Hello again, and welcome to another chapter of DtCc. Finally! The story begins. PLZ enjoy (Don't forget to comment your views and suggestions) Btw meet my little friend Maus, he will mark the beginning of a new scene.

Note-I aim to write around 5000 words per chapter so don't expect me to update this to often.

- ʢ.ₒ.ʡ-

-Army base Xeon, Russky Island, near Vladivostok, 6:30-

Pavel woke up with a jerk, knocking himself on the roof of the little hut his bunk bed was located in. Outside it was freezing as usual in Vladivostok. He sat up in bed and looked around, a thick fog was around the hut and where was everyone? The man heard footsteps, not the usual crunch of the snow, but instead a creeping sort, the kind that you usually find in wolves creeping up on their prey. He stood up taking care not to disturb any of the papers scattered around his bed and reached for his armoured trousers, after quietly putting them on he opened his cupboard, sweat pouring down his face after the hinges creaked, after putting on his bulletproof vest he took his trusty AK-74 out and stuffed a few mags into his pockets. He quietly sneaked over to the bedside window, but then he heard a deafening sound.

-RATATATATATATATATATATATATATa-

He knew those damn Koreans couldn't be trusted. Abandoning his all stealth he sprinted for the door, wasting no time to open it and instead bashing it open with a single kick to the lock. Upon shattering the door he saw a curious sight, in front of him stood all the soldiers in the base, and in front of them stood his commander, he was holding a, cake?

"Good morning Pavel!" said the Commander

"What is going on?" asked a confused Pavel "Have the Koreans finally invaded?" It was well known that most North Koreans weren't friendly to Russians, or anyone else for that matter.

"No, however today is an important day for you. Your birthday" said the commander pointing to the cake

"Of course sir, but why this entire thing with the gun salute/prank" asked Pavel "I'm just a Capitan"

"Well, let's just say I have some good news for you" the commander paused stroking his moustache "Congratulations Capitan you shall soon take my place as Major"

"Thank you, Sir, this is a great honour and I thank"

"Hold on a second" interrupted the Major "Although we believe you are up to the task, well, how should I say this?" he looked at Pavel with a sad grin "Your grades in most subjects than a Major would need, are lightly saying, simply horrible" he turned around to the soldiers behind him and shouted "You may leave now" the soldiers saluted and walked away while occasionally shouting "Happy birthday!" and "sorry about that!"

Once the soldiers left the commander walked up to Pavel and said "so you will redo the officer's course at the newly built Hokkaido Defence University-"

"But that's in Japan, I can't speak Japanese-"

"Don't interrupt me boy, as I was saying you will not go there straight away, you will first take a crash course in Japanese. Don't worry though; a majority of the teachers can speak Russian"

"Yes sir, when shall I leave?"

"In 2 Months, We booked you in on rather short notice, good luck my boy, you'll need it" said the commander before leaving. And with that the conversation ended, within minutes Pavel was ready for the move, he didn't have much to bring with him anyways, with him being a soldier and all. A few hours later someone knocked on the door of his hut, when the door opened he saw a sight so odd he nearly screamed, it was an Asian(Japanese/Chinese) man with a full-grown black beard and bushy eyebrows.

"Listen up kid, it seems the commander has assigned me as your tutor in the fine and ridiculously complicated language of Japanese, he has also told me to give you this letter, anyways in two days I will visit you again, you will be taught by me for the next two months, then I'll ship you off to the Hokkaido, got it?" he snarled the last bit before promptly exiting the hut and slamming the door. And with that Pavel finally broke out of the paralysis the mere presence of the man caused and opened the letter, inside the following was written

Hello Pavel

I am aware that as a soldier you have very few belongings other than a few pictures and that mug of yours, but for some reason, the regulations state that we can't send a soldier into a foreign country on operations (I have no idea why going to school is considered operations so don't ask) with standard issue gear, so yeah, you need your own gear, so enclosed is a sum of 100,000,000 Roubles (it's more than you may think, e.g. 20 roubles is how much a packet of gum costs), you are to use this to buy some clothes and other equipment, and a gun or two, you are allowed them. Anyway you may go to Vladivostok right away, ask one of the officers to take you in their car (if they don't believe you show them this note)

PS-there is a list enclosed here stating what you need for the academy. You will get the uniform made there, this is for other clothes and stuff

Thank you for not being a pain for the past few years

Dad (adoptive)

And with that the letter ends. Pavel looks up at the clock, its midday, but he should hurry if he wants to make it before losing hours he should hurry up. Pavel sat up from his standard issue bed and picked up the huge wad of cash the commander left him before leaving the hut, upon exiting he saw an old friend of his.

"Pavel! Fancy seeing you here, happy birthday by the way" he walked over and leaned towards him and whispered "I hear you're going to that new military academy the Japs built?"

"Yep, I'm leaving in two days"

"That's a shame, it'll be different without you around, you show-"

"Yes, yes, yes, can I borrow your truck?"

"I suppose, why though?"

"Apparently the government doesn't want me there with standard issue gear, something about secrecy and stuff"

"Oh, go on then. Here are the keys, be careful though, you scratch 'er and I'll make you pay in blood" he said threateningly before handing over the keys, dreading what was to come.

- ʢ.ₒ.ʡ-

-Vladivostok, central business district-

As the prehistoric green army truck screeched and clanked down the partially full city, Pavel began wondering why exactly that madman kept this thing around, it was barely being held together by the few rusty bolts that remained, "He should really take it to the garage or something" thought he, as he (once again) hit another hole in the badly maintained road leading to the market. The market in Vladivostok was a place where one could find anything, if you knew where to look. As he turned the final corner he saw the only friend he had outside of base, his name was Dimitri, he was everything, from drinking buddy to bodyguard, he even owned a large share of the arms business near the eastern side and was slowly growing wealthier due to the excellent trade routes he had with China, the local government let him off with a fine and a promise to pay a share of all profits to them due to the amount of visitors that the trade brought.

Dimitri looked up from his makeshift counter only to see a large army truck coming straight at him, at this moment he did not pray, nor did he run, instead he stood and readied himself. He would not be able to outrun a truck anyways but perhaps he could survive the impact…

Pavel hit the brakes as soon as he saw Dima's truck on the road, the man always set up shop in unusual places. The gears ground to a halt and the truck let out an ear-splitting screech and ground to a halt only a few metres away from the battered truck. Upon the truck stopping Pavel jumped out of the driver's seat and ran over to Dima "Hey, Dim! Are you ok?" and shook him "Dimitri, you ok?"

"Holy crap mate, you nearly killed me"

"Nah, you've survived much worse than just a car accident hasn't you?"

"Yes, barely" he paused before noting "You look rather wealthy today" before it finally clicked in his mind "you come to see me or to buy gun?"

"Yes mate, I'm looking for some guns and some clothes"

"I got gun's bullets, but this ain't a clothing store" he walks around to the back and opens the door proceding to ask "wtacha looking for?"

"Well, I'm going to back to school I'll need something discrete, got anything like that?"

"School huh?" he mused before disappearing inside "not sure whether to pity you or congratulate you, the simple fact your being sent to school show either that you're stupid and need to lean to write or you're getting promoted or something. I'll see what I've got in the back" said he before limping off to the back of the truck, the part which was covered by the curtain before coming back "sadly, I don't have much on me today, anyway, if you want something concealable I suggest a pistol or some small submachine gun"

"Okay what pistols have you got?"

"A Glock, A Deagle, and a few Berettas" before pausing and turning to him with a thoughtful face "I would suggest a Glock 34, the bullets for 'em are all over the place, you'll be able to find it in most third world countries and anywhere where the insurgents are at"

"Alright, got any mods for it?"

"Yep, I got a GTL 22 laser/light combo (A flashlight and a Laser pointer), a suppressor (silencer) and an RDS (Red dot sight)"

"I'll take the combo and the suppressor"

"Will that be paper or plastic mam'?" said he in a jokingly mocking tone "anything else?"

"No, I would like a PDW or something like that if you have it"

"I have P90s, but the ammo's hard to find, and a PP90M"

"What's that last one?"

"PP90M? It's a folding selective fire PDW (small rifle) that can fold into something like a small suitcase, it's quite light and fires the"-

"Couldn't you just show me the gun?"

"Yeah, sure" said he before once again disappearing into the depths of the stall, after a minute or two he came back carrying what appeared to be a small, laptop shaped box… "Here we are, took me a while to find this little bugger" and threw it onto the counter

"That's a gun?" thought Pavel before asking "So, this thing, how does it work?"

"Well if you push this button right here-"said Dimitri before being interrupted by the whirl and click of the transforming gun "Don't underestimate this bad boy, this thing is a beast" before pausing and adding "If you use it right"

Without giving Dimitri a chance to add anything else he simply said "I'm sold, take my money"

"Alright, attachments?"

"Yep"

"Sorry mate" said he "The only mods that are actually compatible with this thing is this special silencer" before putting another box in front of him "Anything else?"

"How about an assault rifle or something?"

"I was hoping you would ask for one, I just got a small shipment of these new prototype underwater assault rifles"-

"Hold on a second, as far as I'm aware underwater rifles function badly out of water, I mean really badly"-

"As I was saying, it's called the ADS and this thing was made to be just as good as an AK out of water, and it is, just trust me on that, plus its quiet, not silenced but quiet" before adding "and besides, it has a GRENADE LAUNCHER built into it! And it shoots UNDERWATER! What more could you want?"

"Calm down, attachments?"

"I could give you a better grip and a sling, but other than the sights changing anything would simply make the gun worse"

"I'll take both mods, and whatever 2x scope you have"

"Ok, but do make sure to remove the scope before diving"

"That's all I need, how much?"

"324,000,000. Ammunition and cleaning kits included, and with a free manual"

"Come on, mate, a bit steep, isn't it"

"I was just messing with you. 32,400,000 roubles"

"Alright here you go" said he before taking the envelope out and handing over a wad

"How did you get this much money?" before pausing and adding "on second thoughts, I don't want to know" before heading into the truck and one by one bringing out several military-grade cardboard boxes and loading them into the back of the truck "I'll even throw in a few grenades for free"

"Thanks mate, is there any way for you to get me ammunition and stuff without me coming here?"

"Yep I do have a delivery service" said he before taking a card from inside his pocket "Call this number when you need ammo, guns or whatever" said he before handing the card over, I'll miss you"-

But before he could continue ranting Pavel was already at the wheel and driving away from the now angry man, "I wasn't done with you!" and with that Pavel was out and heading for the army surplus store. He could probably find anything else there.

- ʢ.ₒ.ʡ-

After another few more minutes of bumpy driving he finally arrived at his destination, a well built, large supermarket, filled with everything a soldier would need. Firstly he would need some clothes, BUDs (army uniforms) and some other utilities. As he walked into the store the cold winter air was replaced with the warm but not at all comfortable air of the army, An old man walked up to him and said "We have a sale"-

He looked at the man and plainly asked "Where are the clothes?"

"Right aisle, at the back" answered the old man, completely unfazed by the obvious insult

"Thank you" Answered Pavel noting the scars on the man's hands, "must be ex-military" thought he as he noticed the holster on his leg, he walked on, to the allocated aisle. Within he found a treasure trove of various clothes, BUDs and other accessories, so he walked to the nearest line of BUDs and eyed them all curiously, most were the same but with different camouflage patterns, but one looked more like a Scuba divers suit and some others were skin tight cat suits that he often saw in spy movies, plus there were also a few Ghillie suits.

After browsing for a few minutes he finally found what he was searching for, a jungle camo BDU with a special kind of mount for foliage, he also picked up several pairs of grey and camo cargo pants a Grey BDU, toping it off he selected several plain T-shirts and several regular ones plus a dark green sweater and some boxers and socks. Next he needed a bag or rucksack of some sort to carry all this. So he went to the 'Other equipment' section and was not disappointed by the large selection that he saw. There was everything from suspicious looking suitcases to camping gear, out of the heap nothing in particular stood out other than… In the heap lay a decent sized sling bag, but the bag looked a lot like the army backpacks, with both padding and loops for karabiner hooks, it was a decent size too. So Pavel picked it up and threw it onto the growing heap of stuff. He then picked up a standard issue army rucksack and a few pouches. After some consideration he also added a few bulletproof vests, ranging from concealable Stab-Proof vests to Improved Outer Tactical Vests and a helmet. He also grabbed several pairs of walking boots and some formal dress shoes.

Unfortunately for the young soldier, there were no pens, paper or notebooks, thus prompting him to visit the nearby shopping centre in search of the required stationary. But first of all he visited the casher in order to pay for the acquired goods, upon seeing the humungous heap of clothes equipment and other stuff. The woman was visibly astonished by the amount of gear that barely fit into the already generously sized trolley, "What are you going to do with all that?" asked Krestina Tatar, the owner and cashier of the store,

"I'm going away on a long assignment, one where I can't use standard issue gear"

"Oh, ok, since it's a mission I'll give you a discount plus one for a bulk purchase"

"Thanks"

"Don't mention it" said she before putting the purchase into a conveniently placed crate and putting a lid on and asking "so you're going abroad, right?"

"Well, yes, but that's…"

"So, official discount as well?"

"Yes, but how are you aware of my mission?"

"I'm an old friend of the commander, and by the way, do you have a phone?"

"No... Oh yeah, I forgot about that"

"He told me to remind you to obtain one, I recommend a Nokia, because they're basically indestructible"

"So I've heard, anyway how much?"

"For you? 500,000"

"Seems Legit" Said Pavel, pulling out the envelope and handing her the approximate amount "By the way, where can I get one of these Nokia phones?"

"I'll sell you one for a discount if you want, only 500, this is so much cheaper than that nasty, red, shiny new, phone store!" As she yelled the last bit Pavel felt the earth itself shudder and decided to quickly divert her attention

"Does it come with a sim?" Asked he with an audibly nervous voice

"Of course, plus it comes with a guide!"

"I'll take it. By the way what's wrong? You seemed to be unusually angry"

"This new-fangled phone store opened down the road and they have all the latest ones, IPhones, blackberries everything, nobody comes here to buy phones anymore and I'm losing business!"

"Don't worry Krestina, your store isn't a phone shop so you don't rely on phone sales to survive, in fact… how many phones do you sell a year?"

"Emm.. a few? I'm not really sure"

"So few people buy phones here that this new store will be bankrupt within a week, I guarantee it" And with that parting shot he left the store.

After a few visits to the stationary shop and other smaller shops to gather various necessities his truck was reasonably lacking in empery space, satisfied with the amount of gear he headed back to base.

- ʢ.ₒ.ʡ-

After half an hour's worth of dirt-track driving Pavel finally returned to the army base only to see the Asian guy who was meant to teach him Japanese talking to the guard at the gates, he drove over to the gate, got out and walked over to the guard

"Captain Pavel Mikhailov, returning from shopping trip, sir"

"Understood" said the guard at the intercom "let me just check you in… and you're cleared, gate is opening, have a nice day" in a monotone voice

"Probably not the most interesting of jobs" noted Pavel as he drove back inside the base "now where to deposit all this stuff?" he thought "I'll ask the commander if he has any storage space available" so he got out and wondered over to the command building, seeking to find his adoptive father.

He finally found him standing in his office string at some chart, the office itself was sparsely furnished with practicality in mind, with the only decoration being a wooden plaque hanging of the back wall bearing a highly decorated golden AK-74 assault rifle, well within grabbing range.

"Sir, Captain Pavel Mikhailov, returning from mass shopping, sir"

"You know you still have a few more days before training starts"

"What training sir?"

"I assume that you are here to start your JFT(Japanese fluency training)?"

"Yes sir, and to return the rest of this money in addition to asking a few questions"

"First of all keep the money but note that you will not get any more other than your soldier's salary and any benefits you choose to sign up for, as for your questions, ask away"

"thank you, so I was wondering why I could not bring my issued gear? I was hoping you could explain the reason for this becau…" he was interrupted by the commander as he cleared his throat

"Pavel, you do realise that bringing standard issue gear could show our weapons and armour to the enemy and"

"Sir, with all due respect our weapons and armour are basically junk compared to the stuff they have near Moscow"

"Which is one of the reasons I sent you to get all this gear, we don't want the other nations to think this is a good place to attack" he paused "they will not attack here if they see our representative with cutting edge weapons and all the best gear"

"Understood sir, what of my processions can I bring though?"

"Nothing the army has given you, you may bring anything else"

"Alright and my second question is why I was chosen of all the other people"

"Do you want the hard truth or a cheap lie?"

"Truth of course sir"

"Very well, then the truth is you're the only one in the army east side who has any hope of becoming a field commander like me, all other promising recruits are too west of us and are honestly not all that interested in serving with us, and I can't blame them. Here on the border tensions are high and we are despite our generous budgets, we are unable to offer any potential recruits much other than possibly a chance of promotion. You're the third so far who voluntarily joined us. This is why you were chosen. Anything else?"

The information however did not faze him "I noticed that we have so few officers and have always wondered why, I suppose now I have my answer"

"Indeed, anything else?"

"No sir, may I start my Japanese lessons early?"

"You may if your tutor allows it"

"Thank you sir, I shall take my leave now"

"Yes, do that" answered the commander in a dismissive tone "I expect you to complete this course with a leaving knowledge of Japanese fluent enough to pass of as a recent immigrant, understood?"

"Yes sir" saluted Pavel before exiting the room with a confusing piece to think over "Why is my father speaking in this tone, he is not usually this formal with me, or anyone for that matter"

As Pavel made his way over to the gate his teacher was wondering near he wondered to himself as to the cause of this unusual formality between him and his father, in the end he came to the conclusion that either his father had most likely been affected in an odd way by his soon-to-be departure and had somewhat went back to his old self.

- ʢ.ₒ.ʡ-

The Back Haired Russo-Asian man stood in the mess hall, waiting for his order of cheap, sweet'n sour chicken. The student he was ordered to teach appeared to know the commander of this facility quite well, he also seemed to be at ease when most would have been tense. Anyhow, he decided to give the young man a shot, he had potential, that much was clear enough, but his attitude? We'll see.

Vladislav Zurko was a curious combination of what mixed heritage had to offer. He had the Brown, squinty eyes and black hair from his Mongolian mother and a muscular and tall body from his father. The tattoos in Russian on his bare forearms spoke of his ex-military background, speaking of a force long gone, his unshaven face sprouting a minor stubble of a moustache. He was dressed in a tight t-shirt and cargo pants, his fur coat lying on his seat at one of the tables in the canteen.

"Here you go" said one of the cooks as he handed him his plate of rice and chicken, he thanked the man and with the tray walked back to his seat, the air was cold and somewhat dry as was usual during this season.

He had heard by word of mouth that his new student, this "Pavel" person, had requested that his lessons begin early. He was fine with it, he was even somewhat happy that the one assigned to him actually wanted to learn something for a change.

Finishing his humble meal he stood up from the bench and threw his tray on top of the ever looming pile of doom, which the privates would be assigned to wash up later in the evening.

At that moment a hint of commotion could be heard in the cafeteria, prompting him to look over only to see his soon-to-be student having a laugh with one of the cooks, He watched he young man with some interest. Until Pavel noticed him, proceeding to walk over and ask the older man.

"Excuse me, sir. Aren't you the one that is assigned to teach me Japanese?"

"Yes I am, my friend"

"Any chance I could start early sir?"

"Yes, but why are you learning Japanese?" Seeing the young man's confusion he added "what is the actual reason you want to learn?"

"Well I'm going to japan for a year or so, wouldn't knowing at least how to speak Japanese help me in general?"

"Yep, fair enough. As for your earlier question, yes, we can begin early. The lessons will last from around 13:00 to 18:00, so you can continue instructing and completing training for those under your command. Understood?"

"Yes sir, its 15:47 right now, can we start?"

"Not today, I have other things to do"

"Alright sir, but where shall we meet for these lessons?"

"As a somewhat high ranking officer you should have your own cabin of sorts, or at least have some kind of staff room"

"oh ok, then we can use my hut, its rather small but will hopefully fit us both"

"Very well, have some pens and paper ready, I will be there 10:00 or so"

"Alright then, see ya later"

- ʢ.ₒ.ʡ-

The next day Pavel waited in his cabin for his tutor to arrive, just as he is about to head out to fetch some more wood for the small iron stove beside him he hears the crunching of snow outside his cabin

"Must be Dima" he thought "took him long enough"

Pavel opened the door to find Dima standing there in a grey fur coat with an also grey ushanka with the flaps down. "Good morning Dima, welcome to my humble abode, come on in, make sure to take off your boots though, I can't have all this snow meltin' and making my floor wet"

"I see you weren't kidding when you said it was a shack, good enough for our purpose I guess"

"Fancy some tea?"

"I prefer coffee but whatever, who am I to refuse a drink in this weather" Pavel stood up and went up to the kettle standing on the small iron stove, as he poured the water in Dima continued "Now look, I won't be able to make you fluent in the few weeks we have left, But I will teach you all, you will need to somewhat understand what the others are talking 'bout, I will tach you speaking and possibly reading if we have time, writing is a lost cause however as it took me and most other people more than a year to learn, so we won't bother with that"

The water had finished boiling somewhat by then and Pavel took out two cups, threw some leaves in and proceeded to pour the water in. then he answered "Ok, but why is writing so hard?"

"Because there are thousands of these I'll kanji things to learn, it's not like our language where letters make up words, no, and meanings and also the special way to write the whole thing and all the other nonsense" He sipped the tea and asked "what tea is this?"

"Whelp, to be honest I don't know, there is a patch of odd looking grass not too far from here and as a joke someone dared me to make tea with this thing" he pulls out a bunch of small green stems "and it turned out real nice, so I've been drinking it ever since. It's good stuff, I can assure you of that much"

"Let me have a look at some, I Might know what it is" Pavel handed him the "tea leaves" and he sniffs them, insects them and proceeds to chew them. "I think these might be… No I don't think I know what these are" he paused and concluded "the tea is still very good but a it harsh to the taste, maybe you should add sugar to it?"

"Perhaps I will" Pavel paused and remembered "We strayed off topic a bit. Are you ready to teach me?"

"I've brought everything I need, we can begin"

For the next few months Dima taught Pavel enough Japanese Speaking to be able to hold a conversation and otherwise get by, he also began teaching him reading but did not have nearly enough time to get Pavel further than recognising various Kanji. Two months passed quickly as the monotonous routine of sleep and study passed to months in a flash. Was Pavel ready? Who knows, I certainly don't =)

In terms of money let's assume that 1,000 roubles is enough to buy a half decent computer and that a large meal at MacDonald's costs 400 roubles. Note Yen will be used in japan and roubles will be used in Russia.

Profile- Dimitri (unknown surname)

Age- 46

Nationality-Russian (Serbian)

Eyes/Hair-Green/Black

Height-(5' 3.5")

Background-Ex-military, Business minded, Calm, Master-Of-Banter

Profile- Krestina Tatar

Age- 63

Nationality-Russian (Serbian)

Eyes/Hair-Blue/White

Height-(6' 3.5")

Background-baba(old lady),kind, bitchy

Profile- Dima Kashmarov

Age- 74

Nationality-Russian (Serbian)

Eyes/Hair-Blue/Black

Height-(7' 4.5")

Background-Drunk, Multilingual, Bushman, Old, Die-hard