Chapter 1: Stranded

Xen, The Science Team, Gordon

"Either you're stranded in an alien world, sent somewhere safe, or instantly killed by it. So take your pick," Said Bubby.

"Oh, that's supposed to be a painless way to go, huh? Yeah, count me in," responded Gordon, choosing their fate and jumping into the portal.

Next to a rock formation, The Science Team, Gordon

Gordon winced, rubbing the back of his head as he woke up amidst a grassy field. To his right, a voice inquired, sounding genuinely concerned, "Mr. Freeman, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you, Tommy? You doing alright?" Gordon glanced at his friend, though his expressions were hidden beneath the VR mask.

"I'm doing fine, Mr. Freeman. Want a soda? It might help you recover faster," suggested Tommy Coolatta, offering the drink with childlike enthusiasm.

"No, thanks. I'm good for now," Gordon replied. "By the way, where are we? This doesn't look like Black Mesa or Xen."

Hoping Tommy, armed with his vast knowledge from memorizing every Wikipedia article, could shed light on their location, Gordon inquired. "The nice lady behind you mentioned we're in the continent of Falmart. But I haven't found any article about this on Wikipedia," Tommy replied, slightly confused by the lack of information.

Standing up and glancing behind him, Gordon noticed a girl dressed in an unexpected black and red maid outfit, complete with a bow resembling cat ears. However, what startled him most was the oversized halberd she held, which was twice her size. "Don't tell me we've switched games," Gordon muttered quietly, looking baffled.

Approaching him, the girl stopped a few feet away and seemingly asked a question in an unfamiliar language. Tommy immediately responded, "She's asking if you're the one I call Mr. Freeman," with pride in his voice for understanding.

"Um... tell her I said yes. And how do you understand her?" Gordon asked, puzzled.

"I learned every language by adjusting language settings in Wikipedia until I absorbed knowledge of every spoken language on Earth" Tommy explained gleefully, proud of his accomplishment, while translating Gordon's response for the girl.

"What language is she speaking? It sounds almost Latin." Gordon observed.

"It's remarkably similar to Latin, the language used during Rome's reign. So, I can roughly understand her," Tommy answered with innocence.

The girl said something else in the same language, which Tommy translated again, "She's curious how you can see with the mask on."

"I'm not sure how to exp—," Gordon was about to explain before abruptly stopping. "Wait, I hear cars."

HMMVW, JSDF, lead vehicle

"Why did you make them burn it?" Kurokawa asked Itami.

"They were just standing there and wouldn't leave their stuff behind, so we had no other choice but to burn it," Itami responded.

Kurokawa inquired again, "We could've called for more vehicles."

"If we had called in more, the Empire might see it as a threat. Things could get really ugly. An army would come, we'd have mortar strikes, more lives would be lost, then another army would come, and we'd have to strike them again. Even more lives would be lost. We would fail the mission we were originally given just by trying to help out a couple of people," Itami explained.

Satisfied with the explanation and glad that Itami had thought ahead, Kurokawa was about to respond when both Itami and Kurata suddenly gasped, noticing something peculiar by the roadside. Their eyes widened in confusion as they spotted a man with a minigun for an arm wearing strange orange and black armor with something strapped to his face frantically waving at the vehicle, trying to get their attention.

"What in the world...?" Itami muttered, bewildered by the sight of the man.

However, amidst this surprise, they both recognized something else next to the man that immediately stole their attention. A girl in black and red maid clothes sat beside him, surrounded by a swirl of crows flying in circles around her.

"Goth Lolita girl!" Itami exclaimed with excitement, while Kurata, equally excited, added, "Yeah, you're right!"

Trying to sound supportive despite her annoyance, Kurokawa muttered, "Great, and I'm the one who gets to sit in a car with these two"her tone attempting to mask her frustration.

This is meant to be more of a pilot just to see if this would gain any traction. Feel free to leave any feedback (Positive or negative) in the comments as this is my first story on the site and first story in general. Thanks for reading.