Tricks and Rodents (part 1 of 2)

a Suikoden fanfiction by Kupo Nut 514

Name of Character: Genma
Name of Army: Saotome
Name of Castle: Tendo

PLACE: Ryube Forest

	"Bonaparte, it's OK!  Don't be scared!" a young girl said.  A 
14-year-old girl who goes by the name of Millie has just found her 
lost pet groundhog, Bonaparte, running around in the forests north of 
Ryube.  She was able to find Bonaparte with the help of a 16-year-old 
young man named Genma who offered to help Millie search for her 
missing pet.  "Thanks for your help Genma," said Millie.  "Anything I 
can do to repay you?"
	"Well," said Genma. "Right now I'm working in this mercenary 
fort west of Ryube.  The boss has been looking for some new recruits."
	"Hmm, mercenary fort eh?" said Millie. "Sounds fun!  What do you 
think, Bonaparte?"  Bonaparte let out a small hamster-like squeal.  
"Sure, we'll join your fort!"

PLACE: Greenhill/Muse Border

	"Gadget, why didn't you go attack those Highlanders like I told 
you?" another young girl asked.  The 16-year-old trickster named Meg 
has been traveling around the world with her clockwork barrel named 
Gadget as her uncle Juppo suggested to become a true trickster.
	"I AM NOT A TOOL USED FOR FIGHTING!" said Gadget.
	"Dang it!  Juppo could've gotten me a better device than this!" 
Meg complained.  Gadget was starting to get impatient with Meg when 
Genma appeared.  "Oh hello there!" Meg greeted to Genma. "If you're 
trying to pass the guards, you're out of luck!"
	"PROCESSING CHARACTER INFORMATION" said Gadget. "IDENTITY: 
LEADER GENMA OF THE SAOTOME ARMY!"
	"What?  The leader of the Saotome army?" asked Meg in surprise. 
"Did you hear that Gadget?"  Gadget looked at Meg with a disturbed 
feeling.  "So you're fighting the Highland Army?  Sounds like quite an 
adventure."
	"YOU'RE THINKING OF JOINING THE SAOTOME ARMY?!" asked Gadget.
	"That's not such a bad idea Gadget!" said Meg.  "That could be a 
lot of fun to be in the army."
	"Well, I have been looking for recruits," said Genma.
	"Cool!  Looks like we're in the Saotome army now Gadget," said 
Meg.

PLACE: Tendo Castle

	"Well, here is your room." said a woman to Meg. "You're going to 
have to share a room with someone since the castle is still too small 
to have enough rooms for anyone.  Is that fine with you?"
	"Oh that's okay!" said Meg. "It'd be nice to make some new 
friends.  Anyway, thanks for leading me to my room Miss..."
	"Hilda," said the lady. "My name is Hilda."
	"Cool, my name is Meg!  You're a member of the Saotome army 
too?"
	"Yes I am, now if you excuse me I have to go back to my inn."
	"Okay, see ya!"
	As Hilda headed back to her inn, Meg opened the door to her room 
and walked in.  She was just expecting to see her roommate and say 
hello but instead, she found a giant 8-eyed creature jumping at her 
and it was making small monstrous growls at her.
	"What the heck is that thing?!" shouted Meg.
	"CAUTION!!  DANGEROUS CREATURE!!" said Gadget.
	Just before Meg could do anything, the creature widely opened 
its mouth and inhaled Meg into it.  It was about to gobble her up and 
swallow but then a voice called to the monster ordering it to stop.
	"BONAPARTE!!!  SPIT HER OUT!!!" said the voice.  When the 
creature heard the voice, it hesitated to chew up Meg and it spit her 
out against the wall in the room.  Meg got up as she tried to get the 
drool off her clothes when a hand reached up in front of her with a 
towel.  Meg looked and saw that it was Millie who was handing her the 
towel.
	"Please forgive Bonaparte!" said Millie. "He doesn't like the 
company of strangers!"
	"Uhh.. it's okay... I'm fine..." replied Meg softly.  Meg was 
just about to grab the towel off of Millie but she couldn't help but 
notice something interesting about Millie.  Meg was staring straight 
into Millie's light blue eyes as Millie continued to hold out the 
towel.  Millie then noticed that Meg was staring at her too long and 
she didn't even grab the towel.
	"Hey is something wrong?" asked Millie. "Do I have anything on 
my face?"
	"Huh?" said Meg as she lost her train of thought "Oh, no!  
There's nothing wrong with your face."
	"You sure?  You were staring at me for some reason."
	"No, it's fine!"
	"Um, okay.  If you say so.  By the way, name's Millie."
	"I'm Meg."
	"Pleased to meet you."
	'Millie, that's such a nice name...' said Meg in thought.

PLACE: Tendo Castle Baths

	Meg has just came out of the open-air bathtub of the castle.  
Meg was wrapped in a bright blue robe and was drying up her hair with 
a fluffy white towel.  When she came out of the baths, she found 
Millie waiting for her at the entrance with Bonaparte in her arms.
	"Oh hey Millie!"
	"Meg, I'm really sorry about what happened before."
	"Why are you apologizing?!  THAT'S GOT TO BE THE COOLEST 
EXPERIENCE I EVER LIVED THROUGH!!!"
	"What?  You were getting eaten alive!  I know Bonaparte isn't 
perfect but he's really sweet once you get to know him."
	"Hey don't worry about it!  I always love an adventure.  
'Adventure calls' you know."
	"'Adventure calls?' You must be a very outgoing person."
	"You really think so?"
	"Yeah, I like that."

PLACE: Hai Yo's Restaurant

	Meg was sitting at a table with Bonaparte while waiting for 
Millie to bring her the food.  As Meg was waiting for Millie to 
arrive, she gets lost in a train of thought.
	'Millie...' thought Meg. 'What a pretty girl.  I don't know why 
but I have this really strange feeling towards her.  But what is it?  
I wonder how she feels towards me.'
	"Hello Meg!  Hello my dear sweet Bonaparte!"
	"Oh, Millie!  I didn't see you coming!"
	"Really?  Got something on your mind?"
	"Not much really."
	"You sure?"
	"Yes."
	"If you say so, anyway I got the food you ordered.  There's the 
anchovy pizza for Meg, the cheesecake for me, and some tomato juice 
for Bonaparte.  Say, where's Gadget?"
	"I kept Gadget in my room.  It started making these funny noises 
so I pulled out this thingy out of him and then it stopped working for 
some reason."
	"Well that thingy is pretty weird.  Where did you get it?"
	"My uncle Juppo gave it to me.  He said that I must travel with 
it if I want to become a true trickster."  Millie made a surprised 
look.
	"Oh, you're a trickster?  I didn't know!"
	"Well, actually I'm only an apprentice.  I would have to 
complete my journey before I become a real trickster.  But I'm having 
lots of fun in my journey.  At one time, I was a member of the 
Liberation Army during the Gate Rune Wars."
	Millie gasped. "Really?!  The Liberation Army?!  The same army 
led by McDohl?!"
	"Yep," replied Meg, "It was a great experience!  I only joined 
because I found out my uncle Juppo was a member and I wanted him to 
teach me some tricks but then I ended up doing more than I wanted and 
believe me, it was really cool."
	"Wow!" said Millie in surprise, "A trickster AND a former member 
of the Liberation Army!  I'm going to like you a lot!"
	'Like me a lot?' thought Meg, 'Now I'm getting really shakey 
inside.  What the heck is wrong with me?'

PLACE: Meg and Millie's Room

	It was a typical night in Tendo Castle.  People were getting 
ready for bed after a long day of battling against the Highland 
Kingdom.  Meg on the other hand was spending the entire day fixing up 
Gadget in attempt to make it a more powerful fighting machine.
	"Hmm, maybe if I pull on this thingy here and put it here," said 
Meg.  She started pulling on some random object out of Gadget's 
circuit systems and placed in some other random spot on the circuit.  
Meg tried testing the new configuration on Gadget to see if it made it 
any more powerful.  All of a sudden, Gadget shot a white laser out of 
its eyes and blasted a hole in the wall next to her bed.  Genma and 
Nanami happened to be walking by when it happened and they seemed 
really shocked when they saw the explosion.  "Umm, sorry!" said Meg. 
"Hmm... that's probably way too powerful for a trickster."   Just 
then, Millie busted the door open with Bonaparte hanging onto her left 
arm with a surprised look on her face.
	"Meg!" shouted Millie, "I thought a heard an explosion coming 
from our room!  Is everything all right?"
	"Everything is fine!" replied Meg, "I was just fixing up Gadget 
to make it a powerful fighting machine."  Millie then noticed the hole 
in the wall next to Meg's bed.  Meg then said, "Yeah, I kinda did make 
Gadget a little too powerful.  I should try something else."
	"Meg, you've been working on Gadget the whole day!  Give it a 
rest."
	"All right.  Maybe I can think up something in my sleep."
	"Riiight.  I'm going to get dressed then go to sleep."
	Moments later, Meg was putting Gadget after a long day's work as 
some construction workers were boarding up the hole next to Meg's bed.  
Meg was wearing her usual sleeping clothes, a sky blue shirt with 
several small buttons running down the vertical middle and long loose 
pants of the same color, while getting ready to go to sleep.  Just 
then, she heard a knock on the door.
	"Come in!" said Meg.  The door opened up slowly and in came 
Millie and Bonaparte.  While Bonaparte didn't any different from the 
usual, Millie on the other hand definitely was.  She was wearing a 
long nightgown with lacey straps running across her shoulders and her 
hair was looser because she wasn't wearing her white hat.  Meg 
couldn't help but gaze her eyes at Millie.  She didn't think too much 
of her all day because of her work on Gadget but now it has came back 
to her.
	"I'm going to go to sleep now," said Millie, "Good night Meg.  
Good night Bonaparte."
	"Umm... good.. night.." replied Meg.  Millie put Bonaparte 
besides the bottom of the bed and Bonaparte walked under it tiredly.  
Millie got up into bed, turned the lights off, covered herself with 
her blanket and closed her eyes.  Meg was still awake but was sitting 
on her bed looking at Meg.
	'Oh great,' thought Meg 'I tried to spend the whole day without 
thinking about Millie but now it has came back to me just when it was 
about to end!  I don't what it is that I'm feeling about her.  What 
can this feeling be?'  All of a sudden, Meg could feel her heartbeat 
rising at a high rate.  She put her hand over it to see how hard it 
was beating.  That was when she started to realize something.  'Oh my 
gosh!  My heart is beating fast!  This is how my mother felt when she 
met my father!  Can it be that I'm... in.. love?'

PLACE: Tendo Castle Balcony

	Meg couldn't concentrate on sleeping.  She had too much in her 
mind to be able to.  Meg  was walking around the castle looking for a 
place to think.  She found a balcony that was located close to Genma 
and Nanami's room and she thought it would be the perfect place for 
thinking.  Meg walked out to the balcony, put her arms on the stone 
railing, and stared out at the night sky.  It helped Meg think about 
her feelings more but she couldn't get over how serious it might be if 
Millie found out.  She decided it'd be best if she just waited until 
the time comes.
	"Meg?" said a familiar voice.  Meg knew whose voice it was so 
she turned around immediately to see the person.
	"Hey Millie," answered Meg, "I thought you were asleep."
	"I was but I woke up because Bonaparte was making noises again 
and I noticed that your bed was empty.  So I came out here to find 
you."
	"Oh."
	"Is something on your mind, Meg?"
	Meg let out a small sigh and said, "Yeah, I have lots on my 
mind."
	"Oh.  Would you like to tell me about it?"
	"Umm.. No, it's kinda personal."
	"I see.  Well, you should get back to bed.  It's pretty late."
	"No, you go on.  I wanna stay here and think."  Millie stayed 
quiet for a while as Meg continued to stare out at the night sky.  
Millie then walked up to Meg and put her hand on Meg's shoulder.  Meg 
turned her head to face Millie.
	"Tell ya what," said Millie, "How about we both stay here?  We 
can look at the night sky together."
	Meg gave Millie a little smile and said "Sure, I'd really like 
that."  Millie returned the smile to Meg, walked up to the stone 
railing, and stared out at the night sky.
	"Wow!  It's beautiful!" said Millie.
	"Yeah it sure is," replied Meg.  While Meg was looking out at 
the night sky with Millie, she started to think 'Someday... someday I 
shall let her know.'

Onwards to Part 2


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