Not long after meeting the red team her cloths arrived. Good thing too as she was almost smelling as bad as Grif! They mostly had a colour scheme of pink and black which Kaede took a liking too, even if it was a bad idea to be wearing black in a hot canyon. Luckily, Kaede adjusted to the hot temperature fairly quickly.
Besides the usual bickering between the two armys and their team members they decided to show her a ton of movies. She hadn't seen much in the orphanage, if she tried to watch with the other kids, they would beat her and throw her out of the room. Tucker started by showing her some of his favourite action movies while Church made sure they weren't too kid inappropriate. Swearing was fine, but nudity was a big nono for her, much to Tuckers protest. They also show'd her Star Wars, which was where the force Tucker and Simmons mentioned was from. After watching it, she could see why they would make the comparison. When that was done, Simmons insisted she watch Clone wars and Mandalorian and a bunch of other spin off shows which she did with him. Along with Star Wars, the two teams showed her a multitude of classic movies like Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Terminator, Transformers, the MCU and a bunch of others. For the most part, she was completely caught up in the pop culture department.
She also was tutored by everyone. Tucker and Church tried their best, but most of the time they just argued and pointed out their own idiocy whenever they tried to teach her on something. Luckily Simmons was there to teach her math and science, so that was something at least.
When she wasn't watching or learning, she was spying on the opposite team of whoever she was with that day. In her mind, it was like a game much like this conflict seemed to her. (and on some level she was not wrong)
Additionally, both teams taught her how to shoot a pistol, incase she ever needed too, though she preferred the use of her invisble hands. Speaking of which, on some of the slow days that came along, she practiced using her invisible hands, mostly to see what they were capable of. Along with picking up heavy boulders she wouldn't be able to with her physical arms, she found she could use them to cut as well. Everything she tried to cut though, she was successful. Rocks, guns, reinforced steal, Grif's favourite chair... all of them submitted to her will. They even cut though the armour the reds and blues were wearing with out much problem, which according to Sarge was REALLY tough. She made a mental note to be careful with someone if she were ever to use her invisible hands on them.
Three years had passed and she was now thirteen. Her hair had grown out a little past shoulder length and she had gotten a little taller. Additionally, the helmet she was given fit more comfortably, so long as she was wearing the hat Kouta gave her under it.
Speaking of which, she donned the helmet today, wondering what else it could do.
"I'm not gonna lie, that looks weird without the rest of the suit." Tucker comments upon seeing her.
"The rest of the suit is too big for me, so this is the best I got." Kaede responds.
"Yeah, but it still looks weird." Tucker says.
"Whats weird is how often you hang around that rock you spray painted all day. What do you even do there?" Kaede questions.
"Um... I told you thats not important." Tucker quickly deflects. "If you remember, I also told you-"
"Not to go over there." Kaede finishes.
"Exactly." Tucker affirms. "Hey, you dropped a grenade."
"I'm not falling for that one again." Kaede responds, crossing her arms.
"No, I'm serious." Tucker insists. Kaede looks and there is indeed a grenade on the ground.
"I don't carry grenades. Count yours." Kaede says.
"I don't need to count, I have a readout. Where is Church, maybe its his?" Tucker suggests.
"He's on the roof. He could have dropped it there and it rolled over here." Kaede suggests.
"Hey Church!" Tucker yells.
"What! Whys someone always gonna yell!" Church screams back.
"You dropped a grenade!" Tucker yells back.
"No, my read out says I'm full." Church responds.
"...The reds threw a grenade at us, didn't they?" Tucker realizes.
"Yeah, we should have figured that out sooner." Kaede admits while mentally facepalming. The two duck for cover behind some rocks before the grenade explodes.
"Ah ha! Take that blues!" Kaede hears Sarge yell out.
"Did he really not notice me? Even with the helmet on?" Kaede questions to herself.
"Damn! Where the hell did they come from?!" Church yells as he takes cover.
"I dunno!" Tucker yells back.
"I don't actually want an answer, just fucking shoot!" Church yells, taking aim with his sniper rifle he fires on Sarge. "Fuck!" He missed. Tucker fires off his battle rifle. He is closer, but still missing his targets. On the other side, Kaede can see Sarge with Grif and Simmons firing off their shotguns and battle rifles respectively and each missing.
"I got it!" Kaede yells, pulling a shot gun out of no where and pretends to take aim.
"Woah! When'd you get that!" Tucker exclaims.
"Found it." Kaede simply says before firing. She misses obviously, and the recoil of the weapon is to make her fall backwards.
"Kaede! Get back inside! We'll handle this!" Church yells. He fires. "God damn it! Tucker, are you fucking with this thing when I'm not looking?!"
"I wish! You never let me have the sniper rifle!" Tucker complains. As the two complain and fight, Kaede sneaks around to a different rock to find out how the reds are doing.
"Hey Kaede." Says a monotone voice. She jumps slightly and sees Grif, back against the rock.
"Oh... hello Grif." She greets, flustered at being surprised by him.
"Yeah. Hows blue teams food supply by the way? If possible, I wanna steal some of their shit for my own personal supply." Grif simply asks.
"How did you know I live at blue base?" Kaede questions.
"The blue helmet." Grif responds. "Also, theres no where else to go in this fucking piece of shit canyon."
"Does everyone else know?" Kaede asks.
"Eh. Sarge hasn't figured it out, I dunno about Simmons and Lopez though." Grif replies. "I gotta say, I like this playing by both sides thing. I would do it too, but it sounds like it demands a lot of work."
"This is such fucking bullshit!" She hears Church yell.
"Its mostly been luck." Kaede sheepishly admits. "You think Sarge would be mad if I'm friends with the blues?"
"Probably." Grif states.
"Listen, I don't wanna sacrifice any friendships with the reds OR the blues. Can you just keep this a secret until I figure something out?" Kaede asks.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Grif replies.
"Thank you Grif!" She says, wrapping him into a hug.
"Grif! Where are you!" They hear Sarge yell. Kaede jumps off of Grif.
"Uh, just taking cover." Grif responds.
"Well get off your ass! Hows your ammo?" Sarge asks.
"Uh. I'm all out." Grif lies.
"Dang nabit. Simmons! Where are those extra rounds!" Sarge yells.
"You used them all sir." Simmons states. "You really need to watch your ammo consumption."
"Drat! Men we're withdrawing from this battle! They've had their ass kicked enough for today!" Sarge yells.
"Yes sir!" Simmons exclaims.
"I guess I gotta go then." Grif says before following his team back to red base. "See ya Kaede."
"Bye Grif!" Kaede waves as he speed walks away.
"Dude, look! We beat em back!" Tucker exclaims. "Or I beat em back since you can't hit shit."
"I'm pretty sure Kaede might have accidentally messed up the sights with this thing." Church defends. "It should be fixed now."
"Sure." Tucker sarcastically replies.
"Oh, just watch this." Church growls before taking aim at the retreating reds. He fires. Its a headshot.
"Dude! What the fuck!" Tucker yells.
He shot Kaede in the head.
"Oh, shit." Church says before joining Tucker in his mad rush to check up on the unconscious 13 year old diclonius.
Upon reaching Kaede, they remove her helmet to find her bleeding from her forehead. The helmet stopped the bullet, but some of the shrapnel was stuck in her head.
"Fuck... fuck. I just shot a kid." Church muttered to himself.
"Kaede. Wake up!" Tucker exclaimed while lightly shaking her. Suddenly, her eyes bolt right open to reveal her ruby red eyes. She stares at the two blue team members. "Say something please! Kaede tell us you're okay."
"Nyu?"