Episode 31 The Return of the Alpha Platoon

A glowing blue door suddenly appears at the crest of a small snow hill just outside El Nath. A light swirl of falling snow blows by in a soft, chilly breeze.

Ivy, Arai, Ryuu, and Kunai exit from the door in respective order. Arai clambers out of the door, peering around perplexedly. He holds out his hand towards the falling snowflakes. “Ah! It’s snowing! To think that we were missing all this while we were in that valley…”

“Tch,” Ryuu mutters, “forget about the snow. We need to head back to town, stock up, and head for the Second Triplicate. We’re not here on a field trip.”

“Do you have to be such a downer?” Arai tsks at Ryuu. He shakes his head. “Irritability leads to wrinkles and bags under your eyes, Ryuu!”

“Whatever,” Ryuu sighs, waving off Arai. He turns to Kunai. “Anyway, now that you got your new claw and all, let’s get going, maybe we can try it out on a Lycanthrope or something on the way.”

“Right,” Kunai replies.

“But what are we gonna do about traveling to Ludibrium for the Third Triplicate?” Ivy asks the retreating backs of Ryuu and Kunai.

Ryuu shrugs. “We can always think about that later,” he answers. “It’s not as urgent as taking care of the Triplicate first.”

“All the same,” Arai adds, “as long as we’re in town we should see if there might be any opportunities for us to hitch a ride out of here afterwards.”

“What do you mean, ‘as long as we’re in town?’” Ryuu growls angrily, “We’re only passing through today! There’s no way we can afford to waste any more time.”

“Well…” Arai replies slowly, “I thought we could do some grocery shopping.”

“You mean cookie shopping,” Ryuu interrupts irritably.

Arai leads the way as Kunai, Ryuu, and Ivy follow behind him. Arai has a large wooden basket hanging around his right arm, as he examines a small outdoor grocery cart laden with fresh crops.

“Hm…cabbages, onions, tomatoes…” Arai murmurs, inspecting each vegetable. “What, no cookies?”

“Cookies are in there,” the owner of the cart—an old lady wrapped in a raggedy cloak—answers. She points at a small wooden cabin where a slight stream of smoke is crawling into the air through the chimney.

Arai rubs his hands excitedly, giving the old lady a cheerful smile. “Thanks for the tip!” he replies. He then leads the way into the store, pushing open the wooden door and walking inside.

Ryuu growls incoherently under his breath as he follows Arai inside. Kunai and Ivy follow as well. Kunai widens his eyes slightly as he enters the small cabin, which is filled with the scent of freshly baked goods.

Arai is bent over a glass counter, examining a number of cookies. Ryuu stands by himself with arms folded, staring at Arai with a sour expression on his face.

Kunai steps forward, walking towards Arai. As he does so, he accidentally bumps into a slightly chubby, bearded, unkempt-looking man. He is dressed in a slightly raggedy gray uniform, and a pair of goggles rests around his neck.

“Oh! I’m sorry for bumping into you, sir…” Kunai murmurs, helping the man pick up his fallen paper bags. Kunai narrows his eyes, staring confusedly as he picks up the bags. “Hey…these bags are all empty.”

“Well, what do you expect?” the man answers sadly. “Ever since the Alpha Platoon’s been put out of business by the Myougun, I’ve hardly had enough to feed myself and my family. The owner of this store is just nice enough to let me have these paper bags for free, so I can have some fuel to create fire for my family.”

“The Alpha Platoon’s been put out of business?” Arai asks, finally turning away from his cookies and looking up at the man interestedly. “I’d heard that they were no longer in operation on Victoria Island, but I didn’t know they’d ceased operation altogether.”

“Yes, well…” the man replies, “with the Myougun destroying things everywhere, we’ve got no work to do anymore, since El Nath has basically been cut off from everyone else.”

“I see,” Ryuu growls, stepping forth. “What’s your name?”

“Private Alvin, former member of the 47th Infantry of the Alpha Platoon,” Alvin answers. “It’s been almost three years since we were last commissioned.”

“Hm…interesting,” Ryuu murmurs.

Arai glances up at Ryuu with a knowing smile on his face. “I see, so you’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking, Ryuu?”

Private Alvin turns to Arai wonderingly. “What do you mean?”

Arai suddenly reaches into his pockets, retrieving from within them a large, heavy, stuffed leather wallet. “We’re commissioning you for a job, and we’re willing to pay plenty for the job.”

Private Alvin stares at the wallet in amazement. His eyes widen as he sees the stacks of cash inside. “Are you serious?! What do you need to get done?!”

“Simple,” Ryuu answers, “we’ve got some work to do beforehand, but we’re going to need you to send some of your cargo ships and fly us to Ludibrium. It’s a simple job.”

“Well, yeah, sure!” Private Alvin replies, his eyes lighting up. However, he shakes his head sadly. “There’s a slight problem, though…you see, when the Myougun put us out of business, they meant it. They took all our ships and totaled them. So we don’t really have anything to transport you in.”

“Nothing to transport us in, huh?” Arai replies. He rubs his chin thoughtfully.

“Heh,” Ryuu sighs, “I guess that means then we’re just going to have to rebuild one of them.”

“Rebuild?!” Kunai cries out in surprise.

“Yeah,” Ryuu answers, “I owe the Alpha Platoon a bunch of favors back from the Joukai days anyway. They’re good, they’re our best shot at getting out of here safely.”

Arai sighs happily as he takes a seat on a wooden bench slightly covered with snow. He stands up in surprise as he sees his butt is covered with snow. He lowers a finger to it and scoops up some of the snow in it, tasting it for a moment. “Hm…ice cream cookie!”

“That’s gross,” Kunai mutters to himself as he carries a stack of long planks of wood over his shoulder. He shrugs to himself and continues walking on, where multiple men are hammering into shape the large outline of a ship.

Ryuu growls as he passes by dragging a large folded up cloth sail. He turns angrily to Arai, who is sitting with Ivy on the bench eating cookies laxly. “ARAI?! WHY AREN’T YOU HELPING?!”

“Well,” Arai replies cheerfully, “carrying heavy loads really isn’t fit for me. We thought we’d let you bulky strong men do the work. We’re just out here for moral support.”

“GO MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL!” Ryuu shouts.

Arai shrugs and sighs, standing up and walking back in the direction of the ship.

Ryuu sighs and grumbles under his breath, dragging the sail again. With a huge heave, he throws it onto the ground just under the shadow of the ship. Ryuu claps his hands satisfactorily. “That should do it.”

Ryuu turns and with a leap jumps back onto the ship. He turns and passes Kunai, who is hammering the boards of wood into place. Arai walks up to Kunai suddenly with a rattling paper cup filled with nails.

“Arai…” Ryuu sighs as he sees Arai handing nails to Kunai, “you moron.”

Ryuu turns suddenly in surprise as everyone else turns their heads and mumbles comments of pleasant surprise. He narrows his eyes and smiles to himself as he sees Alcaster approaching slowly, leaning on his staff.

Alcaster waves his staff as he approaches, and the sail lying on the ground suddenly flies into the air and automatically and equips itself onto the mast, flapping in the slight snowy breeze.

Ryuu smirks as Alcaster waves his staff again, and the ship glows with a strange red light. “Heh, looks like even Alcaster’s helping out. Nothing like a whole community to put one back together.”

Kunai, Ryuu, Arai, and Ivy stand grouped together with several members of the Alpha Platoon and townspeople as they stare up at the newly remade ship, heavily resembling the Orbis ship.

Kunai raises a hand to shield his eyes from the orange glow of the setting sun, as the elongated shadows creep across the ground. “Beautiful,” he mutters.

“It’s mostly thanks to all your help,” Private Alvin replies, striding over to Kunai and Ryuu. “We couldn’t have done it with all four of your help.” Ryuu coughs loudly.

“Heh, well…” Kunai mutters. “Anyway, now that you guys have a ship to operate on once again I guess it shouldn’t be too long until you guys are in business again. We’ll definitely back once we’ve done what we need to do.”

“Right,” Private Alvin smiles, “I can’t wait for that day! Our first commission in three years!”

“So this is gonna be our way of transport to Ludibrium, huh?” Arai says. “It’s quite impressive, especially with all the hard work everyone put into it.” Ryuu sniffs loudly behind Arai.

Alcaster suddenly strides forward, approaching the group. He grins under his mat of long, silvery beard. “Yes, with everyone’s help remaking this ship has been quite a success. I even placed the spell on it allowing it to fly through the skies easefully.”

“That’s great,” Ryuu replies. “Now all that’s left here is taking care of the Triplicate.”

Next Time: Episode 32 Lost in the Haze of Snow

Kunai: Get ready for a blizzard next time!

Arai: What, no cookies?

Episode 32 Lost in the Haze of Snow coming soon!