Hey, guys. What is up, Azores here with another chapter. Quick announcement. I've decided that most of these Prologue chapters will jump forward about 1-2 years each instead of 3, due to some of the background info I'm gonna need to put in. So, there'll be maybe a couple more chapters than previously thought.
Another thing was I noticed that was several people pointed out that the ninjas were seemingly weaker than they should be against UNSC. While you are correct, (In reality they'd probably annihilate UNSC ground forces.) there is a reason for this and it will be explained in further chapters and in-depth as to why so. All I ask is that you bear with me and read the story as it develops.
Other than that, let's get back to the chapter.
!WARNING!
This story contains content not suited for younger readers, such as Violence, Blood and Gore, Language, and Explicit Sexual Content. This Chapter's Rating will be placed at M-Rated. Future Chapters may, and most likely will switch back and forth between the T and M ratings.
Regardless, Reader Discretion for this Chapter is advised.
I don't own Halo or Naruto.
Bold-My Own Words
Bold & Italic-Locations, Time & Calendar
Normal-Narrative
"Normal"-Person Speaking
'Normal'-Thoughts
"Italic"-Foreign Language
'Italic'-Radio Chatter
/Italic\-AI/Computer typing
-When I was a little girl, my mother would tell me and my sister stories about heavenly beings that lived long ago. She told us about how they could walk amongst the stars in the sky, and were immensely powerful, capable of all kinds of incredible feats and achievements that we couldn't even begin to fathom. And who would watch over us as a sort of guardian angels, until one day, they all just... disappeared. Where they went, no-one knew. But, she also told us about how they came back temporarily in a brilliant flash of light and gave us the Great Guardian and its fellow protectors to watch over and protect us.
-My sister would eat it all up, but I was never certain about its legitimacy, so I never did believe her. Growing up in a shinobi village and as a Kunoichi, I saw a lot of things that blew my mind at times. Some were incredible feats that other Shinobi and Kunoichi pulled off, others were a little more simple, such as the true cruelty of war, even if we weren't officially in one. They were things that I had been through and that I knew were real.
-And on that day when I was captured by the Sky Village, I was certain I was going to die. They would torture me, interrogate me, likely rape me, and then they would eventually kill me. Even though I fought them, tried to resist every step of the way, a part of me had given up and accepted my fate. That I was going to die here. Little did I know, was that somehow, somewhere, I had my own guardian watching over me that day.
Takashima Satomi, personal diary, 2545
Prologue Arc-Episode 2
-A Roar of Thunder-
(Part 2)
June 10, 2543
Unknown Star System;
362 Light-Years from the Psi Serpentis System
407 Light-Years from the Sol System
Sky Village Encampment
Her mind was a haze of confusion, exhaustion, and fear as she tried to get a sense of what just happened. Everything had happened so quickly, it all felt like a blur to her mind. She had been pinned to the ground by the two Sky Shinobi, their hands grabbing and violating every part of her body. One of them then pinned her down by her arms, while the other one had situated himself between her legs, a lecherous grin on his face. The crowd of Sky Village Ninja continued to cheer on their comrades as the man took off his shirt. She attempted to kick him, but exhaustion and chakra depletion had left her weak, and all that earned her was a couple of punch to the face and in pain and struggling to get free of their grip, she watched as the man fumbled with his pants, looking at her with a lustful grin and a laugh. She suddenly heard what sounded like a person shouting in the distance, then a loud crack.
Followed by the right side of the man's head exploded, like a watermelon being smashed open. The now lifeless individual toppled over his body spasm and twitching occasionally. Satomi and several Sky Ninja were sprayed with bits of blood, bone, and brain matter. Satomi blinked and gasped, and many of the Sky Ninja panicked and looked in shock, all trying to comprehend what had just happened to their comrade. Was another Marsh Village team here to rescue her? She suddenly saw what look like an individual off in the forest, clad in solid black armor, holding something in their arms, but she didn't have time to ponder it, though.
Because mere seconds after the man had dropped, all Hell broke loose.
The world around her suddenly erupted into chaos, her ears filled with the shouts and screams of the Sky Ninja and what she could only describe as an earsplitting roar of thunder. Several Sky Ninja around her were cut down in droves, their bodies ripped apart in gory fashion, with tents and boxes torn apart in spectacular fashion, sending wood splinters flying off. The Sky Shinobi holding her down was struck a half dozen times, toppling on top of her and further covering her in blood and gore.
A short scream escaped her lips as she curled up into a ball, trying to protect herself from this unseen attacker. She didn't know what was going on. Maybe the Hidden Mist had decided to go back on their deal with the Hidden Sky, or maybe somebody else decided to crash their party. None of it mattered, though. If she didn't find a way to escape, she was likely going to die here.
Somehow, over the sounds of battle, she heard somebody approaching her. She struggled to get up but suddenly felt someone grabbed her shoulder and lift her up, the body slumping off her. She turned to see who it was, and was met with a large and imposing figure, donning solid black armor, with a solid black visor and helmet looking at her. Surprised, she jumped back with a yelp as the person suddenly grabbed her and lifted her up, holding her with one arm while holding a long and strange looking metal device in the other, waving it about.
A Sky Shinobi popped out of hiding and flung several kunai at the two. The figure turned and covered Satomi with his figure as, to her surprise, most of the Kunai either bounced or even had their tips shattered from connecting with the black armor. Only one Kunai got lucky and was able to slice into the side of the man, where the armor was weaker. The figure turned back to the Shinobi as said Sky Ninja charged with a Katana in hand.
The figure grunted and raised his strange metal contraption, then suddenly Satomi's ears were violated with the sound of multiple loud thuds, originating from the now identified weapon, forcing her to cover her ears from the deafening noise. The end of the weapon was flashing a sort of light, a small projectile coming out every time. These small projectiles slammed into the Sky Shinobi, tearing into his flesh and gunning him down in a bloody fashion.
"Wha-" Was all she was able to say, which was replaced with a panicked yelp as the figure lifted her back up into his arm, before running off into the forest. She could see 7 other figures, all of them shooting their strange metal weapons as well. As she was carried back into the forest, she didn't know if she should be thanking or cursing Kami right now. She could only hope that this would turn out for the better.
She could really use a miracle right now. Little did she know, that miracle had already happened.
Fireteam Whiskey/Gamma
"Get moving, Marines! Come on! Go, go!" Armstrong called out as she fired a burst at the encampment, pinning down the survivors of their initial attack. Peltier was with her firing away with his SAW. The other 6 helljumpers were already running back further into the forest, occasionally firing their weapons back at the encampment, in case someone had decided to grow a pair and go after them. Rhineford and Parker were running next to one another, every so often looking back at the encampment. The woman in Rhineford's arms would occasionally scream at the sound of gunfire that was close and pound at his chest trying to get free.
As they ran, Rhineford could Parker yell at him, "Goddamn you, Rhineford! What the fuck were you thinking?!"
"I did what was right, and I'm sticking by it," Rhineford replied to him.
"Oh, yeah?! And what do you think's gonna happen when the Colonel and all of them find out, asshole?! They're gonna fucking court marshal us and shoot us, that's what!" Parker retorted as he crouched underneath a low hanging branch. "If we all don't die first!"
Rhineford smirked beneath his visor as he leaped over a fallen log. "Me, yeah maybe. It's okay, though! The Colonel understands."
Parker looked at him dumbfounded, "What? What the hell do you mean?!"
Rhineford's mind raced back to the talk he had with Colonel Barnes, as he continued to run, slowing down slightly to readjust his carry of the woman in his arms.
Flashback
"Wait, what?" Rhineford was surprised at what the Colonel had just said. He had been expecting him to start berating him about disregarding a direct order from a Vice Admiral, yet instead, the Colonel had done the complete opposite.
'What I said is that as the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the group, it is your duty to carry out your mission and lead your unit to the best of your abilities as you see fit. Whatever decisions you make will reflect on you and you alone. Now, I'm not telling you to do anything except your job, however, I will inform you that my group is moving to a position near your location.'
Rhineford couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Colonel Barnes just tell him, without actually saying it over the comms, to do what he thought was right? He had heard stories about the Colonel, about how he put human lives over completing the mission, which got him in numerous fights with command, but Rhineford had largely dismissed them as a rumor. Nobody was crazy enough to try and argue with HIGHCOM of all people.
Or so he had thought.
Rhineford pondered in his mind if this was truly worth the risk. Though he would likely get court marshaled for it, he finally came to the conclusion that, in his mind, it was the right thing to do. It was worth it.
"S-Sir, yes sir. Understood. I'll be sure to keep you posted on any new developments."
'Understood, Corporal. I'll make sure to have a couple Wombats on standby to assist with your reconnaissance. Good luck. Out.'
"You're shitting me? He basically said to do whatever you thought was best?!" Parker questioned, looking back to see if anybody was following them.
"Yeah! We're gonna make our way to his group and link up! Then we get topside and take her to one of the medical bays." Rhineford shouted over to Parker as they continued running. They suddenly heard someone behind them. They looked back to see one of the locals, a man, roughly 30 meters from them. Rhineford saw he was doing something crazy fast with his hands, before suddenly shouting, "Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)
Out of nowhere, multiple fireballs appeared in front of the man, coming straight at the trio. "Holy shit!" was all both the ODST could say as they flung themselves back to avoids the fireballs, which slammed into the surrounding ground and trees, igniting the affected areas into flames. Rhineford, having positioned himself on top of the captive woman to protect her from further harm, rolled onto his back and fired a burst from his MA5C at the individual. The ninja, however, was quicker, having already shushined away to avoid the incoming fire.
'Dammit! They recovered and responded a lot quicker than I thought they would.' Rhineford cursed as he reloaded, 'Figured we'd had a least a few more minutes before they came after us.'
Rhineford and Parker were now firing their MA5Cs at this point, trying to pin down the assailant when they heard several thunks around them. They looked around and saw what looked like several throwing knives with pieces of burning paper attached to each of them. The woman suddenly panicked and threw Oliver back to the ground, shouting something in her language, as the paper ignited, small explosions occurring all around them, flinging Parker to the ground. The resulting explosions covered the trio in dirt and plant debris.
Parker groaned as he rose to his hands and knees, "Jesus Christ, what the hell was that?! These fuckers have grenades?!" He spotted the lone local again, this time in a tree flinging another one of those exploding knives at someone. He fired his MA5C at him, but again, was too slow as the man shushined away. Parker cursed under his breath as he got up and saw two members of Fireteam Gamma laying down suppressive fire, trying to give them some room to move and pull back.
Parker then glanced up towards one of the trees and saw another one of the locals, a female this time, doing the same weird thing with her hands, before suddenly shouting, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) Parker, now realizing that these were preludes to an attack, raised his Assault Rifle just as she finished speaking and fired, striking and killing the woman, her body. He wasn't quick enough to stop her attack, however. To his shock, a massive Fireball appeared and went straight towards the two shock troopers. Parker barely had enough time to scream out, as the fireball engulfed them, their death throes and screams following shortly after.
Cursing under his breath, Parker got up and noticed several more of the locals following them, flinging their throwing knives and casting more of what he could only describe as magic. He reached into one of his pouches and pulled out an M9 grenade. Priming it, he threw it at a cluster of the locals flinging more of those exploding knives. A couple noticed and, not wanting to find out what it does, were quick to jump/shushin away. The other 4, however, were too late in noticing it and hesitated when they did. They didn't live to regret their mistake, as the grenade went off with a loud whoomp, killing all 4 of the ninja, two of which that was the closest being turned into fine red mist from the blast.
"Hell, yeah! Two can play that game, assholes!" Rhineford heard Armstrong shout, followed by another grenade going off somewhere in the distance.
"Parker! Come on, move it!" Peltier shouted from behind him, followed by the sounds of his SAW going off several times. Parker turned and ran to join the other Marines as several laid down suppressive fire to help him reach them. They were nearly at the clearing but could see several ninjas chasing after them, murderous and vengeful intent in their eyes. As they cleared the tree line and entered the opened grassland, they could hear the ninjas doing something behind them, shouting and such. What, they weren't certain, but they weren't staying to find out.
"We're almost to the rendezvous. Just-" Rhineford was cut off as they heard a bellow from behind. They all looked back, weapons aimed, as they saw several trees bulging out of the way as the unknown hostile (they assumed) made its way towards them. As the trees gave way, what they saw blew their collective minds.
A massive, gray, bipedal being, towering some 15 feet, came bursting through the trees, bellowing a warcry as it slammed its massive, gorilla-like arms down onto the ground before stopping not 30 meters from them. The creature's body was burly and muscular, built for combat. But what dumbfounded the ODST most was that the creature appeared to be made entirely of stone. Its white, soulless eyes stared directly at them, not blinking once. It bellowed out once more, sending a spine-tingling sensation down each of the ODST's neck.
It eerily reminded them all too much of the bellow of a Hunter.
Rhineford placed Satomi down behind him as he turned to face the monstrosity before them, but received a kunai to the visor, puncturing through it halfway to the hilt and sending him crashing to the ground. Satomi gasped, while Parker roared out in anger as he ran over to help his downed friend. In his heart, though, he was certain that the man was dead. That was until he heard a groan come from the downed man. Parker cursed under his breath, not believing the man's luck.
Parker immediately knelt down and helped pull the kunai that was buried a third of the way into Rhineford's visor. Somehow, this lucky bastard's visor stopped the kunai from plunging into his head. With a grunt, he succeeded in taking it out, which then Rhineford was quick to remove his helmet. "Lucky bastard," Peltier spoke as the Marines kept their weapons trained on the massive rock monstrosity while Parker helped out Rhineford.
Satomi, who had propped herself up onto one knee, still doing her best to cover her largely nude figure, was greeted by the sight of a young man with short, dark brown hair and soft blue eyes. His face was adorned with a cute, rather boyish face, as well as a cut across his right cheek where the Kunai had punctured, blood trickling out.
She was surprised, in all honesty. From what she could gather the past several... hectic minutes of interaction, he was the leader of this group. She truthfully had been expecting someone older underneath all the armor, someone who looked like they had seen years of combat. This guy, though, looked roughly the same age as her. While that didn't necessarily mean anything, she from her own personal experience that with age typically comes experience.
That didn't change one fact, however. She had already deduced that these soldiers were professionals, career soldiers even. Their weapons, though strange, and tactics were executed with what she could describe as efficient, maybe even flawless. Almost like a group of archers, they had used their weapons to suppress the Sky Shinobi and take away their ability to move. It was either that or face a rather gruesome death.
Their movements were also relatively quick, too, but strangely predictable. They never once used any form of chakra, always running in and out of cover and such. To Satomi, this meant that either they didn't want to use it because it would give their identities away, or they just couldn't use it, like civilians. And judging from what happened to the two soldiers earlier, she figured it was the latter.
But she still had two questions lingering in her mind. The first was obviously, who are they exactly? While the thought had initially crossed her mind, she ruled out the Crusader Knights from the Far Eastern Continent of Esura. She had encountered them several times when their trade-ships came into Hashimaki Port and had seen their weapons and gear as well, and it didn't even come close to comparing to what these guys had. So just who the hell were they, then?
The second question in her mind, was why did they bother even rescuing her? Not that she wasn't grateful or anything, but why did they risk their lives for one person that they didn't even know? There had to some kind of ulterior motive at play. With this thought in mind, she wasn't so sure if she should be thankful or wary of her newfound companions. But for now, she was still too weak to do anything to help her situation. All she could do was wait for now and hope for an opportunity to arise.
Sky Village Shinobi
The Sky Village ninja group had caught up to the Stone Golem and the newcomers that had ambushed them and taken off with their target. To say Kotaro was pissed was an understatement. Some 14 Shinobi and Kunoichi were dead, with 5 or 6 injured, and most within the span of a couple of minutes. And their warship, which had another 60 Sky Ninja on board as backup in case something went wrong, (That was how seriously the Sky Village Sukaikage was taking this mission.) would have only just arrived by now, meaning that their backup would still have to travel some 15 miles inland to get to them; which would take up to an hour of traversing via non-stop shushining.
And at the rate they were losing Shinobi, that wouldn't be fast enough.
"Spread out! Don't bunch up," he commanded as he flexed the grip on the Odachi in his hands. The 16 Sky Shinobi spread themselves further apart so that they wouldn't get devastated by one of those explosives again.
"Kotaro, where the commander?" A Sky Shinobi asked.
Grunting, Kotaro replied, "Hideo's been injured, so I'll be taking charge." While that wasn't technically a lie, a more truthful answer would have been that he's trying to save that little girlfriend of his after being hit several times by whatever the hell those weapons shoot. More of a mental hurt than physical. Kotaro, though, wasn't holding any hopes of her pulling through and living. Whatever those weapons are, they've been perfected for warfare. And he fully intended to bring them back to the Sky Village. With an arsenal of these weapons and armor, the Sky Village would be unstoppable.
First, he had to get them, though.
Sky Village Encampment
"Stay with me, you're gonna be okay!" Hideo shakily spoke out as he knelt over the downed form of Naoko, trying his best to keep his nerves under control. Shallow, pained breaths could be heard coming from her, as she struggled to breathe.
To say she was a mess, was an understatement. Her body was a bloody and torn mess, with an arm missing and three gaping holes in her body caused by those... kunai... arrows... Kami, whatever the hell those were. The only reason he hadn't been hit was that she had been laying on top of him when the attack started. In a blind panic, she had shot straight up and was struck multiple times by those... projectiles.
She had inadvertently saved his life. Now, he was trying to save hers.
"Fucking Hell! Patch her up, already!" He angrily shouted at the medic next to him. The medic, who was a genin fresh out of the academy, panicked and tried to the best of his abilities to stop the bleeding from one of the wounds on her stomach, but to no avail. While he was able to stop the bleeding from her arm, or what was left of it, the wounds were just too severe, and the poor boy just didn't know what to do. His sensei, the group's main medic, had been killed along with his teammates in the opening attack. All that was left was him.
"I-I sorry, sir. I c-c-can't stop the bleeding! It's just-"
"I don't want a FUCKING excuse! I want you to SAVE HER FUCKING LIFE! SO HELP ME OR I WILL TAKE YOURS!" Hideo roared at him, terrifying the boy as he redoubled his efforts to try and save the woman's, and his, life. The problem was that the genin had never been in combat before, though. His body was shaking with fear, the images of several people dying horribly, their bodies being ripped apart, repeating over and over in his mind.
Though he still had a lot to learn about medical aid, he knew that these wounds were too severe for him to fix. She would need to be brought to a hospital, and the closest one he knew of was in some town on the coast of Lightning Country, some 150 miles from their location. She'd never survive the trip. In all likelihood, she was going to die here.
Naoko's breath was becoming labored as the color slowly drained from her skin. Hideo began to panic, cupping her face in his hands. "Look at me." He pleaded as he raised her head slightly to look at him. Her eyes seemed so distant, her breath so softly and shallow now it could barely be heard. He could hear her breath out as if she was trying to say something. "Look at me. You're gonna be-" He wasn't able to finish, though.
Helplessly, he watched as the life slowly faded from her eyes, a single tear falling down the side of her face. She exhaled one last time, before she stopped breathing altogether, her body slowly going limp. Time seemed to slow down for Hideo. Everything around him seemed to blur as he looked down at the still-warm corpse of his lover. His breath became ragged and shaky, before quietly breaking into a sob.
He brought her body close to his, cradling her in his arms while rocking back and forth as if she was merely sleeping, as he continued to quietly sob. The young genin medic, terrified at what could happen if he stayed, made his way to leave, primarily to put as much distance between him and the now mentally unstable Hideo as possible.
As the young genin ran, Hideo's sob turned into an open cry, rocked her body back and forth in his arms. He would never be able to hold her again. To kiss her. To feel her. To love her. All these things he had shared with her were now gone forever, taken by some unknown individuals. His mind was flooding with numerous emotions. Sadness. Confusion. Fear. But one in particular above the others, Anger. These unknowns have taken something from him, something very dear and precious.
"What the hell happened here?!" He could hear somebody shouting, as their footfall came closer to him. The sound of several others could be heard as well. Hideo already knew who it was; he just wished they had arrived an hour sooner. He looked up to see the reinforcements, and their ticket off the island, that the Sky Village had sent, all 60 of them, minus the boat crew.
"Hideo, what the hell happened? Who did this?!" The lead Sky Shinobi spoke, looking around at the ruined encampment, equipment and bodies strewed out everywhere.
"Go after them..." Hideo shakily whispered out.
"What? Who are-"
"I SAID GO AFTER THOSE BASTARDS! AND BRING ME THEIR FUCKING HEADS!" Hideo suddenly roared out, looking the Sky Shinobi dead in the eyes, a deranged bloodthirsty look in his own.
The Shinobi, realizing that Hideo wasn't entirely right in the head at the moment, decided to follow the order, before Hideo exacted his rage towards them instead of whoever had attacked them. He heard what could only assume were the sounds of battle in the distance. With a wave of his hand, he motioned for the Shinobi force to move out, "Let's go!"
The Sky Ninja all shushined away, towards the sounds of battle as they went to go help out their brethren, leaving Hideo alone in the encampment once more, with nothing but the dead and the sounds of his wails of pain and despair as he continued to cradle Naoko's cold, lifeless body.
Fireteam Whiskey/Gamma's Location
"Merde," Peltier muttered as he trained his SAW on the Golem, not sure if it would do any good though. While their bullets were good at penetration, they weren't designed to penetrate rock and earth. He glanced to his sides and saw the two remaining members of Fireteam Gamma taking position next to him, weapons trained on a separate target.
Rhineford and Armstrong had placed themselves between the Sky Shinobi and the former female captive, acting as a sort of shield for the woman, though they weren't sure how much good it would do. They all watched as a towering individual, standing some 7 feet tall, walked forward, a large sword in his right hand and a couple of windmill shurikens folded upon his hip. He was a very imposing individual, with a doo-rag on his head and icy, steel grey eyes. Several scars on the left side of his face could be viewed as well. His physique was brimming with muscles, so much so that Rhineford wondered if this guy could have become a Spartan if he had been born within the UNSC.
Stepping forward with a smirk, Kotaro lifted the sword over his shoulder and started talking to them. "I gotta admit, you're pretty fucking bold for pulling off what you just did. However, it looks to me that despite that and all your fancy little... toys, there isn't anything too special about you."
They couldn't understand a word he was saying, but the ODST stood fast nonetheless.
"So just who the hell are you guys? You aren't ninjas. Otherwise, you would have been long gone." Kotaro continued, arching an eyebrow as he looked over Rhineford, who kept his MA5C trained on him.
"Parker..." Rhineford warned, glancing over to his friend.
"I know, I'm watching the rock monster," Parker replied, glancing to make sure his MA5C's grenade launcher was loaded, in case the stone golem chose to charge.
Satomi glared at Kotaro, muttering under breath, "Soga Kotaro."
Rhineford heard her speak and looked back at her glaring at the man in front of them. He wondered if that was the guy's name or something. Turning his attention back to the man, he noticed a couple of ninjas in the back performing handsigns on the ground. Several of the ODST trained their weapons on them, not sure of what was about to happen.
Their question was quickly answered as two more Stone Golems erupted from the ground, bellowing out and taking a position in front of the Sky Ninja. "Well, our situation just went to hell." Parker sarcastically remarked as they saw the Stone Golems take several more steps forward, bellowing once more as they did so.
"Any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em." Gamma Team leader spoke up as he swayed his BR55 back and forth between targets.
"This is gonna be your one chance to surrender peacefully. Either lay down your weapons and hand over the girl, or it's gonna get ugly for you." Kotaro grinned deviously, pointing his Odachi at Rhineford.
"Don't! He'll just kill you and your friends anyhow, the moment you do that!" Satomi yelled at Rhineford, who kept his eyes, and his weapon, trained solely on Kotaro while he tried to come up with a way to get them out of here.
If it was just the Ninja, they could possibly fight their way out, but those rock monsters changed everything. They were more than likely durable, more than enough that it would require some heavy firepower to take them down. The only thing that would probably classify as that would be the 40 mike-mike, but it wouldn't be enough. That was more an anti-personnel weapon.
Just as it seemed as though the fighting was going to resume, a noise could be heard in the distance. The sound caught the Sky Ninja and Satomi off guard, having never heard it before. But the Marines simply smirked at the sound as it got louder, knowing what it entailed.
The cavalry had arrived.
In the distance, 2 M12 LRV Warthogs, with 1 M12G1 LAAV Warthog and 3 M831 WTTs were high-tailing it towards the two groups, their engines roaring as they sped across the grassland. Kingpin-Actual had arrived. Rhineford grabbed hold of Satomi and with the rest of the ODST, began to back up, weapons still trained on the Sky Ninja.
Satomi was dumbfounded at what... ever she was looking at. She could only sit there and stare at the metal behemoths as they roared towards them before all coming to abrupt stops, the ODST inside dismounting and taking up positions. Each one had four large, black wheels, a forest green coloring on the hull, and what looked like two small tusks on the front. Three of them had what she could only assume were weapons on the backs of them, while the other three carried several soldiers in them.
She had never seen anything like them in her life. The only thing she could compare it to was perhaps the Sky Country's Airship and Airship Carriers, but those were mostly made out of wood and were powered by wind and chakra. These things were made entirely of metal, and looked as if they could outrun any horse on the ground.
The gunners on the Warthogs traversed their respective guns onto the contingent of Sky Ninja, while the others dismounted and set up in front and around the Warthogs, training their weapons on the Sky Ninja as well.
Parker couldn't help but chuckle at their change of fortune, "Christ, it's about time."
Colonel Barnes walked forward towards the group, nodding, "Sorry we're late." He glanced over at Kotaro, then muttered, "Damn, he's a big one." He stepped up and sized up Kotaro, even though the 7-foot man towered over the 6'1" Marine, the Colonel didn't seem fazed in the slightest by him. Kotaro, hesitant that his group was now outnumbered, and likely outgunned, defensively held his Odachi, a scowl adorning his face.
"Just who the hell are you people?" He muttered as he glared at Colonel Barnes.
"Atlas, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't that sound like it was Japanese?" Barnes asked in his comms, ignoring the man for the moment.
"Somewhat archaic, but yes, that was Japanese." a woman with a slight British-accent replied through the helmet's speakers, "Standby, I'll translate it into everyone's universal translators so they can communicate. Though, I doubt it'll do much to defuse the situation at the moment." She deadpanned at the last sentence.
Chuckling, Barnes replied, "Yeah, I think we're beyond that now."
"Hey, asshole! Answer me! Who the hell are you?!" Kotaro demanded once more, now pointing his Odachi at the Colonel.
"Relax. There is no need for such hostility between us." Barnes spoke in the locals' language, catching all the ODST off guard. Rhineford and the others looked at him dumbfounded.
"What the hell?"
"How does he know their language?"
"Dude, how's he doing that?"
These were just a few of the questions that were muttered amongst the troops as the Colonel conversed with the locals in their native language.
"Is it just me, or does their language sound familiar?" Peltier whispered as the ODST watched on.
'That's because the locals are speaking a sort of archaic Japanese, PFC Peltier.' Atlas suddenly spoke over the comms.
"Wait, seriously? How come we didn't realize that sooner?" Rhineford asked, surprised that the locals would have developed a language that also just happens to be one of the hundreds spoke within UNSC Space.
'That's probably due to the facts that Japanese isn't spoken by a lot of people, in comparison to the UNSC's total population, and due to English basically being the Lingua Franca of the UNSC for the past 400 years.'
"Ok, makes sense I guess. So communicating shouldn't be too much of a problem then, I hope. Still doesn't explain why they're speaking an Earth language." Rhineford continued.
'Nope, not in the slightest. Regardless, I'm already downloading the language pack into your universal translators, so now you can communicate with your damsel in distress behind you.'
Rhineford scowled and rolled his eyes at that, earning a giggle out of the AI. The Marines, knowing they had the advantage now, pressed up to their positions in their confidence, causing the majority of the Sky Ninja to back up defensively at the new threats. Kotaro, however, stood his ground.
"Hostility?! I think we're past that point, asshole!" Kotaro growled out.
"Choices were made. Some of them were poor choices that led to conflict. What happened was an accident, and for that, I apologize." Kotaro narrowed his eyes as Colonel Barnes continued to talk, "But, there isn't any more need for conflict between us. We didn't come here looking for a fight."
The Sky Village Shinobi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the man before him. After his guys attacked them, for no reason as far as he was concerned, this guy was wanting to talk about playing nice. No way. He was probably the one who ordered them to attack. However, that didn't mean that he wouldn't be willing to play ball. While he wasn't the smartest man in the Shinobi Nations, he was far from the dumbest. Even he could tell that these guys had gear and tools that were leagues ahead of anything they had. Getting their hands on that would be immensely useful to Sky Country. If anything, he could just buy some more time until their reinforcements arrive.
Lowering his Odachi, Kotaro smirked, "If that's true, then hand over the girl, and we'll start talking."
15 minutes prior
5,000 Km above Shinsei in Orbit
UNSC Everest
Bridge
In less than 5 mins, things had gone to hell in a handbasket. Cole was fuming, to put it lightly, as he watched the ODST opened fire on the encampment, cutting down several of the Locals. Any chances of peaceful first contact were now thrown out the window. As he listened to the sounds of battle through the speakers, he could feel his blood boiling as he watched on the holo-pad.
"Goddammit!" He cursed, slamming a hand on the holo-pad. Lyrenne Castilla next to him sighed, "So much for peaceful First Contact."
"Sir, Kingpin-Actual is moving towards Fireteams Whiskey and Gamma's location. ETA 10 minutes." One of the bridge personnel shouted to the Vice Admiral.
"Get a couple of Wombats to divert for a possible CAS mission. Get the remainder of our troops on the ground. I want this island locked down and secured today." Cole ordered, to which the respective crews went about their new tasks.
Turning to his old flame, he spoke, "Lyrenne, I think we'll have to speed up that colonizing plan of yours. Tell your civilian ships to commence their approach and start colonizing efforts. I'll have Brigadier Gen. Hammond focus on securing the island. Any military personnel you have on your ships, you may want to go ahead and deploy planetside as well." Lyrenne nodded and started to type on her data-pad the commands, she received another message, stating that the first of the Phoenix-Class they had acquired was an hour away from them.
"Unbelievable. Jarheads couldn't keep their trigger fingers under wraps for an hour without shooting up the locals." he heard Rebecca mutter in the back, a scowl adorning her face. "Should have just let us handle it."
"Sir, we've got a problem in Cryo-bay 3B!" A crewman suddenly shouted.
"What's going on?" Cole asked as he kept his eyes glued to the holo-pad.
"One of the Spartan-IIs has been woken up from Cryo."
Cole's eyes widened at the news. Of all the things that could happen, that was the last thing he needed. "YOU HAVE SPARTANS ON BOARDS?!" he could hear Rebecca shriek, her eyes wide in disbelief. The other URF Soldiers that had tagged along with Lyrenne and Rebecca were now sweating in their armor at the mention of Spartans.
"What the hell's the meaning of this, Preston?! You never said anything about Spartans being aboard!" Lyrenne accused.
Giving a short sigh, Cole replied, "They were a last-minute addition by ONI before Psi Serpentis started. Believe me, I had no say in the matter of whether or not I wanted them on my ship. ONI isn't exactly a group you can just say no to."
"That doesn't explain why you didn't mention they were aboard. What do you think was gonna happen when they learn there's a URF Fleet right next door to your ship, let alone when they find out we're working together OR the fact we're not going back to the UNSC!?"
"I know. I was hoping I could deal with that problem later. Where is the Spartan right now?" Cole asked.
"Sierra-072 is currently in the nearby Armory finishing up acquiring some weapons and ammo. She has conversed with ODST Lieutenant Garcia regarding the situation planetside," Caesar replied, his hologram coming to life on the holo-pad.
"How did they even get out, to begin with, if you had them in Cryo?" Rebecca asked.
"Apparently, one of the crewmen was working the controls to release personnel currently in Cryo-sleep and accidentally pressed the wrong pod control, releasing Sierra-072 from the pod, and was unable to stop the thaw-out. I managed to prevent the other two, Sierra-125 and Sierra-024, from being thawed out as well," Caesar replied casually as if it were an everyday occurrence.
"How the hell do you-" Rebecca was about to continue but was cut off by her father.
"Give me the Spartan's location, again," Cole ordered.
"Sir, S-072 is now heading for the ODST Deployment Zone, I believe she's planning on using one of the drop pods to get ground-side." Caesar suddenly commented, one of the monitor screens changing to show the 7'2" tall supersoldier, clad in the Mjolnir CQC Armor, with a navy blue coating with some minor imperial red coloring on the arms, legs, shoulders, and back of the torso. He noticed that the Spartan also had a jetpack on her back.
"Get me comms to that soldier," Cole spoke, waiting for Caesar to connect with the Spartan's comms so he can find out just what the Spartan was planning to do. "Comms established, sir."
"Sierra-072, this is Vice Admiral Cole."
On the screen, the Spartan stopped what she was doing and looked directly at the camera. "Yes, sir. Go ahead, Sir."
"Do you mind telling me what you're doing?"
"Sir, friendly units are being engaged on the ground and are in need of assistance. If I deploy the drop pod now, I can reach them in roughly 10 minutes." The Spartan replied. Cole arched an eyebrow at that, wondering how she had learned of the situation on the ground so quickly.
"Sierra-072, we already have units inbound to assist them. I'm sure they'll be able to handle it themselves until backup arrives." Cole responded, trying to reassure her and get her to stand down.
"Sir, the ODST have cleared the tree line. Kingpin-Actual is 2 minutes out from their current location. However, there's another problem developing." Caesar commented, before changing the holo-pad screen to show the coast near the encampment, revealing a large ship, what Cole and the others could only describe as a small, wooden Aircraft Carrier, maybe 600 feet in length and having what appeared to be some sort of aircraft. He could see several smaller boats beached on the shore, which meant that the locals had reinforcements inbound. The more Cole looked at it, the more the thing looked like one of the Aircraft Carriers from World War 2, minus all the AA guns.
"It appears that the natives are a little more advanced than previously thought, Vice Admiral," Caesar commented, as he presented statistics and info on the vessel.
Glancing back at Lyrenne, whose eyes were fixed on the vessel, he whispered, "So it does." Before looking back to the monitor screen. "Sierra-072, green light for deployment. Get down there and assist our soldiers in securing the island."
"Yes, sir." The Spartan responded before getting into the pod and waiting for the drop to commence.
"Navigation, get our ship in the atmosphere. If needed, we'll provide fire support for the ground forces. And tell the flyboys to sink that Carrier!" Cole ordered, as Caesar and the navigation crew went about moving the ship into the planet's atmosphere. Seconds later, the rumbling of the ship's engines increased in intensity as the Cruiser accelerated. While at this point it would be mostly just wishful thinking, he hoped this situation didn't get escalated any further.
There wasn't really a Plan B if it did.
Kingpin-Actual
"If that's true, then hand over the girl, and we'll start talking," Kotaro replied, smirking as he finished.
Barnes looked back at Satomi, whose own eyes narrowed at his as she tensed up, uncertain of what was about to happen. Despite having a visor covering his face, Satomi felt like he was staring into her very soul. After what felt like an eternity, she heard a sigh come from the man as he turned back to face the Sky Village Shinobi.
"Yeah... I'm afraid that's not going to happen."
"What?" Kotaro asked in a low voice. Growling, he spoke up, "This woman is a criminal responsible for the deaths of 30 of our Shinobi, and that's not including our Samurai and Ashigaru, let alone however many she's killed in other countries. We caught her, and she will answer for her crimes."
"Does answering for a crime require you to rape her?" Barnes retorted.
Kotaro snorted, "She's an enemy captive. Any rights she had in her home country don't apply to ours. As a prisoner, we're free to do whatever we wish with her."
"She's not your prisoner, anymore." Barnes replied, his voice threatening, "And it's not up for debate."
"Listen here, fucker." Kotaro sneered as he tightened the grip on his Odachi, his patience was starting to run thin, "You're either going to hand her over peacefully, or this is gonna get ugly for you." He's come to the conclusion that these newcomers weren't going to play ball, so now this called for intimidation. The only problem was, they didn't seem threatened in the slightest. They knew they had the edge here. Either that or they were really damn good at hiding it.
Barnes slowly lifted his BR55 up slightly, switching the fire-selector to full auto. Atlas was already warning the other ODST that, in Barnes' words, shit's about to go down. The other ODST prepped themselves for a possible firefight, the Warthog gunners traversing their guns towards individual targets.
Kotaro's eyes narrowed, before grunting in frustration. They couldn't afford that bitch getting back to Marsh Country. If she did, their plans would be ruined as the Hidden Marsh would immediately be on alert for any possible invasion, setting their plans back by years. That was something they couldn't allow. But he's seen their firepower first hand. Despite having confidence in the Sky Ninja, and at the very least himself, he knew that they would lose if they attacked. The newcomers' numbers and strength would simply be too much.
Kami, they took out half a contingency of 36 soldiers, highly-trained shinobi, at the cost of 2 of their own, out of an original force of just fucking 8. Granted, they had the element of surprise, but that still didn't change the fact that they had utterly decimated an elite platoon of Shinobi. And he didn't like the idea of a bunch of chakra-less soldiers being able to best a shinobi platoon like that. But facts were facts.
That is until Kotaro sensed a familiar presence coming in from his group rear. And that caused him to smile as he realized what, and who, it was. Straightening himself out, he spoke one more time to Colonel Barnes, "As I said, you either hand her over or everyone of is going to die. Starting with you, tough guy." he grinned devilishly as he pointed his Odachi straight at Barnes, who remained calm and unmoved. He realized, though, that something was up the moment the Shinobi started smirking.
Barnes, realizing that this situation wasn't going to improve now, mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen as he took in a breath. He watched Kotaro's leg foot-shift slightly back, and mimicked the move with his right foot, raising his BR somewhat as he did so. Barnes saw the other Shinobi preparing to attack, as he took an experimental step back, then readjusting the weight on his feet. He could hear Rhineford behind him moving Satomi back towards one of the Warthogs for protection. "Barnes..." He heard Atlas call out in his helmet's speakers, worry filling her voice. He locked eyes with Kotaro, who glared at him with what he assumed was evil intent in his eyes.
He let out the breath he had been holding in, and then, for the second time that day, all hell broke loose.
Several Exploding Kunai went sailing past Barnes' head and struck one of the M12 Warthogs and an M831, seconds later ignited and consuming the two Hogs in several fiery explosions. Three helljumpers were caught in the blast, with only one being lucky enough to have avoided death by diving for the dirt fast enough. The Colonel's reaction was immediate as he opens fire on the group of Shinobi with his BR55, 9.5x40mm rounds tearing downrange as dozens of more Sky Ninjas burst out of the treeline and, with several war-cries, charged the ODST positions.
The ODST opened fire on the Shinobi, the surviving M12's LAAV thundering as it's fired away at 900 rpm, dropping several of the Sky Shinobi in the initial barrage. Several Sky Shinobi retaliated by casting several fire and water jutsus, flipping one of the two M831s as the Marines all dove for cover.
Barnes immediately began falling back, firing at several Sky Shinobi before the BR's counter showed empty. Cursing, he unloaded the magazine and slapped a fresh one in, setting the fire-selector to burst before resuming fire. The big bastard he had been staring down and talking to, Kotaro he thinks the guy's name was, had vanished into thin air the moment those knives had exploded. But he didn't have time to wonder where he had run off to, as two Shinobi suddenly appeared on his flanks, Kunais in hand, ready to strike. The Colonel threw himself into the closest one, swinging the butt of his rifle and connecting with the Shinobi's wrist, knocking the Kunai out of it. He followed up with a strike to the abdomen, causing the man to double over and stumble back. The second Shinobi lunged forward with his Kunai. Barnes twisted his body, falling to the ground as he did so, and fired two bursts as he fell backward.
The shots missed but still caused the Shinobi to roll to the side to avoid being struck by the rounds. Barnes quickly shifted his body and kicked out the legs of the first Shinobi from underneath him as he recovered, sending him down flat on his back. The Colonel followed up with a quick burst spray over the fallen ninja's torso, killing him. The second ninja retaliated charging towards the ODST once more, going through several hand signs as he did. "Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique) the ninja said as his right hand was suddenly covered in earth and rock.
Barnes, who was in the process of standing back up, could do nothing but brace himself as the ninja's fist slammed into him, sending the Marine sailing back as he skidded several dozen meters across the ground before coming to a stop on his back.
He rose up, shaking his head for the slight dizziness caused by his tumble. "Ow." Was all he groaned out, with annoyance, "That hur-OH SHIT!" He was cut off mid-sentence as he suddenly jerked his body back as a Sky Village Kunoichi suddenly appeared in front of him, swinging a Nagamaki that came just inches from slicing his throat open. He moved to raise his Battle Rifle once more, but the Kunoichi swatted the weapon out of his grip with a rear kick, before coming back around with a downward strike with the Nagamaki.
Barnes quickly rolled to his side to avoid, the sword stabbing into the soft earth. He quickly rolled back over and, with a quick open-palm strike, shattered the blade. As the woman gasped and recoiled from the shock of her weapon breaking, Barnes used the hesitation to twist his body and kick a leg out from under her, tipping her off balance and causing her to lean too far over. He quickly grabbed the woman by the collar, who responded by launching several quick jabs at him all over his chest and head in an attempt to free her from his grip. Barnes' grip, however, was solid, which then he proceeded to make his right hand into a fist, before thrusting it into the Kunoichi's chest. She gasped out in pain, tried to take in a pained breath before Barnes tossed her now dying figure off of him, revealing a bloodied six-inch blade extending from his forearm guard, before retracting back into it.
Picking himself up, he rose to his feet before being struck in the calf by a Kunai, dropping him to one knee. "ARGH! Son of a-" He cried out as he turned to the source, the Shinobi from earlier, and quickly pulled out his M6G Magnum sidearm at the offending Shinobi. As he charged once more, a fist rock in hand, the Shinobi was cut down by 3 successive shots from the Colonel as he fired. Everything around him seemed to quiet down, save for the sounds of battle in the distance.
As the body dropped, Barnes quickly pulled the Kunai out of his calf, grunting at the pain. "Fuck me." Inspecting the weapon real quick, He groaned, "Great. Now I'm gonna be limping for the rest of the mission." He grimaced as he tossed the Kunai away. "Barnes, I've finished downloading the translation package. You should be able to talk with the natives as if they were speaking English." Atlas suddenly chipped in, having been quiet during the whole ordeal.
"Oh, now you speak up. Where the hell was you 10 seconds ago?! Could have given me a heads up about that." He griped as he pointed a thumb at his bleeding left calf. "Oh, quit whining. You've had worse injuries. Plus, you've been in worse situations than fighting three people armed with swords and spears." The AI retorted, half-mocking and half-joking. Scowling at his companion, he decided to drop the subject and looked around, noticing that he had been thrown rather far away from the main part of the battle. He could see the ODST and Ninja duking it out with one another, casualties from both sides laid strewed out across the area. "Atlas, how bad is it looking?"
"For them or us? It's largely a stalemate at the moment. They have the numbers, and whatever that magic is, but we've got the better firepower and armor. They've suffered more casualties because of this, but they can afford it somewhat since they outnumber us nearly 3 to 1." The AI replied, her soft slight-British accent soothing to the ears as he surveyed his own surroundings.
"How many KIA?"
"11 for us so far, including the 2 from Gamma. Their losses? Estimated to be roughly 21 at the moment... make that 23." Atlas chimed, as she observed the live feed from several ODST as the fight dragged on. "Regardless, I think now would be-" She suddenly stopped, her whole demeanor changes. He could 'feel' the AI's emotions flaring. "Barnes." She muttered, "We're not alone."
Barnes looked around, not seeing anything around him or on his motion tracker. He checked to see where his BR55 was but failed to see where it. He knew somebody was near, his instincts were telling him to be on alert, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out where they were. Suddenly, there was an explosion of earth and rock behind him. "BARNES!" Was all the warning he got as he dove forward, narrowly dodging the Odachi wielding Kotaro from taking his head off as the Shinobi, to Barnes' amazement, came bursting out of the ground.
Rolling into the dive, he turned around just in time to block another strike from the towering giant of a Shinobi with his right arm. Confused as to why his sword didn't dismember the Marine's arm, Kotaro gave Barnes a rear kick to the chest before shushining away. Stumbling Barnes quickly recovered and readied for another onslaught, only to find the Sky Shinobi standing some 5 meters away, inspecting his BR55.
Facing him, Barnes spoke, "Hm, so that's where it went. Mind if I have that back? I kinda need it."
Smirking, Kotaro huffed out a chuckle as he continued inspecting, and admiring, the strange weapon, muttering to himself, "Just imagine if we had a hundred of these. A thousand, even. Amazing how they work. Heh, put our crossbows to shame."
"Yeah, and if you down the hole at the front, you'll be shown a wondrous surprise," Barnes remarked, getting in a defensive stance.
Chuckling, Kotaro lowered the weapon, then proceeded to seal it away in a scroll, "Nice try, but I'm not stupid." He spoke, flicking his Odachi-wielding wrist a couple of times to pop the muscles. "I know what it does, and I don't plan on getting my head blown off. You might be able to make idiots and fools outta those imbeciles, but you won't be able to pull a fast one on me."
"... kinda already figured you weren't," Barnes deadpanned, a sweatdrop forming, "I was being sarcastic earlier."
"Regardless, those weapons and armor of yours are just something else." Barnes was beginning to wonder if this guy was just ignoring him, "If I could get even just a few examples of these back home, the Sukaikage would reward me quite well. And Sky Country would be unstoppable." Kotaro spoke, confident in himself as if the fight was already won.
"That's only if you and your soldiers manage to make it back there, wherever it is." Barnes retorted.
"Them? Their lives are nothing compared to what we could accomplish with these weapons of war."
"You'd sacrifice your men so casually? They mean that little to you?" Barnes questioned, slightly angered that at the man's blatant disregard for a person's life.
Kotaro grunted in annoyance, "That's the life of a Shinobi. We accomplish the mission no matter what, though, in this case, I guess I'll have to make an exception. As much as I would love to slit that little bitch's throat, this," He held up the scroll he had placed the BR55 in with a grin, "Is worth more than a dozen Daimyos in the right hands."
While he would have usually doubted their ability to reverse engineer such advanced firearms, that magic that they used threw normal right out the window. He didn't want to begin imagining the amount of destructive power that a primitive society with access to advanced weapons could be capable of. All he knew was that now, despite wanting to go help his men stave off the horde of Ninjas, killing Kotaro and securing stolen UNSC assets was a top priority.
He looked to see the Sky Shinobi putting the scroll away, before getting in a combat stance, "Though, I can spare a few minutes to play with you." He grinned.
"Careful, I play rough." Barnes was quick to remark.
Kotaro narrowed his eyes, before performing hand signs and whispering, "Wind Release: Silent Step." Barnes quickly fired off 5 rounds at the shinobi, but none of them connected as the man vanished into thin air.
"Shit." the Colonel got in a defensive stance, looking around to see where the man had vanished to. He couldn't hear any movement, which concerned him greatly. Scanning his surroundings with his M6G Magnum, he saw nothing save for the battle in the distance, making him wonder if the man had just tuck tail and run. 'No, I know his type. That's not his style. He'll sit here and toy with me. The only way he'll leave is if the battle starts going against him.'
Narrowing his eyes, the Colonel continued to scan, looking for anything out of place. 'I need to kill him quickly. But first... where did you go?'
"Atlas?"
"I'm not picking anything up on motion trackers. He may have bailed out." The AI responded, "Regardless, I don't think I need to tell you to be on alert."
"I mean, you can tell me if you want. Be nice to know you care." Barnes joked.
"Shut up. Smartass."
He suddenly had movement detected on his motion tracker from behind him, for a few seconds before disappearing. Barnes glanced back, before turning his body to the side, his sidearm sweeping the area around him. Every step was taken with caution. Eyes scanning for the slightest thing out of place.
He picked up movement on his motion tracker again, barrelling towards him to his left. He turned just in time to avoid Kotaro barreling into him, firing off three rounds at the offending Shinobi. The shots went wild and missed, with the Sky Shinobi turning towards him to strike once more. As he swung, Barnes ducked underneath it and lunged into the goliath of a man, slamming his shoulder into the man's gut and forcing him to stumble backward slightly, before following it up with three successive strikes with his fists into Kotaro's face, before planting a kick into the man's chest, sending him backward. Barnes, noticing he had fired his last round, quickly changed magazines.
Grunting, Kotaro charged forward again. Seeing the ODST raise his M6G once more, Kotaro slid to one knee and swung upward, slicing into the weapon and breaking it. He followed up with a thrust towards the Colonel's midsection, hoping to bisect him. Barnes, however, was quick to counter and was able to block the Odachi with his right arm once more. Kotaro was surprised by this, expecting the man to be cut in half by that strike. Barnes simply just smirked at the man's confusion, before slamming a left hook right into the shinobi's cheek, throwing him back.
Looking at one another in the eyes, the two combatants prepared for what they both agreed was going to be a long and challenging fight.
Kingpin/Fireteams Gamma/Whiskey
"Watch your six, the fuckers can teleport!" Parker roared, firing his MA5C, as his fellow ODST slugged it out with the Sky Ninja. To their credit, the Ninjas were faring decently for a people that had never seen firearms before. The bastards outnumbered them nearly 3 to 1 and were using the forest and terrain to their advantage.
Or rather, manipulating the terrain to their advantage. Several of the Sky Ninja had done some handsigns before slamming them into the ground, then the next thing the ODST knew there were several pieces of earth and rock sticking out of the land, giving the Shinobi cover as they advanced on the Marines. The Marines responded by laying down suppressive fire and lobbing grenades at the enemy's newfound cover, hoping to flush them out.
Rhineford, who was currently taking cover next to one of the M831 with Satomi and Peltier, trying to pick off anyone who looked like an NCO with his M392 DMR, Peltier providing suppressive fire with his SAW. Satomi, her chakra levels and physical condition still rather weak, was doing her best just to stay out of danger at the moment. The sheer volume of the gunfire was forcing her to cover her ears, lest she wishes to lose her hearing.
She was also trying to help Rhineford distinguish the Jounin and high-level Chunin leaders from the mainline of Genin. This was made easier by the fact that the Sky Village liked to use different color schemes on their headbands to identify their ranks. Red for Jounin, Green for Chunin, and Blue for Genin. A rather simple and effective concept.
"Peltier, lay down suppressing fire on the right! I gotta commander in my sights, but she's moving too much for me to get a good shot." Rhineford yelled out as he fired a couple of shots from his DMR. "Where at exactly?" came a reply. "The two giant slabs of rock jutting out on the right with the smaller pieces around them!" Peltier shifted the SAW and began peppering the Ninja positions, forcing them into cover. They had learned very quickly that staying out in the open for too long would get them swiftly killed by the UNSC firepower.
PTWANG! Came the roar of the Warthog Gauss Cannon next to the APC, sending a slug towards the pinned Ninjas, as well as earning a scared flinch and a shriek of anger from Satomi. She had come to really despise the Gauss Cannon. While the round failed to hit any of them, it did succeed in convincing them to stay down. Before the gun could send another round their way, two more rock golems came barrelling out of the woods, charging the Warthogs. The ODST on the Gauss Cannon traversed the gun and engaged the new targets, each round ripping off huge slabs of earth and stone of the inorganic creatures.
Rhineford looked through the scope of his DMR, looking for the Jounin that was leading the group attacking the ODST's right flank. Through the scope, he could see several 'Genin' and 'Chunin' hiding behind the various pieces of stone cover. He was still having trouble getting used to the names that these ninja used.
"Satomi."
"What?" The woman replied, slightly irritated and still glaring at the Gauss Cannon as it fired once more.
"You said it was Jounin that were the leaders, right?" Rhineford asked as he continued searching for a Jounin.
"Yeah, Sky Village Ninja wear different headbands to distinguish rank. The Jounin wear red." She spoke, before glancing over the Warthog to see the current status of the battle.
"What the hell did you do to them to piss them off so badly?!" Peltier pipped in, grunting as he fired another burst from his SAW. Satomi looked at him incredulously, "Me?! It's not my fault they want to enslave my people and conquer my home. Plus, who are you to talk?! You're the one who blew up their encampment!"
"Yeah, and we saved your ass, didn't we?!"
"Shut it, both of you!" Rhineford finally said, trying to focus on locating a Sky Jounin. He finally spotted the one he saw earlier, in cover trying to order around her troops and get them closer towards the ODST positions. He could see a half dozen genin and chunin around her, listening to her instructions. Taking a deep breath, he sighted his weapon at the most visible part of her, which was her head at the moment. Breathing out slowly, he squeezed the trigger. The DMR barked once, and through his scope, he watched the Sky Kunoichi's head pop like a watermelon, blood, brains, and bone matter spraying everywhere, before slumping over. The genin and chunin that had taken position around her panicked and dug into their makeshift cover.
"Got her."
"Good shot!" Peltier complimented, as he shot several controlled bursts at the position, in case any of the Sky Ninja decided to try and avenge their commander. Several of them chose to do the smart thing at this point, and run. Many of those that ran, however, was cut down by accurate fire by the ODST. Most, however, chose to stay and fight, as the Sky Ninja once again charged up, trying to gain ground on their adversary.
Looking back at the Marsh Kunoichi, Rhineford asked, "How are you holding up?" His stare caused her to be self-conscious about her nudity, as she slightly hid further behind the Warthog.
"I'm fine, considering." She muttered the last part.
Rhineford simply nodded in acknowledgment, knowing that she probably wasn't too comfortable, and likely suspicious, at the moment being around them. He couldn't blame her in all honesty. This was perhaps the shitiest day of her life as far as he knew. First, you're captured, then tortured and nearly raped. Next thing you know, you're being rescued not by your friends, but by complete unknowns with crazy weapons and tech that you've never seen before. If he were in her position, he wouldn't be feeling too comfortable either.
"Look, I know you have no reason to trust us right now. But, I promise that we're here to help." Rhineford tried to reassure her, not knowing how much good it would do.
Her eyes narrowed, "You say that..."
Before Rhineford could reply though, he heard a battle cry coming from behind the two, turning just in time to see a Sky Shinobi jump up and fling several Kunai at the gunner on the LAAV. Several of the projectiles struck the ODST in the chest and helmet, some being deflected, but enough penetrating the weak points in the armor to kill the gunner. As the chaingun fell silent, the Shinobi landed and charged the trio, a Tanto in each hand.
Rhineford swung the DMR around to fire. He was able to get a shot out, but the ninja rolled out of the way and lunged at him with the short swords. "Fuck!" Was all Rhineford yelled out before using the DMR to block the attack. It turned into a test of strength as the two combatants tried to gain leverage over the other. Peltier turned to help but heard several other Sky Ninja charging their position.
"Take care of them! I got this asshole!" Rhineford yelled out as he pushed with all his might to shove the Sky Shinobi back, making him skid several feet away from his friend before stopping him. He heard Peltier shout, "Merde!" before his SAW roared to life. The ODST stared into the pale blue eyes of his opponent, a look of pure hatred looking back at him.
The Sky Shinobi charged, slashing his Tantos at Rhineford as the Marine ducked. The Marine retaliated by slamming his rifle into the ninja's gut, the strength of the blow causing him to double over. Rhineford followed this up by slamming the butt of his gun into the man's face. The ninja toppled back from the follow-up strike, blood spurting from his nose and mouth as he collapsed in a heap to the ground, groaning in pain from the force of the blow. Before the Marine could finish him off, though, Rhineford was struck in the side by a Kunai, the blade embedding itself into him.
Rhineford cried out in pain as he fell to one knee, turning to his left to see another ninja charging him, kunai in hand. Rhineford raised his weapon and fired, but the shinobi shushined out of the way, appearing even closer than before, and then flung the kunai at him. Slow to dodge, the Kunai striking him in the shoulder, forcing him to drop his DMR. The shinobi lunged forward to finish him off, and just as he was upon him, was stopped by a sudden blade, that looked as if it was made of pure lightning, piercing his neck, killing the man, and making his body go limp.
Rhineford was surprised to see Satomi next to the Sky Ninja, the lightning blade extending from her index and middle finger. Panting, she dispelled it, the ninja's body dropping in a heap. She looked over to the marine, who was stupefied by what he had just seen. "Lightning Style: Lightning Sword Jutsu."
"Holy shit, that was awesome." His voice trailed off at the end, as his eyes slowly glanced towards her chest. Despite the dirt, grime, and... well, blood, he couldn't help but notice her slightly curvy and nude figure. Even if she was caked in mud and blood, he couldn't help but admit she was a beautiful woman. While he had been around his female colleagues in the nude numerous times, he couldn't help blush slightly at the sight of Satomi. She was still technically a civilian, and he wasn't sure what protocol said on the matter.
Realizing where he was looking, her face immediately went red, and she proceeded to whack him upside the head in anger, before covering herself with her arms. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE STARING AT?!"
"OW! Jesus Christ, sorry!" Rhineford whined, rubbing the newly formed welt on his head. He could hear Satomi muttering, "Pervert." under her breath as she glared at him.
"HEY, LOVEBIRDS!" A sudden shout got their attention, both of them turning to see Peltier glaring at them, "If you're done flirting, do you mind helping me out! Fight still going on remember?!" Both individuals went slightly red in the face as they both ran back to the Warthog as the Frenchman fired away with his SAW. Rhineford picked up his DMR and resumed firing at any Sky Ninja that was a little too exposed, keeping them from advancing too far. To his left, Parker and Armstrong came running towards their position, both of them sliding into cover behind the Warthog with the trio before firing their own respective weapons.
"Any idea when our reinforcements are supposed to arrive?!" Armstrong questioned, ducking behind the Warthog as an exploding Kunai went off, kicking up dust and dirt.
"They should have been here by now! Where's the fucking Flyboys?!" Peltier roared, firing a burst from his SAW as he cut down two Sky Ninja that got a little too close for comfort.
"Wombats are attacking a hostile ship offshore, so air support's a no-go for now," Rhineford spoke up as he loaded a fresh mag into his DMR.
"Wait, what?! Why the hell are they attacking some rowboat?" Parker barked, blind firing his MA5C.
"They said it was some kinda Aircraft Carrier and-"
"Are you shitting me?! The fuckers have an Air Force now?!" Parker groaned, not believing what he was hearing.
"You guys don't know about the Sky Village's airships?" Satomi asked surprised. This was likely common knowledge for the locals.
"No, we didn't! Otherwise, we wouldn't be here bitching about our lack of air support!" Peltier replied.
"You have airships, too?!" Satomi said, shocked as she heard him speak. They all suddenly heard something roaring over the sounds of battle, causing the fighting to die down a bit. Satomi was confused by the sound, as to her it sounded almost like thunder or... Then she saw it.
A fiery red streak high up in the sky, all coming straight towards their position. Her eyes widen in panic, and almost immediately rose up to run. "Run! It's a Meteor-" She didn't finish her sentence as Rhineford grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back up against the Warthog. She looked to see a smirk on his face as he looked up as the red fireball continued its descent.
"Are you nuts?! That's a meteor! We have to go!"
"Honey, that's no meteor." She could hear Armstrong chuckling. She looked back up to the fireballs in the sky to see that their flames were dissipating, revealing what looked like black, almost teardrop-shaped objects screaming down. "Then, what the hell is it?" She asked, plainly evident to her that they knew what it was.
She looked over to Rhineford, who looked back to her, the smirk never leaving his face as he answered, "That's our reinforcements."
Drop-Pod A43
Sierra-072
The HEV shook violently as the chute deployed, only slightly slowing its plummet towards Shinsei's surface. With her MK. IV CQC-Class Mjolnir Armor on, it was a little cramped, but she would make due. Orbital insertions typically lasted only a few minutes anyway.
'ETA till touchdown, 30 seconds.' The pod's interface informed her, as she heard the chute disconnect as the viewports of the HEV showed the ground getting closer and closer by the second. Through all of it, Ami-072 was calm and collect, having done these kinds of insertions dozens, if not hundreds, of times.
But one thing that had caught the Spartan-II Operative off guard was the presence of a URF Fleet in Orbit next to the Everest.
Not only that, but neither side was shooting one another. This meant either one of three things in her mind. Either the Rebels had been offered amnesty and accepted, the Rebels were working with the UNSC on something that warranted this kind of cooperation, or the Everest, and everyone aboard had gone AWOL and abandoned the UNSC. Which one it was, she couldn't say at the moment, but for now, there were UNSC Marines down planetside under attack by what she had been told were 'Humans wielding swords and crazy-ass magic powers' in the words of one ODST Lt she had spoken to over comms before dropping.
While humans were nothing new for her, she would have to wait and see these supposed 'magic powers' at hand before deciding their true potential lethality towards UNSC Forces.
'10 seconds until touchdown.' The Interface spoke once again, as the surface grew larger and larger in her viewport. She glanced to her flanks, making sure her MA5C and M45D were still secured in their storage. After confirming this, she counted down the final few seconds before touchdown in her head.
3 seconds later, the entire pod jerked to a halt as it slammed into the ground, right in the midst of combat. Her pod's door burst out. Grabbing both of her weapons, the Spartan-II stepped out of the pod and prepared for combat.
Fireteam Whiskey
Satomi watched as the Drop-pod had come down, and now witnessed as a behemoth of an individual stepped out of one of the pod, standing some 7'2", completely encase in Blue and Red-colored Armor. She couldn't take her gaze of the massive being as it went into action and engage the Sky Ninja.
The Spartan seemed to dance across the battlefield, killing scores of Sky Shinobi in quick succession. One poor bastard had attempted to get the jump on the armored titan, jumping onto the HEV and descending down on her, Katana in hand as he prepared to swing down on the Spartan's head.
Or so he had thought.
In the blink of an eye, the Spartan had twisted its body, and as the Ninja came down, swiped the sword out of his hands, before spinning it back around and slicing the man's throat with his own sword. All of this in just 3 seconds. The Spartan then tossed the weapon up and proceeded to roundhouse kick the Katana into the man's chest, flinging him back from the force of the hit.
The Spartan then bounced back into a roll with the one foot that was still planted on the ground, avoiding a barrage of Shurikens front two other Ninja. The Spartan rolled into a crouch, pulling out its MA5C, and fired at the two, killing them in rapid succession. Swinging around, the Spartan opened fire on another group of Shinobi, forcing them to take cover, though one wasn't quick enough and was dropped with a well-placed shot to her head.
So far, the hostiles had fallen with relative ease. They weren't kidding when they said these humans were using swords and spears. But so far, no sign of those supposed Magic powers. Then, to her right, Ami saw a shinobi doing several different handsigns. Turning towards the threat, she brought her weapon around, the man had already shouted, "Water Style: Violent Water Wave!"
The next thing she knew, a massive jet of water, somehow appearing out of thin air before the ninja, was barreling straight at her. Ami tried to dive out of the way but was caught in the waist by the jutsu, sending her sprawling and rolling across the ground, her MA5C send scattering away from her. Despite the somewhat surprising strength of the attack, she found that nothing was hurting too significantly. She was sure her Mjolnir Armor, and her augmentations had played a significant part in that. Quickly recovering, Ami turned to see the same shinobi charging her with two other ninjas. She turned to face them as they closed the distance.
The first one to strike at her was a Kunoichi wielding a Tanto, thrusting straight at her. Ami blocks the thrust with her arm, the blade breaking against her armor, before countering, slamming her fist into the side of the woman's skull, crushing it, and killing her instantly.
The two remaining Shinobi followed up, both throwing a trio of Kunai at the Spartan in rapid succession. Ami was able to dodge or deflect a couple, the remainder bouncing off or shattering against her armor. She noticed one was making a hand sign. Remembering what happened earlier, she sprinted forward to try and stop him but was forced to roll out of the way as the Shinobi roared out, "Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!" followed by a massive flame erupting from his mouth in the form of a dragon. The attack just barely missed her but had gotten Ami right next to her MA5C.
Scooping up in her arms, Ami looked over to see the same Shinobi performing more hand signs. He never got to finish as Ami quickly fired a burst from her Assault Rifle, cutting the man down in bloody fashion. Her motion tracker showed the final one behind her and instinctively ducked as the man swung a flaming Katana. Twisting her body around, she slammed her Assault Rifle right into the man's kneecap, shattering it and sending him sprawling to the ground screaming at the top of his lungs. He was quickly silenced by Ami, who grabbed him one-handed by the neck and snapped it, killing him instantly.
Satomi couldn't believe what she was seeing. One person granted a giant of a person, who as far as she knew had no skill for ninjutsu whatsoever, was taking on numerous Shinobi and Kunoichi and was winning. She watched as the Spartan stood up and fired down at another group of Sky Ninjas, killing one and forcing the others into cover from the sheer accuracy of the fire.
"Hell yeah! 'Bout time we started kicking ass!" She heard Parker cheer before firing off a grenade from his grenade launcher.
"W-who... what is that?" Satomi asked.
"That, my dear, is a Spartan. The best soldiers Humanity has ever made." Rhineford proudly proclaimed, happy to see that things were starting to turn around. Looking back behind them, Rhineford spoke once more, "Holy shit, friendly units! Inbound from the rear!"
Looking behind her, she saw a fleet of Warthogs coming towards them, numbering at least a couple dozen.
'Kingpin, this is Saber Company, coming in to back you up, over.'
"Roger that, Saber. Welcome to the party, over." Rhineford replied, a smile on his face as he watched several ODST hop out of their respective transports and join their brothers and sisters in battle.
The Sky Ninjas, who had for the most had the Marines on the defensive and pinned, were entirely caught off guard by the sudden insertion of an additional Company of ODST, plus a 7-foot tall super-soldier, the Ninjas now finding themselves outnumbered over 3 to 1, including the casualties they've sustained. While being outnumbered wasn't typically a problem for Shinobi, there were very few instances where they had numerical superiority, the sheer difference in technology, and in the case of the Genin and a good portion of the Chunin, discipline, and experience, was now tipping the scales mainly in the UNSC's favor.
The ODST were quick to regroup and press the newfound advantage against their opponents, firing concentrated and overwhelming bursts of fire against the Sky Ninjas, forcing them to drop back into cover as they attempted to find a way to turn things back in their favor. Several Shinobi were cut down and massacred by the wall of lead the Marines had set up, many of them pushing up and lobbing grenades at entrenched Shinobi, resulting in a multitude of explosions that rocked the battlefield.
The Sky Ninjas, to their credit, held their ground and didn't falter, some even retaliating with jutsu and explosive kunai. Though several Marines were killed, it was apparent now that the Sky Ninjas were now on the losing end and on the verge of being overrun.
And in the midst of all of this, Satomi's gaze was never off the form of the Spartan-II as she fought one ninja after another with rapid succession. With their numbers rapidly depleting, some of the ninjas attempted to fall back, seeing that this battle was turning into a massacre for them.
The UNSC, however, wasn't going to let them get away so quickly.
'ODST Forces, this is Stingray-6. We're back from a sortie and ready to provide support, over.' The comms crackled as overhead, Rhineford, and the others could see a trio of F-99 'Wombats' flying in to assist.
Armstrong smacked Peltier's shoulder, chuckling, "There's our air support." A grunt of annoyance was her response.
'Roger that-shit, Stingray-6. This is Kingpin-Act-GAH, FUCK! Provide close air support an-Christ, almost hit me!- And take these fuckers out! Motherfucker, this guy's fast!' Colonel Barnes' voice came up over the comms. From the sound of things, he was fighting his own battle.
"Shit sounds like Colonel could use some help," Parker spoke, looking over to Rhineford. Nodding Rhineford spoke into his headset, "Colonel, this is Fireteam Whiskey, we're on our way to assist you."
'NEGATIVE! Do not follow through with that-AH, SHIT! This bastard's got skill and is too damn good for any of you! GODDAMMIT, HOLD STILL DAMMIT! Over!'
Before Rhineford could reply, another voice spoke on the comms, 'Colonel Barnes, this is Sierra-072. I could disengage here and move in to assist, over.'
'Negative Spartan-CHRIST, what is it with you and trying to sever my waist?! You're more useful over there at the moment. All he really has is a big-ass sword and a bunch of fancy-ass showoff magi-GAH-HAHA! TOO CLOSE TO THE TENDERS! I can handle this fucktard for now, over.'
Several of Fireteam Whiskey's members, along with Satomi, couldn't help but sweatdrop a little as the Colonel spoke over the comms. Satomi couldn't help but wonder if the Colonel was even being serious when he spoke over the radio.
'Understood, Colonel. Out.' Came the Spartan's reply.
'Kingpin, Stingray-6, be advised. Killzone has been tagged. I repeat, Killzone has been tagged. All ODST are advised to either backup or take cover, we are coming in hot, over.' The Marines could see the trio of F-99s coming in for the gun run, their streamlined frames flying at supersonic speeds.
"Roger that, Stingray-6. Weapons free!" Rhineford shouted in his headset, before flinching at an explosion that was a little too close for comfort, "Light the bastards up, out!"
'Argent-V missiles armed, 30 mil chaingun spun up.' The Wombats dove down and prepared their attack run. Several Marines could be seen breaking off and running to cover as the Aircrafts closed in. The Sky Ninjas, confused as to why their enemy was pulling back, was initially hesitant to move forward, though several of the braver, or more zealous, Ninjas charged forward to get payback for their dead. These two mistakes would cost them.
"Down! Get Down!" Satomi was suddenly tackled by Rhineford, the Marine throwing his body on top of her to protect her from any possible harm. He glanced to her, "Cover your ears unless you wanna go deaf!" Taking his word for it, both proceeded to press their hands over their ears as the Marines braced for the coming barrage.
'Stingray-6, weapons hot. Guns, guns, guns.'
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTT! That was all Satomi heard as the ground around her seemed to shake under the weight of hundreds of 30-millimeter rounds being slammed into the ground. Dirt, rock, and bodies were ripped apart from the kinetic blast of the shells as each one ignited and exploded. Even with her ears covered, the sheer volume of the weapon was deafening.
Then came the missiles.
Two Argent-V missiles were launched by Stingray-6, slamming into the target area and exploding, kicking up twin dust clouds. Any surviving bodies simply disappeared in the resulting explosions. Earth, plants, and human gore rained down from the heavens, while the very ground shook from the twin strikes. Satomi's heart was racing at that point, her breath shaky as she heard the drone go flying by overhead, its super-sonic speed causing the very air to shake.
'Stingray-4, weapons hot. Guns, guns, guns.'
Soon enough, the next Drone came in for its gun run, the Chaingun roaring as it spewed metal death to any and all below, kicking up more dirt and knocking over trees as it strafed, before zooming past. No missiles were launched from it as it passed.
'Stingray-5, weapons hot. Guns, guns, guns.'
The third and final Drone of the trio came in as well, firing away with its Chaingun, before firing off four Argent-V missiles into the target area, obliterating the treeline and anything still living at this point. Four dirt clouds were kicked up into the sky as the rockets went off, raining more bits of earth and gore onto the battlefield before the final Drone sped past and flew off from the strike zone.
'Stingray-6, Saber-Actual. Good hit! Good fucking hit! Targets annihilated, over!'
'Roger that, Saber-Actual. Maintaining flight pattern and resuming patrol mission, out.'
Satomi's heart was racing a mile a minute, adrenaline coursing through every bit of her body as she tried to calm down from the shock of enduring... that. She had felt so much terror and sheer adrenaline course through her for anything. At that moment, she could have sworn her heart was going to burst out of her chest. Blinking a couple of times, she glanced over to see the destruction wrought by the flying death machines. What she saw was breathtaking beyond belief.
Where there had been an entire company of Sky Ninja, all ready to fight and die, there was now nothing but pure carnage and destruction. Several craters had been made, either from the Chainguns or from the missile strikes. The forest's entire treeline before them had been uprooted and devastated for a good 30 feet, dozens of trees having been ripped from their base and thrashed about by the missiles' shockwaves. There was no sign of the Sky Ninjas, either they had gotten away, which she doubted, or had merely been eradicated by the blast. It had looked as if a monster had come through and rampaged.
"Kami..." was all she whispered out as she looked out to the destruction,
"You alright?" she looked back to see Rhineford looking at her, a look of worry in his eyes. She nodded softly before they both rose up slightly and looked back out at the destruction before them. "I think the Flyboys overdid it a little." Rhineford joked, chuckling a little.
"Understatement if I've ever heard one," Peltier replied, groaning and shaking his head to shake off any dirt and loose sediment as he sat back up.
Rhineford glanced at his friend, before widening his eyes in horror, "Oh, shit! The Spartan was still out there. Is he-"
"I'm fine." The sudden voice causes both Rhineford and Satomi to jump in surprise, looking to their left and seeing Ami-072 crouched not 10 feet from them, looking over at them. Her armor was slightly burnt in a couple of places, but otherwise undamaged. "Fuck didn't even hear you," Rhineford replied.
Ami-072 stood up, MA5C at the ready as she scanned the battlefield, looking for anything hostile. "I don't see any movement. The area appears to be clear."
"Still, wouldn't hurt to stay on guard. Just in case a couple of the fuckers survived." Parker spoke up as he stood up, helping Armstrong up beside him before looking out at the battlefield as well.
"Agreed. In the meantime, I'm moving over to Colonel Barnes' position. The comms' gone quiet and he may be in trouble."
"Don't bother." They heard someone shout, looking over their shoulders, they saw said Colonel walking towards them, a slight limp in his stride as he carried his damaged and cracked helmet in his hand. His face and hair were matted with blood, sweat, and dirt, signs that his fight has been rough as well.
"Sir, you alright?" Parker asked. Barnes was quick to wave him off, "I'm fine. Nothing that won't heal, anyway. Fucker got away, though. Bailed out when the Wombats did their attack run. Have them conduct thermal scans to try and locate him."
"Why exactly, sir?"
"Because the fucker ran off with a couple of our weapons, put them all in some little scroll of his before running off." No more needed to be said after that, all of them, minus Satomi perhaps, knowing full well the consequences of what could happen should they find a way to reverse-engineer UNSC tech. Parker immediately got on the comms to inform the F-99 of the situation, while Barnes walked up to Rhineford.
"Corporal Rhineford." Said Marine stood a little straighter as he was addressed, "Yes, sir."
"By violating a direct order from HIGHCOM, as your Commanding Officer, I am demoting you to the rank of Lance Corporal, placing you on restrictive duties for the next 6 months, and placing Lance Corporal Parker as Fireteam Leader of Fireteam Whiskey."
Every one of Fireteam Whiskey had their eyes go wide, "W-what? But Sir-"
"Son lemme tell you something, right here and now. Personally, I think you did the right thing, morally. You chose to save someone that needed help and ended up taking down a few bad guys along the way." The Colonel's gaze was firm, silencing any protest from the ODST as he spoke to Rhineford, "That being said, it doesn't change the fact that you disobeyed a direct order, not only from your C/O but from a Vice Admiral at that. Your decision also got 28 Marines killed, another dozen wounded. Fireteam Gamma has lost half of its members and will likely have to be disbanded and sent to other squads. Those casualties would have been higher, had these 'Ninjas' not underestimated us. You're lucky you're not facing a firing squad, on account that we need every skilled hand we can get, right now. You made the call, now you need to accept the consequences of your actions, do you understand, son?"
Rhineford lowered his head slightly, mumbling out, "Yes, sir." Softening his gaze, Barnes put a comforting hand on the Marine's shoulder, "It ain't the end of the world. In a year or two without any more incidents, you'll be right back to Corporal. In the meantime, I want you and everyone else here to get a little R&R, then secure the area. FOB builders will be here within the hour once we give the all-clear signal."
"Yes, sir." Came the unanimous reply from Fireteam Whiskey, before the Colonel looked over to Ami-072, "Spartan, thanks for the help down here, today. You probably saved a lot of lives by getting here when you did. Go ahead and get some R&R, too, while you're at it." The Spartan simply nodded in acknowledgment, before walking off, rifle in hand, over towards a trio of Warthogs being used as a temporary triage for the wounded.
Glancing over at Satomi, who nervously shrank her figure a little to try and cover-up, Barnes sighed, "Now, will somebody please get this poor woman some clothing? Seriously, every one of you horny bastards has like three months' worth of blue balls, and this little striptease is not helping in the slightest." He chuckled, causing Satomi to blush and crouch down in embarrassment and several of the nearby soldiers to laugh. Today had been a long day, as well as quite an eye-opener.
2 Hours Later
"Where the fuck is they?! They should have been here by now?" Barnes griped as he continued to look up for any sign of the Pelicans and/or Pods that were supposed to be bringing down their FOBs. Every time he got on the comms with Everest, they kept saying that they were on their way. He groaned out of frustration, as the skies, though slightly cloudy, were still clear of any of their aircraft.
Fireteam Whiskey had set up next to one of the Warthogs, Peltier and Parker eating from their MREs, while Armstrong was going over her medical equipment, making sure nothing was damaged. Rhineford was propped up against the vehicle, his eyes closed as he tried to catch some shut-eye.
"Rhineford."
Key word tried. With a grunt, he replied, "What, Satomi?"
Satomi, who was now dressed in some grey Marine fatigues that had been loaned to her until they could give her some other clothing, leaned in from her cross-legged position as she spoke, "How do your people survive without chakra?"
This had been going on and off for the past 10-15 minutes, after about an hour and a half of her being quiet and reserve from everybody. After he asked her how she was doing, she had replied that she was doing okay and muttered a soft thank you for rescuing her. Not ten minutes after that, she had begun to ask him questions of all sort regarding 'his' people. Everything from who they were, where were they from, who were their leaders, what was their society like, etc. At first, it hadn't bothered him too much, and he had answered to the best of his abilities most of the time, but now, it was getting to the point where it was annoying.
"Loo-ugh. I-I don't know. We've never heard of it as far as I know so I couldn't say for certain. Just something that never occurred where we live." He could hear Parker and Peltier snickering at his predicament, which received a glare from him as well as a raised middle finger.
"But, everything in the world that we know of has chakra in it! As far as we know, you would die without it! It's just crazy to think that someone out doesn't have chakra in their bodies."
"Didn't I already say we weren't from here?"
"Well yeah, that much is obvious. But what continent? I know it isn't Esura, so where, then?" Satomi deadpanned as she pressed on with her questioning.
"What? Where the hell is that? My family's from Austria, Earth." Satomi pressed her brow together in confusion. "Where is this... Awe-stre-ya? Is it a continent or a country?"
Glancing at the others before looking back, Rhineford shrugged as he replied, "Well, it was a country."
"Oh... I see. It was destroyed."
"Huh, what?" Rhineford was confused for a moment, before realizing what she meant, "Oh. No, no. It wasn't destroyed, it's just not considered a country anymore."
"I... I'm not sure I follow. Was it conquered?"
Rhineford sighed, "Alright, so a few hundred years ago, roughly a couple decades before a conflict that we called the Rainforest Wars, Austria and its neighbor, Germany, decided to join together and formed this country called the Unified German Republic, and ever since, it's been considered a province." Rhineford tried to explain, knowing that she probably wouldn't fully understand everything he was talking about.
Sure enough, Satomi still looked as though she was confused, "Why did your people join with this... Ger-money?"
"It's cause they're so much alike, there really isn't that much of a difference between the two," Parker replied.
"We are not that much alike!" Rhineford argued.
"OH, what the fuck ever, Oliver!" Parker countered, "The only major difference between you two is a couple of thing culture-wise and the fact one of you is Catholic and the other's Protestant!"
"That's not true, at all! There's more than that, Robert and you know it."
"Why the hell does this matter, anyway? I thought you were born and raised on Reach, Oliver?" Armstrong suddenly joined in as she inspected one of her bio-foam dispensers.
"I was, but my family's from Austria, originally. They moved to Reach a couple of years before I was born."
"What is this Reach? Is it another country?" Satomi asked.
"Reach," A new voice suddenly joined in, all of them turning to see Colonel Barnes walking over to them, "is the Military Stronghold of the UNSC. A Fortress World that serves as Earth's sword and shield. It serves as the Capital of the Military arm for the UNSC."
Satomi, still not entirely following everything they were saying, nevertheless tried to listen and understand to the best of her ability.
"Any luck with the flyboys, sir?" Peltier questioned.
The Colonel groaned, throwing his head back in mock anguish as he did, "Yes, finally. They're on their way down, should be visible in the next few minutes."
Though she acted as if nothing was wrong on the outside, inside this was what Satomi had been dreading. Once these... airships of theirs arrive, what does that mean for her? Are they going to whisk her away, never to see her family and home again? Or were they actually here with good intentions, as they claim? Though they had been nothing but, surprisingly, kind and caring to her, she still didn't fully trust them. She needed to escape and report all of this back to her Numakage, alert them to what transpired here.
But how? As far as she knew, there weren't any boats towed here, nor did people regularly travel here. She could possible shushin across the water towards the western nations, but the only country there that was friendly to the Marsh was Fire Country, and they were in the opposite direction of where she needed to go, and there was no way she was setting foot back into Hidden Mist territory. That's what had gotten her caught, to begin with. Plus, she wasn't entirely sure if she could make the trip across to Fire Country, for it's been a while since she had eaten anything significant.
"Colonel, what's the plan for her?" She suddenly heard Armstrong ask, pointing a thumb at her.
Giving her a look over, Barnes replied, "Well, for now, we'll feed and take care of her until we can figure out where her home is." This caused Satomi's eyes to widen in concern. Though they weren't exactly hidden, betraying anything regarding a hidden ninja village was considered treason by all, usually punished by death. If they started to ask her questions about her village, she would have no choice but to attempt an escape.
"Yeah, I heard that one of the guys doing an Intel sweep inside those Sky Ninjas' encampments just found a couple of dozen maps that showed the hemisphere and specific regions. I'm sure that'll help out." Rhineford suddenly piped in.
"Yes, we've already begun relaying information to Everest. They should have a political map up and running before too long. If we can get it at least 75% accurate, which I'm sure we do, then we can have one ready within an hour." They heard Atlas speak through Barnes' speakers, as he walked over and took a seat next to the group, sitting next to Rhineford and Satomi, before lying on his back and closing his eyes.
Satomi's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Everest?"
Popping one eye open, Barnes chuckled, "Our Flagship, named after a large mountain on Earth. Don't worry, you'll see her soon enough." He brought his arms behind his head as closed his eye once more.
"Shit, they're coming in the atmosphere?"
"Admiral Cole must not be wanting to take any more chances."
"No, he does not." Barnes lazily replied.
Satomi started to speak but stopped when she faintly heard something in the wind. A faint rumbling that slowly and slowly grew louder, indicating something was approaching. The Marines must have heard it as well, as they began to look around to locate the source of the signal. As the rumbling grew louder, Satomi worried that they were about to be attacked once more, looking around in paranoia.
She suddenly felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder and looked to see it belong to Rhineford. "It's alright, it's just our buddies coming to join the party." He looked past her, his eyes showing what she could only describe as awe-struck.
Turning around, she realized why.
Cutting through the clouds, the UNSC Everest, along with a couple of Paris-Class Frigates and a Phoenix-Class Colony Ship, seemed to glide in, its engine rumbling ferociously as it slowly moved over the island, deploying hundreds of Pelicans and Albatross to the island, while the Phoenix-Class started deploying several pods and transport craft of its own.
Satomi was breathless by the sheer size of the ships, and the fact that they flew through the sky! She had never seen something like this before, nor something so massive. At that moment, she also came to another conclusion. Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't have escaped even if she tried.
"Sir, I believe we need to talk." Barnes cracked an eye open and saw Ami-072 looming over him. Rising to his feet, he sighed, knowing what this was about.
"I assume this is about the fact that we're working with URF." He looked at her. Though she didn't move, he knew that's what it was.
"Alright, Ami. Let's talk."
Meanwhile...
The northern end of the Island
"What the hell is that?" A Sky Shinobi, holding his bloody stump of an arm spoke as the survivors looked back at the descending giants in the sky. Their small boat rocked gently in the waves as they moved further away from the island. At the moment, they planned to head towards the friendly Land of Lightning and catch a ride from there to Sky Country.
Over 120 Sky Shinobi, including the 500 naval crewmen manning their warship, had been reduced to some five survivors. They had gotten lucky as they were the ones who had chosen to fall back before the airstrike commenced, the ones who had survived falling back anyway. Everyone else, as far as they knew, was either dead or captured, likely dead.
And in all of this, Sogo Kotaro could only think of the fight he had with the enemy leader. He wasn't in the best shape, though when he left his opponent hadn't been either. His nose was busted and bloody, his right eye was black and bruised, and he had numerous cuts and bruises all along his body. Whatever that arm of his was made of, it was stiff and very fucking painful. Though he's sure he broke a least a rib or two of his opponent, he was sure that the Colonel had come out in the better condition of the two.
"A fucking prosthetic arm, but how? How did it withstand my strikes? It should have broken after the first couple of hits..." He muttered to himself, lost in thought as he replays the fight in his head. The Colonel had proven a far more challenging opponent than he had assumed, for someone who doesn't use chakra. Every strike or attack was met with either a block/dodge or a well-timed counter, the man being surprising faster than he appeared in that strange armor. The man had also been far more agile than he had anticipated. He subconsciously winced as he brought a hand up to his three broken ribs. A most challenging opponent, indeed. Needless to say, the fact that they had gotten away, that he had gotten away, was nothing short of a miracle.
But, they hadn't come out of it empty-handed.
Lifting up a scroll, he smirked as he examined it, satisfied it hadn't received any damage. Inside contained several of the unknown's weapons and examples of their armor he had looted off a couple of their dead. He would have gathered more, but time was limited, so he basically had to grab and run. While it won't immediately make up for the loss here, in the long run, it would pay off and see his people return to the days of a feared and respected empire they deserved. It was their destiny to reobtain this empire of old, and now it was only a matter of time.
He glanced over to the others that had survived with him in the boat. To his left, a couple of survivors from the battle, whose names he couldn't remember, are looking over his shoulder as the massive ships in the sky continued to descend over the island. At the end of the boat, there was some young Genin medic, manning the motor on the ship. He looked shaken up by today's events.
And finally, lying unconscious to the right, was Kiyabu Hideo. The bastard had given him a lot of trouble when Kotaro decided to retreat. He had gone back to the encampment on a pure hunch and found the man cradling his dead girlfriend, bawling his eyes out. He had initially refused to do anything but sit there as Kotaro tried to get him to go, forcing Kotaro to knock him out and carry him over several miles of land to where the boat was stashed. Initially, he had half a mind just to kill him or leave him there; he couldn't do either as the Jounin knows far too much regarding the Sky military. Even his body would have provided valuable information on the Sky Village, considering he came from a clan.
In the long run, though, all of this could be turned to his advantage. Hideo, the leader of this op, was a mental wreck, their operation had been torn asunder by some new group. Now, Takashima Satomi would go back and alert her country about his people's scheme, which would throw back their plans by several years, and the only thing that was salvageable was the fact they, or rather he, had acquired some advanced new weapons. These weapons could be turned to his advantage, as now the acting commander of the op, he could use this to boost his standing within the Sky military since he was the only one that had come back with anything of value. But he would have to be smart about it.
"How much longer until we reach Lightning Country?" He asked.
"As long as the sea stays calm and our boat motor doesn't die, should only take 2-3 more hours." one of the two Ninja, a Kunoichi, replied. He nodded at that, knowing that these motorized propellers for ships were new and had a tendency to break down, hence why they weren't used on bigger warships.
"Fine. Keep an eye out for those damn airships. If we have to, we'll shushin to one of the nearby islands and wait until we lose them. We're sitting ducks here at the moment, so stay alert." Kotaro ordered as the three conscious ninjas replied with a simple nod.
"You. Boy." Said medic-nin flinched nervously as he was addressed. Gulping, he looked at Kotaro, before the man continued, "What's your name?"
"Uh... Y-Yasuda Tetsuo, Kotaro-san." Tetsuo hesitantly replied, knowing of Kotaro's bloodthirsty nature.
Grunting, Kotaro suddenly smirked, "Well then, Tetsuo. Guess what? Today, we were a part of history. Some new players decided to make their debut, and along the way, picked a fight with the Hidden Sky Village. And now, I'm going to make it my personal mission to make sure they regret it ever doing so. And you're gonna help me."
Tetsuo wasn't sure how exactly he would be of any help, but from the look in Kotaro's eyes, he knew he wouldn't have a choice.
1 Month Later...
July 14, 2543
Marsh Country
Hidden Marsh Village
The Marsh Country was one of many valleys and mountains, as well as many swamps, per its namesake. While Farmlands were prominent, most were in the north of the country, where the marshes were much more accessible to drain and remove. The nation wasn't the richest regarding wealth and economics, but its situation was far better than it had been some 10 years prior, though raving bands of bandits were still a significant problem. The only reason they haven't been dealt with is that of the fact the Marsh Country's military would suffer casualties they couldn't afford at the moment, with both the Sky and Demon Countries wanting pieces of their land.
Within this marshland, lay the Hidden Marsh. Small in comparison to one of the 5 Great Shinobi Villages, such as the Hidden Leaf or Hidden Cloud, the Hidden Marsh was more extensive than others, such as the Hidden Demon or the Hidden Waterfall.
The Hidden Marsh Village was also a bit of a uniquely designed village. Situated within a small valley with rising cliffs, in the southern part of the country, the 'main' village was situated on a small micro-plateau roughly 1.5 sq miles across, rising some 100 feet above the valley floor. Beneath it, the rest of the village, connected to the top by two stone stairways and a small road that led up to it, was split into two separate 'towns' that was divided by a river that passed between them, called Takita Market and Yahabiro respectively.
The 'main' village, Asatori, consisted of mostly Clan Compounds, the residence of the Numakage, a Ninja Academy, and several housing projects and stores. The village also had a small hot spring, fueled by a waterfall coming from a small lake within the mountainside. The Numakage Residence, or castle as some called it, is the largest building in the entire village, towered over the others at nearly 90 feet tall.
Takita Market, the town at the bottom of the plateau to Asatori's West, consisted of the majority of the markets and stores in the Hidden Marsh Village, ranging from all sorts of goods from weapons to clothing and food. A large number of private housing was set here as well, along with a couple of Clan Compounds. Both flanks of Takita Market, the North, and South, were covered by impassable cliffs sides that rose some four hundred feet, making attack unlikely and difficult. Two bridges cross the river that connected Takita Market with Yahabiro on its other side.
Yahabiro, on the other side of the river, consisted of mainly housing and a trio of small crop farms, though a few stores were constructed there. Yahabiro was a relatively new addition to the Hidden Marsh Village, the town having only finished construction 5 years prior. Surrounding Yahabiro all the way to the river's edge was a stone wall, rising some 40 feet, that acted as the Village's first line of defense against attack.
As the villagers of the village went about their lives, within the confines of the Numekage Residence, there was a meeting of great significance taking place.
Asatori
Numakage Residence
Numakage Conference Room
The Conference Room was a large room within the Numakage Residence, where the majority of village meetings took place for the Numakage regarding both internal and external politics. Within the room, there was a large oak round table, with some two dozen chairs that often seated the various Clan Leaders and civilian heads within the Hidden Marsh. Today, 12 individuals were in the room at the moment, discussing several critical issues concerning the Hidden Marsh and Marsh Country as a whole. Several maps and various items were laid about the table, all relevant to their discussion.
"Doesn't anyone have any knowledge as to where she could be?!" growled a very angry Takashima Yukinaga, 2nd and current Numakage of the Hidden Marsh Village. At 51 years old, the current Kage of the Hidden Marsh was surprisingly in good shape for someone his age, though his short, graying hair would indicate someone older.
"Apologies, my lord, but we haven't discovered anything besides the bodies of the other Ninja in her team." Spoke his Anbu Commander, Kaneshiro Nakazo spoke.
Slamming his fist on the table, Yukinaga cursed, "Dammit!"
His daughter, Satomi, and her team had now been missing for over a month now, and they had just discovered the remains of her squad in Water Country. Their mission had been to conduct recon on the situation with the country's civil war. The whole operation had been expected to take roughly a week or two to accomplish, minus the time getting there. But now, in light of the new evidence, it appears that something went horribly wrong.
And his daughter was missing.
"Lord Numakage, if Satomi's still in Water Country, our men will surely find her. We're on good terms with the rebellion, so any information they find will most certainly reach us as well." Spoke one of the clan heads, Murata Torazo, as he leaned in.
"And what do you expect me to do, Torazo? Just sit here and wait for something relevant to turn up. As far as I know, the damn Sky Village has kidnapped her." Yukinaga retorted, staring down the Murata Clan Head, who returned his gaze.
"There's not much else we can do, Lord Numakage, save for sending out more squads to Water Country, which would be unwise considering our situation with the Sky Country. We need to focus on the problem at hand, my lord." His senior advisor, Otsuka Kiko, replied.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the damn Sky Village was behind this!"
"In that case, that would be all the more reason to increase the level of security and troops at the border of Sky Country. We need to accept the fact that an invasion may very well be on its way shortly." Otsuka continued.
"I agree with the Advisor Otsuka, Lord Numakage." Clan Head Mihara Reiko spoke as she arched her hands and rested her head on them, as she observed a map of the Eastern Shinobi Nations. "We need to increase the number of troops at the border and set up fortified lines to dissuade..."
"Fortified lines?! Surely you're joking, Lady Reiko. Those swamplands are unsuited for such levels of defenses. It would be a waste of resources and time trying to establish forts and defenses there when they would just likely sink into the bogs." One of the Civilian Leaders, Merchant Guild Leader Yoshinaga Sosa, argued, standing up as if to press on his point.
"Yes, but we can't just leave that area open to attack! They lead right to a majority of our farmlands, which feed the majority of our people, mind you." Reiko countered, narrowing her eyes in agitation at the civilian head.
Sosa crossed his arms, "I wasn't saying leave it open to attack, I'm merely pointing out that-"
"Enough!" All eyes turned to the Numakage, who had stood up and slammed his fist on the table. His head was lowered, an obvious sign that he was mentally exhausted from today's meeting, as well as the strain of his daughter's disappearance. "We... We'll take a small recess before resuming our discussion. Let's reconvene in an hour." Yukinaga breathed out.
Several of the people in the room looked at one another, unsure but none chose to question it. The Clan Heads and Civilian Leaders all began to file out of the room, each one bowing at the Numakage in respect before stepping out of the room. After a moment, the only people left in the place were Yukinaga, his 4 Anbu guards, and the Anbu Commander Nakazo.
Letting out a shaky and exhausted breath, Yukinaga slumped into the chair behind him, running his hands through his hair before bringing them to his face. As he pinched his nose in frustration, Nakazo chose to speak up, "Lord Numakage..."
"I don't want to hear it, Nakazo." came a growled response.
"My Lord, I understand your concern for Satomi, but you must also be able to trust in her ability as a Ninja. Just because she is missing doesn't mean that she's been captured or..." The Anbu Commander continued
but was cut off by his leader standing up, glaring at him.
"Finish that sentence and I swear, Nakazo, you will be relieved as Anbu Commander!" the Numakage finally threatened his grip on the table so tight his knuckles were turning white. The tension between the two could be felt by the bodyguards within the room. After several moments of silence between the two, Nakazo spoke once more.
"Yukinaga, I had a daughter once, too." with that said, he bowed, then turned to walk out of the room. Behind him, he could hear the Numakage sigh.
"Nakazo, stop." Said Ninja stopped and turned to face his leader, who looked at him with a humbled look, "I'm sorry, my old friend. I did not mean to snap at you. These last few weeks have strained my nerves to the breaking point."
Nakazo bowed before his leader, before replying, "No apologies are needed, my lord. I understand the stress you've been put under these past few weeks."
He heard a snort of amusement come from the Numakage, "Heh, I'm sure." slumping back into his chair, he motioned for the Anbu Commander to join him as he had one of the guards bring them a glass of sake and some cups. Nakazo walked over and sat beside the Numakage as the guard returned with the sake set, pouring both of them a cup of sake.
The two men both took their respective cups of sake and drank, downing the alcoholic drink fairly quickly before setting their cups down to be refilled.
After several moments of silence between the two, Nakazo brought his arms onto the table, intertwining his fingers, and spoke, "Lord Numakage, I know the pain you're going through at the moment, not knowing the status of your daughter or her whereabouts. But, in my personal opinion, you must not coddle her, but rather trust in her to be able to perform her duties as a Kunoichi of the Hidden Marsh Village. She isn't some genin fresh from the academy, she's one of our best Ninja in all of Marsh Country."
The Numakage didn't reply at first, simply sitting there as he listened to the ANBU Commander speak. A soft sigh escaped the man as he took another sip from his sake cup.
Closing his eyes, Yukinaga then leaned back in his chair, "Why is it..." Nakazo glanced at him, "that the older generation, us, seem to just keep getting older, while the younger generation seems to do all the fighting and dying?" Nakazo had honestly never heard his Numakage speak like this before. His astonishment had kept him from answering right away, but before he could, the Numakage continued, "Personally, I think it's just plain old human greed. When we see something we want, we do whatever we can to have it." he chuckled, "To hell with everyone else." Yukinaga paused for a second as he took a sip from his sake cup, before continuing, "We do these things, often times... just horrendous things, and our children turn around and see us do it too. And they grow up being told by us that it's just simply because we say it is. Then they will turn around and do the very same things we were doing." Glancing at Nazako, he added, "Now where's the sense in that?"
Nakazo was simply speechless as he listened to the Numakage speak. He had, in all truthfulness, never given any thought as to why humans fought one another over the various things they did. He had merely put to as the way things were. It was human nature, nothing more. There wasn't much you could do to change it.
"I couldn't honestly say, Lord Numakage. The only thing I can think of is that it's just human nature. Our children will always try to outdo their parents." he solemnly replied, as he drank his sake cup once more.
"Hmm." Was all that the Numakage spoke as he leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. Despite what Nakazo had just said, it was well known that the quality of ninjas worldwide had been diminished in comparison to their ancestors for quite some time now, a couple of centuries at least. And no one knew why. Some suspected it had something to do with the Great Guardian and its companions, while others had thought that Kami was punishing them for something. All that everyone knew was that something had tainted the natural flowing chakra within the world, making it harder to conjure up more advanced jutsus or to even shushin normally even. S-Class and even A-Class Ninja were now a rare sight nowadays outside of the 5 Great Shinobi Nations. To this day, no one knew why this had happened, but he knew there were numerous groups trying to solve the riddle and reverse the effects. Though Ninjas were still a significant power amongst the nations, Yukinaga knew that they all needed to step up their game if they wanted it to stay that way.
Shaking his head, he removed those thoughts from his head, his attention focused on other matters. Of all the things coursing through his mind at the moment, above all else, he wondered of his daughter's whereabouts. He prayed that she was safe. Maybe the others were right. Maybe she had gotten away and was on her way back right now. Or maybe, and he prayed he was wrong, that she had been either killed or worse, captured.
After his wife and youngest daughter's death, he had become extremely protective over Satomi, fearing that he would lose her, too. This, of course, had strained their relationship due to her feeling that he was overbearing with her. When the Sky Village had chosen to ramp up their kidnapping and assassinations, he had forbidden her from leaving the village for nearly a year, before just recently allowing her to leave the village once more to conduct missions and such. Satomi, understandably, had been all too eager to get out of the village and back on missions, much to her father's worry. And now, she was missing.
No one really understood what a parent goes through until they had children of their own. It wasn't something that everyone could do. Above all else, it required a lot of patience and restraint when it came to raising a child. Most of the time, all you can do is hope that you did your best and set a prime example.
Yukinaga wondered at that moment if he had or not.
8 Miles Southeast of Yahabiro
Caravan
Nishihara Yuyu was beyond excited. This was the first time the 6, going on 7, year-old had been allowed to not only accompany her father on one of his merchant travels, but she also got to leave the village and the outside world for the first time ever. As she sat on top of her father's caravan wagon, her small purple eyes took in the sight around her as her shoulder-length lavender hair blew in the wind. She looked up and saw the massive, jungle-covered cliffs and mountains that rose several hundred feet up on both sides, dozens of birds flying around them. She could hear the sounds of the swampy jungle all around her as the caravan continued down the dirt road.
The other people apart of the caravan were her father, Ukyo, a half dozen of his merchant friends with their own wagons, and a company of 20 Ashigaru, with two squads of Marsh Ninja tagging along as an escort. Her father had explained to her that because of bandits, they had to travel with large numbers of soldiers as protection. Yuyu didn't fully understand what a bandit was, but from what her father had told her, she didn't want to meet one.
"Papa, how much longer until we get to Has... Hashi..." the child tried to pronounce the name of the capital, only to end up pouting when she failed.
"Hashimaki." her father replied, chuckling, "And it'll be about a week before we get there."
"Are we going to use the river?" She continued asking, excited at the idea of a boat ride.
"Eventually, but not this one and not for a couple more days."
"What's it like there?"
"Well," Ukyo started, "it's really big. People are everywhere going about their lives. And there are massive buildings, hundreds of feet tall that seem to touch the sky!" he exaggerated with his arms, smiling at the look on his daughter's face. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she listened and followed the movement of his hands, her imagination running wild about what the Capital looked like.
As the group continued down the road, the guards continually stayed on alert, scanning their surroundings for anything hostile. Though none of the Bandits would dare get this close to the Hidden Marsh, the closest they had ever been spotted was some 12 miles, that didn't mean that the guards shouldn't be on alert.
The two squads of Ninja, comprised of 1 regular team and a support team, traverse through the trees, leaping from branch to branch as they surveyed the area around them for anything suspicious. Though the swamp brush was thick and hard to see through at times, a well-trained eye could spot something out of place or something that seemed unusual. This could oftentimes be the deciding factor between life and death.
One Genin, in particular, leaped ahead, stopping on a branch that overlooked the river and a large area further up ahead, which signified the point beyond what was considered 'Wild-Marshes', regions that were known to be infested with gangs of bandits. The Genin's eyes narrowed, knowing that once they crossed that point, they would be susceptible to attack from marauding bands, as the ANBU only patrolled some 10 miles out from the Village for signs of Bandits.
He heard the various sounds of wildlife about him as he continued to survey the area. As he glanced further down on the other side of the river, he noticed a large number of birds suddenly rose up and fly into the air, squawking and chirping in a rather panicked fashion. Despite the rather chaotic look of so many birds flying into the air, the genin noticed that they were all flying in the same direction.
"What's gotten into them?" he whispered to himself, before hearing what he could only describe as a continuous thudding sound that slowly got louder and louder as he listened.
Fireteam Whiskey/Kingpin
Onboard UH-144, Callsign-'Gundam-Lead'
15 miles from Hidden Marsh Village
The Falcon Helicopter shuddered slightly as the aircraft continued to fly over the river below. Behind it, two more Falcons followed behind in a close formation, their door gunners scanning for anything hostile. While the Falcons typically only carried five passengers, today was a special exception as each one was loaded with 7 passengers, including the one-door gunner that each Falcon had. Their passengers were two 6-man Squad of UNSC Army Troopers, one 5-man Squad of ODST, Fireteam Whiskey, with Colonel Barnes attached as the fifth man, and Hidden Marsh Ninja Takashima Satomi.
As the Gundam-Lead's pilot swerved to the left slightly, Satomi's stomach groaned in protest as her face turned slightly blue from nausea. Including this one, this would be the fourth time she's flown in any of the UNSC aircraft. Gripping the edges of her seat, she desperately fought off the urge to vomit, doubling over in her seat in an attempt to try and ward off what her fellow passengers called 'airsickness'. The only thing that was giving her any comfort was the fact the helmet they strapped onto her head was blocking out most of the noise this machine-made as it flew.
'You okay, mam?' She heard Colonel Barnes asked from the chair adjacent to hers.
Her stomach groaned again, 'I think I'm gonna hurl...' she moaned out.
Beside her, Armstrong laughed, 'Just make sure to either aim out the bird or just aim at Parker like last time.'
'Fuck. You. Lydia.' Parker, manning one of the door guns, simply raised his middle finger back at the two. Armstrong's laughing intensified as the other two members of Fireteam Whiskey joined in.
'Guuuh... how much longer till we get out of this evil thing?!' Satomi groaned again, the blue on her face spreading slightly.
'Just a couple more minutes at most, miss. We're approaching the landing spot now.' Colonel Barnes replied, as he pulled out his datapad and looked over the map that was displayed.
'Excuse me, Sir? Sgt Cooper, 1st Squad. If you don't mind me asking, why exactly are we landing 10 miles away from the village? Wouldn't it be easier just to fly in and land within the village?' A voice belonging to one of the Army Soldiers joined in over the comms.
'If we did, it would freak them out and we'd likely have an entire village going up in arms against us. And that's the last thing we want at the moment. We need to establish a positive relationship with them, not scare them to where they won't talk to us.'
'I think they'll be freaked out, regardless, but I guess there's some logic to it. We've already got one group of magic-wielding nut-jobs pissed at us, why go piss off another one?' Sgt Cooper replied.
'Exactly.'
'Attention, ground troops. We are 1 Mike from the landing zone. Be advised. Terrain isn't suitable for landing, bush is just too damn thick so you're gonna have to rappel down.'
'That's fine, we'll manage.' Barnes responded as he looked over his BR-55 one more time before looking out to the ground below. He looked back at Fireteam Whiskey, 'Okay, everyone! On your feet, we're getting ready to deploy.'
Every one of the group, minus Satomi whose battle against nausea wasn't getting any better, stood up and gave their gear one last look over before preparing to deploy.
As the Falcons moved into position over the clearing, the soldiers inside set up the rappel ropes and prepared to jump down. The two Helos carrying the Army Squad moved in first, dropping down their ropes and had their soldiers disembark off the aircraft. The Army troops went down the ropes two by two, before establishing a perimeter within the clearing as the two Falcons cleared out for the third one to enter.
'Alright, remember everyone! Check your targets and think before you shoot. We're here to make friends not enemies.' Barnes reminded over the radio once more, as he gently grabbed Satomi and brought her close to him before grabbing the rope. Satomi's face was blue and she looked as if she was about to vomit any second. Barnes had her wrap her arms around him and hold on tight as he proceeded to rappel down below to the ground.
As Whiskey looked down, Rhineford received a nudge on the shoulder from Parker, who looked at him. "You ready?"
Rhineford nodded, "Yeah, let's roll."
Both men grabbed their respective ropes and rappelled down.
Dear... God... This has to be the longest chapter I've written so far. 23,642 words. Oh my god, this took like 4-5 months! Well, part of that was due to me starting to shift focus on Halo-Mass Effect: Altered Destiny and trying to get it finished up. (Only has 1 more chapter before I start working on Book 2, but that won't be until mid-late 2016.) Another couple of things that slowed me down was just flat-out life and work getting in the way and the Paris Attacks that happened back in November. After seeing a lot of the videos that were posted showing the attack, I just lost a lot of drive to write for a good couple of weeks at least.
I don't know if anybody here was there or had family that was there at the time, but if you did and you ended up losing somebody there, you have my condolences and sympathies. Sometimes, people can be just flat-out evil and horrific over the stupidest things. I hate it.
As I read through the reviews for this story, I saw that it was largely down the middle. Either people liked it or they just weren't sure it would work out. For those of you doubting, I don't blame you. These are two universes that are vastly different from one another and don't seem like two that would go well together. That being said, sometimes these pairings have worked and went on to be incredible, ie, A Spartan Amongst Shinobi. (I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I've heard it's great. UPDATE: I've read it and it's an amazing story! I love the level of character exploration and development the author has done for his characters and definitely recommend reading it.) All I ask merely is that you give this story a chance and be honest in your reviews, whether it be positive or negative. As I've stated in my other stories, I always welcome constructive criticism.
Also, if you have any ideas or suggestions, by all means, feel free to pm me and let me hear them out. I always reply back.
And finally, as for whether or not a third universe will be added in or not, I can't say for certain just yet, but it may be happening. We'll just see how this goes. That being said, if it does end up happening, I already have a backstory for it to explain how it intertwines with the other two.
As always, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review of what your thoughts were about it, and I'll see you next time!
-Azores
