Chapter 2 – Introduction Pt. 2

Psychoset Outpost, Arezna Desert

The scorching sun heated the Chief's armored plating. He removed his helmet, revealing an older face, one probably not meant to fight, one probably weak, and fragile. 6 turned his head to look at him. He removed his helmet as well, revealing a much younger face. "It looks like it's about your time to retire," 6 stated.

"It's always time to retire," Chief replied. "I just never get around to doing it."

"There's always today," Kat said.

"And there's always tomorrow," Chief finished.

6 was silent. He turned his head back forward, seeing the base only about a mile away. It was dug into the side of a sand dune, hidden from Warhawk forces due to be buried in the ground. He grinned as he put his helmet back on. "Home, sweet home."

"We may be home, but it sure isn't sweet."

The words Chief spoke sounded so bitter in 6's mind. Was Chief not glad to be home? 6 knew his backstory; he knew the reason he hated fighting so much. But that event had occurred 2 years back, only a few months after the war had started. How had Chief not gotten over his loss? This was a time of war. Friends come, friends die. Yet Chief couldn't bear to stand the loss of Blue Team. Trying to heal his mental wounds was a lost cause; Chief's mind was long gone. He would despise fighting until the day he died.

Kat rolled the Warthog into the bases' hangar. She stopped, and the Spartan's hopped out. A shorter man, maybe only 5' 8'' or so, walked up to them. He wore green boxing gloves, a black shirt, and green shorts. He did a quick salute to Chief and 6. 6 grinned. "Little Mac."

"Good morning, 6," Little Mac replied. "We're glad to have you back here at the outpost."

"It's great to see you, as well, Little Mac," 6 responded. "Are we need somewhere?"

"Actually, yes. General Rosalina would like you to meet her in the debriefing room at 17:00. Kat and the Master Chief are dismissed to return to their quarters."

6 nodded. He looked back at the other two Spartans, who saluted and walked away. 6 looked up at the clock on the wall behind him. The time was 16:50. He turned back to Little Mac. "Let me take a guess—"

"Am I going to challenge you to a drinking contest once you get done with debriefing? Yes," Little Mac chuckled. "Yes I am."

6 laughed. "I'll meet you at the bar then. I must go." 6 saluted Little Mac. "I'll see you around."

"Adios, amigo!" Little Mac said as he walked away.

6 walked through the iron hallways, looking for the debriefing room. 6 hadn't been around this outpost in a while, and, sadly, not all outposts were the same. At least, he found the debriefing room. He walked inside, seeing a blonde woman sitting down in a chair. A table sat in front of her, and another chair awaiting 6. "6," she said. "Sit down. Let's talk."

6 sat down and scooted himself in. "Rosalina," he said. "It's been awhile."

"Please, call me Rose." She smiled. "Did the mission go as planned?"

"No. We were near rescuing the Synths. Chief was sniping the Sangheili's from another building."

"What went wrong?"

"A rogue Pokémon trainer entered on the fire breathing Pokémon Reshiram. We identified him as Hilbert Black."

"Hilbert. The man that killed Blue Team?"

"Indeed, that's the one. However, Chief shot him and Reshiram out of the sky with a SPKNr Rocket, so he shouldn't be much of a threat anymore."

"That's what we said last time," Rose responded.

"Well, last time we shot him with normal bullets. Not an explosive round."

"True, true," Rose sighed. "We can always hope he's dead this time." She looked over the papers in front of her. "Besides this rogue, the mission would've gone just fine, I presume?"

"That's the way it was going, yes."

"Shame. It appears we have more than one enemy now. First the Warhawks, now these rogues… the fighting will just never stop, will it?"

"Might as well keep friends while you can. Speaking of friends… actually, you two are probably more than friends."

"Hm?"

"Tracer has been dying to see you all day. You two are… a thing, aren't you?"

6 grinned from under his helmet. "It's obvious, isn't it?"

"Yes," Rose smiled. "Very. Now, you should go see her before she thinks you've died or something like that. You're dismissed, 6. Thank you for the information."

6 nodded, back out of the table, stood up, and began walking towards the door. Rosalina began to speak again. "6?"

6 looked back.

"Watch yourself. I have a bad feeling about today."

6 was confused by her comment, but he nodded. He opened the door, walked out, and shut it behind him, not expecting the girl of his dreams to come rush up to him, knocking him back. He fell to the ground, and she hopped on top of him, blowing her own hair out of her face, laughing her head off. "You never see that coming, do you?" she said in a British accent.

6 lifted off his helmet, chuckling. "No, Trace, I'll never see it coming, obviously. You're faster than anything—"

"—and everything!" she finished. She hopped off him and helped him up. He was much taller than her; she was only 5' 4'', after all, with short, messy hair that always got in her face. She wore orange spandex (as always) as well as a leather jacket with the British flag on the shoulder. She also had leather gloves and grey, sneaker like shoes that were optimal for running. She smiled at him. "I'm glad to see you alive. And unharmed, for once."

"Once and probably never again," he replied. "It's very rare that I don't come back without a mark."

"You should see your back sometime," she grinned. "Scarred as heck."

"You would know."

"I would. Now, would you like to get a drink?" she asked.

"I was going to get one with Little Mac. Would you like to come along?"

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" she zoomed off. 6 chuckled. "Always going as fast as she can, huh."

6 finally arrived at the bar. He was greeted first by the bartender, Mario, who sat him down next to Tracer and Little Mac, who were already in the midst of a conversation by the time he had arrived. "6!" Little Mac exclaimed. "You've finally arrived. Tracer was here ages before you were."

"She's pretty fast, that's for sure," 6 replied. He looked over at Mario. "We'll take three glasses of Star Martini, shaken well then slowly stirred, with a drop of Lum Berry, please."

"Right on it, sir." Mario walked into the back of the bar. 6 sat down and began to speak. "How have you two been while I was gone?"

"I've been going great," Little Mac started. "I've been training for my next mission, in four days. I would tell you guys all about it, but it's classified by Roses' orders. She's a secretive one, isn't she?"

"Indeed she is. It's very strange sometimes." 6 looked over at Tracers, who was looking all around, distracted. "Trace," he started. She quickly turned her head back to pay attention. "I assume you've been training for your next mission as well?" 6 finished.

She sighed. "Well… Rose doesn't want me to do any field work for a while. Not after… not after what happened last time, you know? Probably best if I don't make another building explode."

"Oh, c'mon. The mission was a massive success! She should let you back into the field!"

Tracer grinned. "Well… yeah, but I still made a building explode. I'm off duty for now. More drinks for me, I guess." She looked back at 6. "How did your mission go, exactly?"

6 tapped his fingers together. "Well," he stated, speaking the first word quickly, "It was going as planned; Chief was sniping the Sangheili forces from the building we were sitting on, and the synths were starting to fight back."

Little Mac looked puzzled. "What went wrong, then?"

"A massive white dragon fell from the sky and roasted practically everything," he chuckled. Mario came over with the Star Martinis, placing one glass in front of each of the three. "Thank you, Mario," 6 said. Mario nodded and walked away.

Little Mac took a sip from his glass and grinned. "You sure know what type of drinks to buy."

"And it's all on me tonight, guys."

"Sweet."

"Continue your story, 6," Tracer said.

"Oh, yeah. So a giant fire breathing dragon Pokémon called Reshiram fell from the sky. It was Hilbert Black's; you know, the guy that basically slaughtered all of Blue Team, two years back? He and Reshiram chased us all the way out into the desert until Chief shot him out of the sky…" his voice faded off.

"Something wrong, 6?" Little Mac asked.

"Chief's considering retiring."

"He should've done that ages ago."

"I agree," 6 replied. "But he's such a good fighter. It would be a shame to lose a man like him."

"Well, if he doesn't retire now, you'll lose him in a different way," Tracer stated.

"Don't say things like that!" Little Mac exclaimed. "The man has been on hundreds of field missions. Survived through all of them mostly unharmed, right? It's almost impossible to kill him."

"It was back then," Tracer said. "He's older now. Much older, in fact. He's barely fit for combat. We lose people, guys. Friends come, friends die. Hopefully it's none of us next." She almost finished off her glass. She lifted it. "A toast, to the best of friends."

The others lifted their glasses. The glasses clinked, and the outpost began to rumble.