KANAN'S POV

The Love Live Corps took us new recruits off to a safe outpost some distance away from the Wall. The purpose is to help us new recruits be familiar with the new environment that we will be in. Basically, our first missions will most likely be horse training, sending messages, follow instructions from our new superiors, and kill some Alpacas to make us ready. The real Expedition will begin two days from now.

We didn't see any Alpacas as we travelled - towers guard the road towards the outpost and the area has already been secured by the elite members of the Corps. More so, we keep hearing a bit of cannonfire overhead of us, which meant that the cannon towers are doing their job keeping Alpacas at bay.

"I am happy that mankind is making good progress right now. I never expected that we would still feel very safe at the outskirts of Wall Emi.", said Mari.

"I am so excited to kill my first Alpaca!!", Dia announced it with a delighted expression.

"Be patient, Dia. You will get your chance later.", I said.

When we got to the outpost, nothing much seemed to go on either. The Legionnaires are just doing mundane tasks and just like any other camp we've been through, it was safe. We did encounter two of our classmates there, however. They are Ryo Aikawa (she is the Top 1 in our class so she is basically the best of the 98th Trainee Corps.), and Misaki Shido (didn't reach the Top Ten so her only options were either Garisson or Legion. She chose the Legion out of curiosity and the fact that Ryo is in it.)

"Oy! Over here!", shouted Ryo who is currently standing by at the stables with Misaki.

"Hey! Nice to see ya! Glad to find you guys in the Legion!", Dia greeted them as we got there.

"I told you guys before that it has been my goal from the start to be part of Love Live Corps.", Ryo said confidently.

"I have the same reasons too! Right now, the more the merrier, right?", Misaki added.

The three of us has had some history between these two girls. Firstly, Ryo is someone we established a friendship with due to her amazing skills in the Trainee Corps years ago - we asked her for help on how to improve our 3DMG skills and that's how we got to know each other. Ryo is calm, open-minded, and very hardworking.

In the case of Misaki, she happened to be hanging out with Ryo a lot besides helping out the other younger trainees so meeting her was somewhat inevitable. She is a very helpful kind of person and is kinda smart.

"We're waiting for our other classmates to come, so we are basically on standby by now.", Misaki mentioned in a way that she wants us to know how bored they are right now.

"Same as us. We are doing nothing all day it seems either.", I said.

"It makes sense though, right Kanan? We're just new recruits. No one is gonna expect us to do something great right off the bat.", Mari got the big picture sorted out quickly.

"And not just that, Mari. I don't think the veterans want us to die so soon so they're keeping us from harms' way....", said Ryo in an honest tone until...

"Ryo! Stop making it sound like we are a burden!", Misaki said.

"Oh. I thought I was just telling the truth.", Ryo replied with a bit of embarassment. The two of them looked at each other like they want to avoid making a fuss out of trivial debates. I find it odd, I guess.

At the end of the day, however, all we did was standby for orders - in other words we actually didn't do anything. Nor did anything happen in this outpost. All I see are people doing their stuffs, talking, and refilling their gas tanks. Some wore their hoods, some didn't. I can see that Dia is awfully getting bored with the wait. Mari, meanwhile, is chatting with Ryo and Misaki.

Whilst we were figuring out how to spend our time, Captain Eri and the other seniors are busy discussing about this Expedition at the nearby tent.

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"What's the current situation?", Eri asked.

"Captain Eri, the Road is completely secure. Our Legionnaires our successful in taking out any Alpaca that tried to interfere with our operation. Captain Kotori is handling some of our troops on the rearguard.", said one of her officers.

"Good", the atmosphere inside the tent is surprisingly a bit tense. Everyone is double checking any errors or undone tasks in the outpost's boundaries. Eri herself seemed really bothered about something which she couldn't share with the other Legionnaires.

"Shun, how is Maki Nishikino?"

"She is spending her time at the frontlines. Honestly, I think she seems to be putting herself in harms' way just to protect the others.", replied a girl named Shun Kurosaki, a great horse rider and logistician.

"Keep an eye on her. Don't let her get too reckless."

Eri paused for a bit and tried to imagine the current situation.

"It's odd."

"Huh?", the other officers said.

"Don't you think it's odd? I feel as if everything still seems too easy for us."

"What do you mean by that?", Shun replied.

"I mean that it seems as though there are not enough Alpacas attacking us. Considering the fact that there are a lot of humans outside Wall Emi by now, there hasn't been enough cases of hordes coming at us.", Eri is quick to realise something felt odd about the entire day.

"We all feel the same way too, Captain. Commander Kimi has already briefed us on that before this Expedition was proposed months ago, remember?"

"Eri-sama, what do you think is Cmdr. Kimi planning?"

"I dunno either. I am pretty sure though that she would never allow an Expedition like this if it isn't worth something.", before Eri continued her briefing, Kanan called her.

-------

"Eri-sama? Have a minute?", I went to the tent hoping to get Captain Ayase's attention.

"Looks like a recruit is asking for my help. Let's talk later.", Eri looked at her subordinates before she left. My calling worked.

"Oh? The two of you?", she said as she got out of the tent.

"Sorry if we are bothering you, but my friend here Dia really wants you to tutor her on killing Alpacas. Since we have nothing to do for now, we might as well try to learn from you.", as I said this, Dia is waving her hand at Eri enthuthiastically behind my back. God, she is such a fangirl.

"Hmmm....where's your blonde friend?"

"My friend Mari is currently spending her time at the stables, riding horses with her other classmates."

"I see. Well, I apologise if we did not give you guys something to do at least. I'll make it up to you by giving you guys my spare time!"

"Really? But, aren't you planning things with your comrades."

"Not to worry! My subordinates are great leaders on their own. They can handle it."

"Hear that, Dia? You finally get your chance."

"Yes!! Eri-sama, teach me everything! I wanna be just as awesome as you are!"

".....I see....let's talk about that while taking a walk, alright?", before long Captain Eri walked away, inviting us to come with her.

The three of us walked through the outpost as we talked. Along the way, I see nothing but a peaceful view - no Alpacas or any hint of danger. Just trees, trees, and more trees. Guess this is why Eri has no hesitations of taking us on a stroll here.

Eri seemed really interested in us and the way we conversed with her. Especially so with Dia - honestly, it looked like only the two of them are talking while I am just silently listening into their chat.

"Dia, there is no technique to become a great Legionnaire. All you need are two things: the right motivation and survival."

"Oh? What do you mean by that, Eri-sama?"

"Firstly, you need the right motivation or mindset in fighting in the first place. You need to have a solid basis, ideology or reason to fight. It can be anything - an undying devotion to mankind, a devotion to someone you care for, a desire to keep your hometown safe, a goal to become a great person, or even something simple as fulfilling a mission."

"I get it! I know I have what it takes cuz I am totally devoted to my people and for mankind!", I can imagine what Dia is thinking right now. She is seeing Eri as an amazing and godly person with a broad mindset and intelligence.

"Secondly, you need survival. It can mean anything. If you must sacrifice something to survive, you must no matter what, where, why or who it is. It can also mean how you fight in the battlefield: if you can't handle an Alpaca, flee and value your life than stay and pursue blind heroism.", I notice that Eri-sama seemed to take each of her words very seriously. Her face shows it all too well. Her eyes looked so focused.

"Wow. That sounds so deep, Eri-sama. I believe I am gonna learn that too eventually."

"Can I ask you something, then?"

"Of course, Eri-sama!", Dia is totally enjoying her talk with the captain.

"Alright. Dia, you are the First Princess of the Kurosawa royalty, right? You are essentially Mankind's heir to the throne. I understand how devoted you are to man which is why you wasted your years of growth to come here than to stay at court. I am honored to meet such a person."

"Thanks, ma'm!"

"I have to be honest, however. Tell me Dia, are you totally sure about your devotion to mankind?"

"Of course I am!"

"I feel that your reason isn't as solid and as true as you think it is."

"Eh? Eri-sama, what are you saying?"

"Dia, I feel like you are forcing yourself. Obligating yourself. To a cause and a mission you don't necessarily need to fulfill."

All of a sudden, Dia stopped walking. The conversation suddenly turned pale. Dia and I looked bothered by the sudden change of mood of Eri's question.

"Wait a minute. Eri-sama, pardon me but....are you telling me I am lying to myself?", Dia asked as she continues to find meaning in Eri's words.

"Not that I wanna hurt your pride or anything. I am just saying that you seem to be lacking the right motivation. And because of that, I believe you shouldn't stay here in the Corps. I might advice you to be in another Corps instead.", Eri calmly says as she crossed her arms and looked at us with sheer focus.

"Eri-sama! You can definitely count on me! I am ready to offer my heart for mankind! I came here for them! I have the right motivation to be here!", Dia talks back with confidence, trying to convince Eri of her devotions.

"Are you sure? If that's the case, you should see yourself in the battlefield. I wanna let you know that you will find your true calling once you fight for real. I am warning you though that because I believe you lack the right motivation, you might die sooner than you think."

"Eri-sama...."

I think we are both shocked. Eri seemed like she is actually looking down on us, not trusting us. I am a little worried for Dia because she is the center of Eri's comments.

Regardless, Eri picked up on our situation quickly and decided to lighten the mood a bit.

"Sorry....did I just sound very rude to both of you? I can tell by your expressions that you both seemed offended with how I spoke my opinions."

"No, no....uhhh....Eri-sama I am not taking your criticisms too seriously. I am actually glad to find someone as great as you to be giving honest opinions! I admire you for that! You are an honest person, Eri-sama!!"

"You guys actually think I am an honest person, huh?", Eri said when she noticed the sky is getting darker.

"Looks like it's gonna be evening soon.", I said.

"Yeah it is. I have to take care of things as of this hour too. Sorry, but I need to go - "

"Don't sweat it! Eri-sama, I am willing to postphone our conversation for another time! Please go about with your business!", Dia mentioned.

"Alright. Thanks, you two! Stay alive and wait for further orders! Bye!"

"Bye, ma'm!", Eri left us as we waved back in gratitude. But after she is gone, I had to check Dia.

"Dia....you okay? Eri said some mean things about...."

"I am fine, Kanan. I understand her. She said those things for a reason. I don't mind it actually. I learned something from her at least."

"You sure? I mean, she is formerly part of royalty before the Kurosawas came to power. I thought that she is probably insecure about having a princess - "

"Kanan! Eri will not mind those things! I swear she truly cares for me and you without any political agenda or anything! Trust her, okay?"

I am a bit bothered with how everything turned out. Then again, I thought that this is the first time we conversed with Eri-sama so I guess I can't just judge her outright, right?

"Sigh....fine. I will agree with you. Let's just head back to camp now."

MARI'S POV

The sky started to darken. I am spending the day horse riding with my two other trainees, Ryo Aikawa and Misaki Shido. The three of us are having a race just for fun. Good thing the other veterans supervised us and allowed us to race.

"I'm first!!"

"Wow, you really are good with horses, Mari.", said Ryo.

"Well, horseriding is one of the main reasons why I found it INTERESTING to be part of Love Live Corps!"

"Is that so? We have to be in actual combat in order to prove our worth. And that also means preparing for death, I guess.", said Ryo.

"Ryo, don't be so pessimistic!", Misaki scolded Ryo and was about to explain further when Ryo continued.

"If I weren't, what's the point in joining Love Live then, Misaki?"

"I am just saying you shouldn't think about dying too much. It's gonna affect your skills."

Seeing those two bicker seemed familiar for me as I do the same thing with Kanan. However, I saw overhead the setting sunset.

"Hey girls, I think we should head back to camp. It's getting dark already."

"You're right."

We rode back to our outpost. I found that more of our classmates have just arrived there as well. I searched for the tent where Dia and Kanan are staying. I found it soon after and did a brief chat with those two. Since there isn't much to do tonight, I decided to sleep as soon as possible. Ryo and Misaki stayed awake to take part in the night's watch though.

Nighttime came so soon. The camp is surrounded by endless darkness and flames of torches. For some reason, I couldn't sleep so I decided to go outside to gaze at the stars in the sky. Hanging out with Kanan all these years has given me this new kind of hobby.

I sat near the stables. I noticed that there's a missing horse in there which probably meant that someone was on night patrol.

As I looked at the sky, I wondered how far we would go from now on. We are finally here in the Love Live Corps. All those years of training, decisions, and perseverance have brought us all here. What bothers me is what happens next after all this. We dunno anything that will come at us afterwards - our future is uncertain.

Sigh, but why should I worry? We will succeed. Everything is going so smooth. The Expeditionary Road is successful so far. We have Captains Eri, Kotori, Maki, and other great soldiers here as far as I know. Tomorrow, we will finally get our first taste of combat against those Alpacas.

I pray for our success. I look to the stars for that prayer. The sky is actually beautiful tonight.......

....but it is strange....moments later, the sky suddenly shoned very bright.....

"BOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!"

....eh!!...wait....was that an explosion just now!?

DIA'S POV

"BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!"

"Ah!!", all of a sudden I heard a lightning. It woke me up! The sound was so loud that everyone in this tent, including Kanan, are awakened by the noise.

"W-ha....what was that?"

"Kanan, wake up!! I just heard lightning or something!"

"What?", before long, a Legionnaire suddenly entered our camp and called us out.

"Hey, new recruits!! Wake up!! Something just exploded just now!!"

"Eh?!", everyone is confused. All of us had to go out of the tent and find out what happened.

Kanan and I had to rush outside to find Mari who is also confused by the sudden turn of events.

"Mari!!"

"GUYS!!! WHAT HAPPENED!! I was stargazing when all of a sudden I saw a flash then I turned back to find a lightning somewhere over there!"

"Where?!!"

"I dunno....somewhere over there! It's too dark for me to see!"

Her report is similar to the report of other Legionnaires who sighted the lightning. Everyone by now is outside their tents and are confused as to what is going on.

Captain Eri Ayase is not around. She was ordered hours ago to go to HQ and rendevous with Kotori's division. For now, the officers she left here including Shun Kurosaki are in charge.

"Everyone, keep watch!! Something just happened so we have to stay alert!", the Legionnaires are quickly scrambling to light up their torches. The entire camp is gradually getting lit as we all readied our gears and gas tanks.

I am nervous. The only thought in my mind right now is that the Alpacas must be attacking, but I cannot imagine how they could do that. We learned that most Alpacas generally are inactive in the night, plus we are currently in the safe vicinity of the Expeditionary Road. Other camps will have notified us for their arrival first if that were the case.

"Misaki, stay close to me.", Ryo whispered to Misaki as she is slowly getting surrounded by nervous recruits and Legionnaires.

Soon, we all heard another noise.

"What is that?!!"

"Hold on!! Isn't that the sound of trees or something?!!"

"Everyone!! Hold your torches up high!! We need as much light as we can get!!"

The noise we heard, as faint as it was, seemed to come from somewhere a bit far away. We cannot grasp what it was or what it meant.

"Sir, I can't help but feel that the Alpacas have penetrated our traps - "

"Even so, it does not make sense for that to happen without news from our guys at the frontlines. They should have notified us earlier then, either through messengers or the sound of cannonfire!"

Before long, I noticed that the sky lost a bit of stars - as if an object was covering the stars for a quick moment.

Then...without warning, another explosion had just happened. This time.....it was too close.

"BOOOOOOMMMM!!!"

I, Kanan, and Mari are thrown off by an explosion that happened just near where we stood. Smoke briefly covered the place before it dissipated to reveal something shocking.

"WHAT THE?!! THAT...THAT'S A TREE!!!"

A big tree fell upon our camp!! It destroyed the main building here and filled the area with some debris! Everyone is shocked.

I myself am horrified. Beneath that fallen tree are not just debris, wood, and stone, but also soldiers. Dead soldiers. Crushed by the tree's weight with their blood coming out.

"OH MY GOD!!"

"What is going on!!? Someone is throwing trees at us!!!?"

This is it....we just witnessed something horrible for the first time. Everyone started to panic.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!", nearby a female Legionnaire - no - another one of our classmates, a new recruit just like us, screamed as she tried to pull someone out of the wreckage.

"NOO!!! PLEASE DON'T DIE!! DON'T DIE GERALD!!", she is pulling out another trainee named Gerald out of the wreckage. But he looked as dead as the other soldiers already.

He died before he even knew what happened, nor was he able to fight as a Legionnaire at all. It shocked me. I am suddenly filled with fear.

"EVERYONE, MOVE OUT!! GET YOUR HORSES!! WE HAVE TO GO TO HQ AND TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED!!"

Immediately, the commanding officers told us to get out as soon as possible. The last thing we want is to see another tree hitting us from nowhere. Everyone hurried to get their horses and leave.

"Kanan!! Mari!! We have to stay together!!"

"Yes, Dia! Let's go!!"

We all got on our horses soon and our gears ready. We followed the sergeants who led us out of the camp as we took out all the torches we can find to light up our way out of this area.

"Ryo, I am scared."

"So am I. I can't believe the Alpacas are choosing to attack us at night!"

Ryo and Misaki both rode besides us. Both of them felt the same feeling as everyone did. Including the veterans.

As we rode further into the darkness however, an officer caught the glimpse of a shadow looming overhead west of us. His sharp eyes revealed to him something sinister.

"Oh no!"

"Shun, what is it?"

"Sir, I need you to correct me with what I am seeing just now!"

The sergeant looked at the same direction - soon, he too saw the sinister shadow.

"No way....you have got to be kidding me!!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!"

Before long, we all heard a loud roar from that same direction. The shadow slowly moved. Everyone noticed it.

"WHAT THE?!!"

"OMG, WHAT IS THAT?!!"

I just gulped as I looked at that shadow.

"NO WAY!! GUYS, IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS!!?"

This is bad. Really bad. Why of all times....

"Tsk!! Everyone, listen!! I am giving all you newbies your first mission!!"

The last thing we hoped would not happen did happen.

"YOUR MISSION IS TO SURVIVE AND TELL HQ THAT THE COLOSSAL ALPACA HAS ATTACKED!!!"

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A/N: Now it begins! Get ready guys for the beginning of this arc's bloody chapters! The events here will foreshadow what will happen in the future!

Also just to notify you all, don't be surprised if the chapters come out slowly. My school and home right now no longer have any reliable wifi so my stories will come out slower. But I will attempt to have more than one page published or, in this case, have one long page published whenever available.

Stay tuned and thanks for the support. Get ready to see the struggles of Kanan, Dia, Mari, Eri, Kotori, and Maki in the upcoming night battles outside Wall Emi next time!