As soon as the three collided and hit the ground, they were back up and in defensive positions when noticed each other.
"Tex!" Kaede exclaims. "What are you doing?"
"Some greeting, I was coming to help guys and you ambush me." Tex replies.
"You weren't coming to help. You were comin to steal the sword!" Andy accuses.
"No I wasn't. I was coming to steal your reward." Tex clarifies.
"There is no reward. The reward is the sword." Andy explains.
"Thats lame." Kaede comments. The two then discuss what they would do with the two rewards, the second being the salvation and emancipation of Crunchbites species for all eternity. It was agreed that Tex would get the sword, and Crunchbite the emancipation.
"What do I get?" Tucker questions.
"You get to live, but no guarantees." Tex promises.
"Thats not a reward for me, thats a reward for all the fine ladies in the universe." Tucker comments.
"He's gonna have a hard time finding a "fine lady."" Kaede whispers to Caboose.
"I know. I have that problem too." Caboose whispers back. "Besides meeting you and Shelia of coarse."
"What do you two want?" Andy asks Caboose and Kaede.
"I want a pony." Caboose simply says.
'I want to see Kouta again.' Kaede thinks.
"Hey! Pink head! You gonna answer!" Andy exclaims.
"When it comes to you, no." Kaede replies. "Just shut up unless the alien is talking."
"Woah! Talk about multiple levels of rude! Your almost as masculine as Tex!" Andy comments.
"Andy." Tex warns, reaching for a detonator.
"Eh, fine. I'll shut up." Andy deflates.
Before long, the two were traveling through a long tunnel.
"Thank God, we're out of that swamp." Kaede comments.
"Yeah, it was creeping me out almost as much as that alien does." Tucker agrees.
"What do you mean?" Kaede questions.
"Every time I wake up, he's hovering over me." Tucker explains. "Its really weird."
"I'm sure he's just safe guarding his sword. I mean my sword." Tex says.
"Maybe he wants to steal your breath." Caboose suggests.
"Caboose, why would he or anyone for that matter, try to steal someones breath?" Kaede questions.
"Maybe its for an alien magic potion." Caboose suggests.
"I don't know how you think up this stuff." Kaede simply states.
"Yeah... I'm just really smart." Caboose says.
"Maybe he's trying to figure out what I taste like." Tucker suggests.
"Hurry up ya idiots." Andy calls to them.
"Man, did it get colder all of a sudden?" Tucker questions.
"I don't feel anything." Kaede states. A gust of wind blow past the group. "I felt that." Kaede quickly hugs herself and starts shivering. She fishes her hat out of her pocket and puts it on. Its not enough to ward the cold away. "Brrrr. Its freezing."
"Of coarse its freezing! They don't call it the FREEZING plains for nothing." Andy calls to her.
"I'm just glad I brought my mittens." Caboose says.
"Thats bullshit. You have armoured gloves with heating." Kaede says. "Give the mittens here."
"I don't have enough for all your hands." Caboose says.
"Thats fine, I just need ones for my physical hands." Kaede assures.
"The cold is the least of our problems." Tex comments.
"Why?" Andy questions.
"I assume we have to get into that big temple base thing." Tex points toward said big temple base thing that was set up against a wall of ice with red and blue guards patrolling around the fortress.
"Yeah..." Andy responds.
"Well, its got about two dozen guards on it walls." Tex comments.
"Oh no." Caboose says.
"Yep. Doesn't look good." Tex agrees.
"No, no, no, I mean I lost on of my mittens?" Caboose holds up the one mitten. "Um... we have to go back."
"Its fine. I'll take what I can get." Kaede says, swiping the mitten and slipping it over her right hand.
"Suggestions Andy." Tex asks.
"I say we let Tucker storm in and take em out in a mad rush, and while he's got em distracted, we finish the quest." Andy suggests.
"Don't we need Tuckers sword to complete the quest?" Kaede asks.
"Thanks for showing your concern for my safety." Tucker sarcastically says.
"I thought that went without saying. I'm just making a point here." Kaede brings up.
"I think surprise is the key." Tex suggests.
"What ya thinking?" Andy asks.
"Let me take them out, one by one. They will never know what hit them." Tex says.
"Ya think you can kill em all without alerting the rest?" Andy questions.
"Just watch me." Tex says before cloaking in front of the group.
"Cool. I wonder if when she does that, she can see my invisible arms." Kaede questions aloud.
"That sounds retarded. Just cause someones invisible doesn't mean they can see other invisible things." Andy comments.
"Didn't we have an agreement that you would shut up?" Kaede angrily asks.
"Deal with Tex, yeah. You on the other hand, I can talk to you all I want." Andy says.
"Don't you mean talk at?" Kaede asks.
"Oh, how smart." Andy sarcastically remarks. "When I explode, I hope I kill you first."
"Won't you kill yourself first if you explode?" Kaede smugly questions.
"If I'm near you too long, am I going to die of smart ass poisoning?" Andy asks.
"Oh, these guys? How did they get here?" Tucker exclaims.
"Who?" Kaede questions.
"Those fanatics that showed up on Sidewinder." Tucker explains.
"Sidewinder? When were we ever there?" Kaede asks.
"Nyu was there. Damnit, this spilt personality thing is starting to get annoying." Tucker says.
"Imagine how I feel." Kaede responds.
"Shush. Tex told us to be quiet." Caboose warns.
"Caboose, we're three hundred yards away. I don't think they heard us." Tucker responds.
"I think I heard something." They hear one of the guards say.
"Oh, THESE fanatic guys." Kaede whispers.
"I'm sure that was just a coincidence." Tucker muses.
"Alright, after she takes out those three one by one, we probably stand a chance." Andy says.
"Which three?" Kaede whispers.
The five then watch Tex pop up inside the base as she beats up a blue soldier with a red and another blue standing idly by.
"Ow, what the fuck, that hurt!" The blue exclaims as loud as he can as he is punched.
"Or maybe not." Andy deflates. Kaede meanwhile, is trying to hold in her laughter from the blues cries. The red and blue standing by as if nothings happening made it all the funnier, and it was upped to eleven when Tex started unloading her SMG into the fanatic.
"What the fuck, are they deaf!" Tucker exclaims. A sniper shot misses him. "Oh right that you heard!" The fanatics man turrets and fire on the five as they run for cover, Kaede blocking some bullets on the way. Eventually, the guy manning the turret explodes.
"Look!" Andy exclaims. The group watches as Tex mows down the rest of the fanatics with dual wielding SMGs.
"That went well. So much for a sneak attack." Tucker complains.
"Why are you so glum? That was badass." Kaede points out.
"Charge!" The group hears. They turn to find more fanatics on their way to retake the base.
"Where did they come from!" Kaede exclaims.
"Who cares! Lets get inside the base!" Tucker exclaims. The fanatics open fire and Kaede blocks them while the others run inside the base. When they're inside, the fanatics are closed and almost surrounding Kaede, leaving her no opening to escape. She hides behind a rock as they approach.
"Shit. Kaede's pinned down!" Tucker exclaims.
"Then you better shot them all down before they find her." Tex carelessly says as she picks up a sniper rifle and opens fire on the mob.
"God damnit." Tucker curses at the missed opportunity for the sniper rifle. He then levels his own rifle and fires at the fanatics in a desperate effort to keep her safe.
Meanwhile, Kaede was feeling actual fear behind her rock. She doubted she would be able to hold of that many fanatics at once, even with her invisible arms. As she sat there, trying to keep herself from doing something reckless, a red soldier rounds around the rock to find Kaede, to which he quickly holds her at gun point with a pistol.
"Freeze, cocksucker!" He exclaims as he appears. Kaede screams, then purely on instinct, she uses her invisible arms to severe the reds arms before decapitating him in a mad rush to stop him from shooting her. The reds blood gush's out of the now dead fanatics arms and neck, with some splattering on half of Kaede's face. Kaede meanwhile is stood frozen looking at the body of the man she just killed. Oh God, she just killed someone. As she was overcome with the horror of taking a life, she noticed she was also feeling something else. Pleasure. Why did she feel good about killing someone, she wondered.
"If the others can kill so easily, why shouldn't you?" The voice asks her. It had some sound logic. After all, she was just defending herself. "You can kill to defend your friends too. Kill all that would threaten you." The voice made a good point. With that, Kaede lept over the rock with the use of her invisible arms, staring down all the fanatics with a cold, dead look in her eyes.
"Its the beast!" One of the fanatics yells.
"You're defiantly not a human."
They were just like the kids at the orphanage, she thought.
"Come to take the world and kill us all! The end is neigh!" The same fanatic exclaims. With that Kaede lands and sweeps around her with her arms, decapitating anything in range.
"Yes! It won't be over until all these apes are gone!"
The fanatics open fire on her to no effect. Kaede slowly walks towards them as they unload their guns on her invisible force field. Once she is in range, she rips them apart in so many different ways until there is no one left to rip apart. She then just stands there amidst the bodies of those she had slain.
"Kaede?" Kaede quickly whirls around to kill whoever hand gotten behind her until she recognizes him as Caboose.
"Ca- Caboose?" Kaede questions as her eyes return to normal. She then falls on her knees, taking in what she had just done. She just killed a lot of people, but that wasn't what she was upset about. It was the fact that, at the time, she felt like she was enjoying it. At the same time, it felt like she was in a trance while she was doing it, like she was only partly in control and the part that was was apathetic to what was going on. Oh God, oh God, oh God, why was I like that, Kaede asks herself, suddenly she was overcome with fear of herself. Along with all the other thoughts racing through her mind at unreadable speeds, she completely shut out the outside world, trying to make sense of it all.
It wasn't until she heard a familiar song that she snapped out of it. She then noticed that Tucker had tackled her out of the way as an alien ship flew over head. Looking around, not to faraway was the music box Donut gave her, open and playing Lilium.
"Kaede! Wake up!" She hears Tucker yell.
"Huh!" Kaede exclaims as she looks to him.
"Good. We were really worried about you for a second." Tucker says with relief. An explosion rings out, bringing their attention to the now fallen alien ship. Crunchbites corpses could be seen among the wreckage.
"You still want me to tell him? Cause I think its down already." Andy laughs. She had missed a lot.
"Tex!" They hear. The group turns to find a white armour soldier holding a rocket launcher.
"Wyoming?" Tex questions. She knew this guy.
"Connecticut!" Caboose exclaims.
"They're not playing a game Caboose." Tucker explains as he helps Kaede up. The cold then catches up with her and she starts shivering furiously then. Tex and Wyoming banter until Wyoming retreats and Tex chases after him.
"Huh, that didn't go quite the way I expected." Tucker says. "You think we should wait for her to come back? Or finish the quest on our own? Or just go home?"
"I- I'm ready to g- go home." Kaede says in a small voice. Tucker then notices how cold Kaede is. To add onto that, Revelee starts playing.
"Yeah, lets just go home." Tucker says as wraps Kaede in a warming hug and guides her to the tunnel they came out of. Caboose picks up Andy and follows them... home.
AN: I'm gonna put this on a small hiatus cause it is getting a little exhausting writing up the chapters for this. I don't have an exact time when I'll write the next chapter, just that it won't be long. I just need a small break. Just consider this the ending to the first phase of this story. In the meantime, please leave a review about... anything really. Review really motivate me to get to writing so please, write one up.