Alright, here is chapter three. I hope I didn't take too long getting this to you all. I was trying to speed things up so I could get to the crossover part of the story by writing a longer chapter, hence the long period between updates. So please, enjoy.

Chapter 3

The prophecy and the plan.

C.J. and his friends were enjoying themselves with their barbecue and the atmosphere was one of joy and happiness. The news that the A.S.A. would finally come to help Hope County had left a smile on the faces of everyone. Of course the smiles could also be due to the fact that everyone currently had an elevated amount of alcohol in their blood from the presence of the twin kegs of beer that Sharky brought to the party.

Everyone complimented Sharky on his work of grilling the bison C.J. hunted for the meal. C.J. himself admitted that the bison steaks tasted great and that Adelaide's chili made for a great side dish, even if it was a bit spicy from the jalapeno peppers. He only hoped that he wouldn't regret it later that night. However, as C.J. looked around at the smiling faces of his friends, he could only wonder what the future had in store for them.

However, one question continued to trouble C.J.; How was he going to break the news of the A.S.A. coming to Hope County to the people of New Eden?

In the end, C.J. just decided that he would cross that bridge when he got to it, and continued to enjoy the barbecue.

Night had finally fallen as the Judge made it back to New Eden and approached the main gate. With a few hard knocks, the guard opened the viewing slot and upon seeing who it was, he quickly let the Judge into the village.

As the Judge ran past the villagers who had begun to return to their homes after evening prayers, he saw that one person still remained praying in the main hall, a man with the cross of Edens Gate tattooed on his back. He was none other than Joseph Seed, otherwise known as the Father.

The Judge then approached Joseph and quickly tapped his shoulder, gaining his attention. As Joseph turned around, the Judge was greeted with his smiling face, although strangely, despite Joseph's law against technology, he still wore the yellow tinted sunglasses he had since before the bombs fell, which now sported a long crack through the right lens.

"Ah, Judge, you have returned. Have you brought news for me to hear?" Asked Joseph.

The Judge grunted and gave a nod. He then leaned over and held up his gloved hand as he began to whisper the news to the Father.

As Joseph began to listen, the look of joy he gained at the arrival of his Judge turned to one of severe concern for his Shepard known as C.J., the one that the voice of God told Joseph was destined to lead New Eden into the future.

When the Judge finished whispering his news, he stood back and quietly waited for the Father to respond.

Joseph stood quietly with his eyes shut, deep in thought at what he had just been told.

After a moment, Joseph opened his eyes and thanked the Judge, then sent him away. It seemed the Father would have to tell his flock of the steps they would have to take in order to prepare for their future when they came to the main hall next morning for prayer.

If what the voice said to Joseph rang true, he and his followers would need to be ready to go with the Shepard, wherever he and his people would travel.

The barbecue at Roughnecks Crag concluded around 10:30 p.m., with many of C.J.'s friends, himself included, going home while the others who were too drunk to drive chose to sleep it off in the bunkhouse upstairs of main building.

Being drunk himself didn't matter to C.J. because Carmina made sure to stay sober so she could be his designated driver. After all, the last thing Prosperity needed was for its hero to die from a broken neck because he drove up a tree.

When they returned to Prosperity, Carmina tried to help C.J. inside, only for him to turn down her help.

"I-It's okay, Carmina. You don't need to worry about me. I'll just (hic) head in at my own pace, o-okay?" Slurred C.J. as he then began to laugh for no reason while stumbling towards the main gate.

"Are you sure, Cap? It's not a problem if you need me to give you a hand." Assured Carmina.

"Sure I'm sure. Y-You just head inside and (hic) tell your mom and dad the kick-ass news while I go find a spot to pass-out. Alright?" Said C.J. as he gave Carmina a dumb smile and two thumbs up.

"I think its a bit late for that, Cap. I'll just tell them in the morning. In the meantime, you just find a safe place to sleep, okay?"

Carmina then went inside while C.J. continued to stumble in behind her.

After tripping over some stairs and puking up the contents of his stomach along with doing some other things, C.J. then fell over and crawled onto a patch of grass in a cool dark place and proceeded to fall asleep.

(Begin dream)

C.J. found himself standing in a road surrounded by worn down skyscrapers in the middle of a ruined city that was overgrow with plant life. As he began to walk forward, he heard a loud squawk and looked up to see a twin beaked mega pigeon fly overhead.

As C.J. kept walking along, he grabbed his radio off his belt and tried to make contact, only to be answered with static. Just as he started to change the channel of his radio to try and find a signal, he felt the ground begin to shake behind him while fog began to roll in.

For some reason, C.J. then became overrun with an explainable fear as he tried to reach for one of his weapons, only to realize that he was completely unarmed, along with the fact that he wasn't wearing his custom harness, depriving him of both his wing-suit and parachute as well as this grappling hook. This only fueled his fear even more as he started to run in a complete panic as the ground shaking began to increase in frequency, as if whatever was causing the shaking had begun to chase after him.

As he ran, C.J. tried to look behind himself to see what could be chasing him, only to see a faint orange glow within the fog. C.J.'s fear induced thoughts were then interrupted by the fact that he had ran up to the edge of a cliff next to a waterfall. Trapped with nowhere to run, C.J. realized that the best thing for him to do now was to try and fight whatever was chasing him.

As a last resort, C.J. went to use his powers from the 'Gift of Eden' that he gained after eating the mutated apple that Joseph had given him. With a deep breath, C.J. started to concentrate to activate his powers, only for nothing to happen. As he tried to activate his powers a second time, the faint orange glow that had been chasing him stopped, along with the shaking.

Before C.J. could react, the glowing thing gave a massive roar from within the fog that sent out a powerful vortex of wind that knocked him over the edge of the cliff and into the dark waters below.

(End nightmare)

C.J. shot up in a panic from the nightmare he just had, only to instantly hit his head on a wooden support beam, causing him to yell out as he grabbed his head in pain. As he tried to figure out just where the hell he had passed out, C.J. heard the sound of someone walking up to where he was.

"Hey guys! He's over here!" Shouted someone.

C.J. then crawled out and stood up from where he had passed out, which happened to be Roger's helipad, and was immediately greeted by the smiling face of Sharky.

"Hey dude! Nice to see that you're still alive after the party. I swear, I've never seen a guy chug so much beer in my life, and that's saying something!" Said Sharky as he smacked C.J. on the back.

This turned out to have disastrous results for C.J., as he then doubled over and began to vomit again as more people began to walk up to him, including Carmina and her parents.

"Hey Cap. Did you have fun at the barbecue?" Kim asked teasingly as C.J. began to stand up out of the slurry of beer, chili, and barbecued meat.

"Yeah, it was fun until I got goaded into a damn drink-off with Hurk." Said C.J. as everyone began to laugh, which in turn pissed-off the hungover Captain.

"Hey! Don't you laugh, Carmina. Only two people tried to keep me from agreeing to that stupid idea of going drink for drink against Hurk, and you weren't one of them! I should've listened to Bannock and Pastor Jerome when they said that drinking against Hurk wouldn't end well." Snapped C.J. as his hangover from last nights festivities was starting to set in.

"Whoa, just calm down, my dude. I know hangovers are a bitch, but you don't need to bite peoples heads off." Said Selene as she tried to get C.J. to calm down.

"You're right, Selene. I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to go off on you all like that. Its just that between the hangover and the sunlight in my eyes, my head is splittin' like someone wedged an ax in it." Explained C.J. as he began to apologize to his friends while massaging his temples.

Carmina's dad, Nick Rye, then spoke up. "It's okay, partner. I had a hangover just like you after I got into a drinking contest with Hurk at my bachelor party in Reno, and that bastard wasn't even invited!"

This caused another round of laughter from the small group.

"So Cap, whats the plan for today?" Asked Carmina.

"Well first I'm going to head down to the boathouse and take a swim in my clothes to help wash the puke stains out, then drink some water and have a proper breakfast." Stated C.J.

"How about I first make you an herbal tea, dude? It'll help ease your hangover. Plus it'll give you good vibes so you're not so tense and at conflict with the world." Said Selene.

C.J. chuckled at this. "Selene, I can't help but be at conflict with the world. Rebuilding the United States after a nuclear war isn't a cake-walk and the Highwaymen and other bandits aren't helping. Plus there is the fact that the leader of the A.S.A. and the man who practically took me under his wing, Thomas Rush, was killed in the process of liberating Hope County!" C.J. paused to catch his breath. "But if you think that an herbal tea will help, I guess I won't turn it down." He said with a slight smile.

The gathering was then interrupted by Roger, the designated pilot of Prosperity, shouting a flurry of swears in French from his helipad. "WHO THE FUCK PISSED ALL OVER MY PILOT SEAT!?" He then shouted in English.

"You know what? I think I'll have that tea after my swim." C.J. then ran off to the boathouse while Nick began to laugh his ass off.

Deep in the clover burrow under Las Vista, Kipo was awoken from her sleep by the beeping of her alarm clock, signaling the start of a new day.

With a swift smack of her hand, the annoying device was silenced as she got out of bed with a yawn and proceeded to walk to the kitchen, where she was greeted by the sight of Lio cooking breakfast for the both of them.

"Morning dad, whats for breakfast?" Asked the young burrow girl in a sleepy tone as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Oatmeal with brown sugar." Said Lio as he placed a warm bowl of food in front of Kipo. "Now eat up, you have a lot of learning ahead of you and you're gonna need a good meal to start the day off right."

As the two of them began to have their morning meal, Kipo couldn't help but try and ask her father about the surprise he had planned for the class at school again.

"Dad, I know you said I have to wait a week to find out what the surprise is, but can you at least give me a hint?" Asked Kipo.

Lio knew that Kipo's curiosity would eventually get the better of her. So he decided that he would give her a hint.

"Well Kipo, to be honest, today's class subject at school does have something to do with the surprise." Confessed Lio.

"What is it!?" Asked Kipo in excitement.

"You'll find out at school. Now finish your breakfast and get ready, class starts in an hour." Said Lio with a smile as he finished his oatmeal.

Felling a little better after his swim, C.J. returned to Prosperity for some herbal tea and a much needed plate of breakfast.

Passing through the main gate, he saw that the people had a look of happiness in their faces that turned to complete excitement at his presence. Apparently Carmina told everyone the news of the A.S.A coming to Hope County while he was out taking a swim.

Before C.J. could get get to Selene's clinic for the tea she promised, a wolf boy ran up to him and asked him a question.

"Excuse me? Mister Captain? Is it true that more people coming to help us?" Asked the mute child.

"They sure are, kid." Said C.J. with a smile as he patted the young wolf on the head.

The wolf child then smiled as he ran off to the other kids and started shouting "It's true! It's true! They really are coming to help us!"

While the shouting didn't help his hangover, C.J. couldn't help but feel that Thomas Rush would be proud at what he was doing.

As he continued on his way to the clinic, C.J. heard the adults talking as well. Mostly about how things would finally get better now that they wouldn't have to keep scavenging to live and could start farming the valley again.

Upon entering the clinic, C.J. was greeted by Selene.

"Hey dude! Feeling better after your swim?" Asked Selene as she gave C.J. a freshly brewed mug of herbal tea.

"A bit. Hopefully this tea of yours will help with my hangover, then I'll go and have some breakfast." Said C.J. as he began to sip from the hot mug he was given.

"Oh, that's right. Kim asked me to tell you to meet her in the main building after you're done with your tea." Said Selene.

'What could Kim want this time?' Thought C.J. as he walked off, mug in hand.

Entering the main building, C.J. was instantly hit by the sweet sweet smell of fresh flapjacks.

"Hey! Are there any flapjacks left for me?" C.J. asked.

"Flapjacks, butter, and fresh honey-berry syrup." Answered Kim as she set a plate of hotcakes down on the dinning table for him.

C.J. walked up and sat down next to Carmina and Nick and started to tear into his breakfast.

"So Cap, when are those engineers from the A.S.A. gonna get here?" Asked Nick as he took a bite of bacon.

"They'll arrive on the fourth of July from the road tunnel at the west end of Holland Valley near Roughnecks Crag with enough people and equipment to help rebuild the whole valley, along with stuff to celebrate the holiday with. You know, stuff like fireworks, lemonade flavored drink mix, hot dogs, the whole works." Said C.J. as he took another bite of his flapjacks.

"How many people will there be?" Asked Kim as she joined everyone for breakfast.

"One thousand people from varying jobs and backgrounds. Most will be soldiers, engineers, and workers. The rest will be made up of doctors, teachers, radio technicians and other experts along with folks that will also help form new fire and police departments. Even some mechanics and pilots like you, Nick." Said C.J.

"One thousand people! Cap, that's five times as many people than there was on the train that we tried to get here!" Said Carmina in surprise to the new information.

"Well Carmina, the reason more people are coming to Hope County this time around is because the A.S.A. doesn't want a repeat of what happened last time with the Highwaymen, so they'll be sending enough people to fend off any future attacks and help shorten the time it will take to rebuild the valley." Explained C.J.

"But Cap, what about Joseph's people in New Eden?" Asked Carmina.

"Well, because they are anti-technology, I plan on having some surveyors travel around the valley with some of their Chosen to help mark out their territories so we can avoid building in those areas and not anger them. Of course I'll still need to go to New Eden and tell them whats going to happen. I just hope they don't get offended." C.J. then took another drink of his tea. "Also, Nick, being that I'm still Captain of Security and was part of Rush's personal detachment, I was able to pull rank and ordered you a new engine and set of wings for Carmina…your airplane."

Nick was shocked at this.

"Hold up. Cap, are you serious?! I'm gonna get to give my baby girl an airplane of her own to fly!" Asked Nick in excitement.

"Yep. I read that note you wrote at your garage about how you wanted to give Carmina a plane for her birthday and thought I'd help. Now you won't have to wait as long to get Carmina airborne." C.J. then finished his plate of food and downed the last of his tea, only to be wrapped up in another hug from Carmina as she began to thank him all over again.

For C.J., the smiles on his friends faces was already thanks enough.

Back at the clover burrow, Kipo had just sat down at her desk with her classmates in school and was excitedly waiting for her father to start today's lesson. Just then, Lio walked into the classroom.

"Alright class, settle down." Said Lio as he got the children's attention while he began to write on the chalk board. "Today we will start learning about…" He then stepped away from the board. "...Radios and radio waves!"

The classroom erupted in a wave of chatter as the children, Kipo especially, became excited about the new subject and what they would potentially learn from it.

Alright. That's chapter three. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to leave a comment and have a nice day/night.