Chapter 10 Meet Second Squad
Qiao woke up the next morning a few minutes late. She looked at herself in the mirror, detesting the fact that she looked like a woman. She stomped to her bathroom and washed off the make-up in the shower. As she came out of the bathroom while drying her hair, she used long, wide silk sheet and bound up her blossomed yet small breasts so that she looked like she had a flat chest. She tied her nearly dry hair, and put on her warriors clothes. She glanced at the mirror once more, and felt relieved that she looked like a young boy again.
There was a knock on the door, "Oh, Xin?" Apetrully called out in a sing-song voice, "Are you awake?" he slightly opened the door, "Oh, wonderful! You are!"
"Good morning, Commander Apetrully." she smiled.
"Good morning, indeed." Apetrully bowed, "Since last night's rescue went so well, I decided to give First Squad a break for the week so that you and the others can spend more time bonding."
"Oh, commander, that's really nice and all, but I want to do more missions. Besides, I don't really want to take up the time of the original First Squad member's bonding." she glanced at the ceiling then back at Apetrully, "Is there a way I can still go on mission, commander?"
"Well, since First Squad has the week off, I guess you could temporarily join Second Squad since they will be taking their place." Apetrully suggested.
"There's a Second Squad?" Qiao was surprised, but then she realized that if there was a First Squad, then there should be Squads of other ranks as well.
"Yes, they're not as good as First Squad, but they get the job done." He leaned in towards her ear, "There's a strong rivalry between the two. I suggest that you don't brag about First Squad in front of them."
Qiao laughed, "I'll keep it in mind."
Apetrully chuckled, "Wonderful. Just follow me, Xin. I will introduce you to Second Squad. Do you want me to reveal that you are actually a princess to them? Their captain, Alpha-Girl Latifa, already knows."
"That won't be necessary." she shook her head, "I think they'll focus more if they just saw me as just a young boy."
"As you wish." Apetrully nodded, and led her out of her room.
He led her to a room that was very similar to First Squad's briefing room. When he opened the door, she saw five people, all looking very unfriendly. There was only one woman, a martial artist, an archer, a giant, and a liger. They stared at her, suspicious and cautious.
"Everyone, this is Xin. He will be joining you on your missions this week." Apetrully introduced.
"So that's the prince." Kowloon scoffed, "Why isn't he with First Squad taking a break?"
"He chose to do missions regardless of the fact that I allowed First Squad to take a break." Apetrully answered, "I hope you can work together in harmony and have successful missions."
"We don't need a kid in our squad." Alpha-Girl spat, "We can do it all by ourselves."
Xin winced, "I just want to help out, and hopefully get to know you guys too." he rubbed his sleeves, "If you really don't want me around, I won't go."
The liger king spoke out, "Give the kid a shot, captain. What harm can he do?"
"You know if we show the prince how great we are, he'll go tell First Squad that we're just as good as them." Archer Lee tried to convince her, "Or even better than them!"
"Yeah! And they'll listen to him too! He's the prince!" Hurricane Lee added.
Alpha-Girl already knew the boy was no prince, and the fact that he would hide the fact that he was actually a woman was already upsetting her, "Fine. Just don't mess us up, kid."
Xin's face brightened up, "Thank you!"
"I'm Kowloon." the martial artist introduced himself, "Alpha-Girl Latifa is our captain. The brothers over there are Archer Lee." He pointed at the blue fellow, "And Hurricane Lee." he pointed at the grey giant, "And Golden-Eye Husky is the liger."
Xin bowed, "Hello everyone."
"Alright then. Your mission today, Second Squad, is to visit Tuna Castle." Apetrully explained, "They have been sinking fishing ships lately, and the humans around Tuna Castle are beginning starve. We must stop these Tuna fish from wrecking any more ships and make peace with them." He lifted up a tray of gold, "I'm sure they will love my golden presents."
"Commander, maybe you should just stay behind. We'll take care of it." Kowloon groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Apetrully huffed understanding what Kowloon meant by "stay behind", "Fine! But I'll have you know, my golden presents have worked before." The commander stomped out of Second Squad's deployment room mumbling about them showing no respect.
"Alright, Second Squad! Deploy!" said Alpha-Girl.
Each member and their new temporary addition hopped down into the hatches they were sitting on. Just like how First Squad deployed, Second Squad slid down the tubes, but this time they all landed in Big Green's navy quarters. Xin has never been in this part of Big Green before so he took the liberty to observe his surroundings. He noticed short, green triplets coming towards him and Second Squad, and behind the triplets was a giant blue whale with some sort of building strapped onto it. He also noticed a few sharks removing the barnacles growing on the enormous whale.
"We are the Sailor Brothers." the brother with the number seven on his clothes spoke.
"We are aware of your mission." the brother with the number two on his clothes added.
"So climb into Sammo's mouth and we will set course for Tuna Castle." the last brother with the number five on his clothes added.
Xin glanced back at the whale, "So, his name is Sammo." The boy smiled.
"You must be the prince." Sailor Brother Number seven spoke.
He bowed and said, "Yes. Hello."
"It is an honor to transport you to Tuna Castle." Number two spoke.
"We, Sailor Brothers, hope your mission will be successful." Number five added.
Xin smiled, "Of course! We're Big Green. We always succeed."
"Xin! Hurry up!" Kowloon shouted then jumped down into Sammo's blowhole.
"C-Coming!" Xin climbed up Sammo and shot down into his blowhole with the others.
Once everyone was settled, the brothers climbed into the sea craft that was attached to Sammo and began driving him under water and towards Tuna Castle.
Five minutes into the journey, Second Squad members became bored and restless. Xin was occupied by admiring the drawing behind Sammo's throat. Second Squad members began talking amongst themselves seeing that Xin was already busy doing his own thing.
"I heard Tuna Castle is far, what are we gonna do till then?" Archer Lee asked.
Alpha-Girl scowled and glanced up at where the Sailor Brothers should be, "Hey, Sailor Brothers! How long till we reach Tuna Castle?"
"It's a very long journey." one of the brothers answered.
"Most likely an hour or two." the other added.
"Crap." the captain huffed. She glanced back at Xin's direction, "Hey, Prince!" she called over, "Get over here!"
Xin perked up and ran back to his group, "Yes?"
"Sit down, let's talk." the captain gave a smirk, "Tell us about First Squad. Your opinion on them. What do they do?"
Xin thought for a second, "They're great warriors. They're kind and compassionate towards animals; I think that's why they're always favored."
Kowloon started to burn up, "W-What makes them so great, huh? What is Lin Chung doing that I'm not doing right?"
Xin remembered that he was not supposed to brag about First Squad in front of Second Squad, "But I bet you do just as much work as First Squad and get the job done as good as they do, too."
Second Squad seemed to ease up a tiny bit and then Kowloon responded, "Yeah, we work just as hard as First Squad and nobody ever gives us any credit."
If they spend less time competing and more time doing their job, then they would be accredited…
Xin decided to be a little more honest, "Maybe if you put aside your rivalry with First Squad and focused more on your duties then Commander Apetrully will acknowledge your deeds." He became a bit serious, "You always talk about First Squad upstaging you, and you obsess over trying to be better than them. Isn't being just as good as them good enough? Isn't bringing peace to the hidden kingdom rewarding enough?"
Second Squad was silent for a small second then Archer Lee broke the silence, "You're right."
"We have a job." Husky added, "That's more important."
The captain patted Xin's back, "You're alright, kid. Maybe you should ditch First Squad and join our squad."
Xin laughed nervously, "Well, maybe."
Kowloon wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder, "I like you, kid. I think you'll fit in perfectly in this squad."
Xin blushed a bit, being so close to a shirtless male, "I-I… thanks."
Second Squad and their new addition spent the rest of the trip talking; mostly about what they can do to improve and what to keep in mind. Kowloon was developing some small and confusing feelings for Xin all of the sudden. It was making him anxious and a bit frightened of what it could lead up to.
Once arriving at Tuna Castle the heroes put on their bubble helmets to breathe underwater and swam out of Sammo's mouth on Turtle Cannons.
"Wait! You must wait inside Sammo just in case the Tunas are aggressive." One of the brothers called out.
"We can handle it." Husky said cockily.
They saw Tuna Castle and it was just a giant ball of a coral reef. As soon as they were within a few meters of the castle, giant tunas sped past them at high speed of seventy miles per hour. One of them crashed into Husky like a torpedo, which did no damage to him since his hide was so thick.
"Alright, Second Squad! Go!" the captain ordered.
Fighting the tunas was easier said than done. Since they were underwater, their movements have slowed dramatically. Kowloon could not hit the fish quick enough since they were swimming around him and ramming into him. Archer Lee's arrows were useless underwater since they would just shoot out to a small distance then float up to the surface. Husky's fire breath was worthless underwater, and Hurricane Lee's dumplings floated up to the surface with his brother's arrows. Xin and the captain could not hit these fish quick enough with their weapons as they sped by.
Eventually, Second Squad retreated back into Sammo and decided to leave the undersea battle to the Sailor Brothers. The brothers began firing cannon's out of the whale, and its pinpoint accuracy was hitting a lot of the Tunas. Once most of the fish plummeted into the waters below, the rest retreated and their king arrived with a proposition. Their king was the exact same size as the rest of them, but he was the only gold tuna fish while all of his people range from blue to green to grey.
The King made bubbly noises from his mouth and Husky translated, "He said he won't give up unless we beat him in a race." They slowly crept out of Sammo but kept their distance from the tunas.
"You saw how fast they are! We can't beat them!" Hurricane doubted.
"What kind of attitude is that, Hurricane? We're gonna win, cause we're Second Squad! Got it?" Alpha-Girl scolded him, but she understands that they are in a real bad disadvantage, "How are we going to beat the Tunas?"
As the other members began thinking, Xin looked back at Sammo and stared at his cannons.
The cannon balls swim quite fast in the waters… Maybe you can be as fast as the tunas if you are also shot out of those cannons…
"What if we get shot of out Sammo's cannon?" Xin asked, "I bet we can be as fast as or even faster than the Tunas."
Everyone felt a click in their head. Alpha-Girl grinned, "Not a bad idea, kid!"
The tunas set up a racing course using their own bodies. Since there were so many of them and they were so large, they made a course large enough to be ten miles long. And to their likings, it was just a straight path. The rules were six against six. Whichever member of a team reaches the goal first, that team would be called winner.
Xin explained the Sailor Brothers of his plan and readied himself on a turtle cannon along with the other members of Second Squad. As one of the Tunas signaled go, Sammo shot all six members from his cannons and they and the six other tuna fish sped off.
They were neck and neck; however, these tuna fish were very serious about winning the race and decided to play dirty. The fish started to bump aggressively against the members of Second Squad.
One of Tunas sacrificed itself to knock Hurricane Lee out of the race, "Captain, the tunas aren't going down without a fight." Archer Lee called out.
"Only one of us has to cross the finish line, Captain." Xin stated, "If we take out all of the Tunas, then we'll have a guarantee win."
Alpha-Girl glanced at the remaining members. She noticed that Kowloon was currently in first place and a tuna fish was on his tail. "Kowloon, you're gonna win it for us okay? Don't mess up!"
"Got it, captain!" Kowloon nodded and focused on winning the race.
Husky was sandwiched between two tunas. As they collided with him, Husky spread his arms and grabbed the two. Just like the tuna that took out Hurricane Lee, Husky ordered the turtle to dive down away from the course and take the two tunas down with him.
"Alright, four against three!" Kowloon grinned, and then returned to focusing on the race.
One of the tunas that was neck and neck with Alpha-Girl sped up to knock out Kowloon.
"Oh no you don't!" the captain snarled and leaped off the turtle cannon and on to the fish itself. The fish writhed and jerked about to get her off, "You guys go on without me!"
One tuna felt that if it could knock out two of them, the other one can just exert its energy at the last second to beat the human in the lead. The tuna smacked against Archer Lee which made the archer hit against Xin and threw him off course just a tiny bit.
You can still finish this race!…
As the tuna and Archer Lee plummeted, Xin gathered himself up and heard from Sima Cao that he could still be in the race. The turtle Xin was riding spun its tail and sped behind Kowloon and the last tuna.
The finish line was close and the last tuna began to exert itself to speed up past Kowloon. Xin pulled out his hook blade and extended his arm to reach the tuna. His turtle swam as fast as it could to help Xin reach that tuna before it won the race. Xin stood on the turtle and leaned forward, the hook of his blade almost reaching the tail of the tuna.
Hooked! Xin pulled the tuna back and Kowloon sped to the finish line, winning the race for Big Green. Everyone in Second Squad cheered and the Tuna Fish King swam up to the squad and bowed.
He let out some more bubbling noises and Husky translated, "He sees that humans are not as weak and pathetic as High Roller said they were. He will join Big Green and become Sammo's torpedoes."
"Jeez, kid. I don't know what we could do without you!" Hurricane Lee grinned patting the boy on the back.
"That last save you did helped us get Tuna King to join us." his brother, Archer Lee, added.
Xin smiled widely, never has he felt so appreciated and valued anywhere else other than Big Green. He knew he made the right choice joining Big Green.
Second Squad along with the Tunas returned to Big Green. Kowloon was still developing these confusing feelings for Xin. He knew he was a prince, a male, but Kowloon still felt a certain attraction for him. It was beginning to scare him.
Once they arrived back in Big Green's Navy docks, Xin was being tossed in the air as he was carried out of Sammo by Second Squad.
Xin told the others that he had to return to First Squad and see if they are doing anything important while he was away.
"Alright then, Xin." the captain nodded, "If we have another mission, we hope you'll be back to join us."
"I will." Xin smiled warmly and waved them good-bye.
Once Xin was out of sight, Kowloon walked up to Alpha-Girl, "C-Captain, I think there's something wrong with me." he spoke.
Alpha-Girl seemed puzzled, "What's wrong, Kowloon?"
"I think I'm gay." Kowloon blurted, "Xin's a prince which means he's a boy, and I'm developing these feelings for him."
The other members became concerned but his captain sighed, "You're not gay, Kowloon." she sighed again, "Here's a secret. Xin isn't a prince. She is a Princess."
The other's eyes widened, "Why would she pretend to be a Prince?" Archer Lee asked.
"Because of what Kowloon is doing right now. She doesn't want guys after her. All she wants is to bring peace to the hidden kingdom." her expression changed to the face of a drill sergeant, "So, if I catch any of you guys hitting on her, the only thing you'll be kissing is my fist! GOT IT?"
"Yes, ma'am!" they all nodded.