the last one. "Nothing? Okay. Xander, do you want to go over our plan?"

"Umm. Okay," I said, caught off guard. "Well, uh. So. Umm. We're going to use a bait to get them over here."

"What do you mean?" asked someone to my right.

"Uhh. Well, someone is going to go up and goad them into coming to the cliff area." This got an instant response of disagreement.

"I'm not doing it!"

"No one would do that!"

"My team will never go for that!"

Saris stepped forward and held up a hand, "I will be the bait." This quieted the group down. "Unless someone is better suited for the job, I will be the one to lure the enemy to us." He turned to me, "Sorry, Xander. Didn't think you'd freeze like that. I can explain the rest."

"No," I said, determined to not let him down. "I just wasn't ready. I'll do it." I cleared my throat and spoke up so the crowd could hear me better, "After the enemy gets here, we'll have three forces. A group to attack head-on, a group on the cliff to attack at a range and a third group to get behind the enemy and attack while their attention is on the main force."

"The cliff is too tall. We'll be attacking our own allies," someone pointed out.

"We have some ideas to prevent that," Saris explained. "Some of the group will be at the top, but they'll be attacking deeper into the enemy's forces. You don't need to target someone specific, just a location. If our collision group knows not to go past that section of the beach, then the attackers on the cliff won't have to worry about friendly fire. We'll also have a few people stationed only part of the way up the cliff. There are a few areas that have small platforms to stand on and we can use those footholds to support the main force from a distance."

"Anyway," I said, "That's pretty much it."

"So," Saris chimed in, "What do you think?"

There were a few murmurs among the small crowd. It sounded like they didn't dislike the plan and I felt a wash of relief when people started nodding in agreement. A few people started making suggestions on how to improve the plan.

"I can make traps for the enemy when they arrive," Ruffus stated.

"Just don't have them go off before I get past them," Saris said with a smirk.

"We've got some rope, we can make an easy escape route for anyone who needs to come down from the cliff quickly," someone near me offered.

"And I know a place nearby that sells binoculars that we can use on the cliff!" Mel said, cheerily.

Things seemed to be going well. Everyone was participating and contributing ideas, like they had already accepted each other as teammates and the more people praised the plan, the more I thought it might actually work. I turned to Demi, who smiled at me and I smiled back. Then Saris cleared his throat again.

"There's more we need to talk about," he said. "First of all, I'm not going to ask anyone to let slip their ability, or their team's abilities, unless they're willing to volunteer that information. But if there's something you can do that'll help win this fight, now might be a good time to add it to the plan." No one spoke, either unwilling to give any information, or not confident that their team had someone with an ability to turn the tide. "I suggested the beach because of the water. With a little luck, we might be able to combat the fire user's ability by jumping in. I don't know if that'll work for sure, but it's worth a shot. We'll also need leaders to head the three teams. Before I make any suggestions, is there anyone who wants to lead any of these groups?"

Kain spoke up, "I could take the sneak squad."

No one else spoke and Saris looked at the dark-clothed man, "Alright. Anyone else?" Silence filled the air for several seconds. "Xander," Saris turned to me and I braced myself, ready to take the lead for the main force. "Will you take the ranged team?"

I was stunned, "Ranged team?"

"Your ability gives you decent range. You can attack from up above. And you can shield your allies. I think you're best suited for it."

"Umm. Sure."

"And I suppose you'll be leading the main force, right Saris?" Ruffus asked in a slightly irritated voice.

"Actually, I was going to ask you to do that. What do you say?"

Ruffus smiled and agreed.

"Alright," Saris said to the crowd. "Head back to your teams and tell them the plan. I'm going to trust the three leading the teams to find and choose those best suited to join them. Help them as best you can." He turned, "Demi. Would you help Kain?" She nodded in agreement and Saris turned back to the group. "Last thing. We'll need the main force to have the most people. The ranged team can have the least but try to keep it somewhat close, alright? Oh, and Kain. I need your help. Demi can find you a team." Kain nodded and stepped up next to Saris. The rest of us were dismissed and I went to work, heading towards the cliff to find a team with enough ranged abilities to help win this fight.