Second Wind

30

1 PM, outskirts of Alubarna

The sound of innumerable hooves simultaneously hitting the desert ground could be heard as the rebel army rode towards Alubarna on horseback, led by the man known to the rebel army as Kohza, the head of the rebellion. The previous day, their decision to invade the capital had practically been made for them. When Kohza had gone on a mission to gather supplies, along with the second in command, Kebi, the rest of the rebel army had not known what to think. After all, why would he take the responsibility for such a task himself? He would be easily recognizable and ultimately prone to fall into the clutches of the hostile king. It was almost too predictable when he had disappeared that day. The rebellion's fears had been realized.

But miraculously, Kohza returned that same night...only, without Kebi. He was surprisingly calm when he explained that they had been ambushed by the royal army. In a sudden act of aggression, they assaulted both him and his second in command. According to him, he had barely escaped with his life.

Kebi had not escaped at all.

This information had quickly galvanized the rest of the rebels, to the point where, upon being led to a rather large vault in Nanohana which was filled with a myriad of weapons, they didn't even think to question it. They counted themselves lucky that Kohza's mission had at least been successful. Now, they rode into the kingdom's capital with firm resolve. Today, the royal army would fall, and the corrupt king would be dethroned.

Or so they say.

"Kohza-san, unidentified individual, 12 o'clock!"

"Is that a royal army soldier? Why would he come alone?"

"He's not in uniform. Is he even an enemy?"

"Kohza" ignored the murmuring of the rebel soldiers and squinted at the figure in the distance, frowning. The man looked familiar, but he couldn't remember whether he'd really seen him before. From this distance he was hard to make out, and it didn't help that his face was shrouded by the straw hat atop his head.

Before he could even think about what was wrong with this image, let alone figure it out, something strange happened. He suddenly felt his horse veer off course. He tried to gain control over it, but it ignored his commands as if possessed. For a split second he thought of jumping off to avoid getting trampled, but a quick look back at the rest of the troops revealed that they were having the exact same problem.

The sight of thousands of soldiers struggling and failing to regain their bearings may be comical to him at any other time. Unfortunately, right now, his mission was to lead them into Alubarna. And this complicated things. Was was happening? The horses seemed to be dispersing, spreading out thinly and coming to a stop. It was as if they were all having the same exact thought. It almost looked like a planned maneuver, however ridiculous that sounded. Of course, another explanation was that they were possessed. In seconds, they had all come to a stop and started looking in the same direction...towards Alubarna.

Mr. 2's eyes suddenly widened comically as he slowly turned around and saw the same man he had seen before standing right in front of him. His face was still obscured by that damn straw hat. Who did this guy think he was, acting all badass while wearing a straw hat of all things? He was acting like he just did something completely awesome, like...

Like stop an army.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of power wash over the area. That was the only way he could describe it. It was as if the desert air had suddenly been filled with an aura of raw strength, strength that was not to be trifled with. He felt his hair stand on end, and was slightly horrified to note that thousands of rebel soldiers behind him were falling off their halted horses, completely unconscious.