RED vs. BLUE
REVIVE
CHAPTER 2: THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Everybody stood in front of the Pelican, looking at one another as if it had been ages.
"This feels… weird," commented Grif.
"Yeah, I was not expecting we'd run into each other like this again." Simmons said.
"It's good to see you, too!" laughed Sarge, then he pumped his shotgun. "This is just another possibility for us to see Grif get killed."
Grif sighed and turned away from Sarge; boarding the Pelican.
"I, for one, am excited to see who this mysterious person is!" chimed in Donut.
"Yeah, we're curious, too," said Carolina. "Is everybody ready?"
"Looks like everyone is here and accounted for," said Tucker. He watched as Caboose ran happily onto the Pelican. "And eager to be killed."
"We won't be killed," sighed Wash. "Just… possible… captured?" He looked at his uniformed friends before them.
"Well THAT makes it better," snapped Kaikana.
"Alright team, let's move out!" ordered Carolina. Everyone slowly gathered onto the Pelican and took their respective seats.
Grif sat at the controls.
"Hold up. YOU'RE piloting?" asked Carolina as she sat next to him.
"Um, yeah. I always fly. I got this." Grif began to flip at the switches and press buttons.
"Oh good. So we'll be plowing down trees on the way," laughed Sarge.
"Can it!"
"What did you say?!"
"I mean, can it, SIR!"
Everyone held back their laughter as the Pelican began to rise into the air, then within moments, it took off with a powerful WHOOOOOSH into the sky.
"These coordinates don't look familiar at all to me," commented Wash as he looked them over.
"Where's it located?" asked Simmons as he leaned over to look.
"Some planet called Ambrosia."
"Never heard of it," said Donut.
"That's because it's located near Chorus. Desolate," explained Wash. "…a population of people that keep to themselves."
"We're not going to stumble across another Civil War, right?" asked Grif from the pilot's seat.
"Nope. Looks like everything is at peace there," said Carolina as she reviewed images of the planet on the screen before her. "I don't think we'll be caught up in anymore messes."
"Let's hope not," whispered Grif.
"This. Is. So. Exciting!" yelled Caboose from his seat.
"Hey Tucker, what's it like having Caboose as a roommate?" whispered Simmons as he leaned in close to Tucker.
"Ugh," whined Tucker. "Being that you're a virgin, you wouldn't understand what it's like to constantly be interrupted during…" Tucker then coughed. "Fun time."
Tucker then reminisced about how he and Kaikana were getting intimate, then Caboose barged into the bedroom.
"Dammit Caboose, can't you knock first?!" yelled Tucker.
"Oops. Sorry!" apologized Caboose.
"Well that must be… interesting," said Simmons.
"Interesting? Try annoying. He kept on doing it!" snapped Tucker.
He then reminisced about how he put a bookshelf in front of the bedroom door while him and Kaikana were getting intimate, and then heard a THUD as Caboose ran into the door.
"My bad!"
"CABOOSE!"
"I… see. Is it plausible that he just doesn't understand that you two need your…" Simmons paused; searching for the right words. "Alone time?"
"Oh, it's very plausible. That's why I started putting on cartoons to keep him distracted."
Tucker was hit with another flashback. He put Caboose down in front of the television and turned on some cartoons, before running into the bedroom to tackle Kaikana into the bed.
"Well, that's a tad frustrating," chuckled Simmons.
"Again, virgin," snapped Tucker.
The Pelican made it through the time slip and hovered in the atmosphere of a new planet.
"Team, it looks like we've made it," announced Wash as he looked out the front window. Before the team was a purple-tinted planet, with a haze of blue and green.
"Ambrosia, here we are," announced Carolina to herself.
Grif configured the controls as they began their descent to the new territory.
"How the hell do you keep taking out trees?!" yelled Simmons once they were… partially safe on the ground.
"Look, those trees sprung up out of nowhere," explained Grif. "I can't be held accountable if they jump in front of me while I'm steering."
"Trees don't jump!" screamed back Simmons. The rest of the team sighed as they looked at the Pelican, which was partially dented and damaged from Grif's piloting maneuvers.
"At least we're alive!" snapped Grif as he began to stomp away angrily.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, everyone. Looks like we're exactly where we need to be," said Wash as he pulled up the coordinates.
"Ooooh, these flowers are pretty!" said Donut as he sniffed at a unique purple-pink lily with thorns.
"Careful, some of the vegetation on this planet will—," Wash began to say, before he was interrupted by Donut's screaming.
"GET IT OFF!" The lily sprung out and wrapped itself around Donut's neck. Tucker whipped out his iconic sword, dove and slashed the stem of the flower.
Donut laid on the ground, stunned, having the lone lily dangle from his neck.
"That… was close!" said Donut as he sat up. "Thanks, Tucker!"
"Don't mention it."
Everyone huddled together, avoiding the sporadic lilies that laid before them.
"Great job, Grif. You landed us in a batch of wild attack lilies," sighed Simmons.
"Shaddup, pansy." Grif snapped and stomped on a flower. "Oooooh, look at the scary flower!"
"Come on guys, the coordinates are leading us this way." Wash lead the group through an opening in the field, towards a forest. Carolina matched his stride and walked beside him.
She always felt the need to be aside him, ever since his gun shot to the neck.
"This place is pretty." Caboose commented as he looked up at the thin trees that stretched high above towards the sky.
"Caboose, watch where you're going before you walk into a…" Tucker was suddenly stopped by Caboose's impact as he walked into a tree.
"OW! I'm okay!" Caboose shook off the light trauma before continuing his walk aside Tucker.
"I don't know of any dastardly people who would live out here in the woods. Maybe they're pioneers! Or maybe they're forest rangers?! Or maybe they're cave dwellers?!" Sarge began to ramble on.
"Eres un idiota (You're an idiot)." Lopez said as he matched his pace with Sarge.
"I don't know about that, Sarge. The probability of this being a trap seems highly unlikely given the location, but it's best we keep on guard—" Simmons was saying before Tucker sneezed.
"Virgin!" Tucker sneezed and laughed lightly to himself. Kaikana joined in laughing with him. Simmons turned his head to Tucker, glaring at him through his visor.
"I agree with you, Simmons, that it seems unlikely, but if this person is a Freelancer, we can't dismiss the fact that any location would be ideal for them to catch us off guard," explained Wash as he held his gun out in front of him. He continued to follow the direction that hovered before him in his projection, before noticing something up ahead.
Through the tall, thin trees, he noticed the facing of a rock wall. As they stepped closer, the blinking of his compass began to become rapid.
"That's… odd. It says we're here, but points into the wall." Wash said as he looked over at Carolina. Carolina approached the wall and put her gloved fingers on its rocky surface.
"Feels rather real to me," she said.
"And hard." Donut added as he touched the wall.
"Dammit, Donut!" growled Grif.
"Maybe there's a secret passage?!" Caboose said as he knocked on the rocks. Wash thought for a moment, looking up to measure the height of the rock wall.
"Well… it's definitely not on this place."
"So the only ultimatum is through the wall!" Sarge said as he turned his body to Lopez. "Grenades, Lopez!"
"No! We're not blowing anything up!" Wash quickly said, before Lopez could reach for any grenades that he was carrying. "There's got to b—"
Everyone wheeled around in surprise as the rock wall began to tremble, and a slit began to form right in front of them. Wash motioned for everybody to move back, and they followed his direction. The slit took shape of a doorway; opening its mouth to a darkened tunnel inside.
"Well look at that," said Carolina in awe. "There's a way in."
"I like it when I'm right," said Caboose from the back of the group.
Everyone turned on the lights to their helmets and guns, then slowly began to enter the tunnel. Slowly, a beam of light turned on from above the tunnel, giving light to the rest of their way. Silently, everyone made their way down the corridor.
"If I were hiding, a rock fortress would be a perfect plan to hide from any unsuspecting enemies!" Sarge said as he casted his light over the wall.
"True. It is remote and very well hidden," mumbled Wash. They continued down the path for a few minutes, before noticing it slowly declining downwards. The path curved around a wall, and everyone came to an abrupt stop.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," sighed Grif. "Now what?"
Before them were now two entry ways to other tunnels. The beam of light above them shined and separated down each tunnel. Wash looked over at Carolina before giving a nod.
"Looks like we're taken two teams."
"Are we sure that's smart?" asked Simmons.
"We can cover each tunnel quicker that way," explained Wash. "One group with me, one group with Carolina."
Wash, Sarge, Simmons and Lopez walked down the left tunnel, as Carolina led Tucker, Kaikana, Caboose and Donut down the other tunnel.
"Just stay on guard everyone, we don't know if this could be a –," Carolina began to say, before a metallic door slammed down at the mouth of the tunnel; blocking their escape. "—trap."
Wash heard the slam of something metallic, and his head whipped around to see a metallic door slide down from the ceiling and into the ground; blocking them inside the tunnel.
"Aw, crap."
