บท 98: Picking up Verona

Gray drove all the way out to Laguna Base leaving Major Valen in the hands of the 3 girls.

"He should be alright, right?" Gray said to himself. "Yeah, he should be fine."

Meanwhile... Major Valen was stripped and shoved into the shower.

"Wash off that gasoline first!" Yurika yelled at him.

Xyra and Stacia cleaned up the candles and incense and aired out the office as best they could.

While Major Valen was showering, they tossed the dress suit aside and looked at his current wardrobe.

"We're in trouble." Stacia said

"Yes... not much to work with." Xyra whispered

"Do you guys know anyone with a decent wardrobe?" Yurika asked.

They ruled out the 5 guys on their team. They had seen Gray's, Geoff's, Paul's, and Caleb's wardrobes and realized they needed help too, but it wasn't exactly a priority. Jono wouldn't have done anyways because he was quite a bit shorter than Major Valen.

"Well, I think we can combine some of Gray's wardrobe with what Major Valen has... this shirt..." Stacia pulled out a frilly shirt that looked like something from opera house and examined it.

"Maybe convert this into a polo?"

Yurika and Xyra nodded

"I can't sew, can either of you?" Yurika said

Xyra shook her head and Stacia hesitantly said "In an emergency..."

Major Valen walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and said proudly "I can sew."

The three girls looked at him in surprise, but looking at his wardrobe, it started to make sense as none of his clothes had tags or brand logos on them except for his military stuff and a few of his other outfits like the dress suit.

"You'll make a good wife some day!" Yurika said while clapping Major Valen on the back.

"Wife?" Major Valen said curiously and looked at Xyra and Stacia.

Both of them had no clue why Yurika called Gray, and now Major Valen, wives, so they just shrugged in response.

"We don't know how Verona is going to dress so we have to be prepared for multiple possibilities!" Stacia said. "Get Gray to report her outfit!"

"Yes ma'am!" Yurika said while saluting.

"Xyra! We need a gift! Verona is a strong independent woman that loves cute things, her favorite color is purple! Get to it!"

Xyra saluted Stacia as well and then ran off to go find a suitable gift.

"Reporting ma'am, Gray has just about reached Laguna Base and should be picking up Verona soon!" Yurika said.

Stacia turned to look at Major Valen, somehow she was now wearing a general's hat, an eye patch, had a pipe in her mouth, and had developed a grizzled war veteran's stature.

"Ok, listen up! Major Valen, I need you to sew a polo shirt using this same material before Eagle 1 returns with the package! Can you do it?"

"Sir yes sir!" Major Valen said saluting, he then went to a large cabinet in the back and opened it up revealing a large supply of various cloth and fabric and a sewing machine.

"Reporting General Oldman! Eagle 1 has the package and is returning to base, ETA fifteen hundred hours!"

"How's the package dressed?" Stacia barked while switching the pipe from one side of her mouth to the other.

"Ma'am, the package is wearing casual! I repeat, the package is wearing casual!"

"Alright! Corporal Winchester! I need you to raid the stockpile of clothes and find a pair of khaki pants or as close to it as possible! Do not come back without it even if you have to die in the process!"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Yurika said and she saluted and ran off to raid the guy's wardrobes.

"Alright! We're going to take this date by the balls!" Yurika said ferociously while clenching her fist.

Paul just happened to witness all of this as he was peeking in from the window after he saw it suddenly open when Stacia and Xyra were trying to air it out and decided it was best to leave before he was noticed.

"Corporal Watkins! Get your scrawny ass in here!" Stacia barked as Paul tried to sneak away.

Paul was fearful of Stacia at this moment and ran in to Major Valen's office without delay, then saluted and said "Corporal Watkins reporting to the General, ma'am!"

Stacia glared at him through her one eye that was visible and switched the pipe to the other side of her mouth. She got up and started pacing in front of Paul while he dared not to move at all.

Stacia stopped pacing and stood squarely in front of Paul, she then spit the pipe out, grabbed Paul by the collar, pulled him down and kissed him forcefully, then pushed him away. "Dismissed Corporal!"

Paul stood there in a daze after Stacia pushed him out of Major Valen's office, then walked off in a very good mood.

__________

When Gray finally reached Laguna base, he saw Verona in a long white tunic top, blue jeans, and open-toed sandals. He reported this to Yurika since she had asked him to find out what Verona was wearing. Gray asked her why she wanted to know what Verona was wearing, she merely replied with that it was orders from the General. Gray wisely felt it would be best to leave it at that.

"Verona!" Gray called out to Verona.

"Gray! Good to see you again!" Verona approached Gray and hugged him.

"Can you show me around your base a little bit before we head out?" Gray not only wanted to buy time, but he also was genuinely curious as he had never been to another military base.

"Um... I guess so! I really don't know much about this base and I'm not even on a team. I honestly wouldn't be in this game right now if it weren't for the fact that Alterra requires it now from us employees. It's almost like they want us to live in the game."

Gray laughed slightly at this thinking to himself "If only you knew this wasn't a game."

"So... then what do you do while you're on here if you don't join a team?" Gray asked.

"I guess you could say I'm more of a support, I chat with pilots, learn about this game world, and have gotten some of the NPCs to show me how to maintain mechs somewhat!"

Gray was surprised "I never pictured you as wanting to be a grease monkey!"

Verona laughed, "I like to work with my hands I've discovered! Plus, since this is a game, I don't get dirty in real life."

"Maybe you'll discover that you like working with your hands in real life too!"

"Heh, honestly I find it satisfying... something about these huge pieces of machinery that just gets me going." Verona's voice lowered and she entered a slight trance as she appeared to be thinking about something pleasurable.

Gray just stared at her without blinking and Verona came back to reality, coughed, and said "I mean, I just enjoy fixing what's broken."

"Admirable!" Gray said honestly. "Where is your mech bay then?"

"Over here!" Verona grabbed Gray's arm and pulled him towards their base's mech bay.

Gray counted the number of bays and found that Laguna base had the same amount as his own. While Gray didn't see the number of bunks or simulator pods or even hibernation pods, he felt it was safe to assume that Laguna base housed about the same number of pilots as his base since they had the same capacity for mechs as his.

"Nice, it's the same as ours!" Gray said.

"Not surprising if you think about it. If they want to spread out the power equally each base should support the same amount of pilots." Verona analyzed.

"I kind of expected that, but I just wanted to make sure. They don't make it easy to get from base to base like they do in most games."

"What do you mean?" Verona asked

Gray remembered that Verona was never a gamer so she wouldn't understand what he meant. "Well, in most massive multiplayer online games, some sort of transportation system is given to the players to allow them to travel quickly between major cities, bases, or areas. This helps keep the players playing longer instead of wasting time going from place to place."

Verona nodded her head "Yeah, they're really pushing the whole simulation thing to the limit here from what other players have told me. Could have to do with it being the first full dive virtual reality game, but who knows."

Gray almost said "I actually do know!" but instead just shrugged. "Well, how is the military staff here? Do you guys have a hard ass major or someone of similar rank that runs things around here?"

"Military staff? Oh you mean NPCs! Yeah, ours is Major Rhodes, I have never had much interaction with him, but the other players here say he is a nutcase and loves the military a little too much."

Gray realized that that was his first impression of Major Valen as well, he figured that each officer in charge of a base with players was given similar instructions on how to behave to make it seem more like a game. After getting to know Major Valen a bit, Gray realized he was a lot more human than he seemed.

"Does yours pull clipboards out of somewhere and use them as weapons as well?" Gray asked Verona.

"What? No! That's hilarious though! Does yours do that?"

"Yeah, we still can't figure out where he pulls them out from."

Verona laughed "Well, I hope you do, and then tell me, I would like to use that trick to store tools!"

"Yes ma'am!" Gray said while saluting Verona.

"Silly man, don't salute me, I saw the mark on your sleeve, you're a corporal and I'm still a private!"

"I know, I'm just messing with you since it felt like you were ordering me."

"Fair point, in that case, take me to your base, I still need to see Gene. And I'm sorry again, this would've been so much easier if he could leave his base or if I could rent a truck."

"Not a problem... maybe you should just move to our base?"

Verona didn't reply for a second as she seemed to be thinking it over then finally said, "I'll think about it..."

Gray was a bit surprised she said that so he merely nodded in reply and they got into Gray's truck to head back to the base Gray was stationed at.