Begin Author's Notes.
*Camera turns on.*
*In front of the camera is Gene, looking at his watch until he notices the camera is on.*
Gene: *Starts off with, "Normally, this is where the usual commentators would be introducing themselves. However, due to recent events involving some of the people here, there will be some commentators that you won't hear from for a while."*
*He checks his watch quickly.*
Gene: *Concludes with, "Otherwise, we here at the Studio will now let you go back to what we normally do."*
*He moves away from the camera's view, as Kyle and Aria move into the front of the camera.*
Kyle: *Once he was in the right position.* "And welcome back to Fire Fallout: Nuclear Awakening!"
Aria: "Been a while, I believe…"
Kyle: "So, let us get to the chapter."
*Camera switches over.*
*Loading Chapter…*
*Loading...Loading…*
*Loading Complete.*
*Chapter 25 starts.*
Chapter 25: Wasteland Teachings II
One day later...
"This is 'Lonely' Miles speaking again. The first topic we need to cover is some news around the Commonwealth."
"A recent case for Diamond City's own Nick Valentine has just been opened to the public, for those who want to be in the know. The case was a missing person, with the individual being one 'Mr. Snowball'."
"Our good friend Valentine found Snowball out in the heart of the city, and brought him back safe and sound. When asked, all he said was, 'Just remind the little guy that Super Mutants never carry catnip with them…'"
"In other news, Brotherhood patrols have been seen more and more often around the swamplands near Quincy. And I don't know about you, but I think they are looking around since the fall of the Gunners."
"And now for the music. Here's a classic from the past…"
The music played as Leon was in transit to Aria's tent, for something that he wanted to talk about. And as he did that, things were somewhat noisy around the camp as the others were out doing whatever they had on their minds.
The Capital Wastelander messed with the volume as he moved, either making it louder when the noise was stronger or lowered it when he passed by one particular Shepherd who had more sensitive hearing.
He kept adjusting it till he found just the right setting, letting him hear the music perfectly as it reached its end and a new song began playing.
It was then that he noticed he reached Aria's tent as one of the songs he really liked reached the point he likes, but also when it got really loud. He quickly fumbles with the volume and manages to quiet the music down, thinking that no one heard that loud part in the song.
Aria looked up from what she was doing, and called, "Come in…"
Leon carefully made his way into the tent, seeing Aria all by herself as she was reading through one of the books Kyle gave her. The book was a copy of 'Pugilism Illustrated' and Aria had some paper nearby on the table as she took notes.
"Hello Aria. Do you have a moment to talk?" Leon asked her.
Aria replied, closing the book, "I have a minute…"
Leon took that answer as a cue to sit down on a nearby chair before he starts talking again with saying, "So, did you hear about anything that went on yesterday, specifically with Morgan?"
Aria replied, "...More or less…"
"Then do you know that I ended up falling down a pitfall trap that Morgan made?" Leon retorted.
"...Yes…"
"And that it was a rather deep pit?"
"... … ...Yes…"
"And lastly, do you know that it was actually meant for Kyle to fall into?"
"... … ...That, I did NOT know…" Aria replied.
"Well...That's what I suspected was the reason why she was outside of the camp with him, just so she can make him fall into it…"
"I see…" Aria replied, "Any proof for that assumption?"
"There is the fact that she told me I wasn't the intended target...and the fact that she kept saying she was sorry making the pitfall in the first place."
"Alright… … ...Why are you here, then?" Aria asked.
"Depends… ...There are some things that deserved to be punished for committing, and some that do not…" Leon retorted, as he looked at Aria.
"... … ...You're asking for permission to get payback at Morgan…" Aria guessed.
"... ...No, I was just coming in here to tell you that I don't need your permission… For what I have in mind… …" Leon stated, as his expression grew more serious.
Aria narrowed her eyes. "And what would THAT be?"
"... … ...Nothing." Leon said, as he expression greatly lightened up.
Aria blinked. "Ah...I see...kinda…"
"There's nothing for me to do since I already accepted her apology. And the reason I'm here is just to tell you that fact and that I don't want any payback." Leon explained, as his demeanor turned more positive.
"...Alright…" Aria replied.
"And I'm sorry if I made you worry for a second there...Just wanted to get some practice in on making sure I know how to be more 'threatening' when I get back home and deal with the BOS…" Leon retorted back.
"... … …'BOS'?"
"It stands for the group known as the 'Brotherhood of Steel'. A collection of people that work together to contain advanced Pre-War technology from people because in the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy the Wasteland again." Leon elaborated.
"Based on what you're saying, I'm guessing there's a catch?" Aria asked.
"Oh yeah, big time. That's the goal they tell everyone they wish to achieve as they do their work. Except if you look at it in another way, they are just hoarding all of the tech they can get their hands on and make sure they survive." Leon answered back.
"...Either they were lying all along, or they succumbed to corruption…" Aria commented.
"It's the latter in my experiences...If you want to know." Leon said back as he thinks back.
"I see… … …" Aria replied, just thinking.
"Of course, it also helps that I worked with them way before they ended up like the way they are now…" Leon said as a follow up.
"You worked with them?" Aria asked.
"Yeah, I helped a lot of their 'Paladins' and 'Scribes' out with a lot of things. Getting books, shooting Super Mutants, help them build a robot, and they helped me back for all those and more." Leon answered as he recalled some of the favors he did for them.
"Scribes? And I remember there being a type of warrior known as a Paladin, but I have a feeling this Brotherhood's Paladins are different…"
"You'd be right for the Paladins. They mainly wear Power Armor, as in the type of armor Travis has stored away. And Scribes are their experts on retrieving, cataloging, and figuring out the technology the Brotherhood finds." Leon retorted.
"I see…" Aria replied, contemplating.
"They also have 'Knights', but they also have Power Armor like the Paladins. And… ..That's right they have Initiates, which are the people that are starting out with joining the Brotherhood at their lowest rank." Leon added as he dug around in his memory.
"Alright…" Aria replied, thinking some more...
"... ...That's right...They actually made me a Paladin as well. Before they reminded me way later that was just a honorary title and not an actual bit of recognition. And it's probably because of that 'Codex' having a excuse written for them to do that to me."
"... … ...Leon...you're ranting," Aria pointed out, "It sounds despicable to me too, but…"
"... … … … ...Sorry, its just that if I get going talking about them, I start to slip into my bias against them." Leon said after taking a moment to stop ranting.
Aria sighed. "Let's just...get off this topic for now…"
The tent flap moves out of the way, interrupting the conversation between Leon and Aria as they see that it was Kyle.
"... ...Was I interrupting something?" Kyle immediately asked once he saw Aria and Leon looking at him.
"No, you just happen to show up as our conversation died." Leon retorted, before quickly saying to Aria, "I'll talk to you later, Aria. And I'll make sure not to rant next time…"
The Capital Wastelander then moves on past the Mojave Wastelander and exits the tent to head for his own. Along the way, he turns the music back on via his Pipboy.
After a few moments once Leon left, the Courier looks at the Tactician with one question on his mind.
"I take it Leon had some stuff to say to you, Aria?" Kyle asked, recalling one of his previous interactions with Leon.
Aria nodded. "Yes, he did…"
"Let me guess, did he end up talking about the Brotherhood of Steel?"
Aria nodded.
"Knowing what I learned from listening to him, it seems like a bit of optimism has been taken out of him..." Kyle noted in his response.
"He did seem quite cynical ranting about them…" Aria replied.
The Courier remains silent after hearing that, not wanting to spend more time talking about Leon. Instead, he just takes the opposite side of the table Aria was sitting at and begins reading a different book.
Some time later…
The Courier and Tactician didn't really have any leads, plans, or strategies to go over, hence the fact they were still reading the books they had out in front of them.
Aria was still reading that Pugilism Illustrated, while Kyle was reading through one of his copies of 'Duck and Cover!'. That book was mainly about tips, warnings, and suggestions about what to do with explosives if a civilian ever had to work with them.
The Courier takes a moment to pull down his reading material and look at the person opposite him.
"You know, despite the fact that I'm in a different world and all this future related stuff is going on...I think I finally got to a point where I'm actually bored and want to do something else." Kyle said aloud from his mind.
Aria asked, "Like what?"
"I don't know… ...Maybe something where everyone can have a chance at coming in first in a friendly competition?" Kyle said in response.
Aria thought for a moment, before asking, "What kind of friendly competition?"
"How about something like who has the best aim in camp, with bows and guns as the equipment?" Kyle retorted as a idea formed in his head.
Aria commented, "Are you sure that's fair? From observations, your guns are more accurate than our bows...unless you mean see who's better with using each…"
"Yeah, I meant using both separately for their own competition…" Kyle answered as more ideas popped in his head.
Shortly after saying that, Kyle jotted down the ideas he had in his mind on paper and then handed them over to Aria. She looked over each one and asked Kyle questions about how they were suppose to work.
The two then went back and forth on the ideas, adding in a few and removing others that weren't going to work out or were too one sided.
The list of ideas was then finalized as the two made sure each one would work after another round of going back and forth in talking. With that, they talked further on what needs to be done to get each competition set up...
The following day, out in the camp...
Everyone in the camp was notified of the competitions yesterday, as some were asked to help set the competitions up, while others just practiced anything they could just to be ready for anything.
So, when the entire camp showed up in the area designated for the competitions after the morning meal, they were waiting to see what the first competition was.
The Courier made sure to stand out in front of the crowd as he began announcing what was going to happen.
"First off, I just want to say thank you all for showing up. But besides that, I'll get on with it and say that we'll be competing to see who is the best shot with a bow. So, who wants to go first?"
Virion stepped forward. "I do believe that I, the Archest of Archers, should go first."
"Then just take the bow up ahead and see how good your aim is, Virion." Kyle retorted as he pointed towards the makeshift range and target nearby.
The makeshift range was just a markered position with a few bows carefully laid out with arrows supplied as well and down the range was a training dummy marked with a target pattern. Behind the dummy was also a set of wooden boxes to act as a backwall just to avoid losing arrows.
Virion aimed, before letting loose an arrow...hitting the target near-dead center.
"Hmmm…'tiss expected…" Virion said confidently, in response to his shot.
Kyle looked back to the crowd, only saying, "Anyone else willing to take a shot?"
Despite seeing the near-close to center shot Virion landed on the target, people in the crowd did take up Kyle on his word to step up and take a shot.
Some of the people who stepped up were known for relying on swords, such as Chrom and Lucina. And in the case of those two, they had different results.
Chrom managed to get the bow into his hands and the arrow was set up right, before he pulled the string back too hard and somehow managed to disconnect it, making the arrow fall to the ground.
Lucina, on the other hand, did everything right and sent the string back with a strong pull and fired the arrow. It then landed on the left arm on the target dummy, missing the center by a big margin.
Aria then gave it a go and...all things considered, she did fairly alright: she hit the target, not dead center, but enough to where, if the training dummy were a real person, they'd probably be weakened considerably, if not taken out of the fight.
Frederick, however… … ...the less said, the better.
Just as one of the Wastelanders was about to head up, Chrom talked to Kyle about trying it again since he didn't actually get to fire the arrow.
So, after quicking telling Cait to let Chrom try again, she handed the bow over and moved away just in case he somehow managed to misfire it.
Chrom, on his second try, managed to prevent from breaking the bow… … ...and actually managed to hit the target. Like Lucina, he missed the center by a large margin, only managing to hit the right leg, but it was still a hit.
Once Chrom was done, Cait took her chance at firing the bow. She had the arrow ready as she aimed towards the target, pulling back the string as soon as she felt like it was perfect…
...The arrow flew...by the target and missed it completely, instead getting embedded into the edge of the back wall of boxes behind the target dummy.
Up next was Travis, who just did everything in terms of getting the bow set up just fine before messing up with the shot. The arrow did fly, but only barely made it to the left foot of the dummy.
Following Travis was the former scribe, who had a problem getting the string stuck to one of the parts of her armor. But once it was resolved, she managed to fire an arrow that landed in the target's right shin.
The next arrow to be fired was going to be from Leon. He took the position, loaded up the arrow, pulled back the string… ...and landed a better shot than Veronica, getting the arrow a small bit above where she ended up.
And just when it seemed like that was it for the Wastelanders, Kyle went up himself to the position and took a bow and arrow. He aimed carefully after doing the steps...And ended up landing a dead center shot… ...on the target's left knee.
More of the crowd took their chance at firing the bow, with some landing a better shot than the Wastelanders, while others just completely or barely missed the target altogether...
Finally, it came time for Noire to have her shot. She aimed, took the shot… … ...and landed a better shot than Virion, hitting the dummy dead-center. And just as the crowd was about to react from the shot...She grabbed another arrow and fired it…
...And the new arrow shot right into the arrow already embedded in the target, breaking it in half as the new arrow took its spot at the dead center of the target.
The crowd of onlookers cheered at that display, as even though she did better than everyone else, what she did was very impressive. So it became safe to say that Noire won that competition.
Once the excitement calmed down, Kyle announced that the next competition will begin shortly after they make a few adjustments with the target and the equipment for the range.
After a minute or two of some adjustments, the makeshift range had the bows swapped out for Leon's Hunting Rifle...Which was already loaded with bullets. The target was also swapped for another dummy, but this one had the markings moved upwards to its head.
"So, is there anyone willing to take a shot with one of our weapons?" Kyle said to the crowd, as he waited for anyone to step up.
No one actually moved up right away because of the fact that almost all of them never had a chance to use a rifle or a gun at all. Not to mention that they also didn't know how to fire one at all…
That prompted Leon to head over to the makeshift range and quickly show everyone how to actually fire it and to load the next shot, just in case. He did this a few times till everyone was comfortable enough that they know how to fire it.
And the first person to step up was actually Virion, feeling confident that he would be able to land a shot. He followed Leon's steps accordingly and pulled the trigger, only to barely brace himself for the recoil…
As the bullet… ...struck the back wall...missing the target.
As Virion placed the weapon down and left, the next person who went forward to the range was actually Henry. The rifle was picked up and aimed… ...as a bullet got fired out and landed a solid hit on the torso.
Still sporting that smile of his, he placed the rifle back down as others on the crowd took their turn…
After that, the only Shepherds that actually scored nominally good hits were Aria and her's and Kyle's future children...probably due to their previous experience with firearms.
So, after everyone in the crowd that was a Shepherd took their turn, the Wastelanders were ready to take their shots.
First one up was Leon, who just casually grabbed his rifle, made sure it was filled with bullets, and then made a carefully aimed shot, almost hitting the head of the target. Instead, he managed to hit the neck.
Once Leon was done, Cait stepped up and grabbed the rifle. She aimed it carefully, and fired off two shots instead of one. Both of them hit the torso, with one being higher than the other.
The Sole Survivor then walked up and grabbed the rifle, and used the iron sights on the top of the rifle as he aimed… ...and fired one shot. The bullet then travelled across and struck the face part of the dummy, just a bit aways from the marked center…
And after that, Veronica took her shot. However, with her being used to more with energy weapons, she didn't account for the recoil as well as the other Wastelanders as she fired the rifle. The resulting shot then collided with the dummy, landing inside the lower half of the torso.
The rifle was then handed over as the last Wastelander moved to the position and quickly scanned over the distant target. Once he was ready, he grabbed the rifle, held his breath as he pulled the trigger…
...And the gun ended up not firing at all.
The Courier then checks the gun, seeing that it was empty for ammo. So, just as the crowd starts wondering what was going on, he quickly reloads it and fires off three shots.
The first two shots hit the hands of the target, as the third shot collided with the dead center of the torso. He then aims the rifle...and fires again for the fourth time…
...As the bullet ends up missing the target's head by a wide margin…
"... ...Hey Aria, you mind coming up here?" Kyle called out after he thought out what to do with the last shot.
Aria approached and asked, "What is it?"
"Would you mind helping me aim this last bullet… ...As in fire it for me?" Kyle asked back, with a rather small smile.
Aria looked confused. "Uhm...why?"
"Maybe it's because I wanted to see you have one more chance since you are my love?" Kyle retorted, albeit a bit blush in the face from saying that out loud.
Aria blushed at the comment, before stuttering, "Uhm, o-o-ok…" She then took the gun, and started to aim.
"Just remember to take a deep breath and hold it when you pull the trigger to keep your arms steady." Kyle quickly told her before backing out of the range.
Aria nodded, and, taking Kyle's advice, did as he suggested, aimed, and… … ...
… ...The target's head moves back as the bullet hits the dead center of the marked section…
And with that, this competition was done, with Aria declared the winner for her second chance shot.
With the second competition of the day done, the crowd was lead to another setup where there were two small areas made that looked the same.
The areas each had 5 chests, locked and filled with items carefully placed away. Some of them were modified slightly to become apart of the challenge that was to go on.
Once everyone was able to see the chests laid out, Kyle started announcing again to the crowd.
"For our next competition, we'll be seeing who can pick these locks the fatest and retrive the most items within them without getting caught by any traps. So, is there anyone willing to prove they can tame any lock?"
Out of all the Shepherds, there was only one who stepped up to the challenge, that being the male known as Gaius.
And as soon as she saw him head on up, the Irish Wastelander decided to step up as well.
As Kyle waited for anyone else who wanted to participate, Cait decided to say something to her current opponent.
"I don't know about you pretty boy, but I'm going to win this easily. You may as well head back into the crowd..."
"Nice try, 'Caity'. I aim to crack all these jawbreakers so fast that you'll be left behind…" Gaius remarked back in a snide tone.
The Irish Wastelander turns quiet after hearing that, instead getting her trusty screwdriver and bobby pins ready.
And as no one else wanted to join in, the Courier directed the two competitors to the areas, with Cait taking the left one and Gaius taking the right one.
The two were waiting for the moment to start… as the Courier announced it a few seconds later.
Right away, Cait got her Lockpicking equipment into the first chest keyhole and picks the lock. She then cracks the chest open and gets the five small items inside out of the chest next to her before she jumps over to the second chest.
The Lockpicking equipment gets inserted into the keyhole and after two seconds of moving around, the lock gets picked. Cait immediately opens the chest and removes the seven small items from it before heading to the third chest.
Meanwhile, Gaius used his lockpicks and seemed to be going at a speed that was a fair bit quicker than Cait. He also removed what he found in the first two chests before moving onto the third chest.
The keyhole on Cait's side was tougher to pick than the last two by a significant amount. But the Irish gal made up the wasted time for picking the lock with getting the nine small items out fast.
Just as she moved to the fourth chest, she quickly glanced over to see Gaius already picking the fourth chest in his area. She got her equipment into the keyhole and noticed there was something off with the lock…
Gaius also noticed something wrong: the lock was easier to pick than the previous one, when he believed it should have been harder, due to the nature of the challenge. Expecting something, he made ready to bolt once he opened the chest. As it opened...Gaius barely dodged in time to escape a piece of old fruit that was catapulted out.
And a piece of old fruit got catapulted out of Cait's fourth chest, missing her as she dodged out of the way and pulled out the eleven small items located inside. She moved over to the last chest, putting her equipment into the keyhole.
As she tumbled around, she noted that it was a very tough lock. She kept moving around the pin and screwdriver, hoping to find the spot she needed to pick the lock quickly…
Gaius also had issues with the lock, and as he worked quickly, he made ready to dodge: the previous chest was rigged, and while it was easier than the previous ones, this one was harder than all of them...it still didn't mean it couldn't be rigged, so he got ready just in case...
The two kept moving fast, as they managed to pick their locks and open the chest to see that they had thirteen items inside to take out.
Cait quickly got almost all of her items out, but decided to leave one item behind…
...Just as Gaius got done removing all thirteen items out of his last chest and closed it shut. Cait managed to close her last chest as well, but quickly saw that he had 45 items out to her 44 items.
The two thought it was over...until they both hear something and the last chest on Gaius' area suddenly starts rising up, only to fall backwards onto the ground on its back.
Following that, Kyle quickly explained to both them and the crowd that it was a draw. The reason for Cait being that she didn't set any traps and got 'caught', but she also still had 44 items. And as for Gaius, he did get all 45 items, but he was 'caught' at the last chest due to the makeshift trap in the ground going off.
So with that, they both lost and won. And despite that fact, Cait did take a moment to say something to her opponent.
"Not bad, pretty boy. You know your way around locks as well…"
"And you know when to stop stealing all the sweets out of a jar, Caity…" Gaius retorted back.
The two made their way back into the crowd as Kyle began talking yet again about another competition that was going to be occuring in a bit. And the interesting thing was that as the crowd waited, there was some amount of anticipation within them for whatever would be on going next.
Hours later, inside Aria's tent…
The remaining competitions came and went, with plenty of participants from the Wastelanders and Shepherds. There was wins and loses, but the true winners were everyone involved getting some amount of excitement from witnessing and participating the events.
Of course, it all had to come to an end when the sun started to set and everything had to be cleaned up and stored away.
And after all of that, the Courier and Tactician moved back to the latter's tent…
Sitting on one side of the table was Kyle, reading through the Pugilism Illustrated book while on the other was Aria, reading through the Duck and Cover! book.
"I know I said it already, but thank you for helping me out by allowing those competitions to go on." Kyle said to Aria after he looks up from the book.
Aria smiled and replied, "No problem…"
"And I have to say, that headshot you landed on the dummy earlier was actually pretty great…" Kyle added.
"Yes...about that… … ...why did you allow me to do that? I've seen you make MUCH better shots, at much longer distances…" Aria asked.
"Because I didn't want to land that shot...I wanted you to. It's why I asked you over and gave you the second chance." Kyle answered back.
"... … ...Alright…" Aria replied, before smiling. "...That...was really sweet…Thank you..."
The Courier just smiled back as before he got back to reading, as did the Tactician.
Time passed, as it began easier to tell that it was getting later into the early night.
Feeling tired, the Courier makes sure to ask something of Aria after he puts the book down.
"...Uhm...Aria, do you mind if I stay with you tonight? If...you're okay with it, that is…" Kyle said, albeit a bit nervously.
Aria looked at him...and smiled. "Sure, I don't mind…"
He was a bit relieved to hear that, so he ended up responding back with, "If you don't mind then, I guess I'll head to bed now, given how I feel at the moment. Feel free to join me when you want to as well…"
The Courier gives one more smile back to Aria, before he makes his way to the bed and gets comfy after getting on it and drifts into sleep.
Time passes a bit slowly from that point, as Aria notices how tired she was getting. Eventually, she had to place down her book and retire to her bed. Of course when she got there, there was Kyle already taking up space as he was asleep.
She ended up getting onto it either way, got comfortable, and started drifting into a dream as well.
The night went on as they continued sleeping, yet one of them started moving. Kyle ended up getting his arm across the bed and end up touching Aria on one of her shoulders.
The Tactician didn't get disrupted from her sleep, but the touch reminded her that Kyle was nearby. So, she ended up moving closer to him after getting his arm carefully lifted around her.
The Courier did notice that and ended up slightly pulling himself closer to her as well, as they ended sleeping the rest of the night in physical contact with each other. Both of them were subtly smiling in their sleep because of that.
End Chapter 25.
*Camera switches over.*
Kyle: "And that was the chapter. In short, I believe those competitions were entertaining."
Aria: "Not to mention they could potentially raise morale…"
Kyle: "So in a way, it worked out for everyone else and myself since I helped get it all started."
Kyle: *Switching topics.* "Besides that, we also got to see that our little group of Wastelanders are not that good with using a bow as a weapon...at all."
Aria: "And very few Wastelanders are good with a gun…"
Kyle: "Save for you, Mark, Morgan, and… ...Henry of all people for some reason."
Aria: "Henry DOES spend a lot of time around Leon, who uses the same type of gun that was used for the competition…"
Kyle: *Continuing on.* "Then there was the lockpicking competition between Cait and Gaius, which actually looked like it was neck and neck…"
Aria: "It sure did…"
Kyle: "Of course, Cait resorted to using bobby pins and a screwdriver, which is not as effective as the lockpick that Gaius was using…"
Aria: *shrugs* "They don't have lockpicks in your time?"
Kyle: "No, they do exist. It's just that they extremely rare and harder to find then bobby pins and screwdrivers."
Aria: "Also, where'd you get the idea for the booby-trapped chests?"
Kyle: "Its from the traps I've seen across the Mojave. Some of them are usually trip wires or pressure plates that are connected to explosives, rigged shotguns, or a big hunk of metal on a chain that would swing into you…"
Aria: *winces* "Ouch…"
Kyle: *Recalling one event.* "There was actually a time where I got hit by one of those chain traps, except they used a big rotting hunk of meat. It hit me right in the gut and I recall Veronica telling me later that I smelled horrible for a while because of that."
Aria: "...Again: ouch…"
Kyle: *Moving on.* "And other than that...I don't have much else to say about the chapter."
Aria: "Me neither…"
Kyle: "And that is it for the chapter."
Aria: "We'll be back when the next chapter is ready to appear!"
*The camera turns off.*
End Author's Notes.