The village's inn
"Captain Caboose, wake up. Santa is here to see you. Captain Caboose please wake up, Santa is here to speak with you sir." Freckles announced Santa's presences, who is at the moment staring down at a bigger pink feathered filolial as it stared back at Santa. However, Caboose hasn't even stirred from his sleep not hearing Freckles's announcement. "There's cookies waiting for you, Captain Caboose."
The second Freckles finished saying his sentence, Caboose stood up straight without needing to get up slowly. The second he stood up, he began to frantically look around the room in search for the 'cookies' Freckles mentioned.
"Where are they? I can't see them nor smell them." Caboose said as he looked under the bed mattress and then moved towards the filolial, not noticing it's change in form, nor Santa's hologram by the window, and opened its mouth as he sniffed its breath.
"My apologies, Captain Caboose. Santa has come to check on you." Freckles announced once again this time getting a reaction from Caboose as he looked towards Santa taking notice of his presence this time.
"Oh, Santa. How have you been? How's the North Pole? How's the gang? Are they alright, or are they having trouble finding Lopez's head again?" Caboose asked as he went to put on his helmet
"I am doing fine as I have always been even during my time shut off before your turquoise friend turned on the first tower. And by North Pole, you mean Chorus. It is doing fine as well, as a matter of fact, your friend in turquoise armor turned the tower of recreation yesterday. To add on to that, your friends are tired at the very moment due to the tower being turned off a few hours ago." Santa stated as he followed Caboose's. "How about you noble warrior? How has this world been treating you?"
"It's been quite fun and wholesome here and there. It has been so beautiful here, the way the plains stretch for who knows how long, the way the sun rises and sets over the horizon, the mountains in the distance, and the way there is always a clear blue sky everyday." Caboose said as he shivered in excitement, remembering how the view was back in the castle. "I hope I get to see my friends back in Chorus soon. I have been taking pictures and videos of the place. They'll be amazed with the various places I have been to. Would you like to see them, Santa?"
"I have seen the view already, noble warrior. Save the pictures and videos for your friends once you are finished here, but I am glad to know that you are doing fine in this world. Now next question. Have you caused any trouble to the Shield Hero, Naofumi?" Santa asked.
"Noooooooo." Caboose said slowly, as he moved his eyes towards the door, remembering what yesterday in the morning.
"I see. Well, I'll report back to your friends, telling them that you are doing fine here in Melromarc, and that you haven't caused trouble for your companions." Santa said, as he created a portal and walked through it closing it once none of his hologram could have been seen anymore.
"Bye, Santa." Caboose called out once the portal closed. "Wonder when it'll be the next time he comes back?" he went to pick up Freckles and holstered him onto his back, remembering that today the party won't stay in the inn for the night. When he picked up the filolial, he noticed that it felt a bit more weight now than yesterday.
"Hmmm, did you eat something right now?" Caboose asked the pink feathered chick. The filolial responded with a shake of its head. "Must be my imagination then."
Caboose exited the room and stood at the lobby waiting for his other companions. As he waited for them, guest inns would look at him strange for a few seconds then giggle silently. This was due to the fact he has placed the filolial on top of his helmet, and it would constantly rotate watching the guests move around the lobby. A few children would ask him if they were able to pet it. Not seeing a problem with the idea, he would softly grab the filolial and hold her out towards the children to pet it. The filolial didn't seem bothered at the pets it would receive, in fact when the children moved on from petting it, the pink feathered chick started to flap its wings as if it was asking for attention. Caboose was able to pick up on what it was trying to do, he began to pet the top of its head nice and gently. The filolial nuzzled its head towards Caboose's fingers, enjoying the sensation it felt from the petting.
"You know, you remind me a lot of when Freckles was nothing but a rubble of pieces. However, with the right care, you'll be as strong and beautiful when Freckles was put back together into his original body. A giant walking armored killing Assault Class Mantis Droid, who loved playing fetch,liked to roll over, hand shake, and played tag with other people by using his missiles. Ah what a good time." Caboose said he memorized the time with Freckles when he was in his original body.
"Ah Caboose, you are already here. I was about to go to your and…..why is the filolial bigger?" Caboose looked up to see Raphtalia in front of him with a surprised look.
"What you mean she still looks the same. See." Caboose stated as he lifted it up in front of Raphtalia.
"Ummm, Caboose. It's twice the size from yesterday." Raphtalia said remembering how small the pink feathered chick was.
"Are you sure? Still looks the same to me." Caboose replied looking at the filolial more closely.
"Yeah, it must be because Naofumi-sama. Because he has this growth boost which helps anything grow faster." Raphtalia said, putting two and two together.
"I don't know what you mean, but I am just gonna nod and say yes." Caboose replied, doing as he said. "Yes."
Raphtalia giggles at Caboose's antics before waiting with him for Naofumi. Once he came down, he told them to meet him at the same diner they went last to get breakfast before they left for the hill. As they both left the inn to meet up with Naofumi later, he checked out the rooms they stayed in before heading to the diner.
At the top of the hill
Once they finished with their breakfast, they did what they arranged yesterday and took the path they took yesterday towards the hilltop. Before leaving, they made sure they had everything. After the quick check up, they began their trek back to the hill. It didn't take long as yesterday knowing where they wanted to be already.
When they arrived, they began to set up camp for the coming night. Naofumi told them they were gonna eat fish before nightfall, seeing the river in the distance not too far from the hilltop. After they finished, they took their previous seats from the day before to continue Caboose's storytelling.
"So, where was I left off?" Caboose pondered not being able to remember even though it was yesterday while he settled Freckles on the tree's trunk.
"You were on the part of the alien that 'killed' your friend and you were able to understand it because of Andy the bomb." Naofumi replied, shuddering at the idea of giving a bomb a name, and the fact it could talk.
"Oh right." Caboose said now, remembering where he left off. "As I was saying, Andy helped us understand what the alien was saying. Apparently, it came because Tucker got the sword, and he now needed to do this 'Great Prophecy' that would lead them to a 'great treasure'. So Andy and I accompanied Tucker and Crunchbite on their journey."
"You guys named the alien, Crunchbite?" Naofumi asked with a deadpan look.
"Yes. It was my idea." Caboose replied.
'Because of course it would have been you' Naofumi mentally facepalmed.
"So we went on the journey, through the place me and Tucker have been when we woke up from the explosion, to a very spooky looking jungle where we found out Tex was following us, to a very cold and heavily guarded place. It was so cold. I felt myself get a brain freeze even though I didn't eat ice cream." Caboose said, shivering to show how cold it was. Causing Raphtalia to giggle and the filolial chirp with excitement. "Since the place had guards, Tex offered to take out the guards while the rest of us stayed behind. We were lucky they didn't hear well because they couldn't hear Tex beat up a guy very loud, but heard us from a very far distance."
"What?!" Naofumi chuckled hearing that statement about the guards hearing.
"Fortunately, Tex was able to take care of the guards, and the treasure was within one of the closed complexes, which Tucker opened using the sword. Oh yeah, the sword wasn't just a sword, but a key as well." Caboose stated remembering how the key was useful and useless.
"How does that make sense?" Naofumi asked.
"Well if you think about it, the sword/key can unlock the person's death." Caboose said confidently as if it made sense.
"Understandable." Naofumi said with a look of slight confusion.
"Yeah, apparently there was no treasure, it was actually a purple plane that Crunchbite took off with and got blown up by some white person with a rocket launcher. Tex went after them, leaving me, Tucker, and Andy by ourselves to return back to Blood Gulch." Caboose said as the filolial jumped from Raphtalia's lap and went over to Caboose and jumped onto his lap.
"Guess it wants to be with you for now." Raphtalia said, being a bit surprised by the pink feathered chick. 'Is it possible that it imprinted Caboose as its mother? But if it did, wouldn't it be Naofumi-sama instead due to him being the Shield Hero, or is it the first thing it sees when it imprints?' Raphtalia thought.
"Well, after our little journey returning to Blood Gulch, Tucker became very sick and started to throw up all over the place, a high fever, and ate everything that was in the refrigerator. We both didn't know what happened, so we went to ask Andy about why Tucker was feeling bad, but even he didn't know what's wrong with Tucker. But he did tell us to call a doctor, and even though I knew it was a bad idea, Church called in Doc/O'malley to come over and check Tucker. When he came by, he and Church would be with Tucker and check with him while I stayed outside with Andy til they were done." Caboose said while he was petting the filolial's head.
"The results came in. Tucker was pregnant." Caboose stated as if it was a normal everyday thing.
"Bullshit." Naofumi said, not wanting to believe it, but a side of him told him it was true.
"Nope, Tucker was pregnant with an alien baby, I guess Crunchbite must've done something to him while we were on the journey since he was always hovering over Tucker when we slept. We named him Junior." Caboose replied.
"Naofumi-sama, is it really possible for a male to give birth?" Raphtalia said with a wide eye expression, not believing it as well.
"No, it isn't possible at all." Naofumi said as he looked at the ground as he kept on processing what he just heard. 'Junior, they named an alien baby Junior. I can't believe I'm hearing this crap.' Naofumi was slowly questioning his existence over the experiences Caboose has gone through.
"At the same time that Tucker gave birth, a ship crash landed in Blood Gulch bringing in a new person. Her name was Sister, she seemed really nice, I never understood her when she asked for how 'big it was'. I don't even know my own height." Caboose said, still confused with what she meant.
'Oh I got an idea for what she was asking. Still can't believe he's this innocent? Almost any guy would know what she meant.' Naofumi mentally told himself.
"After she arrived in Blue Base, Tex began to attack us because she didn't know who was infected with O'malley, but we were able to get her to trust us as she told us where she went after the person with the rocket launcher. Apparently this same person was the one that shot Tucker when Church blew up, and he still is after Tucker. So Tex devised a plan in a way to take down both O'malley and this person." Caboose said
"First we connected Sheila to the ship that crashed in Blood Gulch, Tex told me to stay inside the ship to radio in when Sheila was inputted into the ship's mainframe while Church, her, and Tucker went to Red Base. O'malley, Sister, and Junior went into the caves to get themselves lost like Church said they should do. It didn't take long for Sheila to be connected into the mainframe, but something was wrong, the tank disconnected itself even though Sheila said it wasn't her. Then Church radio in saying something about Wyoming was in Red Base, and that they were in trouble, but I didn't understand what he meant. Yet I went anyways even though Sheila kept saying I wouldn't be able to do anything but make things worse." Caboose said
'She probably wasn't wrong.' Naofumi said thinking of the many ways Caboose could have screwed up the situation knowing his intelligence ain't that great.
"But something was very weird. It felt like I died multiple times. Like 3 or 4 times I felt like I had just died" Caboose stated, getting confused looks from Raphtalia and Naofumi.
In another place far away, a certain boy got chills go down his spine as he had just experienced death inside the mansion he was staying at. 'I got a bad feeling about this. And I just died right now. God I hope I could get out of this mess soon.' he thought to himself.
"You felt like you died, but at the same time you were alive?" Raphtalia said as she tried her best to understand the situation.
"Yeah, it was very weird, but when I was approaching the base, Tucker began to shoot at me and told me to get away, so I did as he said and went back to the ship. Once I did, I started to hear a lot of fighting outside, and then I saw the Red's pass by with a warthog. I wanted to see things, so I went back outside and saw a lot of white bodys all over the grounds. They were all the same guy though, don't know why though, they were all just the same person. When the Reds finished the last of the white soldiers, I called out to them to chase me and it worked." Caboose said, feeling proud of himself.
'I don't think doing that did anything, but ok.' Naofumi thought to himself with a smirk.
"Eventually, I hid behind a tree while the Reds kept on searching for me, and they would tell me to come out but I knew it was a tap so I didn't come out, even if they said they had cookies, I resisted. That was until Tex and Church started to use the radio, so I got on the radio because it seemed fun then I forgot what happened next. All I did know was that Church and Tex possessed me for whatever reason they needed for." Caboose said, grabbing Naofumi's attention.
'It was O'malley again wasn't it. That would be the second time he got possessed by that A.I.. And that time at the creek, but he wasn't possessed, yet he can't remember anything just like when the A.I. would take control of him. Is it possible he left a fragment of himself?' Naofumi thought deeply knowing that later in the future there may be a point when he and his party may have to fight Caboose because of what the O'malley A.I. did while he possessed Caboose.
"I noticed everyone was gathered at Blue Base, so I headed that way. When I got there, everyone was acting weird, they all kept talking in a low voice and kept on getting hit on the back by the air. That was until Tex appeared out of nowhere and told us all to run. Then she became the same person when she arrived, with her low voice. She ran towards the ship that Sheila was uploaded into, and Junior was there with another alien. Before she entered the ship, she picked up the white soldier's helmet. Once she entered the ship, it took off into the sky." Caboose said
'Wonder how they stopped her?' Naofumi thought to himself.
"But Sarge was ready with a plan before Tex got on, he laid Andy in a corner Tex couldn't see him. As the ship was about to leave, Sarge ordered Andy to detonate, and began to countdown. The ship left Blood Gulch before it exploded, giving us a lame explosion. For sure, that was one of the lamest explosions ever, I believe someone out there could do better explosions." Caboose complained.
In a place very far away, again, a certain girl was just about to open the doors to an adventurer's guild hoping to find a party to join and find something to eat when shivers went down her spine. She looked behind her for a second, believing someone was looking at her. 'Must just be my hunger acting up, I hope I find a party to join or something. I'll rather not be alone anymore.' she thought to herself.
"But with that finished, we went back to our separate bases, and continued to our regular business as always. Watching each other, arguing about who gets what for breakfast, standing around just talking and asking ourselves 'wonder why we are here?'" Caboose memorized the daily routine back in Blue Base.
"Seems like even if you were all trying to kill each other, you lived peaceful lives before Tex arrived and after she left." Naofumi said
"Yeah. But it didn't last long. Two months later, a lot of us got stationed somewhere else. I was stationed in an outpost called 'Rats Nest' with a different Blue Team. They didn't like me at all. I tried to make friends with the vehicles there, but they never talked like Sheila did. Before long, a man named Agent Washington, who worked for Command, came along to pick me up, and kept asking me about the Omega A.I. I didn't know who this Omega was, so I just figured it was O'malley. Also that he needed help tracking down someone as well. Caboose said.
"What about your friends? Where did they go?" Raphtalia asked.
"I didn't know by the time. Command, which was the place where people gave the rules, didn't tell us where we were being relocated. All I knew was that Sarge, Lopez, and Sister stayed behind." Caboose replied.
"I see." Raphtalia said with a slight tone of sadness. Going unnoticed by Caboose, but Naofumi was able to pick up on her tone.
Knowing that she was a slave and the way she reacted to Caboose being relocated to a different place, he put two-and-two together, and was able to deduce that the slave owner he bought her off wasn't her first owner, and had friends with that previous slave owner.
'Raphtalia must have a past being a slave then, but I'll ask at a proper time. She'll probably like to talk about in private.' Naofumi thought as he looked back at Caboose.
"I didn't know where we were going, so I kept on asking him if we were there yet, but he'll respond by being quiet. Eventually though, we came up to this outpost near to the coast of the beach, it seemed like no one was there at first, but then someone began to shoot at us." Caboose said.
'Well that's one way to greet someone you don't know.' Naofumi thought.
"They began to shout at us to leave, but the voice sounded very familiar. So I shouted out 'CHURCH! CHURCH, ITS ME YOUR ALL TIME BEST FRIEND!', and it turned out it was Church. So he went back to shooting at me again." Caboose said, screaming for the part to interpret what he shouted that day.
"What?" Naofumi chuckled to how Church responded when he found out it was Church.
"Once Church stopped shooting at us, Agent Washington explained the whole situation to Church, from there we went to a different place where Tex's ship crashed. When we got to it, Washington wanted to see if we could have gone through its recording history of what happened before it crashed, and since Sheila was still operational, I asked her to play the recording. It was seconds before she crashed, the alien and Junior jumped off before it ever made impact, but Tex was still in the ship once it crashed. After it crashed, soldiers of Blue Team scavenged the equipment and Tex's body, and took it to base where they began to get 'infected' by Omega. Church asked to take him to Blue Base, but before anything else, Washington got a radio call from Command about someone being in trouble." Caboose said.
"When we arrived there was a fight going on, me and Church took cover left of Washington as he was shooting at a soldier, who was the Meta. Church told me to help a female soldier, from what Washington told us, who was running away. So I began to shoot at her." Caboose stated getting Raphtalia confused.
"But they asked to help her out, right? Why attack her?" Raphtalia asked.
"I'll explain that later to you, Raphtalia. For now let Caboose finish with his story." Naofumi replied to Raphtalia.
"If you say so, Naofumi-sama." Raphtalia said.
"As I was saying, after I helped her out, Washington came to our cover because the Meta went invisible, and Church just realised something about it as he jumped out of cover and went for a rocket launcher not too far away from where we were. Then the Meta reappeared and began to shoot at Church as he ran towards the weapon on the ground, and me and Wahsington had to jump from our cover because by 'accident' a grenade exploded where we were. Definitely wasn't my fault at all." Caboose said getting deadpan looks from both Naofumi and Raphtalia while the filolial began to close its eyes to take a nap on Caboose's lap. "Apparently time must have stopped because the Meta was there a second ago then the next he wasn't. After that we all went towards the fallen soldier, where a green little guy appeared named Delta. I took him since Church didn't want to and we were gonna move on, but the soldier, who went by South, began to speak, not wanting to be left behind. However, Delta had another idea in mind, he told us how South was gonna abandon him like she abandoned her brother and Washington to the Meta previous times, so Washington shot her instead of bringing her with us." leaving both Naofumi and Raphtalia horrified.
'Damn had it coming to her since her first time abandoning someone to this Meta, but why would she even do that especially to her brother.' Naofumi thought, remembering about his brother back home.
"As we were gonna go search for the Meta, Washington and Church got into a conversation about A.I.s apparently being that the A.I.s are all a copy of the main one, Alpha. They were gonna continue talking about it, but Washington got another radio transmission from Command, about getting a transmission from Agent Maine, the Meta. He wasn't too far away, it was in the same place O'malley was when we all got blown into the future. When we got there Washington split us up, I was with Church and Delta, and he went by himself, not wanting to screw it up. While we made our way into the building, where I once got stuck with Tucker and the other Reds, Church asked Delta about Project Freelancer. When we got there, the Meta was gonna start to charge its power suit, and we saw Washington on the other side waiting for the signal, which was him throwing a grenade at the Meta. Even with the moment of surprise, he was beaten giving Meta a chance to escape, Delta suggested that I cut him off before he left the building, and I did as Delta said but the Meta knocked me out before I could have reacted." Caboose said.
"By the time I woke up, Washington found out about Church being a ghost, and that we were going back to where Tex's ship crashed just to get spare seats to go into Command, but the guards weren't too kind about letting us borrow a Warthog. So Sarge came up with a plan to get a jeep, but that wasn't going so well that Washington decided to go help them out while he did that Church went over to Blue Base to see if Tex was there. The Reds blew up the jeep then this ship came out of nowhere and Washington found out about Church being gone, so he went to go check on Church. Once they left the base, Washington finished the ship leaving us to think out of a way to enter Command without being noticed, which I suggested to go by with a tank because they couldn't see inside of it." Caboose said
'Wow, he actually thought of a good idea.' Naofumi thought.
"Once we got there, they sent us to a building, where Washington told me, and the Reds to stay at while Church and himself left to recover the Epsilon A.I.. While they were gone, soldiers from Command found out about us being in the building, but were taken out by the Meta. When Washington came back, we started to leave for the garage where we were all gonna leave, but Church didn't want to stay to help out Washington. It was also there where we found out the truth of Church. He wasn't a ghost, but an A.I., the Alpha A.I.. Church finally decided to stay, but told me to take his body for when he comes back. He never did…..it was the first time Church officially died in my life." Caboose said in a sad tone.
'So it was Church. The friend he lost recently. But he also said first, so what happens next?' Naofumi thought.
"But that's when Epsilon comes in, he is the A.I. of memories from what I heard Washington talk about. Instead of turning it to the authorities, I kept it, so I could tell him of the time I spent with Church and In Blood Gulch, he may become the Church I got to know from Blood Gulch. We were given the bases where Tex crashed, which was named Valhalla, where I began to tell the Epsilon unit stories of the past of my experiences in Blood Gulch, and tried to create a body for him, but seemed the parts that I scavenged from the ship and Tex's body weren't in good condition then I stopped trying to create a body and continued to tell him stories about Blood Gulch." Caboose said, answering Naofumi's question.
'Saying goodbye then wasn't something you didn't want to do then, but if what Santa told me is true. He died again, didn't he?' Naofumi pondered about Church's future.
"I'll say a few days passed by before Donut arrived, and told me about Tucker's message for help. So I thought it would be a good idea to try and get one of the vehicles from the Red's, but I wasn't too good at sneaking. But Sarge and Grif decided to help me with my adventure to reach Tucker. I went back to base to pick up the Epsilon unit, just to not leave him alone. Once I came back, everything was ready and we took our leave by driving under water." Caboose said getting Naofumi very confused.
"I'm sorry. WHAT?" Naofumi asked.
"We drove all the way there." Caboose replied.
"Yeah I know, but one doesn't simply just drive underwater with a car. You gotta be joking? Right?" Naofumi answered in disbelief.
"Nope, the tires were touching the sea floor." Caboose answered back.
"Then how were you guys able to breathe?" Naofumi asked again.
"We had our helmets on." Caboose answered.
"Ok then, you may continue." Naofumi replied. 'I am never gonna get a straight answer from him aren't I? Wonder when those moments will come when he does make sense?' Naofumi thought hoping for better understanding in the future.
"As I was saying then, we drove all the way there, and once we got there it was so sandy and hot, but I did my best not to complain. We were gonna keep going where we saw ruins and a type of gigantic vehicle, but were stopped by someone from in it. They told us that we had entered a minefield. They asked 2 people to guide the jeep while someone stayed behind and drove it, but it didn't work out so we all did our thing and decided to run for it. I got blown up towards the sky, I made contact with the ground within the next 20 minutes." Caboose said, getting both Naofumi and Raphatlia's attention.
"Caboose, if you say that. Wouldn't that mean you could have died there? It seems that you got sent to a height that would have meant death for many people once hitting the ground. So how would it be possible for you to still be alive?" Raphtalia asked, questioning if Caboose was human.
"Well, I don't know how to explain that, but I do know that the sand is very soft. So that could have helped with my landing." Caboose replied.
"I don't think that's how sand works, instead of landing on it, you would have created a hole and continue to fall til you reach the actual floor, which would still kill you." Naofumi stated.
"Well I don't know how the floor works, but I do know that the sand is soft so I believe that's how I made it back to Sarge and Grif." Caboose said.
"Whatever you say, Caboose." Naofumi said while mentally face palming himself.
"Once I regrouped with Sarge and Grif, we were introduced to C.T., a man in charge of some sort of excavation team with aliens and humans, apparently we weren't supposed to be there since it was off limits. So we didn't say anything about Tucker since something seemed fishy about the place already, but that was probably because we went underwater to get there. I went into the gigantic vehicle to see if there was something I could use for the Epsilon unit, but an alien caught me there and held me there as they went to get Sarge and Grif. They were gonna ask us questions, but then someone came to save us and created a distraction for us to escape. As we ran up a hill, we saw Tucker with his sword out, he told us to run into one of the ruins, as he watched our back. Once we were all inside, he closed the entrance to the place, and we had a little reunion with him telling us what he did after Blood Gulch. He became an ambassador for the aliens and human Junior. Did you Junior became a basketball coach for a high school team?" Caboose saud getting a look of disbelief from Naofumi. "Me neither, but anyways. While they talked about what was happening here, I went to look for something that'll help me with the Epsilon unit, and then I found it, a spherical ball that looked like it can hold in an A.I., so while the others kept on talking I started to plug in Epsilon into the ball."
"And that's how the new Church came to exist then?' Naofumi thought.
"Once he started to gain consciousness, he started to make a lot of noise, which attracted the other guys, so when they arrived I tried to explain the situation. Since it would have made more sense, I called him Church, but told the guys that it was Epsilon from the unti, yet since I told him stories of Church his vocal chords were the exact same way Church sounded." Caboose said.
"Wait, so you're saying that. With the stories you told the Epsilon unit, remembered also the way he talked and sounded like. That is technically and electronically impossible. I know that you're from the future and all, but it just doesn't make sense." Naofumi said.
"Nothing makes sense in the future, I mean why create weapons of mass destruction than create the galaxy's biggest waterpark. It is much more fun and enjoyable than going around killing. Where's the fun in that?" Caboose said.
"Wel, I guess I won't have an answer right now. So what happened after you uploaded 'Church' into the floating ball?" Naofumi said, wanting to continue the story instead of getting the answer to his question.
"Well after they found out about him, it wasn't long before they brought down the entrance to the ruin, and trapped us by one of the rooms. When they saw Church, C.T. wasn't very happy and asked one of his men to bring him down, the aliens didn't like that, and began to attack their human teammates. We all were able to chase C.T. out of the ruin and went after him in a Warthog, ours wasn't very well made for attacking though. We only had one shot because the Warthog was designed to automatically shut down after shooting and we missed our shot, so we used our next shot to take down two of his men. But Tucker took care of C.T. in the end. After all that went down, we couldn't leave because the aliens seemed much more happy that we were there with Church than us taking him back to Valhalla." Caboose said.
'There must have been some sort of religion then if the aliens acted like that towards those that mistreated, or the technology into their hands.' Naofumi thought.
"We were gonna try to find a way to leave without the aliens noticing, but they always kept on following me since they saw me closer with Church, which is why when Sarge, Grif, and Church went missing for some time, they went after me. I was on top of a column when I saw Sarge walking towards us, and told the aliens to go after him instead of me. Unfortunately, they didn't have Church, so me and the Reds ran for it leaving Tucker behind with the aliens. We found Church by the minefields for some reason, and Delta spoke to me when we took him out of there. Something about 'Memory is the key' which got me very confused, but would be explained once Church regained consciousness. When he did, he asked me if I can transfer him into something bigger like a human body, and I said yes. So we took off walking to some storage facility where we found Filss, who was actually Sheila. She kept on calling Church 'Director' though, but he used it as an advantage to enter the facility. From there we went into a room where there were a ton of Churches, but he ignored them all and went towards the middle a pod was set up. Tex was in that pod, and the second we opened it, she went crazy and started destroying a lot of the bodies. I decided to wait outside while Church tried to calm her down. As that was happening inside the Reds arrived, but then Tex began to punch the door I was in front of. So I did the smart thing any person would do in that situation, and walked away. Once I reached some sort of room with controls that were connected to the windows…….hell broke loose."Caboose said remembering how Tex trashed the Reds and Tucker.
"Caboose I understand Tex is probably a trained soldier and all, but it was you and the Reds right? You guys could have taken her right?" Naofumi asked.
"Well actually it was Tucker who was in the fight with the Reds, I just stayed in the room watching. Poor Grif, he won't be able to make babies anymore." Caboose said, getting a wide eyed look of disbelief from Naofumi. "And Sheila said 'Tex is a bit of a badass', which meant it would be very hard to take her down."
"Understandable." Naofumi replied not wanting to imagine what happened to Grif.
"Church tried to stop her but failed miserably, but I was able to solve the day by putting everyone in an armor lock, which meant they couldn't move at all. Church was first to be released from it then it was Tucker, the Reds, and finally Tex after knowing she won't attack anyone, but attacked Tucker either ways. Then Tex and Church began to talk about Alpha and this Director, it wasn't long before both of them left for some base to look for more clues. A few hours passed by when Sheila received a Recovery Beacon, it was from Church, so I went to task the Reds and Tucker for help. First the Reds didn't want to go, but after a very inspirational speech from Sarge they decided to come with, and fortunately for us we found a ship where we all could have fit in. Once we arrived there, we crashed it and left it to fall down the side of the cliff. We saw Church with Agent Washington by a storage unit, but it looked like it was in very bad shape. Washington told us, but Church, to look for batteries or equipment to see if he can fix it, so we did as he asked. A few minutes passed when a fight started outside, as we went back outside the Meta was fighting Washinton. The Reds went to go help Washington and Tucker as well went to aid them, but he asked me to watch over Church where Doc showed up as well. Don't know where he came from though. It seemed like the guys were losing, but I know the Reds, they can do
anything, especially with a Warthog there. So they hooked a steel chain that was connected to the Warthog to the Meta, and threw him off the cliff with it." Caboose said.
"Ok. Thats pretty hardcore." Naofumi said, being impressed by how the Reds took down the Meta.
"Once that was over, Church and I went back to the storage unit to see how it was, he told me that he was gonna go in to bring back Tex from there. I didn't want him to go though, I thought he may not make it back, but he told me to just remember him if he didn't come back.'Memory is the key', like Delta had said, so he went inside to try and bring back Tex but he didn't make it in time. The storage unit lost power, and closed down. There wasn't a way for him to come back til we found some sort of right equipment to fix the storage unit." Caboose said with a slight hint of sadness. "I wasn't too sad about it, I know he was still alive, but he was very far away at the time but alive he was nonetheless. In a way to make things better, we asked Washington to put on Church's armor before the authorities arrived. They weren't able to recognize him, and let us go back to Vahalla. Washington asked us why we did it, we all replied that he helped us take down the Meta, if he hadn't I wouldn't actually be here, the Meta was very scary." Caboose said.
It was noon once Caboose finished telling his other side of his experiences. Naofumi looked up to see where the sun was. As the sunlight blinded him, he was able to tell it was directly above them, which meant it was barely noon for them. As Naofumi stood up to stretch his legs from all the sitting, he heard someone's stomach grumble. He turned to look at Caboose, but he was busy petting the filolial, so he turned to look at Raphtalia to see her with an embarrassed look on her face.
"I think for now we'll put a hold on your story telling Caboose, I am going to go get some fish down from the river. Raphtalia would you like to stay with Caboose and the filolial, or would you like to come with me and help me get some fish?" Naofumi asked Raphtalia as she looked back to Caboose with the filolial on his lap sleeping.
"I think I'll stay with Caboose, Naofumi-sama. You know, just to make sure he doesn't think of a way to send our new companion through the sky." Raphtalia said with a giggle.
"As you wish." Naofumi said with a smile as he rolled his eyes and began to go down hill towards the river.
'Hopefully, it won't take too long.' Naofumi mentally said as he started to think up ways to catch them.
3 hours later
'Ok, next time, don't use Shield Prison unless I have a net under it.' Naofumi mentaly noted it. 'Hopefully, they are alright with being a bit late with the fish.'
As he began to walk up the hill, he began to hear a faint sound of laughter coming from the top of the hill. Not knowing what it is, he began to move faster. As he began to near the top, the laughter grew louder and identifiable as well as he heard someone else talking, not too loud, but hearable. Once he made it to the top, he could see Raphtalia on the floor laughing, and saw Caboose being chased around by the filolial. He kept on running around the tree as the baby chick followed pursuit. Noticing he was there, Caboose asked for help.
"OH NEFUMO, CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE? I THINK THE FILOLIAL WANTS SOMETHING TO EAT, BUT BEGAN TO PECK ME AS IF I WERE FOOD. BUT NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE, YOU COULD SHOW IT YOU HAVE FOOD. CAN YOU PLEASE SHOW IT YOU FOOD PLEASE?" Caboose explained and pleaded loudly.
As he waited for Naofumi to help him out, the Shield Hero just stayed there standing looking at the situation in front of him then he looked down at Raphtalia who kept on laughing. Then he looked back at Caboose being chased around by the filolial, and slowly Naofumi began to laugh at the scene in front of him. As he laughed, he made sure the fish wouldn't fall from their basket. He slowly began to kneel down next to Raphtalia as he continued to laugh at Caboose.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MOOoof." Caboose was about to finish but tripped himself as he passed a tree's root.
"Well that wasn't good. Wait."Caboose said as he looked behind him as the filolial got ready to pounce on him. "Please don't." he pleaded.
The filolial seeing Caboose in a vulnerable state jumped at him aiming for his visor. All Caboose could have done was scream as the baby chick made impact with his visor and began to peck at his helmet while Naofumi and Raphtalia continued to laugh in the background.
"Captain Caboose, why must you embarrass yourself in front of others." Freckles said witnessing the whole event from where he was laid up against the tree.
To be continued