Wow, the ideas come faster than I expected. High chance that I'm going to write the next chapter immediately after this one.

Also, this chapter is the prove about writing the VC4 storyline along with VC1. And expect changes in VC4 story, like, a lot.

I have PMed the reviewers, so no answering in here.

Let's get to the main story!

"So we're going to do a joint training exercise with Gallia Militia?" Raz exclaims again in shock. "I mean, it's Gallia our hometown, but we're in a middle of an important operation right now! We can't just be called out to do such things that..."

"I think they must have a good reason to do so." Claude tries to calm his friend down.

Kai thinks about the situation: "The Militia must have contributed a lot if that gained the Federation's interest. However..."

Riley continues: "Their equipment wouldn't be even matched up to Federation's standard weapons. Even if they could follow up with us in skills..."

Claude: "I think that's how they're here. Also, I read the reports saying that they have done for the war effort more than what Gallia's regular armed forces could do."

Raz interrupts: "Okay, maybe they are better than the most, but they are just civilians! We are Rangers, we're supposed to be out there fighting Imps, instead of playing date with them!"

"Well how about we show you all what a 'civilian' like us could do!"

Upon reaching the rendezvous point, Squad E sees the Militia soldiers waiting for them. Two of them, which Claude assumes are the commanders of sort, walks up near them, as the man salutes. "Welcome. Second Lieutenant Welkin Gunther, leader of Militia Squad 7."

Claude nods and greets back: "I'm First Lieutenant Claude Wallace, commander of Squad E. A pleasure to meet you."

"It is all ours." The man then turns to the other soldier and both smile, knowing their first meet is a success.

"So Squad E is around the same age as ours. Kind of a relief, right Rosie?" The girl says as she turns her focus towards a soldier a little further behind.

Rosie snorts. "As if! We're promised that they're from Rangers and Elite Squad. They just look like a bunch of rookies!"

Raz immediately gets triggered by it: "Oh yeah? That's rich coming from the Militia!"

Largo replies apologetically: "Sorry buddy, she's not very... friendly towards strangers. Especially towards... you know, you."

That doesn't calm him down much. "Oh yeah, so? You're having two right in your squad! They're not even wearing protections!"

That catches Claude's attention, as he sees the two mentioned from Raz sitting on the tank of the squad. And true to the Shocktrooper's words, one of them is wearing a dress designed for a relaxing trip, while the other looks like a scientist instead of a soldier, and he's holding a rectangle thing in his left hand. He knows Militia chooses all kinds of civilians who are capable of fighting, but not wearing the Militia's uniform is unheard of, until now.

"Oh? Them?" The girl with Welkin turns towards the two for a second, before turning back to Squad E and says: "Don't mind about them. They know what they're doing."

Riley is about to ask before Miles interrupts: "Forget about it! Look at their tank! That's something else!"

While Miles is ranting about the tank, and the tank driver, who's a Darcsens, talking back to him, Claude takes a look back at the two on the tank. They look way too relaxing in a war, and the girl is even younger than Nico. The Militia would get such...

His radio suddenly speaks up, and he raises the headphone up to listen: "It's a bit impolite to stare at people for too long, you know?" Gasping in surprise, Claude looks back to the tank to see the man smiling at him, with the object being hold next to his left ear. The man then jumps off the tank and pockets the thing, then walks towards Squad E. When the listening range reaches, he says: "Sorry for the late introduction. The name's Kuro, and the girl is Uni. We're both Jack-of-all-trades in Squad 7."

Returning with a handshake, Claude replies: "The name's Claude Wallace... how did you get into my radio earlier?"

Kuro just shrugs. "You will know soon."

Welkin apologizes: "Sorry about my squad members' attitudes, sir. They're not very the best people to start a friendly conversation."

Claude dismisses it: "Don't worry. We both have wild cards in our squads. Also, please drop the formalities. I can see that you're not very comfortable with it. Also we can do this without the official ranks."

Welkin scratches his head. "Thank you s... Claude."

Riley notes to the other girl: "Your commander is very laid-back huh?"

The girl smiles. "That's part of his charm. Anyway, my name is Alicia Melchiott, Scout Leader of Squad 7."

"And I am Riley Miller, Grenadier Leader of Squad E... Say, what did Kuro mean by 'Jack-of-all-trade'? Did that mean he and the Uni girl fit into every role?"

Alicia nervously smiles. "To put it simple, yes. However, Kuro would just charge right through the enemies with no seconds of thought."

Riley rubs her temple, remembering another soldier being the same. "Don't tell me you have a Raz too. One existing is already enough..."

Alicia: "I think Kuro is worse. I mean, he even ordered Welkin to use Edelweiss' main cannon to shoot straight at him..."

Riley widens her eyes in shock. "A direct hit? But..."

Alicia: "Yeah, he could dodge the tank shots. Close range also."

Riley: "No wonder he called himself Jack-of-all-trade. I'm wondering how he performs in this..."

After a few more chatters, Claude says: "I think all that's left is the training underway. Let's both our squads give out the best shot!"

Welkin: "Right!" Though, when he turns to Kuro... "Uh, Kuro, are you going to..."

Kuro just chuckles back. "Do you want the training to end properly or quickly?"

Alicia giggles nervously. "Why am I not surprised at your answer?"

Claude asks in surprise: "He's not going to join us?"

Welkin: "Maybe in the next training section. For now, let's focus on the current one."

Raz then taunts: "Hey, you better give us a good result. We came all this way, so it's better be worth it. But hey, what can we expect from a Militia. Stay out of our way and it will be fine."

Rosie is triggered. "Oh yeah? How about..."

Largo stops her: "Don't sweat it. If we prove ourselves, he won't have much to say about us."

Rosie: "He's not... urgh, fine."

Largo: "On the bright side, our weapons have a nice change from them. Let's put it into the test."

...

Claude warns Raz: "Remember, we're coordinating with them, so don't overextend yourself, okay?"

Raz dismisses it completely: "Yeah yeah, coordinate. Whatever, let's rock!"

Riley sighs. "This is not going to end well."

Kai: "I know. I will keep an eye on him."

Claude then notices Largo's weapon, instead of the normal lance, it's a green tube of sort with a handle and trigger like a normal gun. He then asks: "Riley, can you identify the lancer's weapon? I have never seen a weapon like that."

Riley takes a look, then shakes her head. "I haven't, either. Did Gallia have upgraded their weapons without us noticing?"

Miles: "It could be. I mean, their tank has those marvelous upgrades! It might be the same with the weapons."

Claude: "Could be. Let's see how it works. Alright, our first camp is nearby. Raz, you and Zaiga take point and draw their attentions. Kai, you take Riley and Rosetta to go around and ambush them."

"Got that boss! Zaiga, let's go!" "Right behind ya!" The two Shocktroopers run ahead and start firing at the opponents, causing the nearby units to take cover and fire back.

On the other hand, Rosetta leads the way and manages to take down a Shocktrooper behind the grass before rushing ahead with the Sniper and the Grenadier. Kai then helps the Scout to take down the nearby soldiers for Riley to safely shoot the gatling gun from afar.

"So far so good from our side." Claude notes. Then he hears a tank being 'destroyed', and turns to see said tank... with its Ragnite core not being touched at all. Claude looks further to see Largo with his weapon pointing straight at the tank, with smoke popping out of the barrel.

"U...Unbelievable!" Miles says in disbelief. "That lancer just one-shot that tank!"

"Wait, really?" He was looking at the others so he didn't notice that. That weapon is more powerful than a normal lance?

Laurent also confirms it: "I was about to shoot it too. Did the Regular Army give the Militia new weapons already?"

Claude: "We don't know for sure. But for now, keep going... Raz, don't head too far! The Militia is still trying to catch up!"

Raz ignores it. "Hey, we're Rangers! Training or combat, we fight the same! So I'm not sitting around and wait for them to..." He then faces one Shocktrooper, however, he is taken down bit a shot to the head from the other side. "Wow... well, their Snipers are doing their work... what the?" Only when he turns to see that: It's not a Sniper shooting the guy, but a Scout! And said Scout is having a rifle with a scope! "Since when does a Scout rifle have a scope?"

'Now this is interesting.' Claude thinks to himself. 'Their weapons are on a different level. Also, their commander is a potential one. No wonder they have achieved what the reports have said about them.'

Kai immediately takes aim to a soldier in Raz's blind spot. "Raz, focus! We're still in the training!"

"Sh!t, almost forgot."

...

"That went better than I expected." Kuro comments, having watched everyone finishing the training. "Thought there would be more arguing..." He stops himself to take a sip from his coffee cup while the other hand's holding a newspaper.

"HEY! You sat there and did nothing!" Raz accuses the man. "If you're the Jack-of-all-trade, then how about you go solo that one again!" He then hears nervous chuckles coming from the others of Squad 7. "What's so funny? Don't tell me you are on his side?"

"In normal circumstances..." Welkin starts. "You are right. However..."

Uni continues: "We're talking about Kuro here, so normal rules don't apply to him."

Kai asks in curiosity: "Normal rules?"

Raz cracks his knuckles. "Oh yeah? I bet he couldn't even..."

"Fight back?" Raz stops himself, and feels two sharp things putting right under his chin, with Kuro suddenly right behind him. "Please, Close Quarter Combat is my specialty. Guns are just child play to me." The swords then get pulled out, leaving Raz unharmed, and Kuro puts them into the scabbards that also appeared out of nowhere. "Be careful of what you're saying." And with that, Kuro just gets back to the resting camp and sits back to his chair, starting to read the newspaper again.

That makes all members of Squad E hang their mouths in shock. None of them didn't even see him moving at all, and yet... Claude then asks Welkin: "What just happened?"

Welkin nervously answers: "That's normal in Squad 7. Please pay him no mind."

Raz then lets out a cold breath. "Gah! What the hell? I thought I was gonna die there!"

"That's for trying to pick a fight with Kuro." Uni replies. "Anyway, Alicia and Isara have prepared some tea and snacks over there. We should join them now."

The moment she says that, Kai sniffs and finds the delicious smell of: "Is that... bread that's I'm smelling?"

Alicia, with a basket of bread in her hands, replies: "Yeah, I just finished baking. Hope we can share it with each other."

Rosie just chuckles and says: "No wonder you're so early. You're very dedicated with your work huh?"

Before Raz could comment, Kai has already rushed towards Alicia and enjoyed the nice smell. "It looks so good! And you even did it without proper equipment as well!"

Riley giggles at Kai's attitude, but she's also on her same side: "You really put your heart into it, huh?"

Alicia: "I do." She then places the basket on the table, followed by Isara, and starts giving out the bread. "Here, go ahead and enjoy it."

Claude nods. "Thanks Alicia. Come on, everyone. Alicia made this specially for us."

During the break, Claude asks Welkin: "We noticed that your weapons were very strange. Mind telling us when the Regular Army gave them to you?"

Welkin: "Oh, our weapons? No no, Militia's weapons got upgraded thanks to Kuro and Uni. They're the ones providing the blueprints for that."

"Kuro and Uni?" Claude looks at the two, who are also enjoying the bread while chatting with the others. "No offense, but they don't look like from military..."

Welkin nods. "They aren't Militia either. They act as mercenaries, and once the war with the Empire is over, they will leave."

Claude: "Uhm, won't you?"

Welkin: "They're not Gallian, if you haven't noticed. They helped us because they felt like to. If they help the Empire, then the Federation won't be safe."

Claude: "They're that powerful?"

"Both in terms of knowledge and power. Seriously, Kuro soloed with a Valkyria and won without a scratch."

Now that catches Squad E's attention, as Kai asks: "Wait, a Valkyria? I thought they're just myths."

Isara shudders a bit remembering about the fights between Valkyrur and the ancient Darcsens. "They are. Kuro and Faldio confirmed it as well."

Riley: "But... if the stories are true, then a Valkyria must be extremely strong."

Uni: "I don't know how fast the news are, but you can re-check the fights on Vasel Bridge and in Kloden Wildwood."

Claude: "Wait, that's you? And the one in white... that's must be Kuro..."

Welkin: "Yep, that's us."

Claude: "Well, thanks to your efforts, Gallia managed to withstand the Empire's attacks. And with that, we were able to push into their territory."

Welkin: "Thank you for the..."

"Imperial troops." That suddenly drops all actions, as everyone looks at Kuro, who has placed the coffee cup and the newspaper on the table. "A klick to the West. Heavy tanks and infantry. Heading towards a city."

Claude is surprised at the sudden change of tone. "What are you... wait, the wind..." He then feels the change in the air, as he turns to see at the West... just in time for an explosion to occur and smoke to start raising up. "How did you..."

"No time to talk." Kuro then orders: "Everyone, start heading towards the city. Uni, you fly there and update the situation, commence the attack if necessary."

"Hey! You're not our boss!" Raz shouts back. However, he's completely ignored by Kuro as the latter already runs ahead. "Hey, listen damn..." However, he shuts up himself when a dangerous-looking motorbike suddenly appears midway of Kuro's runway, and the person just jumps on it and drives away with ridiculously high speed. "Could it be any weirder..."

Welkin comments: "Kuro will always be Kuro." He then turns to Uni. "Please, head there first. We will catch up soon."

Riley is a bit upset that Squad 7 is going to let one girl head to the scene alone. "Hey Welkin! You can't just..." However, a flash of light makes her stop and turn, and when the light vanishes, instead of Uni, she sees a white hair girl in a black body suit with wings hovering behind her back. "What the? Who are you?"

"Forget me already? It's Uni, or Black Sister in this form." The girl answers, surprising all members of Squad E. "You all need to head out soon, the Imperial won't wait for us to save the citizens." And with that, without any supports, the girl flies up to the air and heads to the city.

Kai manages to find her voice first: "What... what just happened?"

Welkin exclaims, snapping everyone out of their dazes: "It's not important now. Everyone, we have to save everyone in the city."

Claude nods and says: "Everyone, get on your gears! Our next destination is the city nearby! Squad E, move!"

"Squad 7, grab your gears and head out!"

Time skip

"The city is under control, sir!" One of the Imperial Scouts reports to the tank commander.

"Good. Start patrolling. We don't want to be suddenly get hit from behind, do we?" Then his radio kicks up as he puts it on his ears...

"How about I kick your front door and get in!" As soon as the words end, the main gate of the city gets blown up, sending the soldiers fly away. The commander turns to see what just happened, and gasps in surprise. In the smoke stands one soldier, wearing a brown bulky armor, in his right hand is a smoking tube, looking similar to a lancer, while on his right shoulder is a machine gun. The commander's radio then kicks in again: "You pick the wrong place to raid, pals. Surrender now, or Death will be glad to get his hands on you!"

The commander grits his teeth in anger. That man's just one soldier, while he has an army! "Soldiers, kill that man!"

Nearby Shocktroopers and Scouts start firing at the man, however, all shots meet the armor plates and drop harmlessly on the ground. Putting the tube on the left shoulder, the man pulls out his machine gun and starts firing back, killing several soldiers and forcing the others to go into hiding immediately. One of the tanks starts moving the main cannon towards the lone soldier, but he stops firing and raises his left arm towards him. The AP Shell shoots out, it collides and creates an explosion with smoke spreading around and blocks the view. The commander smirks, thinking that the soldier's dead, however, he widens his eyes in terror as the shot turns out to hit a shield, that's retractable as it starts to do so as the soldier starts firing again.

"Sir! Federation Troops and Gallia Militia are nearby!" One of the Snipers reports. "One's behind the man, while the other is heading from the East."

"We already have this one as the problem already!" Commander shouts in anger. A shot gazes over his head, forcing him to duck in. "All tanks, focus on him! He won't be able to attack with that shield on!"

...

"Kuro's kinda pinched down there." Black Sister speaks through the earpiece, as she's sniping the soldiers in the East of the City, giving Squad 7 a way to get in.

"Kuro, getting stuck? Sounds stupid to me." Largo blasts a tank with his rocket launcher. "What is he doing?"

Uni: "Probably not giving himself out, because he's wearing a Juggernaut armor."

Rosie: "That bulky thing? Heh, maybe he's planning to give Squad E a piece for this too."

Alicia: "Considering who he is, that's probably the case."

...

"Hey Kuro! Where did you get that armor from? Because I want one!" Raz shouts, while firing from behind a sand barricade. "With that thing, I'm the True Invincible!"

"It's not that powerful." Kneeling down and reloading, Kuro answers. "This armor can only stand for a few direct hits from the tanks before it becomes useless. That's why I need the shield. The armor has already taken a few shots already."

"Still, that's a fine quality armor you have." Riley speaks. "And the weapons you and Squad 7 are using as well."

"Thanks." One bullet gazes over Kuro's head. "Riley, a gatling gun, ten meters, in that intersection. Can you make it?"

"Of course!" *Boom!* "Easy!"

"Good work." Kuro then jumps off the barricade and starts rushing towards, followed by Raz and Zaiga, and suppresses the enemies so they have no choices but to retreat. "Uni, what's the situation?"

"Already done here. Squad 7 is heading from the East. Check your fire."

"Yeah." One of the tanks gets blown up, and Jann gives a thumb up to Kuro, before Squad 7 members start attacking from the right and behind the enemy line. "The cavalry is here..."

"KURO! YOUR NINE!" He immediately turns to the direction Uni has warned, however, a tank shell manages to get a direct hit on him, knocking him off his feet and burning him.

"SH!T!" Thanks to Kuro standing in the way, Raz and Zaiga only get knocked back with no real damage. Raz immediately gets up pulls Kuro out of the fighting zone and into hiding. "Damn it man! If you're dead..."

"I'm already dead, mind you." Despite being burnt, Kuro still sits up normally, making the two back away a bit so the fire won't touch them. He then starts removing parts of armor out of him. "My armor's shredded. It's unusable now."

Zaiga: "Well yeah. You got shot directly by a tank shell."

After few seconds of removing, Kuro stands straight up. "Then I better give it a proper answer to it huh?" Then he just walks out of the plain sight for the tank to see.

"WAIT A DAMN SECOND!" Zaiga tries to pull Kuro back but it's a bit too late as the tank has already loaded another shell and shot it right at Kuro. However, to Raz and Zaiga's utter disbelief, Kuro just BACK-FLIP KICKS the shell to the air, and while it's still airborne, he runs up to the wall of a building with high speed, jumps off the wall and kicks the shell right back at the tank. The impact is right at the weakest part of the tank, and it causes the whole tank to explode.

Landing down with a big *THUD!*, Kuro turns back to the Shocktroopers. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

The Rangers hang their mouths down in shock. Then Rosie walks towards and says: "Hey, you two are going to bite a fly if you keep that up."

Raz immediately turns. "You just saw what he did, right? How can you still be so calm!"

Rosie rubs her temple. "We will talk about it later. For now, let's deal with those Imps first."

Hearing that makes Raz change his attitude a bit, as he readies his gun: "Now you're saying it. Try to keep up, will ya?"

Rosie nods. "Though, I have to give it to you. You could hold yourself very well against that large amount of enemies."

Zaiga shoots down a soldier before saying: "I think it's Kuro's help for enduring the shots for us."

Rosie: "Still impressive enough. Let's push them back!"

Kuro nods and pulls out his dual revolvers. "Let's continue the party!"

Meanwhile, Kai and Marina are picking off any Imps who turns their backs on them. After a few shots, Kai commends: "Miss Marina, our aims are quite on point."

"Thanks."

"By the way, I haven't seen that gun anywhere. Gallia has made a new series?"

"Not them. Kuro." Pulling trigger one more before reloading. "He calls it PSG1. I'm using an extended mag so I can shoot ten times before reloading."

"Extended mag... Haven't thought about that before..."

"Gallia focuses more on the strength and the accuracy, so they may have that over their heads." Then she sees Kuro running-and-gunning the Imps. "Figure."

Kai asks in worry: "How could he still be so aggressive after losing his armor? He has no protection now." But she also detects one on the rooftop nearby so she takes the Imp out immediately.

"Kuro doesn't need one." A gaze of bullet flies over her head from behind, Marina immediately turns back, identifies the person and shoots. "That's just him showing off his arsenal of weapons."

"For real?"

"A perk of living for so long."

"Huh?" However, that's much Kai could get from Marina, before both of them return their focuses on taking down the enemies.

"The Imps are retreating." Uni calls out from up high through the earpiece.

"We can also see that. They give up trying to fight us." Kuro answers, while pulling his sword out of a body of a dead Sniper, whose idea was to shoot Raz who was right next to him.

"Well, thanks for your help. Nearly got hit there." Said Shocktrooper with a thankful attitude.

"Don't sweat it. That's for pulling me out of danger earlier."

Raz then sees Rosie walking towards them, and he says: "Nice job out there. You fight like a pro back then! Never thought you guys could keep up with us that easily."

Rosie smiles. "We have our hellish trainers for that."

Isara says in surprise: "We've been so coordinated in that fight! Like both squads have fought together for years!"

Welkin agrees: "Tactics all come from soldier's experiences. What I saw today taught me more than any military training did."

Claude: "We also learnt a lot from you as well. We glad you came, and thank you Squad 7."

Riley: "Alright everyone, let's return to the base!"

Kai nods and is about to leave, however, Kuro has grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "I need to talk to you something. It's a bit personal."

Kai is a bit surprised, but decides to comply. She then says to Riley: "I'm going to talk with Kuro for a bit. You guys head back first."

Riley: "Oh, okay. Just remember to come back. I'm sure Alicia will bake some more bread soon."

"Yeah! I'm not going to miss it!" Once everyone is gone, Kai impatiently asks Kuro: "So what do you want to talk about? I don't want to delay the..."

"I want to talk about Kai Schulen. The real one."

That immediately drops the happiness in Kai's face. "W...What are you talking about? I'm Kai Schulen, the sniper of..."

"You're Leena Schulen, her brother. You were asked by him to replace his place." Sitting on the sidewalk, Kuro continues: "Before you're trying to say something, no, I'm not accusing you or anything. Nor would I report it. Instead, I have information about him, and I want to talk to you first, so you could tell it to your comrades later."

Being caught red-handed, Leena has no choice to but to listen. "Okay, talk."

"I have to warn you, I'm not going to say out the obvious, because I want you to find it out by yourself what I say here today means. If I say it right now, you would flat out deny it."

Leena sighs. "How could I deny something I don't even know?"

"Just saying first hand. Okay, I will head to the main part. Your brother, Kai Schulen, is dead."

Leena gasps in surprise, and Kuro allows her a few seconds to swallow it. Then, Leena orders: "Continue."

"Now, my warning. Whoever claims to be your brother in the future: Don't EVER trust him. He's nothing like your brother in the past."

"... What are you hiding?" Leena is now suspicious.

"You will see what I mean in the future. But, heed my warning, or your comrades will die in vain."

"..." Kai doesn't take that very well. One wrong decision could cause her comrades to die? Now she has the responsibility to NOT make the wrong choice...

"Another warning. You don't have to tell secrets to the higher-ups, but you MUST tell them to your friends. Don't just hold the problems to yourself."

"I always tell mine to..."

"I'm not talking simple secrets. I'm talking about the same level as 'treason' here."

"..."

"One last thing before we come back: Tell your commander to be careful on the Empire. They're hiding quite a lot of stuffs that normal people haven't seen it yet."

"What do you mean by 'stuffs'?"

"That's as much as I can tell. That behemoth tank and the Valkyria were bad signs." Then Kuro stands up. "Let's head back before everyone leaves us behind."

After Squad 7 leaves, Squad E is heading back to the front line. Raz notices Kai being silent, too silent to be exact. So he asks: "Hey, Kai? What's gotten into you? Did that guy tell something bad to you?"

The sniper briefly turns to the direction where Gallia is, then answers: "It's about Kai."

"WHAT?" That makes everyone shout in surprise, with Claude asking immediately: "He knew about Kai, how? He just met us, right?"

"If what we have heard from Squad 7 was the truth, then he knew more than we thought. He said that Kai is dead."

Raz scratches his head apologetically: "Oh... our bad for bringing that up."

"It's okay, Kuro told me to tell you as well. However, he warned me about not trusting anyone who claims to be him. I don't understand why he said that."

Miles: "That's... maybe someone's planning to use you?"

"How many people know about my identity? And what could they gain from me if Kai is already dead?"

Miles: "Ah right... you have a good point."

"And he also talked about a Valkyria... maybe we're going to face one, so he has to warn it."

Riley: "Everyone in Squad 7 has confirmed Valkyrias exist. Should we tell that to the Federation?"

Claude thinks about the situation... then remembers: "Could it be..."

Raz asks: "What do you think, Claude?"

The commander answers: "The Ambassador has asked me about a special mission that would pull us back to Randgriz. It MIGHT be something related to the Valkyria, but I'm not very sure."

Raz: "Well... if I remember right, people has rumored about the current heiress of Gallia is a descendant of Valkyrur. Maybe we would be rewarded..."

Claude rejects the idea: "No, if that's the case then the higher-up would tell me, not an Ambassador. It has to be something more fishy. That's why I didn't accept it."

Kai then notices a hand-radio being attached to the hatch of the tank. She grabs it and asks: "Hey Claude, did you know this one's there?"

"Huh?" Kai gives him the radio. "I don't know... who could put it there?" He then presses the button...

"Took you long enough to find it." Kuro's voice suddenly comes out of it.

"Kuro?" Claude exclaims in shock, as everyone gets closer to hear the conversation. "Are you nearby? I thought you're going with Squad 7."

"Yes, I'm going with them. I have changed a few stuffs in it, so that I could call you even if we're half of planet far away. Anyway, forgot to tell you this, but maybe I will join with you all in the future, once we're done here. Don't know when."

Claude answers in surprise: "That's... a great news. But, about Gallia..."

"Hey, I'm not Gallian. I'm a mercenary, and my price is you being alive. Keep the radio so we could call later on." Then the call turns off.

Raz shouts: "Now that's what I'm waiting for! I'm so gonna get that armor from him!"

Kai's mood lightens up. "If he's heading here, I'm going to ask for more of Alicia's freshly-made bread!"

Riley: "I could use some helps from him for our upgrades as well!"

Claude smiles. "Guess that's one thing we can look after. Okay, let's keep ourselves alive so we can finish the Operation as fast as possible!"

Chapter 9 end!

New weapons:

M14 with Red Dot Sight for Scouts

PSG1 for Snipers

SMAW for Lancers

Juggernaut Armor, Retractable Shield (make up), PKP Pecheneg with Red Dot Sight, SMAW

Yep, that's it for now. And thanks to you, GJO1088, I found a unique way to troll literally everyone. See you in the next chapters!