Half a year... holy hell. My fault for updating the chapter this late.
Okay, for characters in COD WWII...I have finished the game in Hardened (and why the fk did my W button go haywire at the most critical moments =.=), and I really enjoyed it... However! I'm sorry for anyone who wants someone from there to be in my story, but I will add none. None of them are memorable, characteristics being recycled, and... how many of them died again? One? I remembered only Turner being killed in the whole story, and that's it. If Zussman actually died in the final mission, then MAYBE I would put him in here, but nope.
Enough ranting, let's get to chapter 12!
A shop in Human Village
"Brother, Reisen brought another patches of medicines!"
"This early? Just put them near to the counter, I will go and check them later."
"Okay!"
Finishing washing his face, the elder sibling looks at his reflection on the mirror in the bathroom. It's still too strange even for him when he looks at himself. That face is definitely not from someone familiar to him, and yet he has to accept the fact that it is HIS face now. And the fact that he's here...
Slapping his face and pushing those thoughts away, he fixes his clothes straight before heading out to the front of the shop he currently works at. Midway, he faces a young girl carrying a box filled with medicine tablets of all kinds. "Ah, brother. Reisen is waiting for you so she could tell you what the medicines are for."
"Thank you, sister." Patting the girl's head once, he then continues walking until he reaches the counter, with Reisen waiting on the other side. "Anything new from your place? Hope that Master of yours didn't make anything too... effectively."
"That's what we aim for, mister Ryo." Reisen replies. "Though, I share your concern. And don't worry, I was the one to test them first before selling them out."
"That's a bad job you have there."
"*Sigh* Curse my luck for that." The mood then quickly fixes back to normal as the Moon Rabbit pulls out a manual and places it on the counter, and the elder brother looks at it as she points towards the words in it. "Here's the list of the medicines and how they work. You can change their names so your customers could understand what they are."
Looking through the names, the 20-ish boy can't help but chuckling. "Still naming them like this, huh? No wonder you folks are from the moon."
"That's not... urgh, don't just tease me like that." The girl blushes a bit at how the boy makes the joke. Though, that quickly disappears as she continues giving the instruction to the Third-Party medicine-seller.
After it's done, the girl bids her goodbye and goes to another place, going to sell some medicines on her own. Just in time the younger sibling returns to the counter and sees that the conversation is done. "Is there any new medicines this time?"
"Well, there are the usual. " Pulling out some papers, Ryo starts noting the names down so he could identify one pack from another. When he has labeled one correctly, he gives it to her sister and says: "Can you give this to mister Kirisame? He's asking it for a few days already."
"Okay!" The younger sibling nods as she receives the package from her brother and starts heading out. "See you later!"
"See you soon." The elder sibling says his goodbye as he watches his sister joining the crowd of people in the street. He then returns back to his work while thinking: 'Hope that I won't meet anyone... unpleasant today. And even if I do... well, let's see if I could talk them down.'
Location: Hakurei Shrine
"The engine's still in good conditions." Flipping a switch off inside the helicopter, Mason reports to Vasquez. "As long as we find a good source of oil, then we could take her off anytime."
"Until then, we still need to keep maintaining her." Jackson adds, then picks up the tool box and throws it under the seats inside the helicopter. "Anyway, it's been a while since the last time we have found someone in our group, huh?"
"It's just over a month. And there is no Outsiders entering... for now." Vasquez says. "Besides, even if we didn't manage to find our friends, it's sure as hell that they could handle the situation easily."
"Hope that our members ain't gonna scream 'Blasphemy!' when they heard there is no Jesus here." Mason jokes, and everyone laughs.
"You all seem to have a good time." The soldiers turn to see the maiden sitting at the outside hall of the shrine while having herself some tea and snacks. "You have getting used living here, huh? Have you all found more magic for you?"
"Aside from boosting our running speed and temporarily increasing our strength for all of us..." Jackson replies as the group packs up their stuffs. "Soap's Healing can fix a burnt wound in about an hour or so. Ghost and Roach's Fire are improved, though they can't form them into Danmaku."
"I think that our guns are already enough to fill the roles." Vasquez reasons. "Besides, firing them out of a gun feels less awkward than from our hands."
"That's true. You are soldiers." Reimu could see why. "Though... back to that 'helicopter', haven't you asked the Kappas already?"
"They're inventors, not miracle miners." Mason replies. "Also, if we tried to find and dig oil up, high chance is that we're going to face a LOT of complaints from you girls."
"True."
"We did ask them for some different power outputs, but none of them have a fitting blueprint for anything like that." Helping himself a cup of tea, Vasquez adds. "Though that seemed to actually excite them."
"They like facing challenges." Reimu understands why. "The harder the problem is, the more they like."
"...A little change of subject, do you know a medicine store in the village?" Mason then asks the maiden. "The one run by a duo sibling?"
"...Ah, that one?" After a few seconds, Reimu recognizes who they could be. "Why? You need to buy something?"
"No. I want to ask if you know them... or their past."
"...You are suspecting him as the 'next' one?" Jackson figures out what is in Mason's head, and that earns him a nod. "But, I thought that..."
"Reincarnation is easier than resurrection." Upon hearing the voice, everyone stiffens up as they turn their heads towards the Shrine gate to see a certain Yama entering the sacred ground. "I still have some problems with you all being able to live normally like this, but given that you're from different plane of existence than ours, I couldn't really do anything to you." Though, she glares towards Jackson and Vasquez. "Not you two."
The soldiers stand straight up as Vasquez answers. "We understand your frustration. If we need to be..."
"I'm a Yama, not a Shinigami like Komachi. While I could order her to pull you back to... your 'hell', it seems that you're given a second chance to live again. Don't make me regret letting you go." She then changes back to the current subject: "About your suspicion, you might be correct. Komachi met those two before, and she told me that they both had the smell of Death on them."
"Why didn't you tell us that sooner?" Jackson asks Mason. "We could just ask them..."
"Because they are actual natives... and I don't believe they're friendly to us." Mason shakes his head. "While I don't see anything unusual from the girl, her sibling would send us glare of cautious times to times."
"That... is not a good sign. Did you tell something bad to him?" Vasquez asks.
"No... not that I'm aware of. I never told anyone our past."
"Then you should better talk to him directly." Reimu suggests. "Whatever grudge you had in the past doesn't exist here. Besides, even IF that person was the one you knew before, he isn't now."
"...I will think about it." Mason scratches his head. "It's not going to be easy."
"It will never be." Jackson comments, then unconsciously looks up to the sky... and sees something floating down to the Forest of Magic. "...Uhm, guys? Is that what I think it is?"
"That... is a parachute." Vasquez replies. "Well, maybe Nitori is testing it."
"First, she can fly. Second, why making that, even if she's planning to sell it to normal villagers? The majority of them can't fly." Mason denies the possibility.
"...Do we have a friendly wingman?"
Just a few seconds before the soldiers noticed the parachute
"WHAT THE F&*K IS THIS SH!T!?"
Opening his eyes for the first time after 'that', he expected to see Hell... well, maybe that's just his imagination. But given what he has done, he believed that he's not going to be forgiven. Instead, he felt wind breezing from under him, that led to him open his eyes. And to make his nightmare come true, when he turned his head down... he's falling to his death into some sort of forest.
"OF ALL THINGS!" He screams again as he starts looking for some ways that he could avoid splatting upon reaching the ground. Then, to his surprise, when he checks on his back, he feels a bag of sort then he notices a handle of sort under his left arm. "Oh you BETTER be a parachute, or I'm f$^ked!" Praying in his mind, he reaches towards the handle and forcefully pulls it. To answer his prayer, the parachute releases and stops his fall for a tick of seconds, before descending him down towards the forest.
"JESUS!" Unfortunately, it seems that he has fallen for a while, that the falling speed doesn't slow down too much. Starting to aim the parachute, the person tries to avoid the trees, but then the density of the forest gets thicker, so his only choice is to cross his arms before him and embrace the branches that slap into him constantly.
In the end, the parachute gets stuck on the tree branches, thus causing the person to start hanging on the bag while being at least three-floor above the ground.
"...Great." Starting to calm down after the fall, the person then tries to find if he could try to swing himself towards a good branch or so. "...Sh!t, nowhere to go. How am I going to get down?"
"Ayayayaya! 'People start falling from the sky'! Now that would be a great title!"
Looking up again to a branch slightly out of his reach, he is surprised to see a young girl... with wings on her back, standing on that said branch with a camera in her hands. The girl is smiling brightly as she starts taking pictures of him.
"Hey hey hey! Cut that crap out! Who the hell are you!?" While he doesn't really care who took a picture of him, he just literally escaped death though still in dangerous situation so his mood is not at the best condition. "And when did you get up there?"
"I just floated down." The girl just replies while pulling out a note and starting to write down something.
"...Look, you can take pictures for all I care, but can you get me down to the ground?" After taking a deep breath, the person asks for the girl's help.
"Hm...can't you fly?"
"...Am I a bird to you, crazy girl?" Now that's a stupid question from the girl. At least, to him.
"...You must be an Outsider, just like the others." The girl then pockets her note and, to his utter disbelief, her wings start flapping and carrying her towards him, keeping herself in the air. "Well, I can help, but... I want an interview from you. Is that okay?"
"...Girl, I just escaped Death. Do I look like I'm in ANY mood for that?" The person slightly raises his voice to show his annoyance.
"Shesh, chill out. You are not dead, right?" Unfazed by his outrage, the girl replies. "Though, how could I do so? You're not exactly paper-weighted, right?"
"...How are you flying? You are wearing those flying suits, aren't you?" Thinking that the girl's having some sorts of flying modules on her, he thinks of a plan. "You can give me that, and I could bring both of us down."
"What suit? I'm a Tengu, so I can fly normally."
"...Look..."
"Just bring the poor man down, Aya." To his further surprise, another girl in a blue dress floats to them, accompanied by floating dolls. "Him falling to his death won't help your interview."
"Aww, don't be a party pooper Alice." The girl with wings pouts, and that irritates him a little further.
Though, the girl with wings starts grabbing his right arm and tries to leave him up a bit, and some of the dolls start holding on his left arm. Knowing that it wouldn't work with the parachute still on him, he stops them: "Wait up girls. You need to cut the parachute out first."
...
After a few moments later, the soldier is finally able to escape out of his 'hanging' situation, as his feet touch the ground with the helps of the girls and the dolls. Looking back, he sees the girl in blue standing on the ground while the other keeps herself in the air... by flapping her wings. Rubbing his eyes with his right hand, he blinks twice to make sure that he's not hallucinating. "...Those wings are still there."
"Duh, I'm a Tengu."
"He's from the Outside World, Aya." The other girl shakes her head disappointingly, followed by one of her dolls. She then turns to the soldier and introduces herself: "My name is Alice Margatroid, a mage. And that paparazzi is Aya Shameimaru, a Tengu. You are currently in Forest of Magic in Gensokyo."
"...Mage? Tengu? Forest of Magic? Gensokyo?" The soldier lists out the words he's not familiar with. "Okay, you're talking nonsense again. Where the f%$k are we in America?"
"...I don't really know how to answer that." Alice replies. "Though, I can lead you to someone who can do so."
"...Lead the way." Deciding not to bring that up again, he asks/orders the girls to show him the direction.
"Jeez, the others are more tolerant to this than you. Though, maybe you're not informed." Alice dismisses the rudeness the person is giving them.
"Wait, you haven't told us your name yet!" Aya suddenly reminds the soldier. "And you didn't even thank us for saving you!"
"..." Shaking his head and rubbing his face with his left hand, the soldier calms his nerve down for a bit. "Sorry for that. My gratitude for saving me back then. And the name's Frank Woods."
"Woods... you are Mason's friend, aren't you?" Alice asks, having heard of him from Mason and Reznov (mostly from the former).
"...How do you know that?" Hearing that rings a warning bell in his head, as Woods slowly backs away from the two.
"He's here. Though he's probably fixing that helicopter thing in Reimu's place." Alice explains. "And...judging by your reaction, I believe that you were just died."
"...It's nice to meet you girls." Turning his head back once to search for an escape, his backing fastens a bit. "I think I can handle my own..."
"Woah, chill out Marine." Turning to the direction of the voice, Woods sees a black guy carrying a large log on his shoulder. "The girls are just trying to help you."
Woods is about to reply a bit rude, but then he notices that the guy is indeed wearing a Marine outfit. He immediately runs to him and asks him: "Thanks God you are here. Who are those crazy girls bluffing things about magic and sh!t? Also, how could they fly? Even in our time there isn't any..."
"Slow down, sir. You're freaking out." The other soldier puts his free hand on Woods' soldier and tries to calm him down. "Look, I can answer, but you need to stay calm first." He then notices the girls walking to them, and Woods starts avoiding them. "Right...okay, sir. What's your name?"
"Woods, Frank Woods." He answers again, as he looks at the girls with suspicious eyes.
"Do you remember that you died?"
"...What the..." Now Woods is confused as f$. "What kind of question is that?"
"Okay, first thing first. Throw anything that is considered normal in our world, okay?"
"What..."
"Just do it."
"..." After a few seconds of trying to calm his mind, Woods replies. "Alright, alright... Mason has to deal with those sh!tty numbers before... this is easier... isn't it..."
"Mason, huh?" Again, Woods is surprised that another person knows his friend. "Okay, let's return to our base in this place, have a nice tea and talk about it. We will tell you all you need to know."
About half an hour later
"...I'm probably stuck in that chair again." Putting/slamming the tea cup down to the table, Woods groans after hearing the stories from the others.
"Don't ruin it, Woods." Mason shakes his head. "Though, I can understand. That kind of thing is not something anyone could experience."
"But, dropping to your death? I think Griggs and Soap have drawn a better straw here." Jackson comments, remembering how the two entered this world.
After reaching the HQ in Forest of Magic, Griggs put down the log and led Woods follow inside, accompanied by Alice and Aya. Griggs then guided them into the living room and discussed about Woods' situation, which the other Americans joined after they returned from Reimu's home. Of course, the conversation stopped for a moment as Woods greeted Mason with a tight hug while apologizing to him for ten seconds straight.
"Back to the matter. Yes, except the girls who are natives here, we are all killed at a point in our life. But somebody revived us and sent us here. However, the world outside seems to be of Soap and his group's, not ours." Mason further explains.
"..." Looking once at Aya who's constantly writing into her note, Woods turns his face to his friend and points his finger towards Aya. "Okay, so... fairy tales exist here?"
"Only in Gensokyo. And not fairy tales, but magic in general." Vasquez replies. "Aya is a Tengu, a... well, here we call them Youkai, but in the Outside World, we call them monster."
"Hey! That's a bit rude!" Aya whines.
"Sorry, but we have no words to call you either way."
"Also werewolves are here too if you're wondering. Fought them as well." Griggs adds.
"...What else do I need to know?" Accepting the truth, Woods leans back on his chair and asks his friend.
"...'He' might be here." Mason stiffs his tone and says with seriousness.
"...Are you f*&king serious?" Anger shows clearly on Woods' face. "Why didn't you just beat him up already?"
"First, it's just a possibility." His friend explains. "Second, believe it or not, he's a native in this world, and he's in the village. If we did something that causes ruckus, you better run before miss Keine catches you, or the government there."
"We're doing the people here justice by..."
"Not this time. And third, he's not currently causing any problems. All we can do is to find out if our suspicion is correct... by directly talking to him."
"Then we better go and make that f%^ker talk..." Harshly standing up, Woods heads to the exit, only to stop as dolls with weapons pointing at him. "Hey, what's the deal?"
"No violence." Alice simply replies. "Either you talk, or forget about him."
"This is our problem, it has nothing concerning you."
"It does when it comes to our place's safety. And to avoid getting Reimu more problems."
"Woods..." The soldier turns to his friend who stands up and walks to him. "Listen, this era is vastly different than ours. Our old mindsets won't fit here. Everyone here solves problems in peace first, before it has to be settled with Danmaku. Violence is prohibited here."
Hearing that makes Woods grunt.
"Woods..."
"I get it, I get it Mason." Rubbing his face again, he returns to his chair and takes another sip from his teacup. He then looks at the cup and asks: "Do you really drink this all the times here?"
"Of course not!" Seeing that the conversation is slightly calmed down, Griggs laughs and slaps Woods' shoulder. "We have beer and wines and vodka and such! Though, we save it for meals."
"Yeah, that sounds better." That's Woods' conclusion. He then notices that a certain Tengu not being in the room anymore. "Where's that bird girl?"
"Aya. And she's out doing her intel-gathering for her newspaper, again." Alice answers.
"You will see stranger things." Mason says. Then, he remembers one thing: "Kinda glad that you are here with your young appearance."
"Yeah. Or I would die again from that fall." With that everyone laughs, with Alice silently smiling behind them.
"...It's raining soon." Ryo stares at the sky, seeing the black clouds gathering. "...That doesn't look like a good sign."
Chapter 12 end!
Yep, that's the teaser of the mysterious people (and if you have played OR heard mainstream COD games, you know who they are).
So, what would you prefer? A brawl or a conversation?
I think that's enough for now. See you all again in the future!