Top of the hill

Moments later after the situation with Caboose and the filolial, Naofumi began to set up a campfire to roast the fish over it. The campfire was a foot away from the tree's uprooted roots where they took their seats as they waited for the fish to finish roasting. Naofumi was holding onto the filolial as it fell asleep, and was beginning to think up a name for it. Raphtalia was looking at the sun as it began to set over the horizon. Caboose was just kicking his legs back and forth, and his head as he waited for the fish to come. That was when Naofumi had a question come to mind as he turned his head to look at Caboose.

"What year are you exactly from, Caboose?" Naofumi asked.

"Well, I don't know either. I have a very short term memory about things, especially if they aren't important?" Caboose answered.

"Is that why you can't pronounce my name correctly?" Naofumi questioned

"What you mean, it's Nanofu. Right?" Caboose said

"No, it isn't." Naofumi replied with an eye roll. " Look it's pronounced like this. Na-o-fu-mi. Repeat what I just pronounced."

"Na-o-fu-mi." Caboose repeated.

"Ok, good. Now pronounce Nao-fumi." Naofumi instructed.

"Nao-fumi." Caboose repeated

"Very good. Now say the whole name, Naofumi." Naofumi said.

"Naofume." Caboose said

"God dammit Caboose." Naofumi said with a facepalm. "I'm just gonna let it develop in your mind til you get it right. Now that I think about it, were you born on Earth?" Naofumi asked.

"Actually yes I was. In America, to be precise." Caboose answered.

"Oh really, that's co…..wait. If you were born in America, how can you understand me? I am from Japan, and don't know any English at all, so how is it possible for you, an American, to understand me?And why can I also understand you as well?" Naofumi asked, getting confused about the way they are both able to understand each other without knowing their different languages.

"What do you mean? You're talking to me in English right now, and if you can understand me then I am talking to you in Japanese." Caboose stated.

"Ok, that's impossible. How could that even be?" Naofumi said, confused.

"Maybe it has something to do with Santa, maybe he altered the way I talk to you or anyone that doesn't speak English, and the way you or anyone else talks to me." Caboose said, making Naofumi much more confused by what he just said.

"Let's forget that we even discussed that for now. The fish should almost be finished once we finished eating, you could continue with your story. You're almost close to ending right?" Naofumi said, as he went to check the fish as it roasted over the fire, handing over the filolial gently to Raphtalia.

"Yeah, I am almost close to finishing up with what I have to say." Caboose replied.

"Alright then, just wait a little longer guys. It's almost finished." Naofumi stated.

Time went by as Caboose joined Raphtalia in gazing at the sun as it set over the horizon. Once the fish were finished roasting over the fire, the filolial woke up, as if it was also waiting for the fish. Before he began to eat his fish, Caboose said that he'll give some of his meal to the baby chick. Naofumi was alright with Caboose's choice, and began to eat along with Raphtalia, as he saw Caboose feed the filolial fish.

"I think I know what I'll call the filolial now." Naofumi said, getting the attention of Caboose and Raphtalia. "It'll be Filo."

"You named her Filo? As in 'filolial'? Don't you think that's a bit lazy? And from the way you're pronouncing it, it's a female?" Raphtalia asked

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. It came up on my vision display that it is female when I first saw her, but I was getting after Caboose for his 'incident' at the inn yesterday." Naofumi said.

"Not my fault, Tucker did it." Caboose said.

"Sure, Caboose." Naofumi replied, with a smile and a roll of his eyes. "Besides that, I think she likes the name. Right Filo."

Filo replied with a happy chirp as it flapped its wings, signifying the acceptance of her name then went back to jump up at Caboose for more fish.

"Now, now Filo. I think that should be enough for you. I need to eat as well, and I gave you half of my fish. So I'll eat the rest, alright?" Caboose told Filo, as it frowned at Caboose.

"You can have some of mine if you would like, Caboose. I'm not too hungry." Naofumi suggested.

"That's alright, I'll be fine with what I have. Thanks anyways." Caboose said, as he began to eat through his food filter.

"You do know you could eat without your helmet on, Caboose." Raphtalia said, as she giggled at Caboose's habitat to eat with his helmet on.

"Oggh, Ie khow. Bwt Ie gut usad tu ih." Caboose said with a food in his mouth.

"Don't forget to swallow. You may choke on your fish." Raphtalia said, covering her mouth as she giggled.

"Yes." Caboose said, continuing on the rest of his meal.

They all ate in peace as the sun slowly began to go under the horizon, giving a perfect view of the forest in front of them as the top leaves of trees swayed slightly to the wind that passed through it. The only sounds that could be heard are the crickets chirping, the crackling of the campfire, and the tree's leaves as they moved with the wind.

Once they finished with their meals, Naofumi asked Raphtalia to take out the blankets for later when they all slept in for the night. Caboose went back to his previous spot by the tree, and leaned on its trunk, causing it to creak a bit. Raphtalia brought a blanket for both Naofumi and Caboose due to the air getting a bit chilly as the night sky began to befall over the land. Filo rushed over to Caboose, jumping into his lap, knowing that he was going to continue with his story.

"So where was I left off?" Caboose questioned, petting Filo's head as he tried to remember where he was left off.

"You were on the part where you guys defeat the Meta, and Church goes into the memory unit." Naofumi answered.

"Ah yes. Well after that, we were gonna go back to our bases in Valhalla, but then this really mean turquoise lady came. Her name was Carolina, she was supposedly presumed dead, she gathered us and Washington for a plan to break into a UNSC Base to retrieve Church from the storage unit he went into. Once we recovered Church from the storage unit, we were gonna go after the Director, the person who started this whole situation in the first place. The Red and Blue Armies, the A.I.s, and the agents we fought, it was finally time to put an end to it all. When we got there, she sent Tucker, Grif, and Simmons to get transport while me, Sarge,Washington, and Carolina broke into the base. We were successful with our part of our plan to retrieve Church back, and the guys were able to get access to more transport. Once we were finished with that we stopped by the beach outpost for refueling, but Church went to spy on Carolina because he wanted to find out more about the mission. It didn't go well from what I could tell, she exploded something behind me. It was very scary." Caboose said.

"What's up with you meeting very angry women?" Naofumi asked.

"I don't really know, the only people I don't find mean are Sheila and Sister. They were nice to me, maybe because they are used to me." Caboose answered.

"Well, lucky for you, it's not like they tried to ruin your life like the one I met a few weeks back. Still can't shake the feeling that she's plotting more ways to bring me down with the king back at the castle." Naofumi said with a monotone voice.

"Ah don't worry about that, I'll make sure to help you out with anything that comes our way. Just give me the word and I'll do it." Caboose said with a thumbs up.

"I'm here for you as well, Naofumi-sama." Raphtalia said, entering the conversation.

"Thanks guys. But for now let's not worry about that. You may continue with your story, Caboose." Naofumi said with a small smile. 'I just hope Caboose will understand what I mean.' he mentaly said with a nervous tone.

"Well from there, we went back to the desert ruins where we were a few weeks ago. Carolina and Washington went to go look for something while the Reds, Church, Tucker, and me discussed how to find out more of what Carolina isn't telling us. That was when Simmons suggested that I uploaded Church into Carolina's vehicle. He wasn't too happy about it. It wasn't long before Washington and Carolina came back from their search, and she left with Church while the rest of us stayed behind with Washington. I tried to sneak up on Washington to see and find out more about the mission, but he noticed and I went back with the rest of us. After that day, Carolina came back and told us to get ready to move out again since we were going back to our bases, Valhalla. Once we got there, before Carolina went to go search for clues, Tucker talked with Church to find out what happened when he went with her while the rest of us stayed behind in the desert ruins. Then Washington and Carolina went to the ship to get more information about what they're after, taking Church with them. While they did that I showed Tucker the Blue Base. He wasn't too surprised about it." Caboose said.

"Why wasn't he?" Naofumi asked.

"Well it was basically the same as Blood Gulch, two bases in the middle of a box canyon, Just that the otherside was actually surrounded with water instead of a wall." Caboose answered.

"That's it?" Naofumi asked.

"Yes." Caboose siad.

"Ok then." Naofumi replied.

"After that, we went back to our vehicles and waited for the others to see what to do next. Carolina came back ready to move out again, Tucker and the Reds very happy about it. Oh and apparently, the Reds found Donut and Doc." Caboose said.

"What happened to them, sounded like they just went quiet for a while?" Naofumi asked

"Well I didn't know that Doc came back at all, which is weird because I would've known that if it did happen, and Donut actually got shot while we in the desert ruins looking for Tucker. Don't why though." Caboose stated.

"Got shot? Like died?" Naofumi asked, baffled.

"Like I said I don't know, even Donut couldn't remember who shot him." Caboose said.

"That's weird, not remembering who or why you were getting shot for. I'll that's something no one should ever forget." Naofumi stated.

"Yeah. But other than that, when Church heard about the whole moving out again, he decided to pull Carolina out for a bit and talked to her about the whole ordeal. Then they came back, and gathered everyone at the Red's basement they had below their base. While Church talked with Carolina, they were able to find out where the Director was hiding, it was the same facility where we found Tex. The Reds were the first ones to say that they didn't want to do it then it was Tucker to say that he didn't want to do it as well. I just stayed quiet, I wanted to help the Church, but he finally blew." Caboose said with a tone of sadness. "He yelled at all of us for being the reason he is like right now. But back when we were in Blood Gulch, he yelled at us to get us to understand and to make things right. But in the Red's basement, he yelled at us not even caring how we felt, so I decided to not help him out. It wasn't the same Church I remembered him to be." Caboose said staying silent for a while, causing Filo to look at him concerned, like she knew that Caboose wasn't feeling like himself at the moment.

Things got quiet for a few seconds, the only sounds came from the tree's leaves, the campfire, and the chirping of crickets. Then quiet sniffles could be heard coming from Caboose. Naofumi looked down at the ground for a bit, and thought for a bit about how Caboose felt at the moment.

'It's understandable why it would be a bad memory for him. You're basically getting yelled at by someone you love. If anything, a lot of people would try to avoid getting into a fight with someone they care about a lot. But even when you try to avoid it, it'll always happen. People have their limit, and Church must have reached that point during the time, even for an A.I..' Naofumi thought.

"He reached his limit as any human would, Caboose. With everything he had gone through, it was by time that he finally released all that frustration he had built up. Even though he's an A.I., he can still think and feel like we do." Naofumi said,causing Caboose to look up at him. "I wouldn't say it was entirely your fault Caboose, the other people there had their part as well in getting Church mad, but in the end, it was by time he just let it all out. But knowing he has been with you people since Blood Gulch, he must have felt bad right?"

"He did try to apologize, but we were all ignoring him." Caboose said.

"You see, even though he basically lost it, he knew he was in the wrong as well. So cheer up Caboose. It's not like he didn't want to see the guy that always asked him be his best friend walk away from him for the first time. You may annoy the hell out of him, but at least he knew you cared about him." Naofumi said, getting up from his seating position to pet Caboose's head. "Let's finish where you left off because I for sure know that isn't the last time you saw him right?" he finished saying as he went back to where he sat, getting a smile from Raphtalia.

Before Caboose continued, he removed his helmet to wipe the tears that gathered up in his eyes. As he wiped them away, his smile came back to him while he wiped the tears away. Before he put his helmet back on, he gave a thumbs up to Naofumi, as he gave Caboose a thumbs up as well with an eye roll and small smile.

"Nope, and it was all thanks to Doc, I still don't know how he got there. When Carolina and Church left to look for the Director, Washington stayed behind with me, Tucker, and the Reds as we went back to our usual 'capture the flag' game. We had gotten the Red's flag again, and they had run out of things to give up to us, but the weapon the Meta had, which Grif called it the 'Grifshot'. Doc walked in on us and began to talk about the adventures we went in and how crazy they were, and he found it strange that we didn't agree to go with Carolina and Church. He told us that since the day he met us, we had done everything together. We all had won something out of it even if it was a close death experience. So in the end, we all decided to go and help Church and Carolina out, but since they were way ahead of us, we needed a way to get there as fast as we could. Fortunately for us, we were on UNSC's Wanted List and a couple of ships were surrounding us. So we hijacked them as they landed, and left the soldiers there in Valhalla." Caboose said. "When we got there, Carolina was getting beat by a bunch of Tex droids, and Church was surprised to see us. We all got in a line and readied ourselves for the fight about to ensue, but Church needed me to get angry. I forgot how to do it, so Church went inside me and I forgot what happened from there. When I regained my conscious back, a pile of Tex droids surrounded me. After the fight, Church and Carolina went ahead to deal with the Director while the rest of us went outside and waited for them to come back. Then it was all over, the authorities arrived and congratulated us for bringing down 'Project Freelancer', but I didn't know what that meant. We were all called to a conference meeting to congratulate us on our accomplishment to bring down a corrupted organization, and we also all got new suits of armor but I had to get rid of my old helmet and get a new one, which got me a bit sad. After all that, we all hopped on a ship that'll take us home." Caboose finished.

'Looks like everything came to a nice end.' Naofumi thought.

"But then the ship crashed, killing the crew members and cutting the ship in half sending both parts in different locations of an unknown planet we did not know of. Definitely wasn't neither of our fault, we just enjoyed the ride and went to different parts of the ship to explore. I was at the ship's thrusters when the ship started an alarm, but like I said, none one was at fault."

'God damn it. Something always happens even when they are minding their own business' Naofumi mentally face palmed, keeping a stoic expression.

"We did our usual routine, the Blues on one side of the canyon and the Reds on the other side of the canyon, but now there was a piece of a crashed spaceship in the middle of the canyon. I was sad about Church being gone because he left with Carolina after the crash and not being able to recognize myself because of the new helmet while Washington was now incharge of the Blue Team. Nothing much happened til Washington was able to sand out a distress signal to Donut, and I rebuilded Freckles body. Right Freckles?" Caboose said, looking at Freckles where he leaned against the tree's trunk.

"Affirmative, Captain Caboose. You were also promoted to Blue Leader a few days later after you rebuilt me, remember?" Freckles stated.

"Oh yeah, I was also promoted to Blue Leader for a couple of days. After Washington and Tucker got into an argument, Washington promoted me, and Simmons was also part of the Blue Team as well. He was very happy about it. On that same day, Donut arrived with Lopez and Doc. No one else but them came to save us, and told the ship to leave, so we beat them up for their stupid desicion to let the ship leave." Caboose said, getting a snort from Naofumi, who found the scene funny. "After that day, it was the usual. Doing chores, exercising, not dying of boredom, and trying to get shot by Freckles. Til Washington made my old helmet for me and apologized to both me and Tucker about how things were going in the canyon, but we got interrupted by soldiers that attacked us from what Tucker told me because my helmet went dark for a while and I heard gunshots being fired. When I regained my vision back, I met a new soldier by the name of Felix, he was a mercenary for 'The New Republic Army of Chorus', which was the name of the planet we crash landed on. Apparently, the plane was in a civil war, The New Republic against the Federal Army of Chorus. They had their own mercenary named, Locus. We had a few hours to prepare before they launched an attack again in the canyon. However before they arrived, the Reds built a Mantis droid like Freckles but it began to attack us, and while it did, the Federal Army had arrived and a fight broke loose in the canyon. Donut was able to take care of the rogue Mantis droid, and we were able to hold out the Feds, but then they were able to knock down Washington. Then Donut and Sarge were next, it seemed like we were about to lose the fight, but then the New Republic came in and helped us for a bit but it was too much for them. Locus mowed them down easily. Tucker, Grif, Simmons, and me retreated to the hole the New Republic made for us, but Washington, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez were still back in the canyon. Washington was able to get back up on his feet but instead of coming with us, he ordered Freckles to close up the hole, leaving them behind." Caboose finished.

'Damn, out of the frying pan and into the oven. Another problem they have to fight after finishing the one that started all of their problems. Do these guys ever get a chance to breathe in peace?' Naofumi mentally thought.

"We arrived at one of the New Republic's bases, where we met Kimball, the Leader of the New Republic, and yes she was a scary woman, but at least she was a calm one. She told us that they have the guys alive, but since we are famous for our aid in bringing down Project Freelancer, they were being held at strongholds that would seem impossible to get in. However, she promised us if we can help them fight the Feds, they'll do their best to rescue our friends, so we agreed and began to train the soldiers." Caboose said.

"Wait, you 4 were put to train an army? How did that go?" Naofumi asked.

"Well, not so good as they thought we would be, but the soldiers still believed in us." Caboose answered.

"Understandable." Naofumi replied.

"Yeah, but it was until Tucker came back from a hit and run mission that he was able to bring back intel on where they are holding Washington, Sarge, Donut, and Lopez. They were in a stronghold that is impossible to get in without being spotted. From there they were gonna get transported to Armonia, the capital city where most of the Federal Army was. Kimball would allow us to form an elite team to take to this stronghold only under a week to see if we are capable of breaking into the base. So us 4 chose our candidate from our squads to be part of the elite squad. I chose Andersmith, Tucker chose Palomo, Grif chose Bitters, Simmons chose Jensen. From there we did a vote to see who was incharge of leading the mission, Tucker won. After that, we began to train and our main priority was to take down Felix, but proved to be hard. After talking with Kimball, Tucker decided for only us 4 to go, and leave our chosen people to stay behind. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt while on the mission, so we took 2 Warthogs and left the following day at dawn." Caboose said.

'I would have done the same thing, if it proved to be too dangerous for my party.' Naofumi thought.

"Before we arrived at the stronghold, we made a stop to refuel our Warthogs, but there was no one at the gas station. Then we heard like some popping sound with a loud 'boom' to it. We thought it was the owners, so we went to tell them about our refilling, but when we saw them, we were able to tell they weren't the owners. They had black armor, as if they were some sort of special team, and we also thought that they were from the Federal Army. We left immediately to the stronghold and thought up of a way they wouldn't think someone would enter the base, so we thought dumb. We made a hole where we stood, built snowmans to hide in, and destroyed the sewage pipes that lead to their locker rooms." Caboose said.

"That works?" Naofumi asked.

"What does." Caboose replied.

"The snowman part, it works?" Naofumi answered.

"Oh yeah, it worked. No one even found out it was us." Caboose said.

'I got to get myself some snow then.' Naofumi thought of a new hiding strategy.

"While everyone ran towards their locker rooms, us 4 ran into the main complex to find the others, which didn't take long since they were at the entrance we were about to enter through, and told us about their time here. Apparently the New Republic were the bad guys, causing a lot of confusion between us, but before we could have said anything more, everything went silent outside. We went outside to check what was going on, but there was no one to be found until a Fed came out and warned us about a group attacking the stronghold then he disintegrated right in front of us. Then gunfire started to come our direction, and we all ran towards one direction where the people we saw at the gas station pinned us. On top of one of the buildings was Locus and a couple of soldiers we didn't know about. Tucker had a grenade ready as Locus talked to us, but then Felix ran in front of Tucker asking for the grenade. But he had other plans, Felix was working with Locus, and decided to tell us about why the war kept on going, apparently there were times when one of the soldiers tried to make peace with the otherside, or tried to get help from the outside. So once they were killed, the armies just blamed it on the otherside, the plan being to have the inhabitants of the plant kill each other. Having said enough, Locus was about to give the order to kill us on the spot, but one of the soldiers betrayed them and began to fight off Felix. From there a fight broke out again, but it wasn't for too long, we were then teleported somewhere else, where the mysterious soldier turned out to be Carolina in disguise and Church came back as well. Tucker wasn't too happy about it though. Once our little reunion finished, Carolina told us what happened and where they were this whole time. Yeah, apparently they were tracking down these space pirates that got a hold of some Freelancer equipment, and were gonna sell it to another person. You know, how trading works." Caboose said.

"You mean buying off, Caboose. Trading means exchanging an object for something else." Naofumi stated.

"That's not true, the Red's would always trade me with cookies. Trading is when you strangle the person for something you want because 'tr' from strangle is in the word, so I would always strangle Tucker for orange juice, sandwiches, ice cream, and cookies." Caboose said.

"Who taught you this?" Naofumi asked.

"Sarge told me that's what it meant, and something about me being too dumb enough to know what it actually meant, but I know what it means and it means to strangle someone for something you want." Caboose said.

'I'm gonna have to teach him some vocabulary words while on our journey then, or he's gonna end up killing someone important in our travels.' Naofumi mentally noted.

"So moving on, Carolina wanted to take a closer look at the weapon she had before dropping to the floor to fight off Felix, which Grif picked up during the fight, but Grif didn't want to let go because he thought they were gonna take it away. So Church possessed him and dropped the weapon on the floor, and Carolina took it for research purposes. Me and Washington stayed behind where we were because he had Freckles' brain, and wanted to give it to me before forgetting. He was so much smaller than the last time I saw him. Isn't that right Freckles?" Caboose said, turning to look at Freckles.

"Affirmative, Captain Caboose." Freckles responded.

"After that we went with everyone else, and Grif somehow managed to get the weapon from Carolina. And the new person with us, Dr. Grey, told us that the weapon was of alien origin and shot out plasma instead of actual bullets, which got us thinking how the space pirates got a hold off alien weapons as their arsenal, so in order to investigate, we all splitted up in 2 groups. The Reds went to half of the crashed spaceship, in the canyon we used to be in, and the Blues, which was me, Tucker, Carolina, and Washington went to the other crashed part. When we got there, a lot of spaceships surrounded us, like it was a huge cemetery for spaceships, it was very scary, and there was this beam that shot up towards the sky but we didn't know what it did. Once we got the other part of the ship, Carolina started to upload the data onto USB, but the space pirates were able to surround us. We didn't stay there for long though. Tucker pulled out the USB and Carolina teleported us out of there, but not knowing about it, we brought a space pirate back with us. My life flashed before my eyes, it was awesome. I wanted to try it out again. Carolina was able to save me, but she was hurt pretty badly. It took some time for her to heal up while we waited for the space pirate to wake up. Once he did, Carolina tried to interrogate him but he wouldn't talk, so Dr. Grey decided to volunteer. And oh boy, he began to scream instead of talk then he went silent for a couple of minutes. It was kind of scary." Caboose said.

'Wow, so not just mean women he has met, but actual psychopaths. The future for sure looks "promising" now.' Naofumi thought, imagining a lot of things about the future, as Caboose told his story.

"A few seconds passed by before space pirates began to appear out of nowhere. We all ran for cover inside the place Washington and Carolina interrogated the space pirate. We were about to go into battle, but Washington found out about how they found us. Locus before giving Freckles' brain to Washington, he implanted a tracker on him, so Church debugged Freckles, which was very quick. Then Tucker and Church got into an argument, which I solved by giving an inspirational speech. After that I left and thought about how I was gonna give Freckles a new body, and it came to me very fast. Why don't I just upload Freckles into my weapon then he would be able to help me aim my gun when I need to take out enemies, but before that we all got a transmission about Locus and Felix having a transport ship waiting for us at the canyon we were at. We could have taken it to go back home while the armies killed each other in Armonia, and Dr. Grey even told us that our fight was already over. We were able to regroup up with our friends and all we had to do was leave. But after what we went through, getting lied to, got used for their little scheme, responsible for deaths on both sides of the armies, and our little friends we made here and there. We decided to stay and Tucker was able to form up a plan on how to send a message to the armies, and expose the mercenaries. Before we left, I asked Dr. Grey to help me upload Freckles into my gun. And the plan worked, but Tucker got stabbed and passed out for a few hours. But he made a full recovery and we moved into the city of Armonia, it was huge, and there were so many soldiers thanking us and praising us for saving them before they all killed each. It was like a huge family, but said family still hated each other. We were also able to find out who is behind the whole operation. Charon Industries, which was run by the Chairman Malcom Hargrove. We all gathered in a comm room to send a message to him that we weren't gonna run, but fight head on til we bring him and his operation down." Caboose said.

"A few days passed as organizing both armies together and establishing a 'no more shooting each other' rule since both sides still hated each other, and I sent 34 people to the hospital in under 5 seconds."

'Note to self, never leave Caboose alone with civilians.' Naofumi thought.

"As the days passed, battles were being fought until one day things got interesting. Church told me to join Dr. Grey in a field trip to an alien temple. I got very excited about it once we left for the temple. There was an outpost there, but we didn't know if there was anyone there. So I had Freckles scan for any heat signatures inside the base. It was one of the new features my gun went through after the hospital 'incident' and also, like Tucker said, 'Google Translate'. Still don't know what that means." Caboose said.

'Oh, I know what that means.' Naofumi thought as he did his best to hide his laughter.

"Once everything was cleared, Dr. Grey began with her research while Tucker, Sarge, and me did nothing but stand around and talk. A few hours passed when the temple turned on, and a lot of alien weapons appeared out of nowhere. But it was all for nothing when Tucker responded to alien jesus with 'what's up'. From there we went to a comm room and told the guys back in Armonia about it, and so we discussed our next move since the temple activated the weapons but deactivated them as well. Which meant the space pirates wouldn't have strong weapons, so we could attack them in a balance fight. Kimball suggested attacking the place where the spaceship cemetery was, but Carolina wanted to check out the place where a map appeared back at the temple. So Gener Doyle, the one in charge of the Federal Army previously, suggested a 'Divide and Conquer'. In the end, Kimball led the charge in the spaceship cemetery, and Carolina created an away team to the spot the map marked. A good 2 hours passed before we arrived there. Once we did, Dr. Grey looked into the alien language, which said only a true warrior may enter the gate that was in the middle of the ruins. Tucker went first but him being him, he got sent out very quick then Carolina went in and it took some time for her. When she got out of the gate, she was shaken, and didn't even want to talk about what happened. Then I got tricked into going in thinking it was the bathroom, and that was where I met Santa, and told me I was a true warrior. Once I got out, Santa appeared next to the gate and told us about the other towers in Chorus. We were about to leave because Santa told us that there is another sword/key like Tuckers, but got held up because a few space pirates were listening on the whole thing and pinned us where we were. I was able to take them out. All thanks to Freckles targeting system, we all waited as Carolina radio in for reinforcements. We drove there instead because Doyle thought up a plan for him to take the sword, and the plan did work but he was being hunted by Felix. When we got there Carolina went after a space pirate while me, Tucker, and Dr. Grey ran away from the other space pirates there. We ran into a small cave where we found Doc, and O'malley came out again. While he beated up Tucker, I thought to myself what happened to him. I remember him at the canyon, but from there nothing else." Caboose said.

'If I were to think about it correctly, is it an occurring thing for them just to forget Doc, or is it Caboose's short term memory acting up?' Naofumi thought.

"Dr. Grey feeling it was time to stop it, she knocked O'malley out. Tucker was able to get his footing but 2 space pirates were able to find us. But Donut and Lopez saved us, after that, we went to look for Doyle, and when we did, Felix had the sword. We were gonna shoot, but Locus came with a ship and began to shoot at us and left. We arrived at Chorus and everyone was down since we failed both adjectives. Doyle and Kimball were arguing about his actions of letting the sword being taken by Felix, and Carolina talked with Church about something private. We all met up in the war room to talk about the next move when an alarm went off. The space pirates were invading Armonia, and they were after Doyle and Tucker since he had a sword as well. Before we left the war room, Doyle told us about the nuclear reactor that powered the city power, so we were gonna use it as a way to take down the space pirates in the city. And if we were lucky, Locus and Felix as well. The Reds and I were to escort Doyle and Tucker to the pelican to create a transport to pick up Washington, Carolina, and Kimball. However, the ship was malfunctioning because Lopez's head got stuck while he was repairing it. We hid as quickly as we could because enemies were approaching, but they spotted us anyways because we sucked at hiding. So the only option was to hold out as long as we can while Simmons and Grif untucked Lopez's head from where it was. A good 20-25 minutes must have passed by because a small wall of bodies began to form because Freckles aim is so good that it could also pick up soldiers that are invisible. We all got on the ship once it started to work, but Doyle left us while he distracted the remaining soldiers that were coming up on us, believing that they'd catch on about the plan. He said that he'll meet up with Washington, Kimball, and Carolina. But things didn't turn out like that. After the Reds dropped off me and Tucker, they went back for the rest. Doyle didn't make it...he sacrificed himself to blow the city up and killed the remaining enemies inside it. We all saw him as a coward, but he became the bravest of us all in the end. The Feds thought Kimball left him for dead, and morale wasn't too high for most of the army. Church was malfunctioning from the power he had to put in to create a bubble shield around the pelican to protect it from the explosion's shockwave. For some time everything was just sad and gloomy, but a light was suddenly reignited giving the army a feeling of hope. Kimball gave an inspirational speech to fight on without hatred for each other, but for a better tomorrow. From there we went to the alien temple to get the weapons that were in the temple and marched our ways to the Tower of Communication with the army while Washington, Carolina, and Church went to The Purge to stop Locus and Felix from activating it. The army surrounded the Tower of Communication taking down any space pirate that got in the way. It took a while before we were able to secure the entrance to the tower, and that was when Washington, Church, and Carolina showed up, escorting Tucker. From there, all the Reds, Blues, and Doc got teleported to the top of the tower. We were about to proceed without goal, but Felix and Locus appeared out of nowhere. We all thought they were dead, so we all went into hiding and thought up of something to take them on. Once we finished up our scheme, Tucker went to distract Felix while I went in to distract Felix from the left after that I went to meet him at the bottom of a ramp behind him, but he got me and brought me down. He was about to shoot me, but thanks to Dr.Grey's upgrade, confetti came out instead. Taking the opportunity, Freckles headbutted Felix using his head." Caboose said, confusing Naofumi with the grammar he just used.

"We were able to trap Felix, but then Locus appeared between me and Tucker, we thought he was gonna attack. But instead he didn't help Felix, he betrayed him saying that he was a monster just like him. From there, Felix tried to retaliate but caught himself into more trouble. Using the grenade he had on his side, Tucker tossed it at Felix's feet, blowing him from the ground over the ledge. Falling to his death. We thought Locus was gonna attack us because he got the sword, but instead trunks on the tower for us and leaves. Church sends the message throughout the whole galaxy. We won, we were able to send a message to everyone that saw it, but the fight was far from over. Hargrove came in with Mantis droids to take out the army at the bottom of the tower, so we did the best thing in the situation, we all got into the cramped ship and rode it all the way to Charon's ship….And we won. A few days passed after that day of victory Santa told me about you, and I arrived here. That's my story." Caboose finished telling his life before arriving in Melromarc.

By the time he finished, it was night and the only thing that could be seen was the campfire and what the moonlight was able to light up. The wind wasn't blowing as hard as it was in the afternoon, but it sent a cool breeze through the night. Naofumi and Raphtalia stood up to stretch up from seating down, but the Shield Hero was in thought.

'Caboose finished his story with one important piece missing. The friend that passed away. Santa told me about it. And it'll make sense that it was Church. He said it was the first time he lost him previously, so if he died again, it was when they entered that ship. But it's fine with me if he doesn't want to talk about it. Should I tell Raphtalia about it though?' he thought as he turned to look at her. 'Don't hate me for this, Caboose.'

"Raphtalia and you help me with the blankets fooor, Caboose. The ones we took from the inn remember." Naofumi said with a yawn as he started to grow tired.

"Suuuure thing, Naofumi-sama." Raphtalia said with a tired tone as she yawned as well.

They both walked to the backpack that had the blanket as Naofumi walked closer to Raphtalia and looked back to see if Caboose was distracted. The blue armored soldier was busy petting Filo as he looked at it. The filolial just nuzzled its head into Caboose's fingers.

"Raphtalia, I need to tell you something, but don't tell Caboose about it. It stays between us. Ok?" Naofumi said, looking at her.

"What is it?" Raphtalia said, looking a bit more alarmed than tired.

"It's about Caboose, remember how he said it was his first time losing Church before giving Epsilon Church's memory?" Naofumi asked, getting a nod from Raphtalia. "I remember that Santa told me before Caboose fought Motoyasu that he lost someone very close to him. I believe that Church died when they entered the ship, and didn't talk about it because it's a very soft spot for him." Naofumi stated.

"I see. Should we wait til he wants to talk about it?" Raphtali asked.

"It'll be the best thing we could do for now. And it's not that he doesn't trust us, it's just a very sensitive subject for him. We'll give him time for him to open to us. He trusts us but he may not be emotionally prepared to talk about it just yet." Naofumi said.

They paused mid way from the backpack to talk about it. Naofumi went ahead and got it out of the pack and gave it Raphtalia. She walked back to Caboose as he barely just got up to stretch as well, holding Filo with his right hand.

"Here you go, Caboose. For you don't feel cold at night." Raphtalia said as she handed the blanket to Caboose.

"Aww, thanks Raphy." Caboose said, taking the blanket and wrapping himself around it. He then looked at Naofumi as he saw that the Shield Hero had a tired expression. "I'll take watch for the night. You seem pretty tired, Nefo."

"Thanks, Caboose but I'll do it for tonight, I am the party leader after all." Naofumi said.

"Please, besides if I end up falling asleep. I'll ask Freckles to take watch. Right, Freckles?" Caboose said as he turned to look at the Assault Rifle.

"Affirmative, Captain Caboose." Freckles responded.

"See. And if anything happens he'll either shoot or blare a very loud alarm. Trust me. Its very loud." Caboose stated.

"Alright then, thanks. But make sure to inform Freckles before you fall asleep if you do. Ok?" Naofumi said as he went to lay down next to the campfire where he started to feel its warmth.

"You got it, sir." Caboose said as he saluted.

"Alright then, Goodnight Caboose." Naofumi said as he closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Nanofum. Sleep well. Sweet dreams. And don't let the bedbugs bite." Caboose said.

"I'm not sleeping on a bed, Caboose." Naofumi murmured.

"He doesn't sleep much at times." Raphtalia whispered, getting Caboose's attention. "He at times stays up reading a book for medicines and potions, or just takes watch each time we aren't in the inn. He may not show it, but he is very tired and exhausted from not enough sleep. Thanks for taking watch for tonight, it may not seem like much but Naofumi appreciates it. He hasn't been able to rest well since the events that happened between him and the king." she said as she went to lay down a few spaces from the campfire as well. "Goodnight, Caboose. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Raphtely. Sleep well. Sweet dreams. And don't let the bedbugs bite." Caboose said as he silently walked back to his spot and sat down not leaning on the tree, not wanting to cause any sound. He turns to see the Filo walk to him and looks up at him. "Want to sleep on my head?" he asked knowing what she wanted, as the filolial got a happy expression and fluttered its wings.

Caboose picked up Filo and placed her on top of his helmet. She began to nuzzle into a perfect position and fell asleep. Caboose slowly lowered his arm, trying not to move much to cause the Filolial to wake up. He sat still not moving at all, just his lungs and heart moved. He would blink very slowly to keep himself from moving.

4 hours later

The moon was directly above him now, and he began to slowly fall asleep. He hasn't seen or heard anything strange yet. Without moving his head, he looked towards Raphtalia and Naofumi sleeping quiet and peacefully. He gave a very tired smile, as he looked towards Freckles.

"Freckles can you take over for now?" Caboose whispered.

"Affirmative, Captain Caboose." Freckles responded quietly.

"Thank you, Freckles. Goodnight." Caboose said as he fell asleep sitting up and straight.

"Sleep well, Captain Caboose." Freckles said.

The party slept a very quiet and peaceful night because starting tomorrow. A lot of eventful things were about to happen. Some may cause them trouble, some will give them rewards, others will just be caused by Caboose, and in a few days from that night, the rest of the Reds and Blues and the Freelancers are gonna get sent on their own little journey. And from there, let the chaotic fun begin.

To be continued