This is a Pokémon Conquest fanfic. Pokémon Conquest is essentially Pokémon plus Feudal Japan (in particular, the Sengoku Period). This period has many legends told about it, so it felt appropriate to retell one of them—this one is about Shingen and a fan. It takes place at some point after Shingen's story, Archenemies, but that particular episode is not crucial to understanding this fanfic. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll talk about this story a little more at the end.

Red Paper Fan

On the hottest day that Terrara had seen in decades, a messenger burst into Terrera Castle and bowed towards the white-haired man seated on the throne.

"Lord Shingen!" the messenger said. "There's a heat wave in Terrera!"

Shingen blinked. "Yeah, I kind of noticed."

The messenger grinned a little sheepishly. "Uh… sorry, my lord. I was just bringing the news…" He bowed again and awkwardly exited the throne room.

At Shingen's left, a ninja warrior turned towards the ground- and rock-type specialist. "It really is far too hot," she said, fanning herself with a giant red paper fan. "And you know that Sneasel can't handle the heat that well."

"Well, what do you suppose that I do, Kunoichi?" Shingen asked. "I'm sweating just as much as you are. Besides, we're in the desert, in Terrera. It's not supposed to be cold here."

The ninja frowned. "Well, if it's the fault of the desert, then I'm not going to stay here. Come, Sneasel. Why don't we get ourselves to Nixtorm? I'm sure Mitsuhide won't mind." She turned back to Shingen. "I hope it won't bother you if I take your blimp. Here, I'll give you this fan in exchange. I won't be needing it any more. See you later, Shingen!" With that, she threw the red fan at the Warlord of Terrera and got up, running out of the castle.

"Wait, Kunoichi!" Shingen said, but by the time he even got up from his throne, she had disappeared into the desert.

"My lord?" a new voice asked from Shingen's side. Shingen turned to find his Junior Warlord Yukimura and his partner Pokémon Charizard. "If you want, my lord, I can go find her. I can fly on Charizard to chase after the blimp and bring her back."

Shingen was silent for a moment, and Yukimura took that as a sign of displeasure.

"I didn't mean to offend you, my lord!" he said quickly. "If you prefer that I stay here, I'll gladly do so. I just thought that perhaps, since all our other warrior's Pokémon aren't flying-types, I should help get her myself. But if you don't want me to leave you, I didn't mean to—"

Shingen cracked a smile, but immediately hid it. This was a perfect opportunity to make fun of Yukimura. "Yukimura?" The warrior shut up immediately. "I understand. You want to abandon your post. Just leave me here, all alone in this castle, with no one to take care of little old me, who am quickly approaching retirement." Yukimura raised his eyebrows in objection, but Shingen didn't let him speak. "Hey, if that's how things are between the Warlord and Junior Warlord, that's fine. I can find me a new Junior Warlord. My son Katsuyori is shaping up to be a real leader, wouldn't you say?"

Yukimura was silent in shock, and just stared wide-eyed at his lord, his Charizard's expression mirroring his.

Shingen suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh, you should see yourself, Yukimura! The expression on your face—priceless! Go ahead; get Kunoichi to come back here. I'll be waiting here for you two." He grabbed Yukimura by the arm and shoved him out the front of the castle; Shingen's Rhyperior did the same with Charzard. "Bye!"

"Um… bye, my lord," Yukimura managed to choke out in his confusion before Shingen shut the front door.

Shingen sat back down on his throne and picked up the red paper fan that Kunoichi had left behind. "You know, Rhyperior, there's this thing called air conditioning that apparently keeps the temperature cool. Maybe we should look into that." Shingen sighed. "But apparently, it needs electricity to work. Do you think you could go to Violight and ask Ginchiyo about it, about how to get it installed in Terrera Castle?"

Rhyperior grunted and walked off, happy to be about to get out of the heat, if nothing else.

Just north of Terrera, in the Kingdom of Illusio, a ninja and his Abra Teleported into the throne room. He immediately bowed town to a hooded man sitting in the throne.

"Lord Kenshin!" the ninja said. "I have received great news! Both Kunoichi and Yukimura have left Terrera! This leaves Shingen wide open for an attack."

"Are you sure about this?" the man asked, looking down at the ninja. "Kunoichi and Yukimura have both left Terrera?"

"Absolutely certain, Lord Kenshin," the ninja responded. "I have a very reliable source."

"Who?"

"The source wishes to remain anonymous, but I know that the person can be trusted."

Kenshin sat back in his throne and glanced over at his Gallade before turning back to the ninja. "Very well. You are dismissed."

The ninja nodded, saluted, and Teleported off with his Abra.

Kenshin stood up and turned to his two closest friends, his sister Aya and his Junior Warlord Kanetsugu. "Should we attack my nemesis while he is unprotected by his two strongest warriors?"

Kanetsugu crossed his arms and frowned. "It is not entirely honorable to have to resort to tricks like that."

"But this rivalry with Shingen's army is friendly," Aya said. "Ultimately, we would attack him out of love, since we are simply acting on our friendship. Besides, we are not breaking any rules of war."

Kanetsugu was silent, apparently not happy with the explanation but not wanting to argue with his former mentor. His Alakazam at his side mimicked his pensive expression.

"So we should head off then?" Kenshin asked. "No objections from the rest of the army? Kagekatsu? Yatarō? Sen?" He glanced at the three warriors in the back of the room, and they all shook their heads. "All right, then. It's decided. Let's go."

XXX

"Well, darn," Shingen said as a messenger pointed out Kenshin's banner approaching Terrera. "This is a horrible time to be attacked. Half our army is gone." He turned around to the remaining three warriors under his control. "Katsuyori, Masatoyo, and Kei: prepare yourselves for battle. Rhyperior's not here, and I haven't bothered to link with any other Pokémon, so I can't go with you." He grimaced. "Just do your best. I don't know if we can win, but just try to hold the battlefield for as long as you can—and above all, have fun!"

The three warriors and their Pokémon nodded their agreement, and they headed towards the battlefield of Terrera, a stretch of desert with three tall pillars holding banners at the top of each.

Kenshin and his five other warriors arrived at about the same time as Shingen's warriors. Upon seeing only three warriors greet him, Kenshin frowned.

"Hey," he yelled across the battlefield. "Where's Shingen? Does he not think it fit to face his rival?"

"No, it's not that," said Katsuyori, Shingen's son. "He's still in the castle, since his Rhyperior—"

"He thinks he can just not show up for battle against his greatest nemesis?" Kenshin snapped. "Move out of the way. I'm going to go get him and drag him out here, if need be."

He shoved Katsuyori to the side and marched past Masatoyo and Kei towards Terrera Castle, Gallade following quickly.

"My lord!" Kanetsugu shouted out. "I don't think it would be nice to do such a thing!" When Kenshin ignored him, he and Alakazam started to run after him. "Lord Kenshin, wait!" The two warriors disappeared into Terrera Castle.

The remaining seven warriors just stared at each other. "Well, this is untraditional," said Sen, Kanetsugu's wife. "This was not what I expected when we were told to battle here." She crossed her arms. "Well, while we're waiting for them to return, should we get to know each other? Hello, Shingen's army. My name is Sen, and I'm the wife of Kanetsugu, the man who just ran in there after Lord Kenshin. This is my Chingling. So how do you all do? It's awfully hot here. Is it always like this?"

Shingen sat down in his throne and started to fan himself with the red paper fan Kunoichi had left him. He hoped Rhyperior would come back soon with some information about how to install the air conditioning. The heat wave was truly unbearable.

And to top all off, Kenshin's army was attacking right now, and he couldn't participate—it was very likely that he would lose Terrera in this battle, making the air conditioning a moot point.

The door to the throne room suddenly burst open, and an angry Kenshin stormed in, his Gallade at his heels.

"Shingen, what wrong with you? You're just sitting here, fanning yourself on your throne like a king without a care in the world, while I'm here to challenge your army to a battle!"

"But Kenshin, I—"

"Gallade, use Psycho Cut to force him out to the battlefield."

Gallade didn't hesitate. As the Perfect Link of Kenshin, it could understand his anger perfectly.

Shingen could only lift up the red paper fan to shield himself from the purple blade-like energy that flew towards him.

To everyone's surprise, upon hitting the fan, the Psycho Cut simply dissolved into thin air.

"What?" Kenshin exclaimed.

Shingen glanced down at the flimsy device in his hand. It seemed far too fragile to withstand the force of a full-on attack from such a strong Pokémon. Turning the fan over, however, he noticed that the psychic move did not leave the fan unscratched. In the center of the reverse side, there was a blackened section, as if the fan had been burned by the attack.

That was all the time Shingen had to study it, however, since Gallade leaped at him again. Deciding that Psychic moves would just be blocked by the fan, it slashed at Shingen in a Fury Cutter attack.

Shingen raised the fan in an attempt to protect himself—and once again, the flimsy paper somehow managed to stop the fighting Pokémon's attacks in its tracks. Shingen, taking advantage of Gallade's surprise, pushed the Pokémon's blade to the side and rolled out of the way.

Now angry, Shingen lashed out with his fan at Gallade. However, although the fan could apparently take hits, its attack did almost nothing to Gallade. Gallade just brushed aside the red paper fan and raised its other arm, about to strike down on Shingen.

At this moment, the door to the throne room creaked opened. Kanetsugu and his Alakazam entered and shut the door.

The three Warriors and the two Pokémon in the room just stared at each other in surprise and confusion.

"My… lord?" Kanetsugu stuttered. "Why is Gallade attacking Lord Shingen?"

Kenshin made no apparent response, but Gallade backed away from Shingen awkwardly, apparently ashamed.

"I made an error in judgment," Kenshin finally said.

Suddenly, Kunoichi burst into the throne room, followed by Sneasel. "Hey, guys!" she said. "What's up?" Before anyone could respond, she turned around and dragged something into the room.

Someone, actually. Yukimura stumbled into the room, his Charizard marching in after him. "Please let go of me," he said. Kunoichi immediately did so, causing Yukimura to fall backwards, saved only by his Charizard catching him.

Kunoichi ignored his fall and said, "See, Yukimura? Shingen is perfectly capable of defending himself. He was just joking when he said he was too old and tired to be Warlord any longer. He can go up against a Gallade with nothing but a red paper fan and be fine!"

"A ninja war fan," Yukimura said, pointing towards Shingen's hand. "That's the mark of the ninja on it."

Shingen looked down at the fan and found that indeed, the part of the fan that had been blackened by Gallade's Psycho Cut was in the shape of the mark of the kunoichi, a class of ninjas after which Kunoichi was named.

Suddenly, he realized who had given the fan to him. Slightly disturbed, he turned towards Kunoichi. "You set me up for this attack, didn't you? You and Yukimura went away to leave me wide open for this attack, so that you could prove that I'm not old enough to retire. And you knew enough to leave me with this war fan to protect myself."

"Yep, that's right!" Kunoichi agreed. "Yukimura's been beating himself up about being not strong enough to have protected you from becoming weak, and I needed to show him that you aren't frail and old. I originally just wanted to get myself and Yukimura out of the castle, but the fact that Rhyperior left, too, was a nice bonus."

"I—I had nothing to do with this, my lord!" Yukimura protested. "I had no idea what Kunoichi was going to do! I had just gone to get her simply because I thought that you would want me to."

The ninja smiled. "It's true; he didn't know anything about this until just now. But I knew he would come after me. That's just how he is."

"Wait a moment," Kenshin interjected. "Were you the anonymous person who told my ninja that we should attack?"

Kunoichi nodded. "Of course. How else would we prove Shingen's fighting capabilities? We needed to get someone to attack him—and who better to do so than his archnemesis?"

Kanetsugu shook his head. "Kunoichi, you are a very odd person. I hate to see how Shingen's going to punish you after that little trick."

Shingen just threw his head back and laughed. "Kanetsugu, if you're surprised at this, you don't know Kunoichi at all. This is the sort of thing she does to me and Yukimura everyday. And you know what? It's worth it to see Yukimura's reactions!"

Everyone turned to Yukimura, who was standing awkwardly next to his Charizard, blinking at Kunoichi and Shingen in disbelief. "Thank you…?" he finally managed to stutter out hesitantly. "If it pleases my lord, I am glad to be a source of amusement for you."

"See what I mean?" Shingen asked, clapping Yukimura on the back. "In any case, don't we have a battle to fight right now? I don't think it'd be nice to let the others on the battlefield stay in this blistering sun for much longer."

"Actually," Kenshin said, "perhaps Kanetsugu was right when he told me that we shouldn't attack you when you're not a complete team. When your Rhyperior comes back, give me a call, and I'll be sure to come battle you fairly, a full six-on-six battle. How's that sound?"

Shingen smiled. "That sounds great. I'll be sure to do so." The two rivals shook hands, and Kenshin and Kanetsugu filed out of the castle.

As soon as they were gone, Shingen snapped his head towards Kunoichi. "By the way, Kunoichi, you're not getting your red paper fan back. I really like it."

Author's Note: The legend that this story is based on is actually quite simple: during the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, Kenshin managed to sneak into Shingen's tent and attack him off-guard, but Shingen managed to defend himself against Kenshin's sword with a war fan (which was almost certainly not made of paper). The legend (which, unlike most legends, is probably true) is so famous that even the Pokémon Conquest depiction of Shingen has him holding a fan in both his evolutions.

I should mention that Kunoichi and Yukimura were not involved at all in the legend. In fact, neither was historically part of Shingen's army.

Other than the hero/heroine, Kunoichi is the only named character who is not based on a historical person. Her name is taken from the kunoichi, a class of female ninjas organized by Chiyome, who was hired by Shingen. I personally like to think of Kunoichi as Chiyome's daughter in the Pokémon Conquest universe; however, she simply did not exist historically.

Yukimura was historically not a retainer of Shingen—Shingen died when Yukimura was very young. His father Masayuki, however, was a favored retainer of Shingen. Yukimura himself was part of Nobunaga's army, Hideyoshi's army, Ieyasu's army, Mitsunari's army, and his own army—what seems like every army except Shingen's.

On an unrelated note, I feel that the non-player characters (the generic Warriors) in Pokémon Conquest are not given the attention that they deserve—all of them are based on historical people, as well. In this story, six such Warriors are present (though unimportant): Katsuyori, Shingen's son (and historically, his successor); Masatoyo, one of Shingen's Twenty-Four Generals; Kei, Yukimura's wife; Kagekatsu, Aya's son (and historically, Kenshin's successor); Yatarō, one of Kenshin's generals; and Sen, Kanetsugu's wife. These are the default characters in Kenshin's and Shingen's army in the game, and the symmetry between the two armies is pretty nice.

I'd like to point out that both Yukimura's wife Kei and Kanetsugu's wife Sen are present in the game. I cannot support, therefore, any other pairings with these Warriors in it. But that's neither here nor there.

Published June 24, 2013
Extremely minor edit October 13, 2013