(A few hours later)
Grif is just standing, looking outwards into the desert until Tucker and Sora arrive.
"Uh, Grif. Why are you just standing out here?" Sora asks.
"Well, Sarge told me to bury all the body's from our battle." Grif explains.
"Thats a lot of graves. A lot of holes to fill, bow chicka wow wow." Tucker jumps in. Sora shoots him a questioning look.
"And now I can't find them because the bodys were piled here by these stone pillars and then the wind came and blew sand over the damn things." Grif continues.
"Then I guess they're already buried. Good job dude." Tucker congratulates.
"I like the way you think." Grif comments.
"Grif! What the hell are you doing up here?" Sarge yells as he comes up to them. "I thought I told you to bury those... bodys."
"He did! He buried the shit outta them, look!" Tucker exclaims.
"What the? I only gave that order 5 minutes ago. How'd you do it so fast? Did you help him?" Sarge asks Sora.
"No, I didn't. Tucker and I were just talking about our swords/ keyblades." Sora explains.
"And did you help him?" Sarge asks.
"Weren't you paying attention. And besides, even if Sora wasn't here, we've been fighting for like eight years, haven't you learned anything about me yet?" Tucker explains. "I'm a lover, not a digger."
"Yeah, maybe he woulda helped me if some of the body's were dead laddies." Grif says. Everyone looks at him with a look of disgust, though only Sora's is visable. "And I realize that sounded a lot creepier than what I intended."
"Well, does someone wanna say a few words." Sarge asks.
"Words?" Grif questions.
"Yes, these men were soldiers. Even if they were enemy soldiers, they still deserve a proper eulogy." Sarge explains.
"That actually sounds very honourable, Sarge." Sora says.
"Great, another kiss ass." Grif mutters to Tucker.
"I actually like this kid better than Simmons." Tucker tells Grif. Tucker then turns his attention back to Sarge, who is stareing at him. "Don't look at me, I'm a lover not a talker." Tucker then turns to Grif. "Hey dude, you wanna make another sex with dead people joke?"
"No, I think I hit my quota." Grif says.
"Sora?" Sarge asks.
"I don't think so. Can't come up with anything." Sora replies.
"What about your buddy mister cult leader?" Sarge asks Tucker, referring to Church. Speak of the devil, Church came floating out towards the group with the surviving aliens and Caboose in tow.
"Its not his fault, those aliens just worship this ancient technology and the people who made it. Huh, whats a brother gonna do?" Tucker explains.
"Who in sam hill worships technology?" Sarge questions.
"Are they from the internet?" Grif asks.
"Caboose, what are you doing, get outta there!" Tucker orders. Caboose leaves the mob and meets up with the four.
"Its not fair! Hya- I worshipped Church, way before it was cool to worship him." Caboose explains.
"Hey, I already told you. Thats still not cool. That will never be cool." Grif tells him. Then Church shows up.
"Oh, hey there guys. Hows life among all the non-deities? Pretty lame I bet. Pretty sure none of you have been worshipped all day long. Weak!" Church exclaims.
"You were right about him." Sora whispers to Tucker before turning back to Church. "Church, don't you think your letting all this praise get to your head?"
"Oh, yeah of coarse. I love being worshipped!" Church says.
"Thats not what I mean't." Sora says.
"Then I don't care." Church says.
"Hey, your circular holiness!" Sarge calls. "How about delivering the eulogy. We're burying most of these guys cause of you anyway."
"Me? I only lasered one guy." Church states.
"Which was awesome." Caboose praises.
"I know right." Church agrees.
"So cool. The laser came out of your face."
"Have you been able to figure out how you did that yet?" Tucker asks.
"No, I think its just because I got really mad." Church explains. "Hey, say something to make me angry. See if it happens again."
"Your ugly and nobody likes you." Tucker says.
"Your annoying and your team sucks." Grif adds. "Come on Sora, join in."
"Uh, I don't think I can. I'm not used to being negative." Sora explains.
"Oh. Well when you spend time with us, you'll learn." Grif assures.
"Your round and you can't wear pants." Caboose adds.
"Save for Sora, you guys came up with all that really quickly." Church says.
"Eh, it pays to be prepared. Did it work? Are you pissed?" Tucker asks.
"No, I think I'm actually kinda depressed right now. Caboose is right, I can't wear pants." Church says.
"Well I only said it because everyone was thinking it." Caboose defends.
"Maybe mad makes a red laser and sad makes a blue laser?" Sora proposes.
"Well, I hope we don't find out what makes a brown laser." Caboose says. Sora tries his damn hardest to not laugh at Cabooses quip but everyone can plainly see he is trying.
"You idiots shut up." Sarge says before any one can question Sora. "Hey Globey, you makin a speech or ain't ya."
"Hey sure no problem. I did a sermon just the other day that the aliens loved." Church says before floating up to the others.
"Sermon? You just read them the set up guide to out Inkjet printer." Tucker says.
"Yeah, and they eat that gadget stuff up. You gotta know your audience buddy." Church defends as everyone heads down to stand beside the aliens and Caboose.
"How is it possible that ever since Caboose revived you, you can't remember anything except how to be a jackass." Grif asks.
"Some things are hardwired." Tucker mutters.
Church then starts his speech. "Attention true believers. And... other people. We are here today to pay our final, and first, respects, to the dearly departed. But first, I'd like you to join me in a song, in honour of unme. Hm, I AM THE BEST!"
"Skip it." Grif, Tucker, Sarge and Sora all say.
"Fine." Church grumbles. "Okay, uh, in the begining there was darkness, and uh out of the darkness came a voice. And it said... And it said... Uh... uh... out of the darkness came... Out of the darkness..." Sora notices Church is distracted by something. He looks to the direction Church is looking, only to find nothing.
"Is his play back skipping?" Grif asks.
"I dunno." Tucker answers.
"Maybe he needs a reboot." Sarge suggests. "Good thing I wore my boots. I'll reboot him right in the keister. Heh heh heh."
"Maybe he's regaining some of his memories?" Sora suggests.
"Out of the darkness came... someone. I'll be right back." Church floats towards whatever he was looking at.
"Maybe your right Sora." Tucker says. The aliens then begin blarging angrily. "Uh oh, looks like the natives are getting restless. Caboose get up there and stall em, I'll figure out whats going on."
Caboose gets up where Church was at. "Yes, and out of the darkness came someone, and that someone was me! Yes, and I said, funerals are sad, and we should have a birthday party instead, yes! Yes, let there be cake! Im, hallelujah, gesundheit." After Caboose was done talking, the aliens looked to be talking amongst themselves. The four use this to slip away to meet up with Tucker and Church.
"We'll did you see?" Church asks Tucker as they arrive.
"Whats he talking about?" Sarge asks.
"I think Sora's right. He's having another memory flash." Tucker explains.
"A what?"
"Random that keep coming back to him. He's been getting them more and more lately and I don't think he has any control over them." Tucker explains. "He gets all emo too, its annoying. Like having a chick around, but without all the fun parts of having a chick around. Like bonin'!"
"You should take out his memory unit and blow on it. That'll fix it." Sarge suggest. Then, Caboose arrives.
"Is he having more memories?" Caboose asks.
"Yep." Tucker answers.
"Did he remember me this time?"
"Nope."
"I saw a canyon, and uh,a waterfall." Church explains. "And there was some kinda dark figure there."
"Was the dark figure me?" Caboose asks.
"Caboose, we will let you know if you come up, I promise." Tucker says. "A waterfall, huh? Thats the second time you've talked about that."
"Yeah, but where could that be?" Church asks.
"Uh, that sounds like our new bases." Grif says as Sarge leaves the group.
"It does? It does!" Caboose exclaims.
"What? Caboose, why didn't you mention that the first time?" Tucker questions.
"Um, I didn't remember it?" Caboose suggests.
"You didn't remember a waterfall? Dude, thats like not remembering your first girlfriend turned out to have a dick. Right Grif?"
"Sometimes I'm sorry I even told you that story." Grif says.
"You guys are weird." Sora says. He then turns to Church. "Church, if theres anything I can do to help, let me know."
"Yeah its just that... I feel like I need to see her." Church mutters. Sora could here it in his voice. The dark figure was the most important person in his life and she forgot her, like Sora did with Kairi in castle oblivion (but he doesn't remember that). Sora then finds himself empathizing with Church. They are both searching for the one most important to them. "I'll help you find her Church. I promise." Sora says.
Grif leaves to go join Sarge as Tucker starts yelling at Caboose.
"Its a waterfall! It's literally impossible to forget! Like girlfriend dick!" Tucker exclaims. Eventually Sarge and Grif come back.
"Hey dude, can we borrow you for a sec?" Grif asks.
"Huh? Sure." Church replies before he goes with them.
"Oh shit! I almost forgot, we should check up on those aliens!" Tucker exclaims. "Sora! Caboose! come with!"The three head towards where the aliens were last and low and behold, they're still there.
"Huh, thats weird. I thought they would have at least moved some where else." Sora says.
"Guess not." Tucker says. As the group gets closer, they see the four aliens are actually in the process of ripping apart a shadow heartless they found. "What the hell are those things? I've never seen them around here before fighting CT."
"The heartless? I don't know why they're here either." Sora responds.
"So, what do they do?" Tucker asks.
"They're attracted to the darkness in peoples hearts. If they get you, you become one of them." Sora explains.
"That sounds really scary." Caboose says.
"No worries. Those are only shadows. They are the weakest type of heartless, and so far, they are the only ones we've seen here." Sora says.
"So whats the strongest type?" Tucker asks.
"I dunno. I haven't really thought about it." Sora responds. "Any way, we should check up on the reds."
"Yeah, could be causing trouble. Or just standing around talking like they always were for the last eight years." Tucker sighs as he and Sora move to find the reds as Caboose stays with the aliens.
The two look all around the temple area but the reds could not be found.
"Yo, dudes!" Tucker yells.
"Sarge! Grif!" Sora calls.
"Where'd you go!" Tucker calls. Caboose then comes up behind the pair.
"Hey, Tucker. Sora." Caboose says.
"Yeah whats up dude?" Tucker asks.
"Um, have you seen Church?" Caboose asks.
"Now that I think of it, we haven't seen him in the time we were searching." Sora mutters.
"No, we were looking for the red guys. Looks like they fixed one of the jeeps and took off." Tucker says.
"Oh. Well thats not good." Caboose says.
"Maybe Church went with them, or maybe they took him, I dunno dude." Tucker suggests.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Caboose says. "I don't think that would happen." Tucker and Sora then fully turn around.
"What! How the fuck would you know?" Tucker asks. The two then see the alien mob behind him.
"Cause if he was gone, I think some people who were looking for him might be really mad thats he's not here." Caboose explains. "...and we might have to explain to those people why he's not here... and those people might not like our explanation... and those people might hurt us with plasma guns and plasma grenades." Caboose explains.
"Ooohhhh." Sora realizes.
"I mean the aliens." Caboose states.
"Yeah, I figured that out." Tucker says.
"Did your time as an alien... ambassador ,or whatever, prepare you for a situation like this?" Sora asks.
"Uh, I don't think so dude." Tucker says. "Wait, I got an idea! Caboose come with me!" Tucker exclaims before he begins leading the two along with the alien pack.
(A few hours later)
Caboose was stuck atop a stone pillar with the aliens trying to reach him while Tucker and Sora are watching.
"This is kinda mean towards Caboose." Sora states
"Eh, you gotta do what you gotta do. This is a better option rather then than fighting them ourselves." Tucker explains.
"So... what do you think is gonna happen?" Sora asks
"Well, either the aliens will get tired out or they'll get to Caboose and eat him or something." Tucker explains.
"Tucker, help me!" Caboose yells.
"Yeah dude, I don't know. I don't really wanna get in between an angry mob and their religious iconography." Tucker says. "And I should know, I used to date an Italian girl."
"Just hold on Caboose! We'll find a way to get you down with out anyone hurting anyone!" Sora yells.
"Well start thinking! please." Caboose says. He the notices something. "Look! The reds! they're back, and they have your worship guy!" Tucker and Sora then notice Sarge.
"What the, Sarge?" Tucker says.
"Where did you go?" Sora asks.
"Not important. Whats important is that we're back. And we got Simmons too." Sarge says. "Wheres the water can? Oh, also, you got anymore spare jeeps around here? I don't want to get into it but we've identified a tactical weakness in the hood of the curret models. So uh, what are you guys doing? Killin' Caboose? Thats cool."
"There he is! He's the one that took Church! Get him." Caboose exclaims. The aliens all look to Sarge
"Ruh roh." Sarge responds. "Uh, we don't have your floating ball guy like the blue just said... uh, just one more soldier... come along, I'll prove it to you." Sarge says before leading everyone towards where ever Grif and Simmons are. Its along one of the temple walls that Sarge announces "Nope, they're right around this corner up here! Grif and Simmons! Right up here! Where we're walking! And you'll see once we get around this corner up here, we don't have any kind of floating device! No balls or spheres or anything! You'll see big group of aliens! We don't have anything like that at all!" Then the group rounds the corner to find Grif and another soldier, this one in a dark red colour armour, just standing there.
"Whoa!" The presumed to be Simmons exclaims. "I mean, what the 411 daddios? Me and my homie were just hanging all up in here. Desserts feel. Its all good. You know what I'm saying Skrillas." Sora can only look on in confusion on what the hell he is talking about.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Grif whispers to him.
"You told be to be cool." Simmons whispers back.
"Right, so what the fuck are you doing?" Grif repeats.
"As you can see, we don't have your stupid rolly bologna. Its just this yellow guy and MC Fonzarillo over here."
"Whateves yall, you don't know me." Simmons says in response. Tucker then pops up behind the group.
"Ah ha! Gotcha! See, I knew they would have it." He says.
"Uh, I don't see him." Caboose states. "Oh my god, he's invisible."
"Alright reds, what did you do with-" Tucker is cut off, seeing the reds running in the other direction.
"Quickly, come with me." Caboose whispers to Sora before booking it in the other direction. Sora follows and it is then Tucker says.
"We'll Caboose I guess we're on our- own damnit." The two circle back to the reds to see them stopped in front of the mind field.
"Oh, no! He landed in the middle of the, uh of the, there. The, uh over there." Caboose says, noticing that Church is in the mine field. However Simmons doesn't know this.
"So, lets grab em." Simmons suggest, not talking like a rapper anymore.
"Yeah, tell you what Simmons, why don't you go get him." Grif suggests.
"We'll secure the area here while you retrieve him." Sarge says.
"*Sighs* Okay, I don't have time for this." Simmons says before walking into the mine field and sets a mine off. "Owwwww!" He exclaims. "You knew didn't you."
"Yeah, kinda." Sora replies. Simmons hands Church to Caboose before asking.
"Who's the kid?"
"Oh, thats Sora. He came to help us fight shadow demons or something while we we're trying to get Church from this brown armoured douchebag." Grif explains.
"In some way, I'm glad I missed that, but in some other, I kinda wanna see those demons." Simmons says.
"I don't think you would want to." Sora warns.
"Ehh. Anyway, how did you meet up with Sarge and fat ass?" Simmons asks.
"I kinda got lost in the desert." Sora admits.
"And they picked you up because you had water and they needed some, because Sarge decided it would be a good idea to go without some." Simmons guesses as if it were obvious.
"Actually, no. Just lost." Sora says.
"Guys... I think he's waking up." Caboose says. Everyone turns their attention to Church.
"Why are all his blue parts green?" Grif asks.
"I don't know." Caboose says before Church looks up to him and speaks in a voice thats not his.
"Caboose. Is that you?"
"Delta?" Caboose asks. 'Something I'm going to have to ask about later.' Sora thinks.
"Caboose, I need you to listen, my time is brief. Epsilon is not in control right now. But he will be again shortly." Delta says.
"Great!" Caboose says.
"Perhaps not, the encounter with Agent Washington has jarred loose many of his memories. Epsilon has not -historically- coped with these memories well." Delta explains.
"Whatzz that mean." Grif lazily asks.
"We fear he may persue certain memories in particular." Delta explains.
"We?" Sora asks.
"Yes, Myself and the other memories of the Alphas fragments." Delta explains.
"What the fuck is that? Who the fuck are you, and what the fuck is happening?" Grif demands impatiently.
"Epsilon may not be aware of our presence. But eventually, he will be. We cannot hide forever." Delta explains. "It is likely at this point, he will begin the cycle again. That must not happen."
"What cycle. *gasp* a motercycle?"
"No Caboose. A cycle is like a circle." Sora explains.
"He's begun to search his memories now. He is clearly looking for something." Delta says.
"Well, you always did say memory is the key." Caboose says.
""Memory is the key" ... I like that." Sora says to himself.
"Memory is the key, Caboose, but not everything that is locked is meant to be unlocked. He is coming back now. I must leave before he discovers me."
"But if he meets you in there, than you can be friends!" Caboose suggests.
"Do one of you mind filling me in on whats going on?" Sora asks.
"I don't think so, I'm lost as it is." Simmons tells him.
"If only I was the memory that he's looking for." Delta says before all the green parts go back to blue and Church's voice is back.
"What? Oh. Hey. I must have- must have passed out. Sorry about that." Church apologizes.
"Church! Your back!" Caboose exclaims.
"Yeah, I am. Hey Caboose, come over here, wouldja, I need to talk to you about something." Church requests.
"Okay, where are we going?" Caboose asks as he follows him elsewhere.
"Hey guys, do you ever notice blue team has, like, a lot more stuff going on than us?"
"Yeah, boring stuff." Sarge replies.
"Nerdy stuff." Grif says.
"Blue... stuff?" Sora tries to contribute.
"Yeah, but I mean- all we ever talk about is food and guns." Simmons mentions.
"That reminds me, I'm hungry." Grif says.
"Stop complaining or I'll shoot you in the head." Sarge says.
"*sigh* Good times." Simmons sighs. Sora can only hold in his laughter watching the whole exchange.
(Around 10 minutes later)
The reds and Sora have now resorted to spying on Caboose and Church since they've run out of things to talk about.
"Lets go then. I thought it would take longer to convince you. C'mon, I wanna get to the facility before nightfall." The group over hears Church say.
"Facility, eh? I knew the blues were up to something." Sarge exclaims. "Come on men! Lets get after those blues! Sounds like this is the big opportunity we've been waiting for!"
"You mean our opportunity to find a place to hole up til this all blows over?" Grif asks.
"Some place that isn't a dessert?" Simmons adds.
"No! A place to finally restore the blues to commands data base. Get your typing fingers ready Simmons!" Sarge exclaims.
"I'll bring my carpal tunnel braces." Simmons sighs.
"Wait, restore the blues to command?" Sora asks.
"We'll explain on the way." Grif says.
"If we're gonna follow them, we'll need a vehicle." Sarge states.
"I'm sure we can grab another one from the camp down there." Grif says.
"Why do we need a vehicle? The blues are walking. I'm sure we can keep up with them on foot." Simmons suggest
"On foot!?" Grif cries out like Simmons is crazy.
"Uh, Simmons. We're the reds. We don't walk anywhere. We travel as the good lord intended! In the largest possible vehicle, with the maximum horse power allowed by local law enforcement." Sarge explains. "And if theres no cars available; we find the biggest, nastiest, meanest land animal we possibly can. Beat the crap outta it and saddle that puppy up."
"On foot. Shame on you, Simmons." Grif says. 'Good thing I didn't agree with him out loud.' Sora thinks, also having the same thoughts as Simmons.
"Sorry." Simmons apologizes.
"Lets just forget you ever mentioned it." Sarge suggests.
"I think it should go on his permanent record." Grif says.
"Oh, just get the fuckin jeep jackass." Simmons snaps.
"Sora, ya comin?" Sarge asks.
"Sure." Sora replies.
"I thought you were looking for someone here." Grif says.
"We'll... they aren't here." Sora says.
"Any you think they might have just so happened to have ended up exactly where ever we are going." Grif asks.
"Its a possibility." Sora says.
"I like the way this friend thinks. When we meet them, you think they would join the red army?" Sarge asks.
"Um... maybe?" Sora says, really not knowing how to respond.
"Alright men, secondary objective! Once we're done with Caboose and the fly ball, we recruit Sora's friend." Sarge announces.
"Yeah, cuz getting an army of underage teenagers is definitely a good idea." Grif deadpans. Simmons then arrives with the jeep and the four hop in. On the drive to where ever they are going, Sora takes the opportunity to ask Simmons some questions.
"Do you know anything about that Delta guy from earlier?" He asks.
"No. I don't. But I think he was an A.I." Simmons responds.
"A.I.?" Sora asks.
"Yeah, Artificial intelligence." Simmons responds. 'Kind of like Tron.' Sora thinks. "Judging by his name, I would say he was one of the freelancer A.I.s"
"Freelancer?" Sora asks.
"Its this program that experimented with A.I. and it had something to do with bad ass soldiers that do nothing but cause us trouble. Like this Wyoming guy that tried to kill us about a year back." Simmons explains.
"He tried to kill you!" Sora exclaims.
"Yeah, but Tucker stabbed him when he wasn't looking, the myself and my team killed all his time traveling clones, or something." 'Glad I missed that. I've had enough time traveling clones for a life time.' Sora thinks.
"Wyomings a strange name." Sora says to keep the conversation going.
"It was his code name. All freelancers had a code name based off a state in America, like Wyoming or Texas or Washington."
"Caboose mentioned a Washington. Were you friends?"
"We might have been. I dunno why, but when Sarge was with you, he attacked us with the Meta. He shot Lopez and Donut and held me prisoner. If it wasn't for Sarge I wouldn't have escaped." Simmons explains.
"Oh, sorry about your friends." Sora solomly says.
"Yeah... poor Donut. I'll miss him like a sister." Simmons says.
"What is the Meta?" Sora asks.
"Only the scariest fucking mute in the galaxy. He apparently killed a bunch of freelancers and took their equipment, but now he can't use them anymore. He and Washington were fighting but now they're working together."
Thee reds and Sora exit the warthog to find what looked to be the wall of the previously mentioned facility.
"Simmons, whats the status report?" Sarge asks.
"Gumball Mcjones and Caboose just went into that door." Simmons says.
"What door? All I see is a wall." Grif says.
"Its a secret door." Simmons says.
"Great idea Simmons." Sora comments.
"Simmons. What did I tell you about using dungeons and dragons references in combat situations." Sarge asks.
"Sorry sir. Its a concealed door." Simmons sighs.
"Thats better." Sarge comments.
"How did they open it?" Grif asks.
"They talked to that computer." Simmons points to the computer screen mounted to a tree. "They got it to open the door by posing as members of Project Freelancer. If we pose as agents, it'll probably let us in too."
"Aren't agents, like, tough and good at things?" Grif asks.
"We'll all just pick a state name and call ourselves by that." Simmons explains. "Y'know, like agent Washington. Grif, name a state."
"What is this, a pop quiz?" Grif asks. "Uhhh, lets see eh du Manhatten. No? Eh Europe."
"Wow, really?" Simmons asks.
"Uh, Pacific ocean." Sora gives Grif a questioning look on that one.
"Stop guessing. Just be agent Alaska. How about you Sarge?" Simmons asks.
"I'll be secret agent double O-hio! License to be tall in the middle and round on both ends." Sarge exclaims.
"And you Sora?" Simmons asks.
"Uh... I can't really decide how about you pick one for me." Sora suggests.
"You'll be agent Iowa. And I'll be agent Denial. Get it?" Simmons asks. After Simmons rambles to himself, the group goes towards the computer and gives it their state names, except for Grif who answered with Pluto. Sora didn't know how Grif knew of the dog, but he didn't have time to ask, as Sarge delivered a few shotgun shells straight into the computer. Apparently, this causes it malfunction and open the door for them. The four head inside.
"I told you that stupid plan wouldn't work." Grif complains.
"Thats because you said your name was agent Pluto!" Simmons exclaims.
"Heh. Luckily we had the ol' contingency plan to fall back on." Sarge says.
"Sarge, shotgun to the face is not a contingency plan. I keep telling you that." Grif sighs.
"Don't be so quick to judge, Grif. Shot gun in the face can be applied in a variety of tough situations. For instance, what how quickly it cures insubordination." Sarge points his shot gun at Grif.
"Shouldn't we be focusing on finding Caboose and Church. And asking them why they came here?" Sora asks.
"Oh no!" Everyone hears Caboose yells as tye sound of something breaking rings across the room.
"What was that!" Sora exclaims.
"It came from down here!" Sarge leads the way. The group eventually find Caboose standing in front of what looked like a large door.
"Just keep the door shut." Caboose says to the computer as the group arrives.
"Caboose, where Church?" Sora asks.
"Stop! Don't move. Don't move. Don't-" Sora can here Church say from behind the door before the sound of more things breaking.
"Oh! Hello everyone. Yes, everyone who wasn't here before is now here now." Caboose says.
"What are you up to, blue." Sarge asks.
"Me? Um, nothing. I'm not hiding anything behind this door." Caboose says.
"Uh, I wouldn't pick that up, it looks expensive." They can hear Church again.
"Uh, I think he's lying." Simmons says.
"What was your first clue." Grif sarcastically asks.
"Let us see what in there." Sarge demands.
"In here? Oh, um nothing is in here. But this probably isn't even a door either." Caboose rambles.
"But you said that was a door." Sora says.
"What? Uh, no I didn't say this was a door, I said this was a-" Caboose is cut off by a large bang on the "door".
"What the heck was that?" Sarge asks.
"Oh, um, that was me. I said this isn't a door. I said its a GONG!" Caboose exclaims.
"A gong? What the hell is-" Grif is cut off with another large bang.
"Uh, Gong!" Caboose exclaims. "I'm just going to walk over this way now." Caboose says before doing just that, while saying excuse me to imaginary people as the banging on the door gets louder.
"Um, Sarge whats the plan here?" Grif asks.
"Men, we have a perfect ambush scenario." Sarge informs.
"I agree. but wait, are we the ambushers or the ambushees?" Simmons asks. "Hey, can you ambush something thats trying to beat its way through metal plating to get to you?"
"Okay, first we just wait for the door to open. Sarge says. The three ready their guns while Sora summons Kingdom Key.
"What the-" Simmons trails off at the sight of Sora pulling his keyblade out of nowhere.
"Simmons, get ready." Sarge orders him. The door then get even more demolished before blowing off entirely, to reveal another figure in the same armour as everyone but Caboose, though this one black. The figure exits the room it was currently in and says in a feminine voice.
"Okay. So whos first." She asks, very intimidatingly.
As soon as the female said her part, the reds turned tail and ran away while screaming and shooting, both missing horribly, while Sora stood there ready for a fight. She charged at Sora while he prepared to block but to his surprise, this new person was strong enough to knock him all the way to the big room the reds ran in. Sora then went on the offensive, swing his keyblade at her, getting a few hits before she started dodging said strikes.
"Who are you! Why are you attacking us!?" Sora demands while he is attacking. She does not answer his questions, instead quickly taking a shot gun of the ground and blocking one of Sora's strikes with it. Quicker than the eye can see, she moves to hand to hand and begins beating the shit outta Sora for a bit until he recovers. Sora then activates his shotlock, though while he is doing so, the mystery woman grabs a teleporter and throws it at Sora. He goes into it and appears somewhere else in the room. He quickly over comes his confusion and heads back in the teleporter he came to find his target plowing Grif and Sarge through some metal crates and finally, into a stack of barrels. Sora takes this opportunity to activate his shotlock again and he successfully locks on to her. Sora then fires a barrage of magic projectiles at her, causing her to take cover behind a multitude of objects to avoid being hit.
"Okay, thats fucking magic. That shouldn't be possible." Grif complains as he recovers.
"Shut up, Grif. Its a good thing we recruited Sora into the red team before those blues got to him. They're gonna regret messin' with us when we got magic on our side. But anyways, back in to the fight! Need to deliver an ass kickin." Sarge orders.
"So your delivering it to us?" Grif asks, having a pretty good idea of what the end result will be. As promised, Sarge heads in the battle as Sora is forced up close with the enemy again.
"Yahhhhh!" Sarge cries as he charges towards her.
"Sarge no!" Sora cries, but its too late. She grabs Sarges shot gun, uses it to pull him over and then throws him into Sora. She then quickly uses the shot gun as a baseball bat to smack Grif in the head while he was trying to sneak up on her. She releases her grip on the shot gun and performs multiple punches to his head before kneeing him in the crotch, knocking him down, and then delivering a powerful punch to his balls before kicking him away, into a teleporter. At that time, Sarge and Sora are back on their feet, though Sarge doesn't stay up for long.
It is just Sora and the mystery person again, but just before they clash again.
"Hey, sweet cheeks!" Someone that sounds like Tucker yells before the person ducks under a plasma grenade. Sora looks to see Tucker standing there with his energy sword. "Remember me! Step away from the idiot!" Sora takes this opportunity to slash at Tex, though she sees it coming and dodges before punching Sora away. Sora lands beside Grif in time to watch Tucker attempt to distract her.
"Remember me? Does Tucker know who that is?" Sora asks.
"I would think we're all very aquainted." Grif groans.
"Some more than others." Sarge adds.
"Thats Tex. A freelancer. Though I don't know why shes here. I thought we blew her up." Grif explains.
"You ratted me out you son of a bitch!" Sora heres Simmons yell, and looks just in time to see Tex redirect a rocket at him using a teleporter. This causes Simmons to be blown through another one and right into Tex's hands where she kicks him...
"That was awesome! Oof!" ...straight into Tucker. Everyone then gets up from their position.
"What do we do Sarge?" Grif asks.
"I don't know, I've never hit a girl in my life." Sarge replies.
"Yeah, I noticed. Try harder." Simmons says. Sora and Tucker ready their keyblades, Sarge and Simmons aim their shotgun and rocket launcher respectively, and Grif gets ready to try to defend himself with a traffic cone. Tex then charges and somehow manages to deliver an ass kicking to all of them. 'I've never fought anyone this good, maybe besides Xehanort. Just who is she?' Sora mentally asks after getting beaten down again. Just then, Sora sees Tex kick Grif in the balls again, using that same foot to pin him to the floor and aim Sarges shotgun at him.
"No! Grif!" Both Sora and Simmons exclaim. Sora unleashes a quick firaga that actually hits Tex. This only seems to make her angry though as she points Sarges shot gun at him and fires. The shot gun is empty.
"Private Grif! You should be ashamed of yourself! We've run out of ammo again! Thats you responsibility!" Sarge yells to him.
"Huh, I guess this is the first time my laziness has ever saved someones LIFE!" Grif watch's in horror as Tex prepares to hit him with the shotgun. "Protect me cone!" Grif begs, though he is smacked across the room. Tex then throws the shotgun at Sora, stunning him and allowing her to get up close. Sora makes a stabbing motion with his keyblade, stoping what ever Tex was going to do for a little, but it ultimately proves futile as she grabs his keyblade and uses it to throw him across the room, over to Grif. Tex, still with the keyblade, turns it the right way around and begins inspecting it, probably to see how it did all that it could. However it disappears out of her hands, frustrating her a little. Luckily for her, there was someone to take it out on.
"You idiots! Let me show you how its done!" Sarge yells before being decked in the face.
"Nice demonstration, Sarge." Grif sarcastically congratulates.
"Eh, shut up." Sarge grumbles.
"Hey guys, look up there." Simmons whispers. The four look up to see a big, metal, crate hanging above Tex. Tucker notices this too and yells.
"Hey Caboose! Remember when I said not to help me! Forget that! I need you to help me! Right now!" Tucker yells. few seconds later and the crates comes down. Tucker roll out of the way. "I can't believe that worked!" Tex is seen holding up the crate. 'We sure this isn't a female Hercules?' Sora asks himself. "Oh fuck, that didn't work." Tex then throws the crate at the group. Grif tries in vain to get the door behind them open, while Simmons and Sarge just stand around while Sora freezes up. He did have a way to survive this, though he couldn't think of a way to save the others. Luckily, Tucker already had one. "Don't worry guys, I got this." He ready's his energy sword as the crate flies closer, and... "Swish!" Tucker slices the crate in two, though this causes everyone behind him to get buried in the medical supplies in the crate.
"Oh thank god. I thought I was a goner." Simmons said, relived. "Sarge, where are you?" Sarge's head then pops out of a mountain of medical kits.
"What happened? I feel defeated. Yet, inexplicably rejuvenated." Sarge says. 'probably should take advantage of this then.' Sora thinks before casting a curaga spell on himself. The four gather themselves up just in time to see Tucker slide past them and into a teleporter, back into Tex's grasp. It is then, they see Tex has his energy sword. Though before she can do any damage, the sword shuts off.
"Whats the matter Tex? Having trouble keeping it up?" Tucker asks. "Don't worry, it happens to everybody. Well not me but-"
"That rocket launchers one of the older models, right?" Sarges question drowns out whatever Tuckers saying.
"Yeah." Simmons replies.
"That means its got heat seeking! Now lock on and let 'er rip." Sarge replies.
"If heat seeking is in the older model, why not the new ones?" Sora asks.
"How the fuck should I know? Power balancing?" Simmons suggests.
"Please, this a fuckin video game?" Grif remarks.
"-bitch!" Tucker yells as he is thrown out of the teleporter, but his armour is black. "Damn it, I hate this black stuff. What the hell is it?"
"There she is!" Grif exclaims.
"What?" Tucker looks to the group.
"Get her!" Sarge orders before charging in along with Grif.
"Wait! Guys!" Sora exclaims, but it is no use as Sarge delivers a beat on Tucker while Grif weakly kicks him.
"Sarge, hold on! Hold on! I think thats Tucker, not Tex." Simmons exclaims.
"See, I told you." Tucker says before given one last punch by Sarge. "Ow, Hey you fucker! Why'd you do that?"
"Eh, force of habbit." Sarge replies.
"Man you guys are- AH!" Tucker trips on a medical kit, to which Grif hold him up from falling into the nearby teleporter.
"Don't fall in the-" Grif starts. Hold still. Hold still I can see her!"
Sora looks to find Tex standing by the other teleporter. "This won't end well." He says as he watches Tex pop through the teleporter for the only purpose to punch Grif in the balls causing him, and Tucker, to fall though.
"What is your problem with my balls?" Grif asks as he falls through. He and Tucker appear on the other side where Tucker is lifted up and slammed down by Tex, who then hops right on top of him.
"Wow, right to the mount, huh?" Tucker says before he is repeatedly punched.
"Simmons, or Sora! What are you waiting for!" Sarge exclaims.
"I don't want to hit Tucker!" Sora exclaims, though his keyblade is still trained on them both along, Simmons and his rocket launcher doing the same.
"They look the same! Which one do I shoot!" Simmons panics.
"Shoot the one thats winning, dumbass!" Tucker says amongst one of the two Texas. Grif then wobbles in front of both their lines of fire.
"Grif! Watch it!" Simmons exclaims. Tex takes notice of the situation, and kicks Tucker into Grif before pulling him back and delivering a powerful punch to Tucker that knocks all the black stuff off his armour.
"Wow, knocked the black right off of yah." Sarge states.
"Thats racist." Tucker mumbles.
"Your all clear Simmons! Now shoot her!" Sarge yells.
"Fire in the hole!" Simmons hollers before firing on Tex. She however, jumps through a teleporter, with the rocket following her, leading back running towards the group.
"Are you fucking kidding me!? Runnn!" Tucker yells. While the reds and blue are stumbling over each other, Sora attempts to hit her with some thundaga, but she some how manages to dodge them all.
"What! No ones ever dodged thundaga!" Sora exclaims. Grif can only sigh at this.
"She is... inevitable."
Tex then hits Sarge, Simmons, and Tucker all with one punch before sliding under Grif and Sora, but not before tripping Sora. The rocket then flies just under Grif balls and over Sora head.
"Oh god, not like this!" Grif pleads before the rocket passes under him. "Oh thank god, I thought I was-" Grif is cut off upon seeing the rocket hit some explosive barrels behind them. "FUCK!" He yells as he and the other are knocked away by the explosion. While the reds and blue travel upwards, Sora is launched more horizontally, and hits a crate to stop his fall. 'Tex must be really powerful. I might not have to hold back.' Sora thinks as he pops a potion in his mouth. He looks up in time just to see Grif land, balls first, on a concrete barricade. "Why won't you just kill me." He moans.
"Hey Tex!" Sora hears a familiar voice say, before Tex is hit with what looks like Church's body. Sora then looks to see a person in light blue armour was the one to throw it. "How about picking on somebody your own size." He says smugly. 'Wait.' Sora thinks on the voice. 'Thats Church!'
"Ow! Ow. Ow!" Is all Church can say as Tex beats on him with the monitor that used to be his body. "Stop it! Tex, you are embarrassing me. Hey, are you guys gonna help me- ah- or not?"
"Nah, buddy. I think you got everything under control." Sarge says as Sora walks up to the rest of red team and casts a healing spell on them. "We'll just hang back- woah, I feel so better all of a sudden."
"Oh, thank god, yes!" Grif exclaims as he throws the medical pack that was once concealing his nether regions.
"Hey, whats she beating him with?" Sarge asks.
"I think that was his old body." Simmons asks.
"You mean he ain't a floating cue ball anymore? Thats to bad, had a few more nick names in my side pocket." Sarge says. "We'll certainly miss you lord hack n sack of the round a lots."
"Beating him with his own body? That doesn't seem physically possible." Grif says.
"Out of context, I guess not." Sora agrees. "Anyway, should we be helping him?" Sora asks, getting ready to fight again.
"Are you really in so much of a rush to get beaten up again?" Grif asks. "I sure Church will be fine... maybe."
"I wouldn't be to worried either. If she does kill him, he'll just come back as a ghost... or A.I." Simmons explains. Just then a cute ding rings over the speakers in the room.
"Now initiating standard safety protocol. Armour lockdown in progress." The computer from outside then says over said speakers. "All units standby for lockdown." After it said that, an aura surrounded Tex and she slowed down until she was still.
"Wha- whats happening? Caboose! What did you do to her?" Church yells.
"Yes yes! I did it!" Caboose can be heard from somewhere, though Sora can't tell where he is. "I am the biggest hero ever! I beat up a girl!"
"Haha, yes! See! Thats how you do it Grif! Face your enemy man to man. Or in your case, woefully inadequate man to women. And then when shes distracted, use superior technology to take her out!" Sarge explains "*sniff* Reminds me of prom night."
"We didn't do anything, she shut down!" Grif exclaims.
"I am the best!" Caboose yells from far away.
"Uhh, hey guys? What do you think that voice meant by all units?" Simmons asks before the same aura surrounded the red soldiers.
"I did it! I- not my fault! I did not do this! The computer made suggestions. And the default option was yes!" Caboose yells.
"Well this is just great." Grif grunts in his frozen state.
"Whats happening! Caboose! Make it stop!" Church yells before being frozen. "Sora... get up there and get the armour lockdown shut off. I don't trust Caboose to do it." He strains.
"I'll see what I can do." Sora says before heading off to find Caboose. He eventually finds the room he was hiding in. "Caboose! Shut down the armour lock!"
"I dunno how!" Caboose exclaims. "Oh by the way, I think you dropped this." Caboose says more calmly while handing something over. Upon closer inspection, Sora realizes its his gummi phone.
"Oh... uh thanks Caboose." Sora thanks. "You didn't go on it did you?"
"I did. I read the instruction story it came with." Caboose says. Sora visibly deflated. Yet another friend knew he was from another world. "I liked the part with dream thingys and when people became friends. So you are searching for Rik-oo?"
Sora sighs. "I'm looking for Kairi."
"I thought it was pronounced Carrie." Caboose says.
"Look, Caboose. Can you promise me you will not tell anyone else I'm from whats essentially another universe?" Sora asks.
"I am very good at keeping secrets." Caboose says. "Don't worry, Sora. I will not tell anyone. After all, you didn't tell anyone I had Church, its only right." Sora smiles at this.
"Thanks Caboose." The two are silent for a moment.
"Oh right!" Caboose gasps. "Sheila, can you take Church out of armour lunchable?" Caboose asks.
"Affermative." The computer, now know as Shelia responds. "Deactivating recovery mode."
While Sora was in the room with Caboose, he looks out the window to see Tucker and Church walk up to the reds, who are still in lockdown.
"Sheila, can uh can they hear me?" Church asks.
"Affirmative" Sheila responds.
"She said yes!" Caboose yells over some microphone.
"We heard her dip shit!" Tucker yells.
"I know, I just wanted to use the microphone!" Caboose says. "It makes me sound super loud! I'm not sure if you can tell!"
"Caboose, I'm gonna go down there to see what they're talking about. You coming with?" Sora asks.
"Yeah, I'll... I'll be there in a sec." Caboose replies. "Attention Freelancer shoppers!" Caboose yells back into the microphone. "We have a special on self-esteem goods in aisle seven!"
"Sheila, please mute him." Church says as Sora gets closer to him.
"Affirmative." Shelia responds.
"This is Michael J Caboose signing-" Caboose says before cut off. Sora found Cabooses announcements quite funny.
"Hey reds! Can you hear me!" Church yells at the still frozen red team.
"Who in sam heaven is that?" Sarge asks.
"Is that God?" Simmons asks.
"Hey almighty! Can it! Some of us are tryina to get a little shut eye!" Grif attempts to yell.
"No blasphemy." Sarge says.
"What do you want god?" Simmons asks. "Take Grif, he's been terrible."
"Its not god, dude. Its Church. He just thinks he's god." Tucker explains. "This is just what you need, more people worshipping you."
"Yeah, hey listen. We wanna let you out, but we don't want you to attack us or Tex. Okay?" Church requests.
"Attack Tex? She attacked us!" Simmons exclaims.
"Yeah, I would have to agree with Simmons. Why not attack Tex?" Sora asks.
"Its cause Tex is sort of his girlfriend, while also simultaneously not his girlfriend." Tucker explains.
"Huh?" Sora questions.
"Thats the best way I can explain it. They love each other, but they hate the others guts." Tucker says.
"Just agree and we'll let you out." Church impatiently says.
"Uh, fine." Simmons huffs.
"Whatever." Grif agrees. Sarge just makes angry noises as his agreement.
"I'm gonna assume that last one was a yes." Church says. "Alright, let em out Sheila!"
"Affirmative. Ending recovery mode, all units." Shelia announces before the aura around the reds disappears and they begin moving again.
"Ugh! My neck was killing me!" Sarge exclaims. After all this, the group now joined by Caboose, all huddle around Tex's frozen body.
"I'm waking her up." Church bluntly states.
"No way buddy." Sarge gruffly says. " You musta missed the smash fest we went through. I ain't repeating that."
"Hey, we made a deal. I unlock you, you have to help me with her." Church reminds them.
"Hey, now hold on a second." Grif starts.
"This affects the entire crew, I say we put it to a vote." Simmons suggests. "All those in favor of waking her up and letting her kill us, say 'aye'."
"Aye. Caboose?" Church says.
"Present." Caboose responds.
"No, we're not doing that. Just say aye." Church says.
"You... Opps, I mean me!" Caboose says.
"No. Aye."
"Church."
"Just say aye."
"Oh, I get it, right sorry. My left eye or my right eye?"
"He votes yes."
"I would also like it noted that I was present."
"Okay, and everyone in favor of not doing that thing, and leaving her asleep and not getting killed, by the person we're not going to wake up, because nobody is that stupid say nay." Sarge rambles.
"That was kinda unnecessarily long." Sora points out.
"Like, a quadruple negative." Simmons adds.
"Just vote!" Sarge demands.
"Nay?" Simmons votes.
"I didn't even understand the question, so I'm just going to say blueberry." Grif says.
"We'll Sora, looks like your the tie breaker." Sarge says. Sora hated being put in these positions. Luckily, he thought a way out of it.
"Can't we just talk to her and convince her to not beat us up or something, like we did you guys?" Sora suggests. There is a brief moment of silence.
"We'll shit. Thats actually a good idea." Tucker compliments.
"I'll try this." Church leaves his body, looking like a white, transparent, version of himself and enters Tex. (That would be bad out of context)
"Whoa, what?" Sora exclaims.
"Oh, yeah. He can do that too." Sarge says.
"You know how Church is an A.I. right? We'll he can leave his body and posses other via the helmet radios." Tucker explains. "Like it won't work on you since your not wearing a helmet, but when he does that he can kinda posses people."
"Thats why we thought he was a ghost for so long." Simmons adds.
"Theres a lot you haven't explained to me and we probably won't get the time." Sora brings up.
"Yeah, probably not." Tucker agrees. Then Church comes out of Tex and gets back in his own body. "What did she say?"
"Okay, I think we got it all worked out." Church says.
"She cool?" Grif asks.
"As cool as she ever was." Church says.
"That does not inspire confidence in me." Grif deadpans.
"Wake her up Sheila!" Church orders.
"Affirmative." Shelia responds. The red troopers then back away from Tex as Shelia says, "Ending recovery mode all units." Tex then gets back on her feet.
"Uhh. How are you feeling?" Church asks. Tex then runs up to Tucker and decks him in the face.
"Better now." Tex replies.
"What the fuck?" Tucker exclaims.
"Oh right... I forgot to mention one thing." Church starts.
"I'm going to go see what weapons they have stored here." Tex says before leaving Church alone in the room.
"K, need any help?" Church asks before she leaves.
"Director?" Sheila calls out.
"Yeah, what?" Church asks.
"Shortly after your arrival, an alien device entered the building. Its security detail was very low, so I hacked into it and downloaded its files. I think you would find these most interesting." Shelia explains.
"Maybe I'll look at later." Church responds.
"Oh and Directer! Before you leave, would you like to make a journal entry?" Sheila asks. "It has been quite awhile since your last update."
"Journal?" Church asks.
"Yes! I know you are busy, but you always ask me to remind you when you are falling behind on documentation." Shelia replies. "Documentation is a very important part of any scientific endeavour."
"Right, um hey, why don't you play one of the entries for me?" Church requests.
"Certainly." Sheila replies. She then plays one of the recordings, and the (real) directors voice is heard.
"The counsellers insistence on referring to Agent Texas as a byproduct continues to frustrate me."
"Sheila, I want you to transfer all these files to me, including the ones you just downloaded." Church orders.
"Understood, transferring now." Sheila says as the recording is still playing.
"And do me a favour. Delete the rest." Church says.
"Deleting entry's." Shiela complies.
Sora, Tucker, and Caboose where just standing around when Church approached.
"Hey, have you guys seen Tex anywhere?" He asks. Just then, Tex appears. "There you are. Woah! Whats with the new armour?"
"I'm leaving, Church." Tex answers.
"What! Where?" Church asks.
"Can't say. There's some things I need to look into." Tex replies.
"Your going to that frozen base aren't you." Church says.
"Frozen base?" Sora looks to Tucker and Caboose.
"Hey, I dunno. A lot of new information can come in. Just roll with it dude. Thats what I do." Tucker responds.
"I need to know more about myself, Church. And I'm not going to find anything out by sitting around on my ass with all of you." Tex says. She and Church ignoring Sora and Tucker.
"Well, let us come with you." Church says.
"You guys? This is a military operation. I need people with military training." Tex declines.
"We have military training." Grif brings up from behind the group.
"I need people who understand the military training." Tex says. She then looks to Sora. "I would invite you seem to know how to fight, and you have that impressive alien weapon, but I would prefer not to send kids into battle."
"Hey, I am not a kid." Sora complains.
"Right." Tex replies. "Either way, your not coming."
"Well I am and you cant stop me." Church says.
"Yeah? Okay. I have a feeling I can use you before this is done." Tex says before she and Church leave the group to exit the building.
"Oh and when you both get killed again? Be sure to let us know. That way we can revive you, so that you can run off and get killed. Again. Seriously! It never gets old to us!" Tucker yells as they leave. "So... what now?"
"I can tell everyone a story." Caboose suggests.
"Sure." Sora says.
"Dear god, please don't." Tucker mutters.
"Yeah, so one day..."
"Why would you go along with this? Cabooses story's are the most retarded things I've every heard." Tucker says.
"I didn't know that. Besides, how do we know they're that bad?" Sora asks.
"Dude, I've been living with him for years back in Blood Gulch. I know everything he does and how to avoid it." Tucker explains. Just then an orange blurr zooms by the group.
"Hey Caboose!" The blurr says as it passes by.
"Woah! What the hell was that?" Tucker exclaims.
"What was what?... Hey Grif!" Caboose greets the already gone blurr.
Tucker sighs "Also in Blood Gulch, after Caboose was done doing something stupid, the reds would show up and do something stupid. Just like old times."
"I'm just gonna go find the washroom, continue on the story without me." Tucker bails from Cabooses story time.
"Wha, its okay, Tucker. We can wait for you." Caboose proposes.
"No! I mean uh no just keep going." Tucker then leaves.
"Okay." Caboose starts. Then Sarge comes in.
"Oh! Hello red sargent." Caboose greets.
"Caboose... could you do a favor for me?" Sarge asks with a depressed tone.
"Sure!" Caboose cheerily answers. Sarge then goes up to Caboose and whispers something in his ear! "Oh! Great idea! I'll start making them right now!" Caboose then runs off.
"Sarge? Is everything okay?" Sora asks, noticing Sarges unenthusiastic tone when talking to Caboose.
"Okay? Okay! No! Everything is meaningless!" Sarge yells.
"Okay. Did you want to talk about it?" Sora asks.
"Simmons and Grif were diggen around the storage facilitys computer and found all info regarding the red and blue armies." Sarge explains. "But what they found out was us reds aren't actually fighting the blues! We're just there to be training dummy's for freelancers! Meaning everything I've lived for was a lie!"
"Done." Caboose gets back.
"Good." Sarge marches into the newly constructed mini base.
"I-I could be wrong but he looked kinda sad." Caboose brings up.
"He is. Do you know anything that can cheer him up?" Sora asks.
"I know! You can kill Griff! That would pit him in a great mood!" Caboose exclaims.
"What! No! Do you know anyway that doesn't involve hurting someone?" Sora asks.
"No." Caboose flatly states. Then Grif and Simmons enter the room.
"What is all this?" Grif asks.
"Oh, this is new red base." Caboose explains. "Welcome."
"When did you build this?" Simmons asks.
"Just now." Caboose says.
"What!? He just walked out of the room like ten seconds ago!" Grif exclaims.
"Oh he got sad about something so, he's making a red base here." Caboose explains, or rather he doesn't. "I am great at building forts. See? I already built a blue base." Caboose points towards a couch and chair with a blanket draped over them with a blue broom to the side. "Our has blankets."
"Go away!" Sarge yells from atop his base.
"Sarge, what is all this?" Simmons questions.
"Simmons, didn't you hear? We're cannon fodder. Practice. Well if I'm the leader of junk, then I may as well have a base made out of junk. Pretty appropriate right?" Sarge exclaims.
"Looks like shit." Grif says.
"That was rhetorical, dirtbag." Sarge yells back.
"Well sir, I think this is an excellent strategy." Simmons comments. "The blues we-"
"Blues? Simmons, don't you get it yet? Grif was right all along!"
"Thank you sir." Grif says.
"Don't call me that anymore." Sarge yells.
"Sarge, this place is one lie after another." Simmons brings up. "We don't know-"
"Oh, we know. I know." Sarge starts. "You want to fool yourself, fo ahead."
"Your just upset, sir." Simmons says.
"Don't call me that."
"What? Call you what?"
"Sir. From now on, you call me by my name. Sarge! Or s-dawg. I'm not in charge anymore. I quit."
"You what?"
"Uh oh, I've got the feeling somebody else's world just got rocked." Grif comments.
"Eh, I'll start working on another fort." Caboose says. He then leaves to go into the room with Shelia.
"Don't you guys know anything that can cheer him up?" Sora asks.
"Wha? If we did, we would have done it for him. I mean, aside from killing Grif." Simmons says.
"Welp, now that Sarge has quit, I guess I don't take orders from anyone anymore. This is the best day of my life!" Grif begins to walk away.
"What! The best day of your life! Your friends upset!" Sora yells at him.
"Friend?! What made you think he and I were friends. We hated each other. Him talking of killing me wasn't a joke!" Grif yells. Tucker then joins in the conversation.
"Sorry we didn't tell you. I thought it would be kind of obvious, but no one is really friends here. Just forced acquaintances." Just then Caboose runs into the room.
"Sergeant, sergeant!" He panicks.
"What do you want, blue?" Sarge asks.
"I need your help."
"Our help?" Simmons questions.
"Yes, Church is hurt. They must have gotten to him and Tex." Caboose explains.
"They got Tex? Good. That just means she won't be able to beat the hell out of us anymore." Grif says.
"No we have to rescue them." Caboose says.
"Rescue them? Are you nuts? No one told them to leave. They're on their own." Grif brushes it off.
"But they'll die!" Caboose exclaims. "Sergeant, please."
"Uh, hey dude, I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but if you want to convince Sarge to do anything, I don't think the best argument is 'the blues might die if we don't.'" Grif says.
"Don't worry Caboose. I'll go with you." Sora steps up.
"Thank you. I really appreciate that. If we can't save Church, then you can be my new best friend!" Caboose offers. Sarge then steps up and surprises everyone.
"Cowboy up, Caboose. I'm comin with you."
"What?" Grif says out loud what everyone is thinking.
"I said, I'm helping him." Sarge repeats.
"Who, the blue guy? Why on Earth would you ever help a blue for no reason?" Grif questions.
"We'll need some weapons. How'd your equipment test go Simmons?" Sarge ignores Grif.
"About as well as you would expect." Simmons replies.
"Uh, thats to bad." Sarge replies.
"Well I'm not going and you can't make me. You quit remember? I don't take orders from you anymore and besides, this whole command structure thing was bullshit anyway. We all know that now." Grif says. Sora was starting to see why Sarge hated him.
"I'm not telling you to go. I'm not even asking." Sarge clairifies.
"Your not?" Grif questions.
"Nope. I'm going. Thats it. You wanna come? Come one. But I don't expect you to. Simmons will probably tell you statistically, spme of us will probably die." Sarge explains.
"All of us." Simmons corrects.
"All of us will probably die." Sarge corrects. "But thats not whats important. Let me ask you two a question, do you ever wonder why we're here?"
"Ummm it does seem to be one of life's great mystery's." Grif replies.
"No, I mean you! What are you doing here!" Sarge clarifies. "You always act like you wanna quit. But hell, you could've left whenever you wanted, no one would have stopped you. So why are you here. And you! Simmons!"
"Me?" Simmons asks.
"You say you want to be in charge. They would have given you your own squad a dozen times over. You know it and I know it. But your still here." Sarge continues. "Sora! You said you needed to find a friend. You could have left to continue searching for them at anytime. But your still here."
"Well..." Sora starts off but Sarge continues.
"And you, Tucker. As much as I hate to admit it, you're actually good at being a soldier."
"I am?" Tucker questions.
"I know you like to make your rude comments and pretend that it all doesn't matter. But an entire alien race choose you to be their hero. So why are you here? And Caboose... Its good to see you."
"Thanks. I'm really enjoying the speech so far." Caboose comments.
"Maybe your all here because this is the only place you fit in. Maybe your here because you don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe your here because deep down, you want to be here. The reason doesn't matter, what matters is that your here. And for all we know, Tex and Church are dead, That means we're the only ones who know whats happened. The only ones who can prevent them from covering it up. The way I figure it, these Freelancer guys want to use us. Take us away from our family's, and send us all over the damn gum galaxy just to test if their agents are ready for the big fight. Well, I guess I'm interested in showing them exactly what a big fight is about. Time to clean a slate. So I'm not ordering you to go. I ain't even asking. You do what you gotta do private Grif."
Grif sighs. "I'll go get my car keys." Sora smiles at Grif's change of heart.
"Ahaha. Alright then. Lets move!" Sarge cheers.
"I don't think a jeep will get us there soon enough. But I think I know what we can use." Simmons says before leading the group into another room. Smack, landed, in the centre is some sort of military plane. "This."
"Who the hells gonna drive that?" Grif asks, only to find everyone staring at him. "Why is everyone looking at me?"
The ride to Church was uneventful, save for the arguing with Grif's terrible flying. Sora spent most of the time looking out the cockpit, to see where they would be heading. To his dismay, it was an ice canyon. But before he can complain to himself about the cold, he sees Church in the distance along with a purple soldier. A bit farther away from the, he sees a black soldier with yellow highlights.
"There they are! Land right next to em!" Sarge orders.
"Right. Land." Grif repeats.
"You do know how to land this vehicle, don't ya?" Sarge asks.
"Sure, that just means stop flying, right?" Grif asks.
"Brace for impact!" Sarge yells.
"Oh shit, this is gonna suck." Tucker exclaims.
"I still haven't gotten my peanuts." Caboose brings up. 'Why didn't I offer to fly this?' Sora mentally asks himself. He flew Donald and Goofy's gummi ship, how hard could this one be? The ship crashes in the canyon and slides through it nearing the edge, almost hitting the purple soldier.
"Grif! Look what you did to our ship!" Sarge exclaims as the group gets out.
"Ah fuck it, its a rental." Grif replies.
"Good point. fuck it." Sarge agrees before kicking it off the edge.
"Has anybody seen Tex?" Church asks them.
"I'm sorry, Epsilon. The Meta captured her in the memory unit." The black and yellow soldier explains.
"There it is!" Church exclaims before walking over to a small black and red device. "Over here! Help!"
"Epsilon, theres nothing we can do, shes stuck in there." The soldier says.
"So, why not let her out?" Sora asks.
"We've rigged it so its one-way. We didn't want him to escape again."
"Wait, are you agent Washington?" Sora asks.
"Yes." Washington says, not even bothering to ask who Sora is and what he's doing here.
"Well un-rig it." Church orders.
"I need to get it to a lab. Somewhere with tools." Washington explains.
"Simmons?" Church asks.
"Hey, he's the expert. I don't know what I can do to help." Simmons explains.
"And its in no condition to move." Washington adds on. "If it locks down before I can open it, she'll be trapped in there."
"We should try something." Simmons says.
"If I let her out, you have to come with me." Washington states.
"Yes, fine, just get her out." Church replies without hesitation.
"Caboose, Tucker, get in the base. See if you can find some tools." Washington orders. You three find me anything that has power. Anything and everything. We're gonna need a lot to keep it online." He tells the reds.
"And, uh, Sora. Stay here incase the Meta comes back." Church says.
"Got it." Sora whips out his keyblade.
"The huh?" Washington questions.
"Don't question it." Church says.
"What happened here?" Sora asks.
"The Meta and I where hunting Epsilon, here, when we came across Tex. We fought and the Meta managed to capture her in the unit you see here." Washington explains. "Once he got her, he turned on me and tried to take Epsilon for himself."
"Why were you looking for Church?" Sora asks.
"He was my ticket out of jail. I deliver him in exchange for a clear slate and a one way ticket out of there." Washington explains.
"So you go through all the trouble of rescuing me, just to take me back?" Church asks him like he's an idiot.
"Essentially." Washington responds.
"Anyway, I can get her out." Church says.
"What... no." Washington says.
"Its my only option."
"I need you, Epsilon. Your my only ticket out of this mess. If you het stuck in there, they'll never believe me. I'm not going back to prison."
"I can do it."
"No, I won't let you."
"Church, I think you should wait for the others to return before jumping in." Sora says.
"No." Church simply replies.
"But you could never come back." Sora argues.
"Don't act like your not doing the same thing!" Church snaps.
"What?" Both Sora and Washington question.
"When you were at the facility, Shelia downloaded the logs of your phone or something. I know why your here. I know your looking for the someone special to you. And I know there is a possibility you can't go back." Church says.
"Epsilon, your not making sense." Washington tells him.
"Sora, here, is from another dimension. He came here in search of his girlfriend after she was killed, or something like that." Church explains.
"What? Thats ridiculous." Washington denies. Sora sighs.
"No. He's right. I came from a different dimension to look for Kairi." He admits.
"And either way, you both can't stop me." Church says. I have to help her. She's here because of us."
"Because of me?" Washington questions.
"Not you. Us." Church corrects. "Me and Alpha. And the Director."
"You've started to remember." Washington mutters.
"Along with the logs I found some journals from the director. She's someone from his life. Someone he loved." Church explains.
"Alison. He name is Alison." Washington tells him.
"Alison... When they made Alpha, she came back. She was a byproduct of the process." Church says.
"She's just a shadow."
"Don't call her that! She died in her real life and thats all the director ever remembered of her." Church explains. Sora could see some similarity's in the story. Tex is to Church what Kairi is to him. He also thought how they described Texas was similar to a Nobody. "So, no matter how tough she is. No matter how hard she fights, she's always going to fail because thats what shes based on. No matter what shes doing. Or whats shes trying to accomplish, just when her goal is within reach it gets yanked away. Every. Single. Time. Can you imagine what thats like?"
Just then the capture unit started growling and it rose from the snow to reveal it was attached to the back of a big white soldier, who's armour looked completely different from the people he's seen before. Most notably was the golden dome for his helmet.
"I think I'm getting the idea." Washington says.
Then a squad of heartless appear around the group, consisting of neo shadows, ice cannons, blizzard plants, icy cubes, and snowy crystals.
"What the, how'd these guys find us from the desert?" Church asks
"You know what these things are?" Washington asks as he raises his gun in defence.
"Sora does. Basically, they're dangerous." Church explains. As Church finishes explaining, a possessor appears behind the Meta, and dives into him. Metas armour is changed to have some black highlights on the normally all white suit but the most notable feature is the heartless symbol now printed on his large visor.
"What the hell is going on?" Washington asks as he watches the Meta transform. The Meta then begins firing his grenade launcher at the group. "Handle the creatures, I'll keep the Meta busy." Washington orders.
"Right! Come on Church." Sora orders as he charges the heartless. He leaps into battle, Church aims for a single neoshadow with his sniper rifle and fires. Since this is Church, the only thing this can do is miss and draw its attention towards him.
"Fuck." Church curses before he fires again, missing... again. "Fuck." The neoshadow is getting closer as it "evades" another shot from Church. "Fuck." once the neoshadow has reached Church, he changes tactics and beats the neoshadow using his sniper rifle as a club. "Thats still a sniper kill." He announces upon defeating it. His victory is short lived as he is blasted away from the action by a stray grenade shot from the Meta.
Meanwhile, Washington is fending off the heartless infected Meta, parrying its blade with his combat knife. It then turns invisible and rolls out from under him. Wash turns around to see the cloaked Meta heading towards him and throws his knife at it. It hits, though not doing much damage. Once the Meta shorty recovers, Wash draws his rifle while Meta prepares his grenade launcher. They both fire at each other, and Wash is knocked out of the fight.
"Washington!" Sora exclaims, and runs over to defend the freelancer.
"Come on, men!" Sarge exclaims from far off. "We can't let Sora have all the ass kickin."
Grif doesn't like the idea of going up against the Meta and gets an idea. "I have a better idea, why not fend off the heartless while Sora deals with him." He points to the various neo shadows and blizzard plants still alive.
"Excellent idea Grif! ...wait what?" Sarge says confused.
"Well, alright. Lets go. The heartless aren't going to wait." Tucker says. The group acknowledges this and heads into the battle except for Caboose who was ordered to stay with the purple soldier and watch Church.
As Sora reaches the Meta he begins slashing at it with his keyblade, thought it blocks them with its weird looking grenade launcher. The Meta sees an opening and punches Sora away. It then charges at him, so Sora activates his second form and begins attacking it faster, scoring a few hits. This only seems to upset the Meta as he grabs the keyblade and throws it, along with Sora, away. Sora easily recovers from this and begins firing some firaga at it. The Meta uses his grenade launcher as a shield to block the spells coming to him.
Sora sees this and gets an idea. He simply casts thunder and due to the spell hitting from above its target, Meta is successfully hit. He does this a few times until it starts blocking upright. Sora then casts blizzara on its exposed feet to keep it from charging him before hitting him with one final firaga.
The Meta falls to the ground and darkness surrounds him as he lays there. He looks over to see the reds and Tucker finishing up the remaining heartless he missed. While he is watching, the Meta, now clear of its heartless insignias, gets up and loads a few new rounds into his brute shot. He then takes Sora distraction as an opportunity and blasts him away.
The reds and Tucker were pretty much done at that point and began to charge him.
"Attack!"
"Get him!"
"We're gonna fuckin die!" Can be heard from the group as they charge. The Meta then remembers it regain something that he should have used during his fight with Sora. His enhancements. It activates its bubble shield, deflecting the bullets, rockets, and grenades thrown to it by the group. Once the onslaught is over, it leaps into the air while firing a torrent of grenades aimed at Grif and Tucker. They roll away from the blast radius before Simmons shouts.
"Fire in the hole!" Before launching a rocket at the Meta. Unfortunately, he dodges and stabs the ground near Simmons, knocking him away. Tucker then takes this opportunity to draw his energy sword and try to sword fight with him. He is knocked away on his second attempt. The Meta then turns around to block a shot from Sarge before Grif jumps on him.
"Get him!" He yells atop Meta. "This guys like a bear." He grunts before he is thrown off. Though as he is thrown off, Grif takes his brute shot. Meta then attacks Sarge with a few rapid punches before throwing him into Grif and Simmons. Tucker then runs up and successfully stabs Meta. It then punches Tucker down before his sword falls from its chest. Meta is then hit from a shot gun shell fired from Sarge.
"Come here ya big son of a bitch." Sarge yells at him. He fires another shot and the Meta just tanks it, walking slowly up to him. Then another, then another, then another, until it is close enough to bat away the shotgun and grab Sarge by the neck.
"Whats he doing?" Grif asks Simmons.
"Looks like he's killing himself." Simmons says as Sora joins them.
"Oh no. Sarge, get out of there!" He yells, but it is no use.
"Hey Grif, I lost my shotgun. What am I going to do with out my shotgun? Shotgun Damnit!" Sarge exclaims.
"Shotgun?" Grif asks himself "Come on Sora, Simmons." Grif says before pushing on the nearby damaged warthog.
"What are we doing?" Sora asks as he and Simmons join in. Grif simply points to the tow hook of the warthog, feeling to lazy to explain. He points in the tow hooks current location which just so happened to be Sarge currently placing it on the Meta.
"Hey Meta. Settle a bet would ya? Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?" Sarge motions towards the warthog the three are pushing on to the nearby cliff. The Meta then takes notice of the tow hook on its chest. But by that time it is too late. The warthog is off the edge, causing it to drop Sarge and the capture unit as it slides down.
"Grif, look out!" Sora exclaims as he tackles Grif away from Meta, attempting to hold onto something to help it stay out of the freezing ocean. Times up for the Meta though as it falls to its death.
"Woah thanks." Grif tells Sora, who nods him off.
"Oh wait, Church!" Sora exclaims before running off to check on him.
"Yeah, I dunno. Its in really bad shape. So are you." The purple soldier says to Church as Sora
"Theres not much time. I need you to use it on me." Church tells him.
...
"I can't Church." Caboose tells him after Church asks Caboose to use the capture unti.
"Yes you can. You do this all the time." Church tells him.
"Yeah I don't want to." Caboose says.
"Yeah, okay. Okay Caboose, I'm sure I can do it on my own." Church says.
"...But what if you don't come out again?" Caboose asks. "I won't let you Church." Sora then puts his hand on Cabooses shoulder.
"His heart and his mind are made up." Sora recites what Riku told Mickey before he left. "He need to do this." He tells Caboose.
"Yeah. And if I don't come out again. You remember what Delta said." Church says.
"Memory is the key." Caboose tells him.
"Memory is the key. If I don't come out then your in charge of remembering me." Church tells him. "Don't let Tucker help, he'll just fuck it up. Goodbye buddy." Church leaves his body and enters the capture unit.
"Whats going on here?" Sarge asks as he and Simmons approaches.
"Church went in. He's going to find her." Caboose answers.
"That unit looks bad. Let me see what I can do to stabilize it." Simmons says before taking a closer look at the memory unit.
"Doc. Go check on Wash. I'm not sure he's gonna make it." Sarge orders the Purple one who complies.
"Oh no!" Simmons exclaims.
"What! What!" Caboose asks frantically.
"Its only going to be open for a few more seconds, after that he'll be trapped." Simmons explains.
"Come on Church, you can do it." Caboose encourages. "Run towards my voice!"
"Its shutting down! I can't stop it!" Simmons exclaims. Then the red glow the capture unit once adorns fades away.
"Church? Are you there?" Caboose asks.
"I'm sorry Caboose." Simmons replies.
"Church?" Caboose asks again.
"Oh, sorry Caboose." Sora tells him.
"No... It- its fine. After all he isn't dead. I'm sure I'll see him again. I always do." Caboose quietly replies to him.
"Yeah." Sora slightly smiles at him. "That reminds me, I have my own person I need to see again. I should probably get back to looking for her."
"Oh, I've contacted the UNSC to get here. You could wait till they get here and I'm sure they could drop you off where you need to go." Simmons offers.
"Thanks, but I'll be fine on my own." Sora says. "Tell Sarge and the others where I went so they don't worry."
"Sora... will I see you again?" Caboose asks.
"Of coarse Caboose. I promise." Sora says.
"Oh, before you go, I have a present for you." Caboose says as he takes out what looked to be a keychain shaped like their helmets with one side being red and another being blue. It looked compatible with a keyblade to change its form.
"Thank you Caboose." With that Sora walks away until he is out of sight. He then pulls out Kingdom Key and creates another portal. "Alright. Now to find Kairi." He says to himself before walking through.