AN: First off, as always, thanks to F-14 Tomcat Lover and The Tundra Fox for the beta-reading of this chapter. Their help is always invaluable.

Also, GATE, its characters and the real word organizations don't belong to me. They belong to their respective owners. Same with Sgt. Steven Grey Ryan, President James Kelly Grey (F-14 Tomcat), Lieutenant Jack Johnson (TheCanadianPatriot), Ronny Marinin(The Tundra Fox), the M1A1 Here We Go Again (Faust1812) and Private Wade Nilsson (MandaloreTheFreedom). Only my OC's belong to me.

Gate: Thus the Van Doos Fought There!

Chapter 8: Refugees and Flame Dragon

Linori village, Arnus Province, May 6th, 0600

A convoy of Canadian vehicles were starting up their engines. RCT7 was heading out to their next objectives. Amongst them however, was a pair of guests: Ronny and Eric. They had been authorized by the battalion commander to join the team and were now riding in the team's G-wagon. There was enough room inside the jeep to be somewhat comfortable.

"So welcome aboard gentlemen!" greeted Kinh. He then introduced the two CBC employees to the rest of the G-Wagon's crew.

"Thank you lieutenant," replied the reporter and his cameraman in unison.

"Pleasure's all mine."

"So what's going on today?" asked Ronny as the column began to pick up speed.

"Well Mr. Marinin, turns out a Japanese team is evacuating a place called Coda village," briefed Kinh, "The team stumbled on some kind of huge dragon that burnt down another village two nights ago."

"Shit, are there any survivors?"

"Unfortunately, not that I heard of," sighed Kinh, "Anyhow, Command sent some fighters out to hunt down that thing and kill it. Last time I heard, they rerouted an American recon team along with us to reinforce the initial team that was helping them out."

Ronny smiled upon hearing these good news.

"Call me Ronny though," added the reporter, "We're not on national television eh?"

"Fair enough," chuckled the lieutenant, "In that case, call me Kinh then."

"So yeah, what else can you tell me about today's mission?"

"Probably gonna be something very routine. We should be able to catch up to them quickly seeing as how they're using horses drawn carts and wagons. Apparently, the villagers and RCT3 moved out yesterday morning."

There was a question that itched Ronny's mind about the lieutenant. It was because of one of his discussions with Private Nilsson yesterday and a comment that the Vancouver born man had made.

"Euh Kinh?"

"Ouaip?"

"Were you at Ginza?"

"Yeah, like any 4/22 that was training in Japan," snorted the Vietnamese-Canadian.

"I was wondering if it was really you in front of the Gate on that tank."

Kinh turned his head while his face was bearing a surprised expression.

"Yup why?"

"Cause me and Eric were the ones that filmed that moment..."

"Well tabarnak, I'll be damned!" swore Kinh. There was a brief moment of silence before he spoke again... "Crisse, you're the reason that my wife found out about my ass being at Ginza!"

Ronny and Eric cringed a bit upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, you were just doing your jobs," chuckled Kinh, "Marie didn't appreciate finding out that I was in a battle via national TV."

There a slight longing in his eyes as he finished his sentence.

"Oh, I'm not surprised then. That's one of hell of a way to find out," whistled Ronny.

"My left ear's still ringing though heh."

The G-Wagon's occupants let out a small round of laughter as they continued driving alongside the rest of the convoy.

"But yeah, I was wondering this?"

"Yeah Ronny?"

"What's your take on this whole Falmart thing?"

Kinh didn't answer right away. His face was etched in concentration as he searched for his words.

"Well, speaking as an officer, this is nothing very extraordinary," explained Kinh, "We're fighting people who can't even shoot back and we're helping the locals with relief effort as much as we can. It's all part of the job."

"Yeah, but I don't think you guys trained to fight stuff like dragon riders, mages and humanoid warriors."

"We don't... but we killed them by the dozens at Ginza and Arnus so meh," shrugged Kinh, "I'm not impressed so far."

"Makes sense."

"Bah, it's still something to see fantasy like that in front of you eh?", added Kinh, "That and all the stuff we don't have on Earth. For example, the locals have something called the Ma-Guna."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's some kind of cattle that looks like the bison. That thing should be brought back to Earth. But hey, what do you think of the whole place so far?"

"Me? Eh, it's amazing that I get to cover this for the CBC but I expected more action then this. I've been stuck at Arnus Hill until your superiors allowed me to come with you guys."

"Welcome to our world," grunted Private Fortier, "We were stuck in our trenches for months on that piece of dirt waiting for them to come up the hill. Of course, the flyboys and the artillery got pretty every last one of them before they made even close to us."

"Yeah well, for all we like say about Arnus Hill," sighed Kinh, "Right now, I can't wait to get back there for some rest. We've been driving around for the past weeks. After a while, it turns into a routine. Even down to engaging the enemy...it's mostly target practice for the gunners."

"I can understand what you mean."

"Yeah well, now speaking as a historian, this whole thing is a dream come true." There was a smile on Kinh's face. "We're seeing a real life Roman/Medieval world in front of us while going through a never before seen event. My old friends from UQÀM are probably jealous as fuck right now."

"As well as the documentary makers," added Ronny, "I can imagine people coming over and doing nature documentaries about this place."

"With Charles Tisseyre animating a special episode of Découvertes about the fauna and flora. That'd be awesome."

"Hey Kinh," interrupted Fortier, "I can do a fucking good imitation of him."

"Really?! Do it man. Brisebois put that on the radio"

Fortier cleared his throat before starting while Brisebois activated the radio so that the other vehicles could hear as well.

"Ici Charles Tisseyre. Bienvenue à Découvertes. Au programme: les espèces fascinantes de Falmart." (Translation: This is Charles Tisseyre, Welcome to Découvertes. On the program: the fascinating species of Falmart.)

A rather cheerful response came from the other vehicles.

"Tabarnak, est-ce qu'on est sur Découvertes ostie? Fortier, man, t'es bon en crisse mon homme!" exclaimed Julien over the comms. (translation: Tabarnak, are we on Découvertes ostie? Christ, Fortier, man, my man you're good!)

"Thanks buddy!"

"Wonder how long will it take for scientists to come through the Gate?" wondered Eric, "This place is a treasure trove."

"Don't know man but they're gonna have a blast here," answered Kinh, "Well, if all goes well and this war ends quickly."

"True," said Ronny.

Skies above Arnus Province, 0700

A flight of RCAF CF-188E's led by Captain Archer were roaring through the skies. Earlier that morning, they had been ordered to launch fighter sweeps in order to find and destroy a giant dragon that had attacked an isolated forest village and killed all of its inhabitants.

The pilot threw a quick glance at his radar screens. So far, the skies were clear of anything besides other Coalition planes.

'This is like looking for a needle in a haystack.'

Elsewhere, his Japanese and American counterparts weren't getting any luck as well.

Road to Roche Hills, 1000

Jimmy was looking out of his Humvee's window while his team was making their way down a small dirt road. Through his binoculars, he was searching for either signs of either RCT3 and the refuge column that they were escorting or RCT7, the other team tasked with aiding them with their mission today.

Much to his satisfaction, the Marine lieutenant could see the dust clouds made by approaching vehicles. A familiar voice came over the radio.

"RCT 11 Actual, this is RCT7 Actual. Do you copy?"

"RCT7 Actual, this is RCT11 Actual. Loud and clear!" replied Jimmy, "Happy to hear from my favorite frog!"

Chuckling could be heard from the other occupants of the Humvee.

"Oh ha-ha! Real original there fucking dumbass!" snorted sarcastically Kinh while his unit moved in behind the Americans, "Anyhow, back to business. You guys contacted RCT3 yet?"

"Yeah, lucky bastards ran into a rainstorm yesterday," stated Jimmy, "They've been stuck in the mud ever since."

"Nice... I hope the locals haven't had too much trouble," sighed Kinh, "I mean they probably have wood carts or some shit like that."

"Makes me wonder though," remarked Jimmy, "Why aren't they coming to Arnus with us? We've been working on a refugee camp for them."

"It'd be easier," replied the Canadian "We'd transport them and their stuff by trucks instead of medieval wagons."

"Yeah, well, for some unknown reason," groaned Jimmy, "They don't want to go to Arnus with us."

"Can't force'em, otherwise they'll say we're kidnapping them."

"Urgh... that's a mess we don't want."

The American-Canadian convoy continued its way on the muddied road. It was rather unexciting as the countryside around them were nothing but large plains and hills. Above them, was a clear blue sky where the sun blazed down on them.

Suddenly, after 15 minutes of random conversations and boring driving, a plume of smoke appeared on the horizon. It came from the other side of a large hill.

"Shit!" swore Jimmy before hailing his Canadian counterpart on the comms, "Kinh, I got smoke in front of me."

In both units, the fighting men tensed upon hearing this. Turret gunners began to scan the horizon for any signs of danger while Ronny and Eric did a quick check of their equipment.

"Crisse! Did you contact RCT3 to check if they're ok!?"

"Already on it!"

Jimmy then grabbed his radio and began hailing RCT3, hoping that nothing bad had happened to them.

"RCT11, this is RCT3 actual," calmly answered Itami, "What's going on?"

"RCT 3, we saw smoke coming from the road and were wondering if you guys were ok."

There was clearly irritation in the Marine's voice.

"One of the wagons broke its axel," reported Itami, "We were forced to burn it down."

"Goddammit Itami," grunted Kinh, "Next time, could you warn us? There's crazy shit happening all over this place."

Meanwhile, in Itami's jeep, he couldn't understand why his North American counterparts weren't too happy about his forces burning down a broken wagon.

"We have the firepower to take on anything we've met so far," defended Itami.

The past skirmishes and battles showed that fact through impressive kill counts and large numbers enemy casualties and no Coalition casualties.

"Don't get cocky," shot back Jimmy, "That's the best way to get killed!"

"We don't know if there's nastier shit out there," added in Kinh.

"Understood," replied lamely the Japanese officer. Just then, a villager ran up to his vehicle's side.

"Excuse me, Loo-te-nant Itami, but some of our wagons have gotten stuck in the mud again," apologetically announced the man. The Japanese officer threw a look at the refugee column behind him and could see that it had stopped. He pulled up his radio's handset.

"Hey guys? The column just stuck in the mud... again," groaned Itami.

"We can see that," dryly remarked Jimmy. By now, the Americans and the Canadians had reached the top of the hill behind RCT3 and Itami's team. They drove downhill as quickly as they could.

For the Coda refugees, seeing more of these Men in Green appearing was a reassuring sight. They were already surprised at the protection and aid that RCT3 offered, but more of the Coalition had arrived to help without any demands? It was generosity that they had never expected from a such powerful foreign army.

However, as the newcomers arrived, the refugees noticed that these men had different, larger, metal green wagons. Some had up to eight wheels on that moved them forward with ease and strange heads with long thin snouts. The heads would turn around, carefully watching the horizon. Other smaller wagons had men atop them behind metal shields and some kind of ballistae.

Much to their surprise however, were the people that disembarked from some of the vehicles. They were dressed very differently from the Jay-sse-Dee-F men that were under Itami's command.

Roughly half of them wore clothing that had a motif made up of little squares of light brown, black and green. Instead of the kind looks of the soldiers of Japan, these men looked like highly disciplined, yet brutish thugs. Many of the refugees felt slightly intimidated upon seeing these barbarian like men. Yet, they could feel a certain safety as well. Something told that these brutes were good at their job. One of them began to speak from a magical horn that made his voice heard even at the head of the column.

"I am Lieutenant Jimmy Foley of the United States Marine Corps!" announced what the villagers presumed to be the leader of this band of warriors, "We have arrived to aid you!"

Another man, dressed differently, began to speak into his horn as well. He was clearly the leader of another group.

"I am Lieutenant Kinh-Luyên Huynh of the Royal 22e Régiment of the Canadian Armed Forces! We too will assist you as well."

The other band of soldiers that had arrived were different as well. These men and women wore clothing that had the same pattern as the United States Marine Corps but with different shades of green, black and a little bit of brown. They had flags on the right sleeves of their uniforms. These had a single bright red leave on a white background while two bright red bands were on either side of the flag. The way these troops carried themselves was also different. Many bore serious expressions on their faces while strong discipline and stern professionalism could be seen in the way they walked as they made their way through the muddied road to help the jammed wagons and their owners. An aura of protectiveness radiated from these men could be felt by the refugees.

Perhaps what struck the Coda villagers the most were how different these men were in appearance. They had already seen the more golden tone of skin of the Japanese but had not expected such diverse looking men and women. Some looked had fair skin like them while others had a very pronounced tan, brownish tone to them. Others looked like dark elves but were clearly human in their facial traits.

The Coalition troops began splitting up into small groups and helping the locals push their carts. Behind one of them were Chief Corporal Zachary Lavigne, privates Julien Leclaire, Alice Gagnon and Joël Côté.

"À trois!" called the Corporal. "UNE, DEUX, TROIS!"

The soldiers began to heave as they pushed the wagon forward. Meanwhile, Sergeant Mathieu Tremblay-Gagnon and Corporal Andrew Moore were moving over to meet them. The two saw their fellow Canadians struggle and Mathieu decided to give them a quick hand as well. He began pushing alongside Zach and with a mighty "Aweille tabarnak!", the wagon was unstuck from the mud patch it had been caught in.

"Thanks man."

"Pas de trouble buddy...try not make us to look bad in front of the Americans ok?" replied a winking Mathieu in French.

Elsewhere, Kinh and Jimmy were making their way towards the head of the column. They had passed half a dozen stuck carts and could hear the sound of men and horse struggling to extract themselves.

"I think we should use the trucks and jeeps to get them unstuck," suggested Kinh. Jimmy shook his head at this idea and left out a breath.

"Nah, bad idea man," replied the American. He was already feeling the exasperation as they continued trudging on the muddied road.

"How come?"

"Don't think their wagons are sturdy enough."

"Good point," nodded Kinh, "Kind of makes me wish we had magic here."

"Yup."

Unknown to them, a blue haired girl riding a donkey drawn wagon with her master was looking at them in curiosity as the two officers passed.

After an hour, the Coda refugees were once more underway. Itami's team was at the head of the convoy while Jimmy and Kinh's forces each guarded a flank. It was rather boring with the Coalition troops trying to entertain themselves in various ways. Unfortunately for many of the non-otaku crowd, Kurata and Itami began to sing their favorite anime songs in order to kill time... and were joined by the other otakus in RCT7 and RCT11. Terrible off-key singing could be heard over the radio and in the various vehicles until Jimmy and Kinh put their foot down with rather colourful swearing.

Just when Itami thought things would have calmed down, he spotted a large flock of black birds hovering over the road. A quick look through his binoculars revealed what appeared to be a small girl that was sitting on the road.

"A gothic lolita girl?!" exclaimed Itami. Upon hearing this, Kurata stopped the jeep and let out an exclamation as well.

As if she heard his surprise, the pale skinned child stood up while holding a very large halberd. There was something unnatural with her. Her long black hair flowed behind her while her bright red eyes held some kind of mischief as she approached Itami's jeep.

"Hey Itami? You there? There's a kid heading your way."

It was Jimmy who had seen her as well.

"Tell me I'm not hallucinating guys," confusedly asked Kinh, "But there's a fucking creepy looking girl that's heading towards you Itami."

He made a quick sign for Fortier to drive the G-Wagon towards the head of the column and could see Jimmy's Humvee do it as well.

"Nope, you're not seeing things man... there's really someone there!" replied the astonished Marine. She started speaking loudly enough for them to hear. In the confusion, they were left speechless.

Before anyone could say anything, some of the Coda children that were riding in Itami's jeep jumped off and ran up to her, happily shouting something in their language about an Oracle. Their elders walked towards her as well, reverence in their steps and on their faces. They dropped to their knees in prayer as she spoke to them in a tone of voice that only a very old and wise person could.

There was a caring tone in her voice as she began speaking to the refugees.

"Where are you from?" asked curiously Rory Mercury, "Did these men force you from your village?"

"No, Oracle," happily answered a child, "They're helping us."

"A fire dragon is on the loose," explained a tired old woman before another villager added to her explanation.

"We couldn't stay in our village, it was too dangerous."

The whole scene didn't go unnoticed by Itami, Kurata and the other occupant of their jeep, Sgt. First Class Mari Kurokawa, RCT3's medic as well as their American and Canadian counterparts. By now, Jimmy's Humvee and Kinh's G-Wagon had gotten close and were on a different side of RCT3's lead vehicle. The Japanese team had a brief conversation between them about their observations on the strange girl that turned out to be a local religious figure while the American and Canadians were chatting over the radio about the situation. Ronny and Eric on the other hand, had begun to record the moment.

As if she read their mind and sensed their curiosity, she walked up to Itami's jeep. When ensued next was one of the most embarrassing moment of his life. After attempting nervously to speak to her, the Japanese officer opened his door.

Before anyone could do anything, she threw her into Itami's lap. Much to his embarrassment, she began to squirm, making the jeep bounce around.

"Whoa, wait I'm married! Please get off of me! Please move!" nervously demanded the unfortunate red-faced lieutenant, "Don't touch the pistol!"

"That's not fair sir!" cried a jealous Kurata, "NO FAIR!"

"Get off!" desperately asked Itami. There were other cries of distress from him while Kurata vocally expressed his jealousy.

At the same time, Jimmy and Kinh were looking at the whole moment and doing their best not to laugh at their colleague's predicament.

"Crisse, I don't know if I should laugh or not," chuckled Kinh, "Ahh fuck it." He let out a roar of his devilish laughter.

"Bro, you have a creep-ass laugh you know that?" sarcastically asked Jimmy, "This is just fucking hilarious man."

He then contacted Itami via radio.

"Yo, I know you're into weird ass anime-manga stuff and I always approve getting some yams... but we're in the middle of a mission here man."

"Also, that's a fucking kid," dryly added Kinh, "Didn't know you were a fucking pedo."

"GUYS, I'M NOT HAVING FUN RIGHT NOW!" shouted a rather panicked Itami over the comms, "NO, GET OFF!"

'Ahhck, fuck it, I'm saving your ass Itami,' mentally grumbled Kinh as he got off his G-Wagon and made his way towards his unfortunate friend. 'Better get some good beer for this.'

He could barely hold a snort of laughter as he saw his friend squirm under the girl and beg her to get off his lap. He quickly noted that her eyes were an unusual bright blood red color.

"Hey kid!" called out Kinh in Saderan, "I'm gonna have to ask you to get off my friend's lap. We're trying to do our jobs here!"

There was a definite authority and annoyance in his voice. Unfortunately, the child didn't appear to respect him as she gracefully leapt from Itami's lap and promptly slapped Kinh with enough force to send him spinning to the ground.

"OW TABARNAK!" yelled Kinh as he fell, "That's gonna leave a fucking mark," muttered the man.

"I'm not a child," angrily stated the girl. She threateningly pointed her halberd at Kinh.

"I have seen far more conflict than you little boy," explained cheekily the girl. She hadn't noticed that Lévesque had pointed his turret's machine gun at her or that Ronny and Eric were filming the whole scene.

"You ok sir!?" shouted the man. He was met by a thumbs up from his commanding officer.

"Alright, just let us do our fucking jobs ok!?" angrily retorted Kinh, "Just how old are you?!"

There was a brief pause as he saw the deadly glare on her face. "On second thought, don't answer that ok?"

She seemed to relax a bit before talking again.

"I am Rory Mercury, Apostle to Emroy, god of war, darkness, violence and death." There was childlike glee in her voice as she spoke, "You are?"

"Lieutenant Kinh-Luyên Huynh of the Canadian Armed Forces," politely answered the man.

He didn't want to test her mercurial temper again... seeing as how she went from murderous rage to happy curiosity in almost an instant.

By now, Jimmy had walked over from his Humvee. He was glaring at Rory while his stance showed that he was ready for anything.

"You ok man?" asked the Marine in English.

"Yeah, more fear than harm," replied Kinh, "That's something that you guys say in English right?"

"Not really man, but I get what you mean."

Throwing a glance at Itami, Kinh yelled at him.

"Man, you fucking owe me a beer for saving your fucking ass from creepy kid."

Rory looked at these men in curiosity as they argued in a different language in front of her.

"Yeah no problems but euh, can we get moving again?" asked a nervous Itami. By now, he had regained some of his composure as well. Unfortunately, Rory had insisted on riding with him. Both American and Canadian nodded in approval at this before heading back to their respective vehicles. They certainly didn't want to have a creepy kid riding on their lap. As they did so, Jimmy decided to rub some salt into Kinh's wounded ego.

"Dude... you got your ass kicked by a fucking kid," laughed the Marine.

"Fuck you man. That's no kid."

"Did I hurt your feelings?" asked Jimmy in a fake motherly voice.

"Nah... either way, I can get them checked," joked Kinh, "Free healthcare eh?"

Jimmy did a facepalm before looking at his friend in annoyance. He faked a yawn before throwing back another remark.

"That joke is getting old man,"

"Worth a try eh?"

"Whatever."

As Kinh got back on his G-wagon, he could hear his men snicker at him. A swift death glare at each one of them silenced them. Throwing a glance at the CBC reporter riding with him, rapidly shooting a question.

"I hope that's not ending up on national television."

"Nah, no worries, your ego is safe," replied Ronny before Eric added a quick friendly remark.

"Yeah the footage is garbage anyways."

"Merci les boys!" exclaimed Kinh before sitting back in his seat.

Outside, the column had begun moving once again at a snail's pace. Itami checked his map again and saw that they still had a couple of hours to go before the Coda refugees could get off on their own.

Everything pointed to a very long and dreary ride...

Roche Hills, 1120

Jimmy stifled a yawn of boredom as he looked out the passenger's window, trying to find any signs of danger. Sweat trickled down his brow as the blazing sun shone brightly above them. His Humvee was turning into a heat trap, much to his discomfort. A gut feeling had kept nagging him ever since the convoy had started to move. So far, there had been nothing to prove that feeling right.

He suddenly heard a roar in the skies followed by a panicked radio call from Itami.

"Damn it, battlestations!" shouted Itami into the radio, "Jimmy, Kinh! That's the dragon that attacked the other village!"

Behind them, the red monster was swooping down mercilessly on the refugees. To the horror of the Coalition troops, a great breath fire emerged from its maw and engulfed a group of wagons and refugees. Cries of terror could be heard from them as many pushed their heavily burdened horses and wagons to move as fast as possible in the vain hopes of outrunning the dragon which was about to land amongst the scattering villagers. The three teams were now speeding back towards the dragon from their respective positions in the convoy while the news crew began filming. The 25mm cannons on the larger American and Canadian fighting vehicles had started engaging the monster. Small blasts appeared on it and bits of its scales were falling off.

"Son of a bitch!" roared Kinh into the radio, "Brisebois! Dit à HQ qu'on a trouvé le fucking dragons pis qui envoie l'Air Force ostie!"

"Yes sir!"

"Anyone's got a plan?!" asked Itami. He heard Sergeant Major Kuwahara encouraging RCT 3 over the radio by saying that fighting giant monsters was a Self-Defense Force tradition.

"We'll fucking improvise something," shouted back Jimmy. There was a brief pause as he thought of a plan.

"Wait! Try and envelop that thing! Hit it from both sides at once!"

"Good idea, worth a try!" came Kinh's reply. The three officers began frantically coordinating their troops'. RCT3, having lighter vehicles, would split up in two and reinforce the more heavily armed American and Canadians. Gunfire could be heard coming from the various teams as they threw closer to the beast. The Canadians headed for the creature's right while the Americans took the other side.

Kinh was madly firing his C7A2 and swearing. He could see through his scope that his bullets were useless, much to his chagrin, anger and annoyance. Curses were racing through his mind and mouth. He was barely aware of whatever else happened around him. The other teams were uselessly pouring fire onto the gigantic flame dragon as it rampaged through the refugees.

Fortier was doing his best to steer the G-Wagon over the rough ground and avoiding obstacles as well the dragon's breath while Lévesque was going through the mounted C6's ammo belt. At the same time, Ronny and Eric continued filming the whole sequence with the reporter doing his best to explain the chaotic situation.

"KINH!" cried Lévesque, causing the lieutenant to stop firing and turn his head back in surprise.

"LÉVESQUE?! What the fuck are you doing?!"

The private had stopped firing and gotten down from the G-Wagon's turret. He then pointed to a pair of cases at the back of the jeep. "We have fucking Stingers tabarnak!"

"Oh shit right! Ready that thing and fuck that fucking lizard." He then grabbed the radio, "Guys, don't you have Stingers!?"

"Shit, you're fucking right!" called back Jimmy before ordering one of his Marines to ready the missile.

"Dammit!, we have only have unguided Panzerfausts!" replied back Itami, "We won't hit that thing at all!"

Kinh shook his head in irritation upon hearing this. "A couple of hits should be good!" he barked, "Lévesque, crisse y une ostie tabarnak! JE VEUX SA CALISSE DE TÊTE AU MUSÉE À OTTAWA!"

The private unpacked and readied the missile launcher.

"Criss ouais!" he yelled. Aiming at the monster's head, Lévesque waited and muttered impatiently for the missile lock to sound. The seconds felt like minutes before the tone sounded.

"CLEAR! FIRE!"

The Stinger flew out of its tube, hurling towards the dragon's head. Unfortunately, it roared another time before unleashing a fire breath at RCT7. The vehicles scattered and dodged it but not the missile. Engulfed in flames, the warhead detonated well before hitting the dragon. The explosion had surprised it. It had never seen something like it before.

Before it could react, another Stinger slammed into its right cheek. The blast had left a black scorch on its face and blown off part of its snout. The creature howled in pain and roared its anger at being defied in such a way.

Itami had paused his firing, hoping that the monster was fleeing. However, it appeared resolute and kept on fighting.

To his surprise, however, the blonde elf girl that he had saved in the burned village's well had awakened and was yelling at him while pointing at her eye.

"Eye?" asked

"EYE!" shouted the naked elf, "EYE!"

Itami grabbed his radio's handset. "Everyone, target the eyes!" He was met with Kinh and Jimmy both yelling "Oh shit, why didn't we think of that!?"

The Coalition troops shifted their fire towards the dragon's eyes. Bits of its face was flying off as 25mm cannon shells exploded against the thinner hide. Howls of pain could be heard while the dragon raised its arms to protect itself against these new challengers.

Seeing how the dragon was now immobilized, Itami ordered one of his team members to engage it with a Panzerfaust 3.

The next instants would remain engraved in the minds of each of the troops present. A Japanese private, Katsumoto, prepared to fire the rocket launcher. As he went through the procedure, the LAV in which he was hit a bump, causing him to snatch the trigger.

Just when everyone thought that the rocket would miss, a giggling Rory opened the backdoor of Itami's jeep. She gracefully back flipped onto the roof with superhuman agility and precision. She had barely landed that she threw her halberd towards the dragon.

Flying through the air, Rory's halberd instead landed in the ground near the dragon. Lighting emerged from it as the earth shook from the impact of the godly weapon. The monster roared in surprise and moved erratically. Such a brusque movement placed its left arm right in the path of the Panzerfaust 3's rocket.

A explosion ripped easily off the creature's left arm. A howl of pain could be heard as the injured monster finally flew off, having had enough of being on the receiving end of heavy weapons.

The Coalition vehicles moved towards each other before stopping. Some of their occupants stumbled out, wide-eyed at what they had just survived. The smell of freshly burnt land lingered around them while anxious refugees, recovering from such an ordeal, began furiously moving around. They desperately ran through the burnt land and shattered wagons, hoping to find their loved ones alive.

Jimmy was the first one to regain his wits. Lighting up a cigarette, he immediately yelled for his team to begin assisting the Coda villagers.

"Alright gents, get a fucking move on! These people need our help now, rah?"

"Rah, sir!" answered the Marines before rushing forth to aid the villagers. Looking over at the Canadians and Japanese, both Kinh and Itami had finally snapped out of their thousand yard stares and began issuing orders to their troops. Both men looked tired as their shoulders sagged. After he finished giving orders, Itami was on his radio with his superiors at Arnus, detailing them with what had happened.

The devastation wrought by the dragon was easily seen as the bodies of horses and civilians littered the ground. The three teams' medics and corpsman were doing their best to treat but many were seriously wounded while the rest did their best to help the medical personnel or the refugees by handing some of their food and water to removing those stuck under debris, alive or dead.

"Hey Jimmy, we got some news from Arnus," stated wearily Itami as he made his way from his jeep, "Backup should be here in a few hours."

"Right, let's see how we can help these people out then."

"Honestly, I don't think we can do much good here," tiredly sighed Kinh, "There's so many injured and there's like three dozen of us."

"We'll do our best then bro," replied Jimmy. Looking over at the devastation, he could see his colleague's point.

Meanwhile, the CBC news crew was wandering around, trying capture as much of the scene that played before them on camera while Ronny was taking notes about what to say. After the adrenaline rush of being caught in a battle with a gigantic fire breathing dragon came a sense of powerlessness at seeing the refugees' distress.

"I'm not even sure how we can describe this... horror," sighed Ronny, "There's no words that can be used to explain what just happened here."

"Good thing we're not live eh?" dryly remarked Eric as he kept filming

"Yeah, this would have been a pain to describe. Thank god for editing software too."

"Hey, could you turn that off?" rudely asked a Canadian private that had appeared, "These refugees aren't a freak show to get some more viewers eh," She clearly disapproved of the reporter filming the scene.

"Excuse me, but we're doing our jobs here," retorted Eric, "Like you!"

He was not in the mood of being chastised by anyone. Before someone could say anything, Ronny stepped in to calm everyone down.

"Eric, calm down alright? I got this shit."

He then turned to the soldier, noting that she looked middle-eastern. "Excuse me private?"

"Abdelsaleem."

"Well, our people back home need to see what's happening here," explained the reporter, "These refugees, they need all the help they can get. If everyone back home sees this... as Canadians, we won't stand for this shit."

The trooper seemed to deflate before grumbling again.

"Did you at least get permission for this from my CO?"

"If you mean Lt. Huynh, he asked us to do it."

"Fine, I'll let you guys do this and I hope it really does something good."

"Yeah well, let's hope so." dryly replied Abdelsaleem before resuming her tasks.

Ronny and Eric blew a sigh of relief once the woman was out of earshot. They began filming again and wandering around. Most of the very busy refugees and Coalition troops didn't notice them walking around and recording everything.

"We dodged that bullet," muttered Eric, "You'd think they'd be more supportive of us."

"Probably just didn't want us getting in the way."

"Meh, still annoying."

A blue haired, blue eyed young girl walked to them from her nearby wagon. She wore a light green dress with a blue tabard on it while she carried a staff with a blue stone in it. Her face was expressionless as she looked at the CBC news crew.

"Excuse me?" asked emotionlessly the girl, "What are you doing?"

She had seen the two outworlders walking around. Unlike the others, they wore rather simple clothing. One carried a large black box with a tube like front on his shoulder and was pointing it at the other villagers. He had turned it at her. She noticed that at the end of the tube, there was a rectangular opening with glass in it. He wore simple blue pants, an unusual sleeveless, black tunic with many pockets that stopped at his hips and a dark green shirt with short sleeves and a folded collar.

The other had been writing on strange square parchment held by metal rings. He wore a black helmet similar in shape to those worn by the soldier and had some kind of black armour with white writing on its front that covered his chest. He wore a white checkered short sleeved shirt underneath his armour and tan pants.

The two men looked at her, a confused look on their faces. They appeared to be searching for their words.

Upon closer look, the blue haired girl noticed how these men were different from the people that she lived with. The man taking notes had light brown skin, dark hair and eyes while the one carrying the black box resembled the battlemages she had met that came from the land of Japan.

Finally, the brown skinned man looked like he found what to say.

"We're trying to record the story that is happening here," explained the man, "I'm Ronny Marinin, CBC reporter and this is my colleague and cameraman, Eric Wong."

She kept staring at them before talking in a drone like voice. Though they spoke her language, it was somewhat choppy at moments. She was also curious.

"Oh? I am Lelei La Lalena of the Rurodo Tribe and mage-disciple to Cato El Altestan. May you explain how you will record what is happening here?"

This time, Eric lowered the camera before explaining.

"Well you see, we use this box called a ka-me-ra to paint flawless moving pictures that are stored inside."

"Ka-me-ra?"

"Yes, in addition, it can also record sounds of everything it paints," added in Ronny, "We can then show the paintings and listen to their sounds on a special frame."

Lelei turned her head at Ronny. "What is a re-por-ter?"

"A reporter has the job of telling the story about our moving paintings so that those watching them can understand what's happening on them," proudly explained the Canadian, "We're from Canada."

"Ka-na-da?"

"Our home country. We sent some of the soldiers here." answered Eric. He pointed some of the Van Doos working around to aid the injured. The blue haired girl turned around looking at the men and women milling around.

"Soldiers? Are they not mages?"

"I can tell you with certainty that we aren't mages Miss?"

A tall, stern faced man wearing green clothes was looking at Lelei followed by another one. She could see that this man had brown hair while his eyes were masked by dark, oddly shaped glasses that closely hugged his face. He was followed by a tanned man with dark hair. The girl quickly introduced herself before asking the leading man a question.

"How can you not be mages?" wondered Lelei, "You used such powerful magic against the Flame Dragon."

"I can tell you that these are weapons, not magic Ms. Lalena." replied the soldier, "I haven't introduced myself but I'm Sergeant Mathieu Tremblay-Gagnon from the Canadian Army and this is Corporal Andrew Moore."

The blue girl merely looked at both men and nodded. Another one of the otherworldly soldiers, a tall black haired woman from the land of Japan walked up to the Canadian sergeant. Her face was tense with irritation while her blue eyes were fixed on him.

"Excuse me, but are you Sergeant Mathieu Tremblay-Gagnon?"

"Yeah why?"

With a quick breath, the female trooper introduced herself to the Canadians.

"Yes, well I'm Sergeant Mari Kurokawa, RCT3's medic."

Mathieu raised an eyebrow at this. What kind of medic was she is she was here? Andrew looked at his superior in surprise at the Japanese woman's presence.

"So, hum, why are you talking to me instead of helping out?"

"It's about Corporal Frederic Tremblay," explained seriously Kurokawa, "He's carrying his rifle around while treating the injured refugees."

The Canadian sergeant looked over at Fred and didn't notice anything unusual. The corporal and another Van Doo were busy bandaging a wounded farmer's leg.

"Did he, I don't know, wave his gun at someone's face or something," The Japanese medic shook her head, "Leave the safety off?"

"No, he's carrying his weapon around while..."

"Whoa wait a minute," interrupted Mathieu, "You're telling that my combat medic is carrying his rifle around safely in case if something goes wrong while doing his job properly?" He briefly paused in his sarcastic tirade, "And, at the same time, you're wasting your time complaining to me instead of helping out? Sounds like he's doing a better job than you are."

Kurokawa drew a sharp breath at his irony laced remark before giving a dry retort while Andrew was doing his best to contain his snickering.

"Excuse me, but I had expected this kind of... callous attitude from the Americans but not from Canadians. Aren't you supposed to be trained as peacekeepers!?"

The Canadian sergeant merely rolled his eyes at this affirmation.

"Just because we're good peacekeepers doesn't mean we're harmless little hippies eh? Unlike you guys, we just happen to have come out of a shithole named Afghanistan alongside the Americans. Maybe it doesn't occur to you that problems can come from anywhere but they do! My medic's doing a good job right now patching up people and making sure everyone is safe unlike you wasting my time!"

Kurokawa's answer came through gritted teeth.

"I understand!"

She stormed off but she heard the Canadian section commander call out to her.

"Don't go bothering my lieutenant... he doesn't have as much patience as I do!"

Mathieu watched the Japanese medic return to her tasks and blew a sigh of relief. Andrew was chuckling but a glare from his sergeant promptly shut him up.

"Urgh... ostie qu'ils font durs," (Can't really be translated to English litterally... the meaning would be "Goddamn amateurs.") "Even the reservists are smarter than that."

"Man, I hope they get wiser or else it's gonna be messy." added Moore.

"Indeed."

Roche Hill, 1900

A strange purple glow rose from the ground as the last grave was filled in by the Coda refugees and Coalition troops. A mechanized infantry platoon had finally arrived to reinforce the initial escort along with a group of trucks to pick the villagers that had wanted to take refuge at Arnus instead.

By now, the coalition soldiers was standing in mourning alongside the people of Coda. Many were weeping for their fallen kin while others were comforting them for their loss. A few of the troops had handed it out various candy bars from their rations and personal supplies. It wasn't much but for many villagers, the intent spoke volumes.

For the Coalition troops, it was a new experience to witness the burial rites of the people here. They heard the many different prayers made in Saderan to the various gods of Falmart. Once the rituals were done, much to the surprise of the American, Canadians and Japanese, some of the villagers had asked if they could pray to the gods of their lands to protect the departed. At their request, the various soldiers began praying in their own respective faiths or paying quietly their respect.

Finally, the villager leader came to speak privately with the leaders of the recon teams.

"We have never seen such generosity from any army that have walked this land and we shall never forget our debt to you. You have done so much for my people and we do not wish to be more of a burden to your nations. Our paths must split here. I thank you for all you have done and for the help you will give to those that we cannot care for."

The first to speak was Kinh.

"Thank you for your kind words. We wish you good tidings."

"Don't worry about those left in our care," added Jimmy, "We'll make sure that they'll be well taken care of."

"You have our word," promised Itami.

The column of refugees finally began moving. They cheered their gratefulness and happily waved goodbye at the coalition. The wagons and carts slowly moved away. Turning back to the crowd of refugees that were looking at them from the back of the various parked trucks, the three officers gave kind, reassuring smiles to those that would be coming to Arnus. A small conversation started before they headed back to their vehicles.

"Boys, I think we'll be doing a lot of good here," said Kinh.

"I think you're right man," replied Itami, "Whoever rules this place should learn from us."

"Oorah to that. Let's get moving to Arnus."

FOB Arnus, May 8th, 0900

As the convoy approached Arnus Hill, the refugees could only stare in awe but what they saw before them. They had a small taste of the three nations' might during the fight against the Flame Dragon but to see sights such as the otherworlders' metal birds roaring through the skies to wings of flying chariots soaring in perfect formation. It was breathtaking.

As for the recon teams, it was a welcome feeling to be back at Arnus. After a quick chat earlier at a checkpoint held by a squad of Marines and their leader, they were able to return quickly to the base.

"Finally, home sweet home," muttered Kinh over the radio, "Good thing that sergeant could take care of things."

"What? Tired already?" joked Jimmy, "You guys are soft man."

"Dude, we just fucking fought an oversized piece of wallet. Pardon me if I don't feel like dealing with a checking a suspicious convoy after all that."

"Either way, we still have paperwork to do with all that happened," added Itami, "Probably gonna have a lot too."

"Man... ta yeule!" (very blunt way of saying shut up)

Jimmy groaned in annoyance before noticing something on the sides of the road.

"Looks like they're starting to build up the refugee town."

Large construction vehicles were digging into the nearby ground while engineers on the ground supervised the operation. The thick forest around were no more as they had been cleared to make way for settlements. Large trucks moved the dirt being dug out to other spots.

Inside Itami's jeep, Lelei watched in curiosity at the sight before her. How powerful were these men? Turning her head towards the front, she looked at the Japanese officer.

"Excuse me sir, what are those metal creatures and soldiers doing?"

There was nothing to indicate her curiosity as she asked her question. Itami started his explanation about the refugee camp being built. Unfortunately, that broke a dam and he ended having to tiredly explain the concept of modern construction equipment rather than taking a quick nap.

After a few moments of driving, they arrived at the main building in the base. Stepping off for the trucks, the refugees looked in awe at the sight before them. Great square like buildings made of a greyish material rose before them while metal towers reached far into the skies. The air was filled with completely alien sounds around while soldiers dressed in various green uniforms were tending to various tasks around them. Some of them, led by a man wearing a wool cap and carrying a pad with some kind of parchment walked to the newly arrived group. The fighting men from the three recon teams had disembarked, knowing what awaited them next.

For the troops and their officers, it meant a quick debriefing while the CBC news crew blew sighs of relief at being finally back at base. Major Parent saluted the newly arrived troops.

"Good job out there gentlemen dealing with that dragon," congratulated the man, "I want a full report on what happened."

"Thank you sir, much appreciated," answered Kinh. He internally groaned at the prospect of doing more paperwork. Fate decided to mock the lieutenant.

"I also expect you to fill in the documents for the refugees from Coda Village as well," ordered the major.

"Yes sir." unenthusiastically answered the three recon team leaders.

"Have a good day gentlemen."

Major Parent handed a stack of documents to each of the lieutenants present and began heading to his office. Realization struck him and he suddenly turned on his heels and went over to the CBC news crew.

"Excuse me, M. Marinin do you have any footage of that dragon attack?"

"Yes, yes we do," replied Ronny, "Do you want us to show it to you?"

"Of course. Come with me then," ordered the major, "I'd like to show it to the generals upstairs."

"Yes sir!"

The three officers looked dejectedly at the pile of documents in their hands.

"Let's just get this dull ass shit sorted it out," groaned Jimmy.

Looking over at the group of assembled refugees, Kinh feigned enthusiasm.

"Okydoky, let's get this shit done."

Jimmy looked at his Canadian counterpart in annoyance.

"Man, are you fucking five years old?" sarcastically asked the Marine, "Who the fuck says okydoky as an adult?"

"My World War One teacher at university," dryly retorted Kinh, "Got a problem with that?"

"Well we aren't at your frog university in Quebekistan either."

Itami stood awkwardly while his two friends were at each other's neck. It was still peculiar for him to see how the Canadians and Americans would interact with each other. One moment, they would be very friendly to each other and the next, they would be trying to fiercely outdo each other in various competitions or throwing insults until one got annoyed. Finally, the two North Americans stopped throwing insults at each other. It always appear to Itami that the two would bait each other for the sake of baiting.

Engrossed by the sights around them, the refugees hadn't noticed the two men being at each others' necks. The three officers started registering the newcomers and started taking their personal information.

Thankfully, during the three months stuck on Arnus Hill, language classes had been dispensed to the Coalition troops. To the surprise of the brass, the Van Doos picked up Saderan with the most ease as it was a language similar to Latin. The Van Doos, being Francophones, had less trouble as French was a descendant of Latin.

Some of the refugees looked in fear as the strange soldiers began guarding them and asking them information about themselves. Were they being taken as slaves?

Noticing the fear in their eyes, Itami quickly spoke up to reassure them.

"Don't worry, we are taking your names, places of origin and ages so that if anything happens to you, it'll be easier for our... healers to help you."

The proceedings went on smoothly after this declaration with the officers explaining that they were from three different nations. There was three to four dozen refugees from Coda Village. They were the unfortunate children and elderly who had lost their family or were badly injured by the fire dragon's attack. The injured were rapidly whisked away by medical personnel to the field hospital.

As the soldiers spoke, Lelei noticed something how different each of their accent sounded. They truly were from different lands. The men from the lands of Canada and the United States had very similar accents while the man from Japan sounded different, the way he spoke sounding a bit more forced in her mind unlike his allies.

"What's your full name, age and place of birth?" asked Jimmy as he looked at a blue haired girl holding a staff.

She give him her answer. It made the Marine raise an eyebrow at hearing how monotone she sounded for someone her age.

"Reminds me of a couple girls I met at university," muttered Kinh as he wrote down her information. 'A few of them actually dyed their hair blue.'

When it came to turn of the lone surviving elf, it surprised the Canadian when he heard her name. She had been given surplus combat uniforms and her clothing looked rather mismatched. Her shirt was clearly a MARPAT one while she received CADPAT pants and Japanese boots.

"I am Tuka Luna Marceau," nervously answered the elf in Saderan, "Daughter of Hodor Marceau of Koan Forest."

'Marceau!?' mentally exclaimed Kinh, 'I had a professor named liked that crisse!'

"Ahem, excusez-moi, parlez-vous Français mademoiselle Marceau?" (Excuse me, do you speak French Miss Marceau?) asked the Lieutenant. She merely looked at him in confusion while Jimmy turned his head and mouthed "Are you fucking kidding me?" Itami looked embarrassed as well.

"Worth a try eh?" whispered back the Canadian. Jimmy merely shook his head at this and the men carried on with the procedures. Everyone rose an eyebrow when Tuka answered that she was 165 years old.

'The girl sure fits the cliché elf description,' mused Kinh while writing down her information, 'Can't wait to get some rest though.'

When it came to Rory's turn, the men decided it was better to write off her age as being unknown. No one wanted to be thrown like a ragdoll and start a situation. After a few people were processed, the three officers let out a sigh of relief. They had finished the first part of their bureaucratic nightmare and ordered their teams to lead the newly arrived refugees to their temporary camp.

Coalition planning room, 1100

Various senior officers were seated at tables. They were from the various units deployed in Falmart and had been summoned for an emergency meeting. A white screen and projector had been installed while a reporter and his cameraman looked on nervously from the side of the room.

"Man, I hope they don't confiscate the footage we took," wished Eric, "That'd be a bummer."

"I don't know," whispered back Ronny. He certainly didn't want such impressive videos to be confiscated. General Hazama cleared his throat, signalling the meeting to start.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I've called this emergency meeting following new information brought in by three of our recon teams."

He briefly paused as his colleagues began writing.

"As you may have heard, Recon Team Three has encountered a large winged creature attacking a settlement before returning to Coda village and evacuating them."

A picture of the fire dragon appeared on a screen. Judging by the darkness, it was early night. There was a large breath of fire engulfing a forest.

"This photo was taken by Lieutenant Itami Youji during a recon mission a few days ago. The settlement was completely wiped out save for one yound woman. The footage you'll be seeing next was taken by M. Ronny Marinin and M. Eric Wong that accompanied RCT7 during the Coda Village education."

The video started playing. The sound of automatic fire mixed with colourful Québécois swearing could be heard as the film played. Sparks appeared all over the dragon where bullets shattered on impact and while 25mm shells tore bits of the creature's hide. The various officers gathered were whispering amongst themselves about how such a monster exist and, most importantly, how to kill it. They witnessed the use of Stingers and Panzerfaust-3's and their devastating results on the dragon. They also noted the flying halberd that landed near the monster and made a note to read the detailed reports from the officers and NCO's present.

"This Flame Dragon is to be classified as a Class-One Special Region Harmful Animal due to its resilience and capability to inflict vast amounts of damage."

Vivid discussions soon dominated the room as officers gathered around a nearby planning table and debated the best way to destroy it before it struck again. Ronny and Eric merely stood there, wondering would happen next. They were beginning to lose hope that they would able to broadcast the battle against the dragon on the news. Thinking quickly, the reporter went over to General Hazama. He was slightly awed at the man's imposing presence.

"Excuse me, General Hazama, I would like to know if I could keep the footage and show it to our world? The people back home would want to see our troops fighting that monster and helping refugees. I think seeing that would boost popular support for the Coalition's presence here."

The general briefly grunted as he quickly evaluated his options. He made a sign to one of his subordinates to bring him the recording.

"Yes, M. Marinin, I don't see any problems with you showing our battle against that monster. I would like however to have a copy for our use."

Ronny's face lit up like a child on Christmas morning as he took back the disc.

"Thank you sir! Of course sir!"

He and Eric excitedly made their way out of the planning room. As they walked through the building's hallways, they could see various officers in various offices and cubicles working on their paperwork. They recognized Kinh, Jimmy and Itami tiredly filling various forms in different cubicles. Looks of annoyances could be seen on their faces as they struggled not to fall asleep on their work.

Not wanting to dawdle any longer, the CBC news crew quickly headed back to the reporters' quarter. As they arrived, they were greeted by other worried and excited news crews who bombarded.

"You guys all right?! Heard you filmed a giant dragon attack!"

"Can we have some of that footage for the people back home?"

"Where did that happen? Can you show us?!"

Ronny raised his hand to calm the herd of reporters standing before him.

"We're all right man and Earth absolutely needs to see this."

Before he could finish he was saying, an American reporter yelled out "Someone set a room for this!" The Torontonian reporter and his cameraman were picked by their enthusiastic colleagues and carried to a viewing room inside the reporters' quarters.

National Defense Headquarters, Ottawa, May 7th, 0900

Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister of Defense Sajjan and the Armed Forces Council had just finished viewing the footage of the dragon attack as well as the care given by the troops to the refugees.

Relief went through the various officials. Their troops had survived against all odds in the engagement. They had managed to badly maul that monster. Most importantly however for Trudeau and his cabinet was the very caring treatment being given by their troops to the locals after the attack. Various reports had made their way to Canada and into the press but seeing the CBC footage was another thing.

They saw how the Van Doos patched up the injured, shared their rations and helped dig the graves for the dead. Such powerful images could only boost public support for the presence of the Canadian Forces in Falmart as well as block any naysayers in the opposition parties. Election day was coming soon and spirits were high in the Liberal party's ranks.

Plans were drawn up to increase the humanitarian supplies and troops sent through the Gate. Calls were made to the Oval Office and the Japanese Prime Minister's office as well. The refugees in Arnus needed the Coalition to come through as soon as possible.

CBC News, 1000

"This just in," announced Mark Kelley, the CBC's daytime anchorman, "Falmart Coalition troops engage Flame Dragon. Our special region correspondant, Ronny Marinin reports."

The feed went from the CBC news room to an office in FOB Arnus with Ronny at its center with the headline "Coalition battles against Flame Dragon, saves refugees" at the bottom of the screen.

"To all our viewers back home, it is currently very late here in Falmart," explained the reporter, "However the story I've got for you tonight must be told as fast as possible."

"So what exactly happened Ronny?" asked the anchorman, "What exactly is this fire dragon?"

"Well, Mark, to start from the beginning, my team to get attached to a group of Canadian troops sent out to reinforce a village that they secured under coalition influence."

As he narrated, images of frightened villagers being aided by Canadian soldiers filled the screen. The viewers could see the humanitarian side of their army as they handed out supplies to the locals. He continue his story as images of the Coda villagers' evacuation appeared on screen.

"Afterwards, I was invited by a Canadian lieutenant to join his troops in an escort mission. Essentially, another team from the JSDF had evacuated a village called Coda after news of a large dragon attacking and destroying another village during the night. Our forces were sent to escort the refugee column to a safer region. They refused to come with us, citing that others would take them in. According to Lieutenant Huynh, it was a routine mission. As we would find out later however, it was not to be."

He briefly paused before continuing.

"The next footage will be shocking and may disturb some viewers."

A video of the Fire Dragon attacking refugees appeared. People everywhere that were watching the morning news could only stare agape. It was almost surreal to witness such a moment. They watched in horror when the creature mercilessly attacked the refugees but felt pride when they saw the Coalition troops fighting defiantly the monster and savagely mauling it. Social medias were ablaze with activity as their users reposted the feed and commented. Many wondered where the mysterious halberd that spooked the dragon had come from.

"As you can see everyone, our troops fought bravely against it and managed to drive it off."

"Ronny, can you tell us how many people died when that... thing attacked?"

"From what I can tell you, at least 100-150 out of 600-700 refugees were killed with countless other wounded. The wounded have been taken back to our base on our Arnus Hill. The Coalition has performed admirably after the attack as well. They quickly sprung into action to offer humanitarian aid to the survivors."

The footage turned to a scene where troops were milling around to help the locals. Wounded were being patched up by the medics while other personnel were clearing the debris and handing food and water to those that needed it.

"It was extremely heartwarming for us to see our fighting men and women help these people in their time of need. They even invited us to pray in our different faiths to protect the souls of the departed." proudly added the reporter as his viewers saw the simple ceremonies and the American Marines praying at freshly dug graves. The scene looked surreal as purple lights emerged from the ground where the dead had been just buried and filled the night sky with their glow. It gave a serene if sad ambiance after the chaos and destruction of the dragon attack.

"That's all I have for today folks but I'll be back soon with more news from the refugees and the town being built for them."

Major Jacques Parent, Officers' quarters, May 8th, 1000

Major Parent, Kinh's superior, was sipping on a cup of coffee as he impatiently read his subordinate's report about the dragon attack. The grey haired career officer from Montreal had waited for this report to arrive.

He had to admit that Lieutenant Huynh had an excellent ability to write reports. It was extremely complete with details. Major Parent had picked up the fact that the JGSDF troops needed improvement in terms of procedures as evidenced by the burning cart incident as well as the argument between Sergeant Tremblay-Gagnon and Sergeant Kurokawa over medics carrying weapons while treating injured personnel and non-combatants.

'What kind of idiotic trooper doesn't keep their rifles at arms' reach?'

He shook his head. The most interesting part was evidently the dragon attack. He almost spat his coffee when he reached a section about one of the refugees. If she could be called like that. The childlike Rory Mercury, according to what he read, was a local religious figure, some kind of oracle. However, unlike any other on Earth, she had unnatural abilities as described in the report. From being able to throw an average sized adult man like a ragdoll to throwing a massive halberd into the path of the Flame Dragon and startling it with spectacular results.

However, the Afghanistan veteran was wary of her. What kind of a local helped an invading army, no matter how well they treated the locals with such enthusiasm? What kind of superhuman religious figure was the Coalition letting stay close to them? They were many risks to take into play. Judging from the report, Rory Mercury also had a violent temper to boot. Another factor to take into account that made her unpredictable.

Her status as a local religious figure meant that she had influence, lots of it. The Falmartians worshipped her and her patron god, Emroy. The fact that he was a deity of war, death, violence and insanity was highly worrying and with Rory Mercury being his apostle, the implications were damning. With her allegiances unknown, it meant that she could possibly stir up trouble against the Coalition forces.

He had also heard rumours in the officers' mess that special forces team had spotted a being that matched her description perfectly. Not wasting any more time, the major picked up his phone and quickly.

"Tell General Maxwell that I have an priority report for him."

AN2: Why did I have the JSDF get into arguments with their US and Canadian allies? Simple... the US has been engaged in constant wars since 1945. They've learned how to prosecute wars and develop an experience that is constantly transferred to new generations. Canada, despite being a pacifist nation like Japan with a tiny military (70 000 personnel in all three branches and regular/reserve forces combined), has actually been engaged all over the world in combat situations since then... and the same reasoning can be applied to the Canadian military as well. They were in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 after all and before that, they were in the Balkans in the 1990 as well as other various other places.

The JSDF? Besides training exercices and very limited deployments? No true experience of war unlike the US and Canada since 1945 and no heritage from which to draw from.