In the barn
The sun had just risen above the treetops as the sunlight entered the barn through its tiny holes from the wooden walls. Caboose and Filo slept on the left side of the barn where one of the farmers suggested. The blue armored soldier did not take off his helmet for the night, wanting to keep the tears that slid down his face from being seen. The only indications of Caboose being emotional were the sniffles that could have been heard at the time. Silently, he cried himself asleep telling himself 'Memory is the key'.
As the sun slowly ascended the sky, the same farmer that recommended the spot for the filolial, was walking towards said barn to check up on Filo. When he walked into the barn he was left with a shocked look, the filolial was gone. Caboose was the only one to be seen on the spot, alongside Freckles who remained on the same spot where Caboose left him for the recording.
"Friendly civilian, detected." Freckles announced.
"Oh dear, this can't be the filolial is gone." the farmer said with a panicked tone. "What am I going to tell the Shield Hero?"
"Negative, Filo is still in the area." Freckles said, hearing what the farmer said.
"Impossible, I can't see her. It's not like she could have gone invisible." the farmer answered with a louder voice.
With the noise, a sudden rustle could be heard under the blanket Caboose covered himself with. Under the covers, the shape of a head could be seen as the blanket moved. Removing the blanket off itself, a naked little girl with pale skin, straight blond hair, light blue eyes, and small wings on her back. She looked between the ages of 6-8.
As she sat up right, she turned to look at the farmer as he continued to stare in disbelief. She closed her eyes and smiled.
"Good morning." she greeted with a joyful tone.
"Good morning, Private Filo." Freckles greeted back.
"Good morning, Freckles." Filo addressed back.
'I need to let the Shield Hero.' the farmer thought "Stay where you are, I'll be right back." he said as he took off running towards the inn Naofumi stayed at.
"Ok." Filo answered with a happy expression then turned towards Caboose who was still asleep. "Looks like Caboose is still asleep. Guess I'll wait for him to wake up." she said as she wrapped her arms around the blue armored soldier's left arm and leaned her body on him.
Village's nurse
"How are you feeling, Raphtalia?" Naofumi asked, sitting himself down next to the demi-raccoon's bed.
"Well, aside from the pains I get from a sudden movement, everything is fine. The nurse told me that I should be able to walk by tomorrow, but other than that, to take it easy. No carrying heavy objects, moving too much, and resting more often. I do hope that I won't be such a hassle for you, Naofumi-sama." Raphtalia answered.
"Hey, if one of my party members gets injured, I'll take it easy. In fact, I'll probably have Caboose take care of you if necessarily. But that is if only, he knows how to take care of an injured person." Naofumi stated.
"I'll say he does, just needs to be told to be gentle with the person. Hehehe-." Raphtalia with a slight giggle. Following the giggle, she suddenly felt a jolt of pain. "he-Oocuh."
"You alright?" Naofumi asked, with slight concern.
"Yes...just like I said, Naofumi-sama. A sudden movement may cause a bit of an ache, but don't worry it's just a short jolt of pain. Nothing too bad." Raphtalia reassured.
"Alright then…...What you think of Caboose so far?" Naofumi said.
"Well, I could for sure say that he is a very friendly person, even if his intelligence isn't the best for him, he knows what he is doing. He is very strong that's for sure, but so soft and pure at that as well. Like he always sees the bad in front of it, but ignores it and replaces it with a brighter image. With everything he's gone through, he still smiles. I feel like him being here with us, is gonna lead us to a different route. A route that is less darker than the one we were on as of a few days ago. When he first appeared and got in the way from that spell that Myne person sent your way with you not realizing it. Not immediately, but the feeling was there that a huge change was gonna come. Wouldn't you say so as well, Naofumi-sama." Raphtalia said.
"Yeah, I feel that as well. Our path is gonna have its rough bumps, but I think we'll be able to get over them. I do feel like some weight was lifted off my shoulders." Naofumi said with a small smile then he gave a tired sigh. "But I do agree about his intelligence. If anything, I think it just may give us a few problems here and there."
"Yeah, but we'll be there to correct him if needed." Raphtalia said.
At that second, the door opened with a quick push from an out of breath farmer. Naofumi quickly stood from his seat next to Raphtalia and turned towards the door with his shield up. The farmer raised both his arms up to show that he wasn't a threat, but wasn't able to say anything. Naofumi just gave a sigh and lowered his shield.
"You could have at least knocked instead of barging in, I could have attacked you out of self defense." Naofumi said as he looked at the farmer who was getting his breath back. "So what brings you here?"
"Sir Hero, it's about the filolial. She seems to be gone and-" the farmer said.
"What?!" Naofumi interrupted with alarm. "What do you mean she's gone?!"
"I couldn't find her at all, but there's a naked young girl there. She was under the blue armored soldier's blanket." the farmer said quickly, not wanting to get the Shield Hero upset.
After the farmer said that the whole room went silent. Naofumi just stared at the farmer with wide eyes, and Raphtlia had both her hands covering her opened mouth. Both couldn't believe what they heard, especially for Naofumi due to where he comes from.
"Raphtalia, I would be right back. I'm going to check things out, I'll tell you everything once I come back." Naofumi said as he walked towards the door as the farmer moved aside.
"Of course, I hope nothing bad happened." Raphtalia said.
'I wonder if this world has its own version of the FBI because I don't want to deal with that shit. Especially with Caboose.' Naofumi mentally said as he walked all the way from the village nurse to the barn Caboose and Filo slept in.
In the barn
When Naofumi got there, Freckles greeted him, which he replied back, and it was as the farmer said, the filolial was nowhere to be seen. He then turned to look at Caboose where he also saw the naked Filo, draped on Caboose's arm, sleeping. He stared at them as he took the time to process the situation in front of him.
"Freckles, what exactly happened last night?" Naofumi asked as he turned to look at Freckles.
"Around 2:48 am, Filo transformed into a small child. It is possible that this may be part of her being raised by you." Freckles stated.
"I don't think me being the Shield Hero would have an effect of turning a giant bird into a small kid. Unless being a lolicon contributes to that, which I am not." Naofumi said with a deadpan expression. "I think we're gonna need to pay the slave owner another visit for more information, unfortunately."
"Affirmative, I'll wake Captain Caboose and Private Filo." Freckles said.
"Wait, why did you give Filo a rank?" Naofumi asked with slight confusion.
"She joined the party as of recent, unless parties don't follow the ranking system. I'll remove it at once if not." Freckles said.
"Yeah, please do, I would rather just call them by name without adding rank into it, and I thought the reason you call Caboose 'captain' was because he is an actual captain." Naofumi said.
"He is and continues to be for soldiers in Chorus, which is why I call him 'Captain Caboose'." Freckles stated.
"Well that does make more sense...wait. If you gave a rank to Filo. What rank am I and Raphtalia?" Naofumi asked with interest.
"You are under the Major category and Raphtalia Lieutenant Colonel." Freckles answered.
'Major Naofumi Iwatani, doesn't sound too bad. Lieutenant Colonel Raphtalia, she sounds like a woman you don't want to mess with.' Naofumi said, imagining himself and Raphtalia in military uniforms. "But yeah, drop the ranking for me, Raphtalia, and Filo, but you could continue to call Caboose with his ranking."
"As you wish." Freckles acknowledged. " Captain Caboose and Filo, it is time to wake up." he said with a louder voice, increasing his volume.
The first one to stir was Filo, she seemed a bit drowsy due to her recently falling asleep again. She rubbed her eyes as she began to get her surroundings again. Once she regained her vision she turned to look at Naofumi, noticing his presence when she woke up from her short nap.
"Good morning, master." Filo greeted with a smile.
"So it is you Filo. It would have been a problem if it was a random young girl who slept with Caboose in the barn." Naofumi said.
"I'm hungry." Filo said
"Is that really the first thing you say after waking up." Naofumi said with a sigh. He then turns to look at Caboose who was still asleep. "Did Caboose sleep late or is he a heavy sleeper?"
"Captain Caboose…..had an emotional night, he slept around 2:02 am, moments before Filo turned into a small child." Freckles stated.
"Oh…..is he alright?" Naofumi said with a frown.
"Captain Caboose is at 100%; however, he has a triggering mechanism that brings him into a state of sadness. The word 'goodbye' is what will cause his emotions to erupt. He can suppress them to keep them from being known, only those that are close to him will he show his true emotions such as sadness." Freckles said.
"It's about his best friend, Church, isn't it?" Naofumi said.
"Affirmative, at times he tells himself that if he keeps on caring about him, he may come back. Captain Caboose doesn't believe in an afterlife, he believes that when an individual dies they could come back if the people close to the individual care about them. Since Church has died countless times, he believes that if he cares about him enough he may come back. The rest of the Reds and Blues don't try to change his mind because if they tell him the truth, he may not respond to it well. When he heard Church's farewell back in Charon's ship, he broke down. After that day, he was quieter than before and stayed in his room for long periods of time and only came out of his room for meals or for fresh air. At night, he would either cry himself to sleep or go to another of his companions and ask to watch over him while he slept. He believed if Church were to return at night, they would wake him up so he could be there to greet him back." Freckles said.
"That's upsetting. How long has this been going on?" Naofumi asked
"A week has passed since Church's passing." Freckles answered.
"So it's still fresh on his mind then." Naofumi said.
"Affirmative, I should also say that he tells himself 'Memory is the key', in a way it's his way of telling himself to never forget about him. That phrase came from the A.I. Delta, it was used to find the Epsilon A.I. to bring down Project Freelancer. Now it's a way for him to never forget what he doesn't want to lose forever." Freckles said.
"Damn, a phrase used in a master plan to bring down an organization now used to remember someone, never knew words can be shifted in such a way." Naofumi said.
"Affirmative." Freckles stated.
"Well then, Filo, you come with me. We're gonna get something for you to wear and introduce you to Raphtalia since I promised her I'll tell her everything that happened once I cleaned things up." Naofumi said.
"Ok, master." Filo replied.
"Freckles wake Caboose up in a few minutes, I think he still needs a bit more time to re-energize from last night. Tell him to come to the village nurse, we'll be waiting for him there. I'll come pick him up if he takes long." Naofumi said as he began to walk away with Filo.
"Affirmative." Freckles acknowledged.
A few steps away from the barn, Naofumi began to process everything that Freckles told him about how Caboose is taking everything in.
'For a machine to know how his owner thinks and feels. Well that's some deep shit if I ever seen or heard of it before. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, they are from the future, maybe they thought about it at some time.' Naofumi thought.
"Is something the matter, master?" Filo asked.
"No." Naofumi said as he turned to look at Filo. "Oh that reminds me." he began to take off his green cape off and covered the child with it. "You're gonna have to wear that for now until we find your clothing for you. Got it?"
"Ok, master." Filo said with a smile.
'Hopefully no one saw Filo naked as we walked out of the barn because I don't want to go through that shit.' Naofumi thought with a shudder.
Village's nurse
"Well Filo, I didn't expect for you to turn into a small child in a short amount of time especially after the fact that you barely involved into a bigger filolial." Raphtalia said with amazement, just finding out that Filo became a bigger bird yesterday.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you that when I came to check on you. My bad." Naofumi said "To be honest, I was trying to hold in my surprise when I saw her as a bigger filolial, I thought the one you rode with yesterday was gonna be her final form, but apparently me raising her must have had a bigger effect on her. Must be because of me being the Shield Hero then."
"It'll make much more sense that way, but I didn't know filolials could grow bigger than the ones we have been seeing around in the city." Raphtalia said.
"The more you learn, I guess." Naofumi said.
There were a couple of knocks from the door, Naofumi told the person outside to come in. Caboose could be seen walking into the room with Freckles holstered on his back. When Filo saw Caboose, she immediately jumped towards him and gave him a hug.
"Good morning, Caboose." Filo greeted gleefully.
"Good morning!" Caboose greeted with a joyful tone as he gave Filo a hug as well. "Good morning Nefumo and Raphtey."
"Good morning Caboose." Naofumi and Raphtalia said at the same time.
"Soooo….who's the little girl?" Caboose asked, still holding Filo in his arms.
"It's me Caboose, Filo." Filo said with a smile.
"Filo? But that's impossible. Filo is a bird. You are a little girl." Caboose said as he looked Filo over then turned to look towards Naofumi and Raphtalia. "Did you guys have a baby?"
Immediately, Raphtalia grew red as Naofumi got red as well. Both had different reactions, Raphtalia looked at Naofumi and looked away. Naofumi just stared at Caboose with his eyes wide. Caboose tilted his head as he looked at both his party members.
"Caboose, do you know how a baby works?" Naofumi asked.
"Yes, it's when lovers get together and send a letter through the air for a child then the stork comes by with the baby." Caboose stated, which Naofumi just face palmed.
"Isn't when they both kiss, and the female gets pregnant?" Raphtalia asked, Naofumi just turned around with a deadpan expression.
"I'm gonna have to teach you how babies are made then, but not now. And besides, a baby wouldn't be the size of a 9 yr old in a few days." Naofumi said as he looked back at Caboose.
"Actually yes, if you give them milk their bones will grow and become strong making them taller than their actual age height." Caboose expressed.
"That doesn't make sense! How would you be tall with the amount of milk you drink?! If that were the case I would be as tall as you or taller!" Naofumi said with a loud voice, not knowing people outside the village nurse could hear him.
"If it's chocolate milk then it won't work because it's chocolate." Caboose said.
"WHAT! It only changes the flavor and sugar in it, not the whole milk itself!" Naofumi said with slight annoyance. 'WHY AM I EVEN HAVING THIS CONVERSATION? ITS MILK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!'
Before Naofumi could continue to argue with Caboose, a portal appeared in front of Raphtalia's bed, stopping any form of conversation from continuing. It stayed open doing nothing for a couple seconds until Santa came out.
"Good morning Caboo-" Santa greeted but abruptly stopped himself as he looked around the room. Everyone in the room just stared at him as the only noise to be heard is the portal and of villagers that walked by the window. "Am I disrupting anything at the moment?"
"Hey Santa, we were talking about ba-" Caboose said before being interrupted by Naofumi.
"Actually no, we just got here. So what brings you here, Santa?" Naofumi said, not wanting to continue the conversation.
"I am only here to check on Caboose knowing his friends would want to know about his whereabouts, but it would seem that is going well for you all. Well not everyone" Santa said as he looked at Raphtalia."
"It was an accident during a race yesterday." Raphtalia replied sheepishly. "I was sent flying from my ride and Caboose caught me before I impacted the ground, but his armor was too hard to soften up my fall."
"I see, Caboose do try to not injure your companions when helping them." Santa stated as he turned to look at Caboose.
"OK." Caboose said with a thumbs up.
"It would also seem that you have added a new member to your party, Naofumi." Santa said as he looked at Filo.
"Oh yeah, her name is Filo, she's the filolial that I got from an egg raffle. For some reason though she's a little girl now. I would say it must be an effect since she's being raised by a Cardinal Hero, but that would only make sense if she evolved into a bigger bird." Naofumi answered.
"Interesting, it would seem as the world has its own rule for the heroes." Santa said as he got closer to Filo. She kept on staring at him with awe.
"I must say though, it's quite an experience to see you up this close. I was being held hostage on the day both you and Caboose appeared. When you grew in size I was only able to see your upper body, but now that you're here, it's quite fascinating seeing in person knowing that you are from another world." Raphtalia said, looking at Santa as he moved towards Filo.
"Don't forget he is also a hologram." Caboose said with amusement.
"Hologram?" Raphtalia said with confusion.
"What Caboose is trying to say is that I am but an object that could go through other objects if my settings allow it, which it does. I can also take no physical harm, move to spot in the blink of an eye without needing to move a muscle as you humans and demi-humans have to. For example," Santa said before appearing on the other side of Raphtalia's bed. "As long as it's within my range I would be able to move wherever I want."
"Amazing." Raphtalia said with awe.
"That reminds me, Santa could I talk to you in private, there's something I need to ask of you." Naofumi said with a serious look.
"Of course Shield Hero, lead the way." Santa said before disappearing.
"I'll be right back, this shouldn't take long." Naofumi said before walking out the door.
"Soooooo, how are you feeling?" Caboose asked as he turned to look at Raphtalia.
"I should be able to walk by tomorrow." Raphtalia said with a smile. "But I'll have to take it slow, so no adventures for me for now."
"Awww, that sucks." Caboose replied.
"Caboose, the portal is still open." Filo said, causing both Raphtalia and Caboose to look towards the portal. The portal was still open as Filo said, giving Caboose an idea.
"Hey Filo, wanna see Chorus, where I came from?" Caboose asked, alerting Raphtalia.
"Ummm, Caboose I don't think that's a good idea. Santa and Naofumi will be back in a bit, it'll be best if we just wait for them to come back." Raphtalia stated with a nervous smile.
"Oh don't worry, I know what I'm doing. So, wanna go check out Chorus, Filo?" Caboose said.
"If it's with you Caboose, of course." Filo said.
"Alright then, follow me!" Caboose said with excitement. "Oh I can't wait for you to meet my friends." Caboose entered the portal as Filo followed pursuit.
"No wait! Oh no, I don't like where this is going." Raphtalia said with slight urgency.'I hope they don't get into trouble. I mean it's Caboose, he won't cause anything to get her into trouble. R-right?'
Behind the village nurse
"I think this will be a good spot." Naofumi said as Santa reappeared in front of him.
"Then what is it you'll like to know, Naofumi?" Santa asked.
"It's about Caboose, you see, when he joined my party I took a look at his stats and what he can do. He has this ability called 'O'malley's Take Over', if activated, Caboose's second personality takes over for 3-5 minutes depending on the situation. He'll becomes much more skillful in attacks and decisions." Naofumi said, taking a look at the ability as he told Santa about it.
"I see, yes it is true, each time O'malley came to possess Caboose during combat, he'll become more precise with his plan of attack, but if you're telling me this it's because there is something negative about it." Santa said.
"Yeah, his attacks will become more brutal and aggressive, and may indeed turn against us if entered in a state of pure hatred or anger. Is there anything familiar to what I just said when this 'O'malley' has taken over Caboose?" Naofumi asked.
"From what I researched about Caboose, no. There has never been a case when Caboose has turned against his friends or companions due to him being enraged or loathed an individual. He only has injured them by 'accident'." Santa said
"Why did you emphasize the word accident?" Naofumi asked with slight confusion.
"That's isn't important at the moment." Santa said, getting a deadpan look from Naofumi. "If I were to put my thought into it, I would say this 'ability' is something that was placed on him when he entered the world. A combination of O'malley when he was inside Caboose's mind and the powers this world has."
"That would make sense, I just hope it never comes to the case it activates." Naofumi said.
"I would advise to avoid any situation that may lead to Caboose feeling any of the labeled emotions. If possible, try to engage with enemies or opponents that won't trigger these emotions." Santa said as the Shield Hero thought of the many possibilities that may occur in the future.
"I'll see what I can do if it comes in the future." Naofumi said as he looked back at Santa. "Well that was something I needed to discuss really. Let's go back into the room." Naofumi said as he began to walk back.
"Of course." Santa said, disappearing from sight once again.
When they got back inside the room, Naofumi noticed that Caboose and Filo were gone, and that Raphtalia seemed a bit alerted in her bed.
"Raphatlia, what's wrong? Where's Filo and Caboose?" the Shield Hero asked. Raphtalia slowly pointed towards the opened portal as Naofumi eyes widened. 'Oh shit.'
"Hmmm, it would seem Filo wanted to explore what was on the other side of the portal. Would you like to retrieve them back?" Santa asked.
"I'll rather know they are here than being on the other side. It may be the place where Caboose came from, but I got a bad feeling about what's happening on the other side." Naofumi said with images of a Filo riding a tank. "Let's go retrieve them before they blow up a building."
"Follow me then. Oh and brace yourself, it feels nausea when you come out the other side." Santa said moving towards the portal as the Shield Hero followed behind.
"We'll be right back, hopefully they don't blow anything up." Naofumi said as both of them entered the portal.
"B-blow up…...what?" Raphtalia asked in an uneasy tone. 'I knew it was a bad idea for them to go through the portal.'
Kimball's Office (Chorus)
A few minutes before Naofumi and Santa came back, Caboose and Filo had just gone through the portal. Caboose looked around to see where they were while Filo hunched over and threw up due to the nausea feeling from the portal. The blue soldier was able to identify the room as Kimball's office.
"You ok Filo?" Caboose said as he bent down to rub Filo's back.
"I..don't think..I'll eat breakfast..for now." Filo said between hiccups.
"What do you mean, breakfast is the most important meal out of the day. If you don't eat, you'll not be able to make it through the day." Caboose said. "Stay right here, I'll go find a doctor."
Caboose moved towards the door that was on the other side of the door. However, he didn't know that there were 2 individuals moving towards the door as well. As the door opened, Caboose made impact with the person to the left. The blue soldier stayed standing as the person that he ran into was sent tumbling towards the ground.
"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FUCKING GOING!" a familiar voice shouted.
"Principal Kimball, I didn't know that was you." Caboose said, announcing his presence.
"Captain Caboose?! Wh-what are you doing here, you're supposed to be on another planet. Oh shit! I am sorry for my language, please forgive me. I thought you were just a soldier that doesn't pay attention to his surroundings." Kimball apologized.
"It's ok, I don't pay attention to my surroundings at times as well." Caboose said, forgiving Kimball as she got up from the ground.
"Why are you here, Captain Caboose? I thought you were on another planet." another familiar voice said.
"Dr. Grey?" Caboose said.
"Yes it's me, hii. Sorry I didn't make myself present, I just love reunions. Even if they have a weird start or finish." Dr. Grey said.
"That makes sense, I would do that as well." Caboose agreed.
"But back to the topic, what are you doing here?" Dr. Grey asked.
"Right, well Santa came to check on me then Nefu wanted to ask him something privately, so Sanata left, leaving the portal. So I asked Filo if she wanted to come, and she said yes….oh wait that reminds me. She's throwing up in the room." Caboose said.
"Wait what?" Kimball said
"Another person from another world is throwing up in the office. Of course I would check on them. That's why you ran into Kimball right? To look for a nurse or doctor." Dr. Grey said.
"You are so smart." Caboose said.
"Thank you, now let's go check on her." Dr. Grey said, taking the lead as Caboose and Kimball followed behind her.
They went around the portal and spotted Filo still hunched over throwing up. Dr. Grey crouched down with her, and took out her medical tool (plasma weapon) and aimed it at Filo. Caboose went over to Filo and patted her back while Kimball went to her desk and called for a janitor.
"Well, she's just feeling a little sick from the trip through the portal, it'll be best for her to rest a bit before she goes back into the portal." Dr. Grey said putting her tool away.
"Ok, you heard that Filo, you are gonna have to wait a bit before we go through the portal again." Caboose said. Filo nodded her head as she stopped vomiting on the floor.
"It would seem she doesn't have anything else in her stomach to throw out anymore. Lean her on the wall over there where the ventilation hits the least, it'll refresh her slowly, we don't want her to get sicker with the air hitting her directly." Dr. Grey stated.
Caboose did as told and moved Filo away from the vents that brought in cool air. He leaned her towards the wall to the right where a double way door led to a balcony to the outside, overlooking a city landscape of moving air traffic and city lights. It was night time in the city when the blue soldier and child went through the portal. It was lively with cars moving around in the streets as if they were ants, and airships moving around in the sky.
A few seconds passed by before Santa and Naofumi appeared from the portal, the Shield Hero slipping on Filo's vomit and landing on it. Dr. Grey, who was checking the child's temperature, turned around to see the commotion as Kimball looked up from her paperwork.
"What the hell did I just walk on?" Naofumi asked with an uneasy feeling.
"It would seem as you are feeling nauseous already, and you stepped on what would seem to be human waste." Santa said, causing Naofumi to groan.
"Is there a trash can around here, I don't think I'm feeling too well." Naofumi said as he held his stomach.
"Here, use this." Kimball said, who had gotten up from her desk. She held a trash can, knowing what was next.
"Thanks." Naofumi thanked him before releasing his lunch into the trash can.
"Santa, next time this happens, please let me know. I don't want guests to be throwing up in my office." Kimball said as she returned to her desk.
"Of course, I'll remember for the next time a situation like this happens." Santa said as he looked towards Naofumi he kept throwing up in the trash can.
"It would seem like none of these people ever teleported to a different planet." Dr. Grey said who grabbed an orange from Kimball's desk.
"Oh hey, Nofe, what are you doing here?" Caboose asked while the Shield Hero kept on vomiting into the trash can.
"We came to retrieve you and the child, Caboose. He believed that you both would cause problems if you stayed here for too long, but it would seem as if nothing of what Naofumi believed had happened." Santa said, moving towards Kimball's desk.
"Ohhh, yeah that would make sense, you never know what may happen." Caboose agreed.
"Like that time I left you the rifle for a couple of seconds, what a busy day at the hospital." Dr. Grey said, peeling the skin from the orange.
"Yeah, Tucker did it." Caboose said.
A few seconds passed by before Naofumi stopped vomiting. He brought his head out of the trash can and breathed in the air to regain his surroundings. Then he looked around to see where he was since he wasn't able to when he first arrived. He looked down on his spot to see that Filo's waste was on the ground.
"Well that's just great." Naofumi said as he slowly got up from his position.
"You could step out towards the balcony over there to get some fresh air. I already called for a janitor to come clean up, I'll have him give you a quick clean up as well." Kimball said, still looking at the paper work around her desk.
"Thanks." Naofumi said as he talked towards the balcony. He then noticed Filo by the wall, he was gonna head over to her before he saw Dr. Grey feeding the child slices of an orange.
"She'll be fine, she's just a little sick from her trip through the portal. All she needs a bit of time to rest and a little something to get her blood flowing to make up for her nauseousness." Dr. Grey said as she turned to look at Naofumi, noticing his presence. "Can you give me a moment, I need to check you up very quick, to see if you have any side effects. Caboose can you continue to give her slices of orange while I give your companion a quick check up."
"Ok." Caboose said as he walked over to both of them and took the orange from Dr. Grey. "Ok FIlo, say ahh." Filo opened her mouth as Caboose fed her the slice.
Dr. Grey moved towards Naofumi as she reached for her medical tool and aimed at Naofumi. His instincts took over and prepared to defend himself as he raised his shield in a defensive position, which Dr. Grey just waved away.
"I'm just gonna check your vitals, you must be from the past if you don't know that doctors use equipment that looks like weapons to check their patients. But I won't lie when I say that you can indeed turn this tool into a weapon by overriding its systems that can be used to create a short EMP to disable your opponent." Dr. Grey stated as she showed the Shield Hero the tool.
"So how would you protect yourself if you only carry that medical tool around?" Naofumi asked, still in a defensive position.
"Easy, I'll dissect my attacker on the spot, I may not have my tools but I can always use a lamppost to open the skull of a human being." Dr. Grey said with great enthusiasm.
"Yeah you can check me up already." Naofumi said quickly. 'Jesus, I think I may develop a fear of doctors now because of her.'
"Good, now lets see." Dr. Grey said as she started to scan Naofumi over. While she scanned the Shield Hero, the light that was coming off the tool began to grow brighter as Dr. Grey neared the Cardinal Weapon. "Ohh, this is interesting. This shield is giving off a lot of life energy, it's as if it is part of your body."
"It's the weapon I was chosen for." Naofumi said with slight anger, remembering what he had to go through on the first few days of being summoned by the king.
"I see that must mean that you have an important role then." Dr. Grey said, finishing her scanning.
"What do you mean by that? All a shield can do is defend and hold back an opponent." the Shield Hero asked.
"What are you a dummy? A shield means a lot, take it like this, the immune system is our body's main defense against disease and viruses. Without it, will all be sick or dead. If you don't have a defense then what's the plan of attack. You run out there without proper protection, you might as not try, you'll only get in the way. A shield will always be the first and last thing someone needs." Dr. Grey said with enthusiasm. "If I were to wager, you aren't treated well. That would mean a lot of trust issues and social communications with public individuals. Say, can I psychoanalyse you very quickly? I would really love to know how it feels to be hated by a lot of people." she said as she began to enter Naofumi's comfort zone, causing him to lean back.
"Dr. Grey, please don't scare our guest, can't you see he just came here to pick up Caboose and the child." Kimball said, looking up to see how close the doctor was to the Shield Hero.
"Awww, well next time then. For sure they'll be next time, and I know it." Dr. Grey said as she went back to Filo. "Thank you for taking care of her Caboose, I'll take it from here."
"Your welcome." Caboose said as he got up and gave the last few slices of orange to her.
Then the door opened to reveal an Air Assault uniform soldier with a bucket, mop, and spray bottle on his left side of his waist. His armor was downed with a sand tone with an orange trim and had a white visor.
"Took you long enough, Bitters. What do you think Captain Grif would say to you right now?" Kimball said towards Bitters.
" 'A' for being late, 'F' for making me wait." Bitters said with a monotone voice. "I was just about to head home before you called."
"Well you chose the job, so clean it up will you." Kimball said as she organized a couple of papers.
"Yes, mam." Bitters said going around the portal and saw Naofumi and the child on the wall. "Sup."
"Caboose can lead Naofumi towards the balcony. Bitters would be with you very quickly." Santa said.
"Of course, follow me Nofu." Caboose enthusiastically as the Shield Hero followed behind him.
"Sooo, what do you think?" Caboose asked.
"About what?" Naofumi asked.
"About Chorus." Caboose answered.
"Well, I never really expected to come here in the first place, but I wish it was under a better circumstance than retrieving you and Filo back. I thought you guys were gonna cause trouble, guess I was wrong. But," Naofumi said before looking into the city landscape. "it is quite a beautiful place to see."
What followed was complete silence between both of them as they admired the view of the city in front of them. The only sound that could be heard was the commotion in the streets below, and the airships that would pass by near the building and the delay sound of air traffic. A few minutes passed by before the sound of a door could be heard opening. They both turned around to see Bitters with a spray bottle in hand.
"So they told me how you landed on the pile of vomit that I just cleaned up. I'm going to have to spray you to take the stench away and rub off any waste that's left on your clothes." Bitters said.
"I am not gonna let you spray me." Naofumi said with a deadpan look.
"Look dude, I was gonna go home, eat, shower, play a couple of games, and then sleep. I do not wanna put up with any of your shit, so I'm just gonna clean you even if you don't give me permission." Bitters said as he moved towards the Shield Hero with the spray bottle at the ready.
"Fine, if it'll be a lot faster then go for it. Just make it quick, I don't wanna be here any longer." Naofumi said with a look of annoyance as he looked away.
"See, something we can agree on. Now hold still, I'll clean the shit out of you." Bitters said as he crouched down and began to spray on the stains. "Jesus, you smell like that time Captain Grif ate too much oreos. Fuck."
"Quit bitching about it and just clean it." Naofumi said with frustration.
"Yes sir, can't believe I chose this job after retiring from the army." Bitters said with a tired tone as he began to rub off the stains.
"Sooo, how's it been Bitters?" Caboose asked.
"It's been wonderful. Just cleaning up the messes that a couple of people could have easily avoided, but are dicks about it. Kimball busting my ass for not keeping the janitors closet clean, and having to be on standby in case anything messy happens." Bitters said sarcastically.
"Is that sarcasm?" Caboose asked.
"You better fucking believe it's sarcasm." Bitters said, finishing up with Naofumi. "And you are clean, just let it dry and the stain and stench will go away."
"Wait, that's it? I thought it'll be longer than that." Naofumi said with confusion.
"Dude, this shit is like Flex Tape, but for stains and stenchs." Bitters said before walking away.
"The future has created some weird products for daily life usage." Naofumi said.
"That's the future for you. Come on, let's go check on Filo." Caboose said as he moved towards the doors.
When they both went back inside Kimball's office, Bitters had just walked by the entrance doors to head home. In the middle of the room, Dr. Grey was carrying Filo, rocking her to sleep like a little child. Kimball was looking over a couple of papers that talked about a group of soldiers that had begun to attack the UNSC.
"Are you all cleaned up, Naofumi?" Santa asked quietly.
"I'm good to go back." Naofumi said with annoyance not wanting to remember that he was cleaned.
"Wow, I didn't know you were good with kids, Dr. Grey." Caboose said quietly.
"Well, when you have to take care of babies and children that have lost their families to war, you don't cut corners." Dr. Grey said in a quiet voice, not wanting to wake Filo up. "When you go into the portal, hold her nose. One of the reasons you both got nauseous is because there is a substance between portals that can create nauseous feelings for the person. The reason we don't get sick is because our helmets filter out the substance through our helmet filters."
"We'll keep that in mind then."Caboose said quietly as Dr. Grey gave Filo to the blue soldier.
"I'll go ahead and give Raphtalia a head up." Naofumi said before holding his breath and walked into the portal.
"Well, I gotta go as well. Don't want to keep them waiting for long." Caboose said as he walked to the portal.
"Take care. But please, next try to be more careful next time." Kimball said.
"May the next time we meet be on a peaceful morning like today's." Santa said. "Farewell, Caboose."
"See ya later." Caboose said as he closed Filo's nose and walked into the portal, closing behind him after he entered.
Village nurse
Raphtalia gave a sigh of relief when she saw Naofumi come back through the portal unscathed. Before Caboose arrived, the Shield Hero told his raccoon companion about Filo falling asleep, so when the blue soldier came back through the portal, Raphtalia didn't make a sound, but gave a small smile towards the sleeping child. The portal closed behind Caboose, as the room was left silent with the only noise coming from the outside.
"Soo, what's next?" Caboose asked quietly.
"Well we still have all day, me, Caboose, and Filo will go into the city to find out more about her, and probably get her clothes as well because if she transforms into a filolial again her clothes will just rip again and again, so will need some sort of clothing that can withstand her transformation." Naofumi stated queitly.
"Ok then, I'll meet you outside then." Caboose said as he stepped out of the room, leaving Naofumi and Raphtalia in the room by themselves.
"So what happened on the otherside?" Raphtalia asked.
"Let's just say, it wasn't fun." Naofumi answered with a tired tone.
To be continued