---Tape Starts---
Damn, you are getting better at this." Chau-Min was breathing heavily as she held her knees near a makeshift barricade. 'Your running form used to be so terrible and now you even outlast me in endurance.'
"Why, thank you. It is all on my own personal training I made." Sherrinford was talking big as she made a rude smirk towards Chau-Min.
Captain Shanina and William caught up with them. "This is a practice jog not a running contest." Captain Shanina in her typical blatant and monotonic voice called out. The other remaining soldiers followed upon the two as they back-lined.
"Yeah yeah...~" Sherrinford whispered to herself.
"I heard that you know." Shanina made a murderous glint towards Sherrinford. Eerily creeped out, Sherrinford smiled innocently and walked through the locker room's entryway as the jog was halted for a stop.
"What now?" William asked as he took a sip of water from his water bottle that he carried along. Taking a seat by a bench of the field.
"When the time comes, we will be called. Today, We may just have classes like normal." Captain Shanina said as she removes the wet part of her three layered singlet, being quite revealing.
William just looked through his wristwatch as he gets up to move himself to the locker room. 'I see. Well, I will go take a shower or something, I feel burned out.'
Shanina smiles a little to him. 'See you in class.' William smiling back, he gives a short wave before he pushes through the locker room's door.
"Oh... Hello William, How are you enjoying your day after being reanimated from the dead?" The tall soldier teasingly said to him as she was putting on her new batch of uniform as he entered.
"Pretty terrible...Its chilly today then usual. What is this, negative one degrees?" William asked curiously.
"Who knows... back in the past, soldiers fought in colder temperatures. We are just lucky because of global warming. Besides that, technological advancements in our uniforms makes us feel a little less humid or dry." She explained.
"Sounds fair..." Keeping on his sweatpants, he just took off his tee and took his towel along from his locker. He didn't want to be rude and expose himself, especially to the younger ones in the echelon. "I am going to take a shower... see you in a bit."
"Yeah..yep" She said with a soft smile and a wave before she shut herself off, heading to the direction of the classrooms after exiting the room.
William took a quick shower as he didn't want to miss half of the lesson. Upon leaving the shower room, he stumbled upon the operation master without wearing any pants on. Only his towel was slightly wrapped.
('Ahh Shit..') He thought in his head as the towel unwrapped itself and dropped on the operation master's topside.
"Ahh, There you are! Mr.Endicrite, Teacher is looking for you. She wants to give you homework that you didn't do recently.' The operation master told him as she was laying on the ground with a mild natural smile. 'You don't want to be reported for missing assignments, yeah?'
'What the, homework?!' He shouted. 'Welp, there goes the record. My apologies Mastermind, I would do it soon!'
'Shush.' A voice could be heard from one of the shower stalls. 'Stop making so much noise.'
"Hello there, William. Trying to make your moves on me, aren't you? Sorry, but to notify I have STDs." She chuckled. 'So try not to hurt yourself.'
"Hello." William replied to her. 'Oh, damn. Here, let me give you a hand instead.' He felt slightly confused when the operation master blurted something random out. It's not usual for a staff to joke around. After getting up and lending her a hand, he wraps himself with his towel once more.
"Alright, well see you in class, haha. Need to hand those paper documents to you later." She walked away quite quickly to not cause any commotion but since the floors were quite slippery she had to skid walk to avoid slipping. 'I was joking by the way.' As she left, she pokes her tongue in a teasing fashion.
(Damn this lass, still likes to play her tricks. The last time I saw her, she said she was a lesbian.) He said to himself as he headed towards his locker. 'Ahh right, see yah.' He said softly.
Sae-Yong's crystal, the purple one glowed, through telepathy, she talked through William's head. "Ayo, You scream so loud I could hear it through my crystal ball"
"Who uses a crystal ball at this decade? What are you, a psychic?" He replied back.
"Uhhh me and the rest of your leaders in military camp." She said as ambient sounds of explosions could be heard in the background. 'I am definitely not playing video games here.' She spoke out loud purposely.
"Lucky bitch, you get to play video games while I have to attend classes." He sarcastically said in his head as he put on his uniform.
"Sucks to be you bro." She said back. "Humans are funny. Every-time they lose or die, they start typing negative things towards the chat."
"It is what you call bad sportsmanship." He grabs both Sae-yong's crystal and her sister's which he recently received from Shimaya for absolutely no reason at all, putting it into his breast pocket. ('If I remember, her name is Shin-ae.') He reminded himself as he heads to the exit.
('I guess I could test out the guns, Sae-yong talked about. Maybe I am suppose to practice with her.') He thought.
He waved and smiled to one of his passing soldier buddies as he exited the room. For the time being, they walked together to reach for their same class. They didn't really talk about anything except some daily greetings with respect.
Knocking the door, William let the buddy in before taking his turn.
"Hurry up, Class is starting soon. I need to take attendance." Teacher Salia said as she was removing her scarf off and placing it onto her table.
WIlliam and the other buddy excused themselves with a nod and headed to their seats. William sat by the table Shanina was at.
"Did I say you could sit here?" She said bluntly as she watched outside the window. 'Ask before seating.'
"Oh sorry... I didn't mean to." He took one step backwards as he made a worried look.
"I am joking, come sit down. No one seats here anyway...well except me." She said as she looks at him with her snake like wink.
"Alright..alright." William nervously smiled as he watched the surrounding of the class. ('Quite a few unfamiliar faces today, are they perhaps new or from other classes?') He asked himself. ('Or maybe I was too concentrated on work, I never really noticed them.')
Attendance were being taken as role calls were given.
"Alright, I guess everyone is in class today. Thank you for coming. Just so you know, next week... we will probably get your promotions started. You would either A, rank up or B, stay as you are. Pretty sure most of you will stay, as, ranking up is quite difficult especially with your change in your confirmed and unconfirmed and how supportive you are in operations." Teacher Salia said as she started opening up a document on her laptop to show onto the wall screen.
"Today we will learn about Continuum's other wings or you could say tables. Other than Phantom, There are other elite groups which are secretly created by the other two generals but, since it's a secret, it is private to those only in those wings." She explained.
"Though Continuum only has one general of the army and two substitute generals to regulate this place, we actually have four wings. First is our wing, which is called the West Wing also known as the Armaments Army. We specialize in normal operations and terrorist attacks. We may also cover in taking care of very important people also known as VIPs. Pretty sure you guys know this, quite common actually."
Second, We have the North Wing also known as the Aviation Crew regulated by both General Mia and General Ferdunov. They take care of the vehicles used for flight combat. But hold on, they are not hundred percent regulating the Aviation Crew. A Marshal from a real Aviation Team is taking care of this business though she rarely comes here as she has her own crew to take care off. However, we have her guardian who is also coincidentally a pilot which has far superior aviation mentality that she single-handedly takes care of every class in that crew. Odd isn't it." She clears her throat as she took a sip of water from her glass.
"Thirdly, we have the East Wing also known as the Scientists Laboratory. They don't really participate in war. They mostly do dangerous experiments and tweak in making nuclear or bio weapons. They may sometimes use one of us from any wings to try out their prototype weapons if she or HE (Because of William and the more other folks) has the potential in their statistics of probability, math and whoever the fuck knows." She explained.
"Lastly, we have the Supports Table or the South Wing. As the name implies, they are mostly specialists in medical procedures and mechanical repairs. They are mostly student scientists or just people who want to use their intelligence more than their brawn. Most of the people who work there are specially accepted due to their either physical or mental difficulties.They could also help by fixing most of our equipment or even upgrade it if it is possible. You have a buddy here who has a sister who works there just for your information, you could hit them up if you are interested." She said implying, Chau-Min.
"To be honest, I read this up already." William said to himself softly. 'Kind of getting boring.'
"...Same." Captain Shanina said as she places her palm towards her chin, still staring outside the window. "I already know all this yet someone have to learn about them again just for some new faces." She whispered softly.
"I know right...seems education has stayed the same over the years." William moaned. 'What a pain sometimes.'
After the teachings of the general knowledge of Continuum and its far old history back during the World War era, a swap of other subjects were brought into play such as high mathematics, some science, geography and also a small pop quiz. Though a lackluster one, it was only given as a form of an intelligence test.
Closing a book, Teacher Salia notices a small bulb lighting up under her table. A red glow. 'Alright class, head back to your dormitories, you are in for attention and a small pep-talk from your general and your captains. Dismiss!' With that, still seated, she watches everyone get up, take their belongings and walk back to class. As much as possible in an orderly fashion.
'Anything you know about it, the pep-talk?' William asks Shanina as they walked through the hallway to meet up with Chau-Min and Sherrinford who were in another class.
'Remember yesterday and the day before, we smuggled those goods Axis stolen?' She asked.
'Yeah why?' He replied.
'Well, the map and the radio you found, led us to the possible left hand of its main headquarters. A hangar and communication centre of sorts. If we take it down, then it would be hard for the Axis in other countries to call in for backup or fresh supplies.' Shanina explained. 'This pep-talk is just to give in confidence since this may or may not be a stand by death's door for some other soldiers. In-case anything goes bad..
'I see. Hope its not any of us.' William replied with a more quiet tone.
'We will see, I mean as soldiers, we are meant to be sacrificing ourselves for our countries, even if we are currently just walking guinea pigs and lab rats for energy weapons and magic. We have bare time to mourn anyway as our population is already drastically decreasing. The cloning and usage of the remaining semen of this earth is already being defective. I mean, look at it. Think. What's the point cloning the same political figure over and over again when the person's personality is already terrible and they make the same mistakes every-time.'
'Heh, you got a point.' William said. 'The UN already went haywire went The Happening happened, so you got a point.'
'Yeah...' Shanina replied as the two entered the dormitory. 'We have to change fast, so lets talk later.'
'Alright.' He quickly walks towards his bunk-bed as he excuses himself from the changing Chau-Min, to reach for his drawer. Taking out his clothing, he removes his tee in exchange for his shirt and tie as well as his pants.
'Darn, I really need to lose weight.' Chau-min told herself as she puts on her medic fatigues.
'Eating too much sweet food lately?' William asked as he puts on his tie, struggling a little with it.
'Yeah, quite much.' She replied. 'Wanted to eat more from my current amount of calories to help with energy, but it seems to only be increasing my fat levels.'
'Fat is good, the excess helps to give energy and also gives some temporary hunger resistance during long hours.' Sherrinford told as she walks towards William, quickly helping him with his tie with a quick fold and pull. 'There you go.'
'I mean, do you look at yourself? You have a curvaceous body and your cup size are decently large. I am just a typical Asian plus I am as flat as an A-size. 'Pretty sure, some of your excess fat enters your mammary gland.'
'Oh yeah... my bad.' Sherrinford replied with a bland look of worry. 'I guess you need to watch over your metabolism.'
'Ehh I guess-'
'Attention!' Shanina shouted, as the sound of heavy footsteps entered the room.
'Alright, ladies! Today, we will be doing what we call, a pep-talk. You heard me?!' General Ferdunov screamed.
'Yes Ma'am!'. Everyone replied.
'Alright. Today is not only the day you prove yourself worthy for your existence, but also to your own countries and families as well. Today you will sacrifice your life on the line to fight. This is your chance to prove your best! Use your wits, your skills, your talents and your Guardians to your full extent! You better not forget you have teammates, you heard me?!' General Ferdunov shouted as she heads slowly to William face to face.
'I said, did you heard me?!' She shouted towards William.
'Yes Ma'am!' William shouted.
'Louder boy, you sounded like a bird caught by a snake. Howl!'
'YES MA'AM!' He screamed at the top of his lungs.
'Good. Good boy.' She spoke. 'Now, Ladies. This is a make it or break it moment! You heard me? If you die, your body will be boxed up and shipped back to your country alright. You may be kids yesterday, but today! You are adults. Think like one and use your damn brains!'
'Alright!, I will see you in the armory room. We will meet up with the Aviation Crew and take off from there. Stick to your assigned Echelon and please, don't split up and forget your damn equipments!' She shouted.
'DISMISSED!' With a few more steps, she walks away. Exiting the room, she heads towards the direction of the meeting room.
With a nod from Captain Shanina, everyone paired themselves in their echelon and orderly heads towards the armory room as fast as they could walk.
This time the Echelon had changed. With the addition of support from the other Wings, now one echelon may have an extra from another wing if they were to be assigned or picked. It could be randomly chosen from a general or from the Captain of a group, themselves.
This time Echelon 0's Main team were ; Captain Shanina 'Geist' Leutenegger, Recruit William 'Rampage' Endicrite, Chau-Min 'Goyang-i' Heungson, Sherrinford 'Guardian' Van Der Graff and finally an old retired member but a helpful engineer named Ri-kae Heungson; Codename Undefined.
...
"William seems to be getting good at this… isn't that right? Stal?" Chau-Min asked Captain Shanina.
"Yes...The training has gone well with him ..including whatever happened to him after the pep-talk." Shanina said softly with a glad tone.
"By the way? Wheres Shizuka? The friend of yours Stal?" Chau-Min asked again like a curious cat.
Shanina sighs and looks at her. "She is in her wing, she and her echelon are watching probably television…"
"Aww… I wish she was here… I wonder how she would feel about his change." Chau-Min said curiously.
"Pretty sure, she would be impressed. " Shanina smirks before continuing to listen to her songs through her antique 90s walkman as they waited for the arrival of their Aviation Crew teammtes to fly them to their mission.
[Shifts towards CCTV Footage]
Meanwhile, in the Aviation's Crew's Dormitory;
"Your old friend is quite a good tactician, he goes well even with a single-manned sniper." A mature salt and pepper haired soldier said as she relaxed on her cup of chai.
"Yes, That is true...Wisp." A familiar voice replied.
The voice manifested into a feminine figure, serving rations for everyone as she took a look around. It was Shizuka, Reina.
"Wisp? Call me by my real name silly, it's Luxembourga." She made a soft giggle as she munched onto her homemade popcorn.
"Where did you get the popcorn from..?" An agitated voice asked as the smell annoyed her.
"Ohh, I sneaked out of the base and went to the town square..hihi." She continued munching on her popcorn.
"No fair, at least share!…" The agitated voice replied as lets out fiery fumes of rage.
"Nope, Also thank you for popping more popcorn for me, hehe~ Your guardian abilities work well," Luxembourga said as she refilled her bowl.
"I will burn this place down if it weren't illegal to do so!" The agitated voice now from rage turned to a burning hell.
"Oooh Warm… Nice, now she's a heater." Luxembourga was teasing the enraged soldier.
"Liutenant Lux, I think it is enough of teasing Miss Flare here, I think she had enough," Reina said as she turned on the actual heater and placed a cold damp cloth onto Flare's head.
"My name is Filia! NOT FLARE! THAT'S MY CODE NAME." With that, she burned the wet cloth into midget ash.
"Yo, chill… You sound like the old woman in my old neighborhood before my mom married my father." Reina said as she sat and helped herself to the extra popcorn.
Filia sat down and snickered, "Fine…"
"There there, Now let's watch the show...I like watching soldiers from the Armaments Army, Their use of guardian weapons are interesting, you can never expect what they will use next." Luxembourga giggled again, this time a bit covered from her excess of popcorn in her mouth.
Cough... Cough...
"Don't go choking yourself…" Reina said as she rubbed her lieutenant's back.
"Thank you…" Luxembourga smiled.
"Well it is better to watch people fight with actual weapons compared to us, we have to fly planes but we can use elemental guardians spell magic or whatever they call it," Filia said as snatched the bowl from Luxembourga and ate some popcorn.
"Alchemy and Drivel Instincts… I think that was what it was called." Reina said she was now cleaning her staff that she used alongside her jet plane in case of an emergency evacuation."
"Yes, that is correct Alchemy is for the use of manipulating elements from the science table and other natural substances while Drivel Instincts is the usage of changing time … but only 4 of our teammates can use it, which is us 3 and one of the other members from the other echelon." Luxembourga said as she tickled Filia and took back her bowl of popcorn."
"Is it me or does the Aviation Crew takes free time more lightly than the other wings..?" Reina asked, kinda curious.
"Well yes, in a way. We mostly train using simulators… and probably the occasional Alchemy practices. They have to do practice runs, obstacle courses, CQB stances and retoils, and et cetera." Filia Answered. ('What in bloody hell is Retoil? Why did I say it…') 'Oh yeah, don't forget about those gas and water drowning rooms.'
'Now, You know what. I want meet your friend Reina, he seems pretty interesting. Same goes for your German friend.' Luxembourga spoke out in a very very curious manner..
"What…?" Reina was facing to the television, she wasn't paying attention.
'Lets go, we got a mission to do and some monsters to rampage.' Filia sighs as she dons her pilot's outfit and puts on her pilot cap, before walking towards their hangar room.
'Hey, I should be the one saying that, Filia! Wait up!' She runs up towards FIlia to keep pace.
'This mission will be...really interesting.' Luxembourga whispered softly before leaving the room.
---Tape End---
As Mary finished her tape, she shuts it off as she pokes the campfire she made in this dim world. Sighing towards the boredom of the current times and the feeling of depression she is slowly feeling. As her mother somehow became active and healthy again, she on the other hand have to take charge of work and receive orderly tasks once more. Whether it be hunting, caring or negotiating with allied or rival clans. As if failing didn't happen before, there were times that raiding happened among other villages, its only time to tell whether that will ever happen again.
Hooding herself, she lays on her rucksack like a pillow as she stared into the embers that flow from the burning lights of flames, known as fire. 'Whatever happens, happened. As they(her ancestors) said. The happenings curse is just a happening for another happening that will happen soon.'
As part of the close of this Arc, its only fair to be more detailed in my plot progress instead of the story teller. Since this arcs will be seperated off, it would be easily said, that Mary's arc will be by the end of the volumes as a new story to tell. Whether it will have a happy or bad ending who knows. In this world of 'War of the Zwei Kinds', anything can happen. Anything.