I know I know, it's been AGES since I've updated, and I apologize for that. I could give you a huge list of excuses and reasons why I haven't been fulfilling my duties as an author but I won't do that, it seems disrespectful. But regardless I hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry if it's boring, things will be picking up soon.
So go on guys and enjoy my beautiful dark twisted fantasy.
"Holy crap!" Matthew exclaimed as he found himself in another location within an instant. "I really need to get used to that."
"You'll become accustomed to it over time the more you do it," Justice said.
"It still gets me sometimes," Wendy added.
"So where are we now?" Asked Matthew, looking around at his new surroundings.
"This is the central war room in the palace," Justice answered.
The three of them had teleported to a room that was the size of a large school library, where people were either milling about around the place doing various things like talking to people through microphones on headsets or handing papers and reports to other workers, doing things on high tech-looking computers, or pouring over maps on one of several tables and desks scattered around the room. Some of the people looked like office workers, while others looked like soldiers. Matthew swore he saw a couple of generals around the room as well.
"Why did you take us here?" Matthew asked.
"You said you wanted to fight for us, right? This is the place to start. You should meet someone here, they would know where you put you."
Matthew and Wendy followed Justice across the room through all the commotion while the people went about their business without paying the three any attention. Justice walked up to a group of officers who were talking to each other while pointing at a large map. Strangely enough, among the officers was a teenage boy around Matthew's age conversing with them as if he was also part of the discussion. Then to Matthew's surprise Justice caught the attention of the boy and went over to him. The officers went back to talking, but the boy left the group and came over to Justice, Wendy and Matthew. He had fair skin, short brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a navy blue hoodie and khaki shorts, combat boots and had some strange metal strands all up his arms and legs. They seemed to literally be a pet of the boy's muscles and joints, like some sort of cyborg. The metal on his arms connected to his black-gloved hands and they also looked mechanical. The entire contraption looked like an exo suit from Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, and Matthew took notice of a sidearm holstered around the boy's waist. This person looked like a cybernetic soldier of sorts, which kind of unnerved Matthew.
"Queen Mary," the boy said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Lord Kamulus, good to see you again," said Justice.
"Who are these two?" Kamulus asked, looking at Wendy and Matthew.
"This is Sergeant-Major Wendy Corduroy and Matthew Williams. Matthew here is our new king. He was just sworn in by the Senate."
"Really?" Kamulus looked Matthew up and down as if he were observing an object he just found. "You don't look like much. You an emo?"
"Well, I write poetry and I'm introverted," Matthew answered, not knowing if he was being insulted or not. "Does that make me emo?"
"Definitely, but that's not much of a problem. Emos tend to be great soldiers. Welcome aboard." He held out his hand and Matthew nervously shook it, being wary of the boy's cybernetic gear.
"So you want to be a soldier for the Motherland, yes?" Camulus asked.
"I do indeed," Matthew said, trying not to stare at the boy's mechanical limb enhancements. "If I'm going to rule over a country and she's being attacked, I want to be there to protect her."
"I like the heart you have. And by the looks of it, you've already seen combat," Kamulus observed, pointing at Matthew's blood stained Star Wars hoodie.
"Yeah, Matthew and I were at Fort Dane when it was attacked. We pushed them back and most of my men made it out just fine, but the Reich took the base. We were forced to go to protocol 21," Wendy explained.
"I heard that we lost Fort Dane, but I didn't hear any of the details. Good to hear that most of you and your men got out. And great job getting the king out of there," Kamulus said.
Wendy saluted him. "Just doing my job sir. For the Motherland!"
Kamulus let out a hearty laugh. "That's the spirit I like to see!" He turned to Matthew again. "How many Reichsmen did you kill?"
Even though he didn't want to recount the events from that day, Matthew recalled how many soldiers he killed. "Six. Five of them I shot, the last one I decapitated with a combat knife."
"Damn kid, you got guts," the young officer complimented. "But that was just your first battle. Many more are ahead of us. Unfortunately this war has no end in sight, so you won't have the proper training you'll need. I'm sure Queen Mary can use some of her magic to help you out. Or maybe one of her many connections she has within the Motherland."
"Don't worry Kamulus," Justice assured. "He's going to be a great soldier."
"I've seen what he can do, believe me when I say he's got heart," Wendy added.
"I trust both of you. Don't disappoint me," Kamulus said in a serious tone.
"I won't, I promise. Whatever it takes," Matthew said.
"Okay, now that we've gotten through the pleasantries, what's our next move?" Asked Wendy.
"Good question, come take a look at this." Kamulus gestured towards the map the officers were observing. The four of them stepped forward to get a closer look, but as Wendy, Kamulus and Justice began discussing their next move, Matthew didn't understand anything on the map at all. There were names of places of Cloud 9 he'd never heard of and he didn't know the first thing about battle maps. He tried listening to what everyone was saying and understood somethings they were saying, and so he got a pretty good mental image of what was happening. Basically the map was showing the Motherland-controlled territories and Reich-controlled territories. Some places on both sides were marked in various ways, circled, crossed out, or labeled with comments and notes. Matthew was right, it was a battle map.
"Since the destruction of Fort Dane, we've decided to take one of their bases as tribute. The Reich doesn't use things like protocol 21, so if we take a base then we'll have more land under our control and we could use any Intel and weapons they have," said Kamulus. "We've decided that we should take this base right here." Kamulus pointed at a place that was relatively close to where the Motherland territories end and where the Reich territories start. It basically seemed like the entire east and west sides were at war apart from a few neutral countries here and there. "The Ostremo Outpost."
"Is there anything important we should know about this outpost or is it just the regular base?" Justice asked.
"The entire outpost is about 5,250 square feet , so it's pretty normal sized as far as outposts go. Given its size we've ruled out any anti-aircraft guns and any other advanced technology, but there are watch towers suspected of hiding machine gun nests and or snipers. This base is unusually heavenly defended with infantry and mobile units, and every 2 miles for 10 miles there's either small camps or patrols in groups ranging from fifteen to thirty men."
"That sounds like a lot for some normal outpost," Wendy commented. "They might just be disguising themselves because they're hiding something."
"My thoughts exactly," Kamulus agreed. "This seems kind of sketchy, so instead of sending an entire battalion of men straight into the outpost we've decided to take some precautionary measures. General Wilson will fill you in."
One of the other officers, an older man spoke. "Here's what we want to do. Since this base may be more important than the Reich is letting on, we're sending in a garrison of 200 men to make camp 50 miles from the outpost." He pointed on the map where these men would be stationed. "Then we'll drop off a small infiltration squad 25 miles out to go make first contact and try to break through their defenses. If the squad needs reinforcements, the garrison will ride in transport choppers. Attack choppers flying nearby will make attack runs while the transports drop the men off to assist the squad in the fight. Essentially the infiltration squad's mission is to be as stealthy as possible and to eliminate any threats before they're able to warn Ostremo of our mission to take the outpost. Pretty straightforward and simple, so this should be an easy victory."
"Don't say that, General," Kamulus said. "They could be hiding something, so this could go sideways very quickly." He turned to Justice again. "Do you have any suggestions on who shall be the infiltration team?"
"Yes, I have two. My brother shall be one of them."
"Wait what?" A surprised Matthew asked.
"This will be your first official mission. You should experience the war in most of its battles so you can become a more hardened soldier. This seems like the perfect opportunity, unless you'd rather not fight."
"No, I do want to fight," Matthew insisted. "Its just I don't have any training."
"Cloud 9 is full of magic, and people who will help you out," said Wendy, patting his shoulder.
"Then it's settled, King Matthew will go on this mission," Kamulus said. "Queen Mary, take the king and Sergeant-major Corduroy to the selection chamber."
"Understood," Said Justice. "I'll see you later."
Then the three teleported once more.
Matthew didn't freak out this time when he suddenly found himself somewhere else.
He found himself in some building that resembled a base, with vehicles on the ground outside and people bustling about again, this time they were all soldiers.
"Where are we?" He asked.
"The Selection Chamber," said Wendy. "The Motherland's army is very large, so whenever we have something as small as an infiltration group, they get selected by the Queen and the militant leaders we have. The selection varies in the nature of the mission and the skills of the soldiers, It's used all the time. I've been selected to go on some missions, but nothing like the mission you're going on."
"So who's picking my team?"
"I will this time," Justice answered. "Usually the Militant leaders do, but this is your first mission so I want to choose. Just go take a seat and I'll be right back." Justice walked away, leaving Matthew and Wendy by themselves.
Matthew sat down in a nearby chair as his head started to spin. He was going on his first mission. With a bunch of strangers. And he'd probably die. He took a couple deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down, but the anxiety he was feeling had grown and pretty soon his steady breathing turned into him hyperventilating in fear.
"Dude, you okay?" Wendy asked, noticing Matthew's nervousness.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm scared."
"Don't sweat it dude, just do what your team tells you to do and try not to die and you'll be fine."
Matthew wasn't convinced, but he appreciated Wendy's kind and reassuring words and that little bit of confidence she gave him somehow managed to calm his down, his breathing back at its normal pace. She was really the only one he could trust at the moment.
After a few minutes Justice came back. "Come on, follow me to your new team."
Matthew got up and he and Wendy followed her through the building until they reached a vehicle depot of sorts with humvees and military trucks. There was one where a couple of people were standing by, which appeared to be part of Matthew's squad. He was proven right when Justice led them to them.
"Matthew, this is Ahsoka Tano and Leon S. Kennedy."
The one named Leon was a man in his late thirties with almost pale-blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin. He wore a leather jacket over a black dress shirt and faded blue jeans, with light brown shoes. He had a pistol holstered to his waist in a leather holster. His expression was emotionless, which gave the impression that he'd either seen a lot of messed up things or he wasn't a very positive person in life. Matthew would watch how he acted around Leon.
The one named Ahsoka actually made Matthew have a double take once he laid eyes in her. Not because she was ugly or unattractive in any way (which she definitely wasn't), but more so because she wasn't human. This way to describe her was she had red skin, a mass of white and blue striped flesh that snaked down to both of her shoulders that somewhat resembled hair, blue eyes and maroon colored fingernails. She wore a tight fitted hide one piece outfit with a dark brown belt around her waist with two long and skinny pipes with a button and leather grips on both of them.
As Justice approach them, Matthew felt a little nervous. He was already scared out of his mind about this mission he was going on shortly after arriving to Cloud 9, and now he's finding out that he'll be going on this mission with a bunch of strangers. He isn't a very social person, and Justice knows this, so why she insisted on pairing him with these new people was beyond him.
"Queen Mary," Ahsoka said once they approached. "Good to see you again."
"It's always a pleasure seeing you Ahsoka," Justice said with a smile. "And Leon, glad to see that you haven't become a walking corpse yet."
"Yeah, don't plan on having that happen anytime soon," Leon replied.
"Guys, this is my brother Matthew," Justice said, taking Matthew's hand. "He's our new king and he'll be going on this mission with you."
"Yes, I've heard of you. It'll be a pleasure serving you m'lord," Leon said, extending his hand out. Feeling very shy and uneasy, Matthew took his hand and shook it.
"King Eskalion, it's an an honor going on this mission with you," Ahsoka said, politely bowing her head.
"It's good meeting the both of you," Matthew said as calmly and non-nervous as he could.
"So what's the mission?" Leon asked.
Justice reached into her pocket and handed Leon a strange disk-life object that he put in his own pocket.
"That has the entire mission briefing on it," she explained. "Matthew was already briefed by Kamulus and all the other officers, so he knows about it. Also this is Matthew's first mission, so make sure you guys help him out with anything he needs and answer any questions he may have, okay?"
"Understood," they both said with a salute.
"Welp, I'm gonna go home and see the family," Wendy said. "Take care of yourself Matthew."
"Will I ever see you're again?" he asked.
"Hey Cloud 9's a big place, I'm sure our paths will cross again someday." She ruffled his hair before walking away.
"You guys are dismissed," said Justice. "Go load up in one of the gunships and there'll be one more person joining you before you head out."
"So we're a 4 man infiltration squad?" Asked Leon.
"Yes, and everything else you need to know will be on that holodisk."
"Well alright, let's go get loaded up. Follow me, my Lord," Ahsoka said.
Leon and Ahsoka started walking away and Matthew followed suite until Justice stopped him.
"Be careful Matthew," she whispered in his ear.
He gulped hard but nodded his head. Then he ran to join Leon and Ahsoka, leaving Justice behind.
"Where are we going?" He asked once he caught up with them.
"We're headed towards the armory, then we're heading to the hanger where a transport helicopter is waiting to drop us off at our destination for the mission," answered Leon.
"We need to get some kind of weapon for you as well," Ahsoka added.
"I have this." Matthew pulled the combat knife he used to save Wendy from his waistband.
"Well that's a start, but you need some kind of ranged weapon as well. Maybe a gun."
"I see that Leon has a pistol already, but you don't have a weapon," Matthew said.
I have two weapons," she said with a smile. He took the two weird cylinders off of her belt and pressed the button on each of them. Immediately a green blade sprung out of one end of the cylinders. They were very bright, and both of them were around 3 feet long. The blades emitted a low humming noise.
"What's on Earth is that!?" Matthew asked in surprise.
"These are my lightsabers," she answered.
"Wait, are you a Jedi?"
"Yes i am indeed. How'd you know?" she asked, deactivating her sabers.
Matthew was about to answer, but he remembered what Wendy told him about C9 Awareness. Maybe Ahsoka and Leon didn't have the ability like Wendy and Justice had.
So he just said "Lucky guess."
The armory was the size of 3 high school auditoriums and it looked exactly like what an armory would look like. On each of the wall there were racks upon racks of firearms and swords, daggers and attachments, and a bunch of other various things the place. To the far right of the armory was a shooting range for sharpshooters wishing to show what they're made of, and the far right was a gym of sorts with wrestling mats all across the floor where people could either wrestle or fence together.
"So now that you're with the Motherland Army now we need to get you two weapons; a firearm and some kind of close quarters weapon," Leon said. "That knife is a start, but some of the Reichsmen are swordfighters, so you need something like that."
"I have no idea how to use a sword,"Matthew said flatly, kind of annoyed that he's already expected to know how to sword fight.
"I can help you with that," Ahsoka offered. "Swords and lightsabers are practically the same thing."
"Do we have the time for all that? We need to get moving," Leon said.
"I'll just teach him a few things and then we'll split, okay?"
"Ugh, fine," Leon finally gave in.
"Great." Ahsoka unclipped her sabers from her belt and held one out to Matthew. "Take it."
Matthew hesitated for a minute before taking the weapon. He was afraid he'd hurt Leon or Ahsoka, or maybe kill himself trying to turn the damn thing on. When he did finally take the weapon he made sure the blade wouldn't stab anyone and he ignited it. The bright green blade sprang forth until it reached its full length and it began to hum in his grasp.
"Follow me over to the training area," said Ahsoka and he followed her over to the padded area of the floor while Leon went away to arm and armor up. They stopped on the mats and Ahsoka backed up a few feet from Matthew before turning around and facing him before unclipping her other lightsaber and igniting it as well. She held the saber with one hand, got into a fighting stance and waited for Matthew to copy her form, so he got into the same stance she did.
"This is your basic fighting stance, Form I," Ahsoka explained. "This is the form you take when you're about how have a sparring match or duel. There are many other stances and forms of fighting, but for now we're going to stick to the basics. Try to strike me."
Matthew shot here a look of shock. "But what if I hurt you?"
"Then you're a better swordsman than I am. Now strike me."
Despite the danger of the situation Matthew tightly held the grip of the lightsaber and charged. Once he got close enough he swung the blade at Ahsoka, aiming for help torso. Then right before the saber made contact Ahsoka directed her blade and deflected the attack with ease.
"Again," she said.
This time Matthew didn't hesitate when he went in for the attack. He readied himself and swung the saber harder at her, yet she still easily deflected it like it was nothing.
"Is that all you got? Pathetic," She taunted, egging him on.
Matthew's anger began to grow and he went in to attack again but this time he attacked twice, aiming for Ahsoka's torso and quickly following up with a strike to her legs. She easily blocked the first attack but the second on caught her off guard. She barely deflected the lower attack and Matthew's lightsaber nearly severed both of her legs.
"Good," she said with a proud smile one her face. "Very good. When your opponent expects you to use a certain attack method it's good to change it up because it catches your opponent off guard. And this is just training. In a real duel the swordplay would usually be much faster and more deadly." Ahsoka got in her stance again. "Let's start again, but this time I'll go on the offense. Defend yourself against my attacks." Then without warning she slashed at Matthew's neck in a sideways arc. In a very surprised and unprepared manner he backpedaled from the attack and dodged it but Ahsoka wasn't done. She immediately unleashed a flurry of attacks that Matthew could barely keep up with, but he somehow managed to defend himself. Ahsoka gradually began to strike slower and slower, but she also started hitting harder and harder. With each attack Matthew blocked the more tired he became until the point of near exhaustion. As Ahsoka continued her relentless attack Matthew saw an opportunity to strike. She raised her lightsaber high in the air and came down with the intent to force Matthew to use the last of his energy to block the attack, but instead Matthew sidestepped and the blade harmlessly pass him. In that instant he lunged with his own saber and aimed to stab Ahsoka's heart. Surprised by his sudden attack Ahsoka slammed her blade into his and held it there, stopping Matthew's blade and locking both of their blades together in a standstill. They struggled against each other's strength; Matthew keep trying to push his blade further towards her and Ahsoka strained to prevent his blade from stabbing her.
There they stood, blades locked and bodies still as they tried to overpower the other. Matthew gritted his teeth as he tried to use all of his remaining energy to stab Ahsoka. While they stood there he saw her smile a little bit.
"What are you happy about?" He asked through his clenched teeth.
"You are stronger than I expected," she replied. "You will make an excellent swordsman."
She used her lightsaber and pushed him away from her, freeing them both from the strain. Matthew backed away and got back into his stance, panting and gripping the lightsaber tight, ready for another attack.
"I think that's enough for now," she said, deactivating her lightsaber and clipping it back onto her belt.
"Thank you for that, that was fun," Matthew said, also deactivating his lightsaber before handing it to Ahsoka. "Can you teach me more someday?"
"Maybe, but there are other Jedi knights who are have further mastered lightsaber techniques than I have. You might gain more knowledge if you trained under one of the Jedi masters I'm acquainted with."
"Is there a place where I can find all of the Jedi?" He asked.
"Jedi have their own homes but there is a Jedi temple that most of them conjugate often. I'll take you there one day,"
"Are you two done playing with your laser pointers now?" Leon asked, coming back from the armory wearing black military fatigues and holding a rifle.
"Do you not support the Jedi's means of fighting?" Matthew asked him, a little bothered by his behavior towards them practicing.
"I don't mess with all that laser stuff and Hodge podge mind powers, none of that crap can have any kind of defense against a good gun," he answered, gesturing to his rifle.
"How many Jedi have you met?" Ahsoka asked. "Do you even know what you're talking about or are you as ignorant as you seem?"
"I believe in things that I can see. I don't see some sort of all-powerful force that flows through every living creature. Just saying."
"Whatever," Ahsoka said dismissively. "You keep your beliefs and I'll keep mine. No point in either of us getting our panties all in a bunch over it."
"Agreed," Leon replied. "So are you two done yet?"
"For now we are," she answered, turning to Matthew. "Maybe at some point in the future we could train some more, and even though I'm still learning myself I could teach you everything I know."
Matthew really liked the idea of that, especially since he didn't know many people yet. In response to her he said "I would really like that Ahsoka, thank you."
"Alright, now that we've gotten through lightsaber dueling 101," Leon said, clapping his hands together. "Let's teach you how to use this." He reached for a holster behind his back and pulled out a pistol that he promptly set in Matthew's hands. Matthew looked at the pistol and shuddered a bit. It looked almost like the exact same one he had used back at Fort Dane, and that mental connection Matthew made brought back bad memories from his first taste of conflict, one's he really didn't want to relive.
"What, you've never seen a gun before?" Leon asked, which Matthew didn't understand. Then he realized he had been staring at the gun like it was new to him, and he said "Oh, I have before. I even used one earlier in fact, but..."
"Don't worry about it kid, I know it's kind of scary," said Leon, completely misunderstanding what Matthew was saying, but the boy said nothing of the matter. "Come on, we've got some targets set up for you to practice on."
Matthew followed Leon and Ahsoka across the vast training center over to the shooting range where the targets were, wooden cut-outs made into the shape of a human being to increase the realism. The range consisted of 8 lanes where people could practice on their marksmanship, and Leon had already set up one lane with various targets, some in the open and some partially hidden by small wooden walls simulating cover in an actual combat environment.
"Alright, here." Leon held out the pistol, which Matthew took from him and held it firmly in both hands. "Aim it at one of the targets."
Matthew did as he was instructed, looking through the pistol's iron sights and lining them up with one of the targets, aiming for the bullseye in the center.
"Okay, empty the clip into the targets. Go slow, take your time and don't just pull the trigger, slowly ease into it," Leon instructed.
Matthew showed no hesitation in pulling the trigger, but the gun just clicked a few times instead of firing.
"Turn off the safety. Flip the little switch on the side," Leon said in an annoyed tone.
"Sorry," Matthew replied sheepishly, turning off the safety before returning his aim back to the targets down range.
"Okay, you may fire whenever you're ready."
After a few seconds of being given the all clear to shoot, Matthew took his first shot at the closest target, which was 10 feet away. Then he switched to the other targets that were slightly farther away, alternating between all of the targets until the clip had been completely emptied. The whole thing lasted about 30 seconds, but afterwards Matthew felt pretty good and was getting more excited to the aspect of learning how to use a handgun.
After Matthew had finished up the clip Leon walked over to the targets to get an up-close look at how well Matthew had done.
"Damn son," Leon said, walking back over to Matthew. "Out of 7 bullets you missed 2. I'm actually pretty impressed kid."
Matthew smiled, filling with pride at his accomplishment. "Does that mean I can become a great marksman?"
"Not necessarily," Leon replied. "But you could be after years of training. And that's just with a pistol, there are many different types and variations of firearms you'll be using as long as you're in active combat."
"Do you know how to use any guns?" Matthew asked Ahsoka, turning to face the quiet observer.
"Yes but not these kinds of guns," Ahsoka answered. "Not ones that use terrestrial or solid projectiles."
"What does that mean?" Matthew asked, interested by her unusual words to describe what firearms she knew how to use.
"You know how my lightsaber's blade is a laser that can cut through just about anything?" Matthew nodded. "Well the guns I know how to use shoot lasers instead of bullets."
"Whoa really?" An giddy Matthew questioned, his eyes lighting up with excitement. He then turned to Leon and asked "Can you teach me how to use a laser gun?"
"For now let's just stick to the basics until you know your way around a gun," he said.
"And we don't call them laser guns, we call them blasters," Ahsoka added.
"Alright..." Matthew said disappointingly. "So now what?"
"Well it's obvious you're pretty decent with a handgun already," Leon said. "Now let's see what kind of damage you can do with a primary weapon. Follow me."
Leon led Matthew over to one of the various weapon racks on the walls of the training center, where a large of selection of "primary weapons", - assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, submachine guns, and various light machine guns - but what Matthew thought as odd was that for some weapons there was a smaller version of it right next to it. Then he realized that all the weapons had smaller counterparts of themselves, and he decided to ask Leon about it.
"Hey Leon? Why is there a smaller version of each gun?"
"Well you see Matthew in a war as large as the one we're fighting, civilians have to fight as well, including young teeenage children as well," Leon explained. "Smaller versions are made so the weapons are easier for younger people or teenage kids to use, which will be the same case for you. Since you're not an adult yet you'll be given one of the smaller guns until you're old and strong enough to wield the actual weapons. Now the smaller weapons are used by adults sometimes too, as the smaller and lighter design of the smaller guns allow more mobility and easier to handle and operate. Unfortunately there are a few setbacks with the smaller weapons, the bullets fired from them do slightly less damage than the and the lighter designs usually leads to more recoil than the full size ones, but they still get the job done just fine. So, see any you like?"
Matthew took a good look at the huge variety of guns lining the weapon racks, wondering what kind of gun would suit him. Was he a shotgun man? No, the power of the shots would probably blow him off his feet. Plus he'd have to be pretty close to an enemy to use one and Matthew wasn't ready for an encounter like that, not after Fort Dane. He wanted to put a fair amount of distance from him and the Reichsmen soldiers, so he thought maybe a regular old assault rifle would be fine. He wanted one that had fire selection on it, where it could shoot single shots, 3-round bursts, and full auto so he could get a better grasp on other kinds of weapons as well.
"How about this one?" Matthew suggested, pointing at a standard M16 military assault rifle.
"That's a good choice," Leon said with approval. "That's what most new recruits choose."
Leon took the rifle off the wall and an ammunition crate of mags for the gun as well. He held the gun with one hand and the ammo crate in the other and turned back to Matthew. "Let's go back to the shooting range. Let's teach you how to use this bad boy."
Leon spent the next hour or so teaching Matthew how to load the gun, turn the safety on and off and good ergonomics for firing the gun, then spent another hour having Matthew take shots at each of the targets with each of the 3 different fire selections settings. After a while of target practice Matthew decided he liked the single shot setting the best because it was easiest to control and it would teach him how to conserve ammo better. When he first started he was only able to make 7 out of 30 bullets per clip hit a target, but by the time they had finished up Matthew was able to make 21 out of 30. Leon was proud of Matthew, and so was Ahsoka and that made Matthew feel more confident and less anxious about going on his first mission. In fact Matthew actually looked forward to fighting the Nazis, and he wanted to go on the mission as soon as possible.
"So when are we heading out?" Matthew asked after target practice.
"We need to get you a uniform like I'm wearing," Leon replied. "We can't have any soldiers fighting the enemy in their civilian clothing. Let's get you suited up.
Matthew and Ahsoka followed Leon to a corner of the training center where a large cylindrical-shaped machine with several buttons and blinking lights sat. It looked like it had a sliding door that you'd open and close behind you once you stepped in, and it was painted so no one could see inside. The top of the cylinder was open without a roof and the words "SIZE FITS ALL" in big bold red letters was painted at the top.
"This magical machine can tell you what size clothing you wear by scanning your body, and it magically puts the right clothing onto your body. Then it sends your current outfit to your locker in the military locker room in the barracks, safe and sound while you wear your new uniform." Ahsoka explained.
"Uhhm, magical machine?" Matthew said, super confused at what he was looking at and even more confused by everything she just said.
"Yep, the Motherland military uses magic and magical machines like this one," Leon added. "You don't have magic where you come from, do you?"
"No we definitely don't," Matthew replied sheepishly, embarrassed that they had to explain what this machine was like he was some child who just discovered his shadow. "Are there any side effects from using this...thing...that I should know about?"
"Nope, just open the door, step inside and close it shut behind you," Ahsoka instructed.
Matthew looked at door of the strange new contraption with a mixed expression of curiosity and fear. He hesitantly reached out and slid the door open, but didn't step inside.
"You need a push?" Ahsoka chucked, holding out her hands with her palms facing Matthew as if she were actually going to push him in.
"Ha, like I'd ever need a push into-" His words were cut off when Ahsoka actually did push him. He stumbled forward and fell straight into the "SIZE FITS ALL" machine and before he could react the door slid shut behind him.
"See? How hard was that?" He heard Leon say through the door.
"Easy for you to say,.you deal with this kind of technology all the time," said Matthew, looking around the interior of the small machine. "What does this keyboard do?" He asked after spotting the object built into the wall, with a small screen right next to it.
"What does the screen say?" Ahsoka asked.
Matthew looked at the screen and read of what it said. "Select location, and there's a flashing cursor inside of a toolbar."
"Type in Barracks locker room number 2-769 and hit enter," Leon explained step by step. "After that there should be a huge grid of pixelated lockers, some that are black and some that are clear."
Matthew did what he was told, clicking away at the keyboard until the grid of lockers popped up and took over the entire screen. "Okay I'm at the lockers, now what?"
"Find a locker that's empty and select it, then hit rename and call it whatever you want so you'll remember that one's yours. Then hit the button that says "send clothing" and hit enter. Now after that happens you're clothes will get sucked up right off your body by a tube that'll come out of the ceiling above you. Then it'll automatically dress you with a uniform that fits you and your regular clothes will be sent to the locker you chose and they'll stay there until you return to retrieve them after the mission."
"Uhhhh okay then..." Matthew trailed off, pretending like everything Leon was telling him wasn't the weirdest thing in the at the moment. He clicked away at the keyboard, following Leon's instructions until he hit the last button. Immediately a tube opened up from a large hole in the ceiling and his clothes were -quite literally- sucked off him completely, leaving him in nothing but his skivvies and disappearing up into the tube. Then before Matthew could react a uniform was shot out from the same tube from before and the strangest thing happened.
The uniform had immediately become worn by Matthew, as if he were dressed in it the whole time. The uniform consisted of black fatigues and combat pants, black leather steel-toed combat boots, a black parka and what appeared to be some sort of cape it seemed.
"Okay..." Matthew just said to himself, not even going to question what just happened. "I've gotten my uniform. I'm coming out now." He slid the door open and stepped out of the strange contraption, closing the door behind him.
"Looks good on you," Ahsoka commented, making Matthew's cheeks burn a bright red.
"I guess that's everything. These are yours now," Leon said, holding out an M1911 pistol and an M16 rifle that had a strap clipped onto it. Matthew accepted the weapons, putting the strap of the rifle around his shoulder and sticking the pistol into the side of his pants like an improvised holster.
"Are we ready?" Leon asked.
"I've got everything I'll need," said Ahsoka.
"I'm good," said Matthew, feeling like a million bucks with his uniform and weapons.
"Alright then let's get this show on the road," Leon said.
Matthew followed Ahsoka and Leon out of the training center and outside the entire building to some sort of loading dock it seemed. There were garages filled with military land vehicles and high grade militant equipment all over a large airport it appeared to be. There were runways large enough for checking commercial airlines or smaller craft like helicopters and fighter jets, which were also sitting around. Military staff and troopers were madly dashing around the entire area, either loading up in the various trucks, humvee transports and planes, or running around testing weapons and performing repairs on the vehicles instead. It looked as though the large group of soldiers and staff were preparing for an all-out war.
"What's going on?" Matthew asked, observing all the chaos.
"This is normal for us actually," Ahsoka replied. "The war is requiring all of our willpower and fighters to answer the cry of battle."
"Come on, we've wasted enough time already," said Leon, pointing towards a small transport chopper. Let's get going."
The trio walked through the mob of scrambling personnel and made it to the chopper, where a folding table with 4 backpacks filled with equipment sat and where 4 people stood; Justice, wearing the same beautiful dress from before, Kamulus, in the same outfit of a blue hoodie and khaki short and his cybernetic extensions from before, a Hispanic boy in his later teenage years dressed in a handyman's outfit that was covered in blotches of dried oil and burned in various places, and...
Matthew couldn't believe who he saw. It was Ellie.
Seeing her there gave Matthew a sudden surge of emotions; anger, sadness, a hint of fear and some other feeling he couldn't place at the moment. Either way seeing her wasn't the greatest thing in the world right now.
He narrowed his eyes as they approached. "What is she doing here?"
"She's the 4th person on your team," Kamulus answered. "You needed another member, and the Queen here thought that she was the perfect one for the job."
"Hey Ellie," Ahsoka said causally, giving her a small wave.
"Sup," Ellie said in response.
"I take it you're familiar with each other already?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, we're cool with each other," Ahsoka said. "We've went on missions before and we hang out sometimes."
"Excellent, this makes everything easier then," said Kamulus, clapping his hands together before turning to the Hispanic boy. "Take it away Leo."
The boy Leo was tinkering with some equipment from one of the backpacks that were on the table when Kamulus spoke to him. He looked up from his work and nodded to the cyborg-boy before taking the backpack he had and emptied out the contents, which consisted of a few pieces of technology Matthew and his team would need for their mission. He took the first object in his hand and held it up; it looked like a single ear bud attached to a wire or something.
"This is your standard earpiece, which you'll use to communicate with HQ and each other if you get separated from each other for any reason," he explained. Then he pointed to a specific part of the earpiece before continuing. "The earpiece has two buttons. Hold down one button to talk to each other, hold down the other button to talk to HQ. The entire earpiece sits over the top little part of your ear and hangs off a bit, and you just stick it into your ear canal, simple as that." He put the earpiece back into the backpack and picked up the next item, a small electronic that Rose resembled an old Gameboy Advanced.
"This is your state-of-the-art GPS tracking device," said Leo. "It can locate you, any landmarks and all geographical features as far as 50 miles from your location at all times. I'd advise you not to lose this bad boy, otherwise it's going to be a very long walk home after the mission."
He put the GPS down and picked up the final items, which looked like three metal spheres the size of tennis balls that had some sort of electronic buttons on them.
"This thing is a weapon of my own design," Leo said with a prideful smile on his face. "I call it the smart grenade, since that's really all there is to it. Each one has four grenade variants; frag, smoke, flash, and EMP. You click the blue button to activate it, then use a little dial on the side to select which type of variant you wish to use, which is displayed on a little screen right here." Leo pointed to the features of the grenade while he talked. "Then after you've selected which one you want, hit the blue button again and give it a good throw, simple as that."
"Is that all Valdez? They're kind of in a hurry," Kamulus said impatiently.
"One last thing. Each of you have all of this equipment in each of your packs, and make sure you put it all to good use. That's all I've got to say, so good luck guys!" He flashed the team a peace sign and a toothy smile and we went off.
"Man that guy talks too much," Kamulus muttered under his breath before turning his attention back to the team and saying "Alright, now I want all of you to make sure this mission goes as smooth as possible. The Reich hit us hard and fast at Fort Dane, so we can't afford to mess this up. And you three." He pointed at Leon, Ahsoka and Ellie. "I want you to help out King Matthew as much as you can. Teach him the ropes so he knows the deal and make sure he comes back in one piece or I'll have your heads on a like. Understood?"
"Yes Lord Kamulus," said Ahsoka.
"Understood General." Leon saluted to him as well.
"Fine, whatever," Ellie said in an annoyed tone of voice and narrowing her eyes at Matthew, which made him shoot her a dirty look. She rolled her eyes in response.
"Good, now load up!" Kamulus ordered, and the helicopter roared to life, the pilots that were evidently already in the cockpit starting up the engine, propellers slowly beginning to swing.
"Come on," Leon said as the three took their backpacks off the table and got into the passenger section of the chopper and took their seats. Matthew grabbed his pack as well but was stopped when Justice grabbed his hand.
"Hold on, we need to talk," she said, a concerned look plastered onto her face.
"What do you want?" Matthew said harsher than he wanted to but not apologizing for it.
"I just...want you to be careful. You don't know this but I've been here countless times before and this world is just so different than ours it's insane. And this war? It's terrible, and now my little brother is jumping straight into the fight? I'm just so scared for you, scared that..." her voice broke and she didn't continue that sentence.
Seeing the level of concern in both her expression and her words, Matthew squeezed her hand and said in a softened tone "I'll be okay Justice, I can protect myself. Besides none of these guys will let anything bad happen to me."
"That doesn't make me any less scared," she said with a weak smile. "But thank you for trying. And Matthew? Please be nice to Ellie. She didn't want to hurt you like she did but she had to. I promise it'll get better, I really do, but you'll have to be patient."
Matthew frowned. "Why should I do that? What has she ever done for me?" By now the chopper was fully started up, so they had to shout over the noise of the propellers to hear each other.
"Just trust me on this Matthew. I know some people who can see the future, so trust me when I say that everything with eventually work out. Please? For me?"
Matthew was still angry at Justice for everything that's happened so far and he blamed her for all of his misfortunes up until now, but despite all that he couldn't stay mad at her, especially while seeing her worry about him. It was just one of the things he couldn't do; stay mad at the ones he loved. He sighed and said "Fine, I'll...try to be nice. No promises though."
"Thank you Matthew.I left you a few things in your backpack, for safekeeping I guess." She looked at him up and down, admiring him with his new uniform and weapons. "You look like you were born to wear that uniform, you look handsome. Make sure you put that rifle to good use too."
"Thank you, I will." He gave her a kiss on her cheek before heading over to the chopper and taking a seat next to Ahsoka.
"And Matthew?" Justice called out.
"Yeah?" He shouted back.
"I love you."
Matthew smiled. "I love you too."
"Good luck guys!" Shouted Kamulus as the chopper began it's gradual ascend.
Within a few seconds the chopper carrying Matthew's team has Ross high into the sky and headed off towards their mission. Matthew was pumped and ready to prove his worth to his new comrades.
Unbeknownst to Matthew, this mission wouldn't be going according to plan. In fact things would end up going haywire and putting lives on the line. He would come back a little different after this mission, and the things he would witness would forever haunt the young boy...
So since it's been so long since I've updated this story, I wanted it to be extra long and detailed to make up for lost time. Hope you enjoyed it and as always take care and I'll see you in the next one, which definitely won't take as long as this one did. Peace.