*Back to the present day*
Tokuda finished telling his tale, and the others were surprised by how deep his past was. Bear sat there silently, unsure of what to make of all of it. Tokuda then said, "It's a bit strange for me too, Bear. I wasn't sure how to face the son of the man, the friend, that I had killed." Bear sat there in silence, attempting to process it all and make sense of it. Ezekiel sat there as well, realizing just how bad the Humanity War really was, as well as the repercussions of such a war.
Bear then spoke up, saying, "I'm not sure if I buy it, but that would explain how we get to today. How you're fighting against the human army despite being a so-called war hero." Tokuda then looked at Bear with simmering anger in his eyes, saying, "Do you think I wanted to be a fucking war hero? After doing something so sinful, you think I wanted to be praised for a job-well-done?" Suddenly, General Alexander, still tied up, spoke up, saying, "You did what you had to do. There was no other alternative." Tokuda looked over in a furious manner and asked, "What did you say?" General Alexander then said, "The Red Bear was the enemy, you know that, Tokuda. As part of the human army, it was only natural for you to kill a demi-human like him." Tokuda then quickly got up and violently kicked General Alexander in the face and shouted, "HE WASN'T JUST ANOTHER DEMI-HUMAN, YOU SON OF A BITCH! HE WAS MY FRIEND!" Ezekiel and Suko quickly hopped up from their seats and held Tokuda back before he could kick General Alexander anymore. Ezekiel then said, "Tokuda, stop it! We need him for information!" Tokuda had a burning rage in his eyes, but he couldn't fight back when he had no arms to fight back with. General Alexander coughed a couple of times then said, "It was your own fault, Tokuda. You got too close to the enemy. You knew the circumstances, and deep down, you should've known that it would come to that one way or another. I still can't believe you'd call an enemy your friend. You must regret that somewhere." Tokuda then shouted, "I DON'T REGRET A DAMN THING, SHITHEAD! HE WAS MY FRIEND, AND I DON'T REGRET IT ONE BIT!" General Alexander seemed surprised by this, seeming to be at a loss of words for once. General Alexander kept silent for a brief moment, then asked, "Was he the reason you left that night?" Tokuda seemed to calm down a little bit, then the rage seemed to leave his body. "Yeah, he was the main reason," answered Tokuda. Ezekiel and Suko slowly let go of Tokuda, and Tokuda glared coldly at General Alexander, then said, "You might've been my friend at one point, Alexander, but I'll fucking kill you if you diss the man that I respect. No one is allowed to talk about my friend like that, not even you." General Alexander fell silent after hearing this and decided not to push Tokuda farther than he already had.
With that, Tokuda sat down and said nothing more. Everyone was bewildered by what had happened, but Bear was shocked the most. Why would he go that far when talking about my father? Does he really care about my father that much, thought Bear. Bear silently looked at Tokuda and decided that the story Tokuda told might actually be true. Bear took a deep breath and said, "Tokuda, I've decided to trust that your story is true. However, I'm unsure if I'll ever be able to truly forgive what you did to my father, despite what his reasoning was for it." Tokuda then quietly said, "If there was a peaceful way to have ended it, I would've done it immediately. I'm sorry, Bear, and I don't blame you for feeling that way." Bear then said, "Well, if my father wanted you to carry on his legacy, I'll have to respect that." Bear then got up and walked over to where Tokuda was in the cart and placed his hand on Tokuda's shoulder, saying, "I might not be able to forgive you, but that doesn't mean I won't work with you to achieve his dream. We'll bring about the world of equality, as he would've wanted it to be. Plus, if he saw me hating you, he'd probably kick my ass over it." Tokuda then felt a small smile appear on his face as he said, "Yeah, I could see that happening."
With that, the tension that was once in the air simmered down just as quick. Everyone went back to doing their original business. Tokuda's tale was a long one, so the party had reached their destination in a couple hours after Tokuda had finished telling about his past. The destination was a cave deep in the woods, and this cave was very hard to find without a guide such as Tokuda. The cart stopped, and everyone hopped out. Two demi-humans came out of the cave and ran up to the cart with their weapons drawn. However, they noticed Tokuda and immediately put away their weapons. One of the demi-humans said, "Welcome back, commander. We've been expecting you." Tokuda nodded in reply, then said, "Gather the other commanders in the meeting room. We'll need proper introductions for everyone that I've brought along with me." The two demi-humans looked over to see all of the people that Tokuda brought with him, but Bear stuck out almost immediately, and the two demi-humans gasped and said, "Are you the Red Bear?" Bear scratched his head and said, "No, that was my father." One demi-human then said, "You have such uncanny resemblance to him, though! I really thought you were him! But that makes sense if you're his son!" Tokuda then said, "Yeah, yeah, quit gawking at him and go do what I told you to do." The two demi-humans saluted Tokuda and ran back into the cave.
Tokuda then turned towards everyone and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the headquarters of the Freedom Legion. It's not much, but we call it home." General Alexander, who was being dragged by Suko, said, "You've really downgraded from the days of the human army, Tokuda!" Suko punched General Alexander upside the head, and that shut him up real quick. Suko gave Tokuda a thumbs-up, and Tokuda simply carried on, saying, "Anyways, follow me inside. I'll introduce you to the other commanders." Tokuda then walked inside the cave, and the others followed behind him.
After walking a little bit, the cave seemed to come to a dead end. There was a lit torch on a wall right next to the dead end, and Tokuda turned the lit torch using his levitation magic to the right. Suddenly, the dead-end revealed itself to be a doorway, which led to a spiral staircase. Tokuda walked inside, and the others followed right behind him. The spiral staircase seemed to go down a bit, but at the end of it, it opened into a gigantic room buzzing with activity. Ezekiel looked around in awe, seeing that it was almost like a colony that was living down here. Tokuda then turned around and said, "This is the Freedom Legion camp. We've got a lot, from a barracks to a training ground, from a meeting room to a storage room. Everything you'd need to survive is down here." Everyone looked around in amazement, as they had never seen an underground colony like this before. Tokuda then cleared his throat and said, "You'll have time to look around later. For now, let's head over to the meeting room. Some of the commanders don't like waiting." Tokuda began walking over to the meeting room, and the others simply followed.
Before entering the room, Tokuda asked a nearby guard to watch over General Alexander. Suko casually tossed General Alexander over to the guard, and the guard seemed to wonder why it was him that had to watch over General Alexander. After a babysitter was assigned to General Alexander, the party entered the meeting room and were greeted by three people sitting at the end of a long, rectangular table. Tokuda then said, "Commanders, good to see you. These are the people that I mentioned in my letter, the ones who call themselves 'the Nation of Science'." One of the commanders, the one sitting on the right side of the table, stood up from the table and said, "Jolly good! A pleasure to make your acquaintance, newcomers, and it's good to see you again after so long, Tokuda!" The figure then bowed, revealing a shell and a green head that had some gray hair on it. Ezekiel then realized that the figure looked like a humanoid turtle, and the turtle gave off an aura of sophistication. The figure then looked at the party and said, "I am Leonardo, the acting commander of defense here in these headquarters. I make sure that this place is always fortified in the event that the human army discovers this little paradise we've built, as well as make defensive strategies for Lionel here." Leonardo motioned to the commander sitting in the middle of the table. The middle commander then stood up, much taller than Leonardo and giving off an intimidating aura, one emitting power and boldness. Ezekiel realized the middle commander looked similar to a lion, as this commander had a nice mane and golden fur. The lion commander then said, "Hello, recruits. I'm Lionel, the acting commander of combat. I lead our armies into battle and devise plans of attack. You all look combat capable, so I'm excited to see what you can do for us." The commander on the left then stood up, revealing herself to be what Ezekiel thought was a lamia. The lamia commander was rather beautiful, with curly red hair, a good-looking face, and a nice pair of, uh, bazongas, if you catch my meaning. The beautiful lamia commander then said with a bright smile, "Hello! I'm Thelisia! I'm the acting commander of provisions, meaning I ensure that we have enough of everything for everyone! Food, weapons, armor, you name it! Oh, I'm also a good motivator for the troops for some reason! And I'm sort of an airhead, just a heads-up! Tee-hee!" Must be the cheerfulness and her good looks. I think anyone would be motivated to fight if they were being cheered on by a nice beauty like her, thought Ezekiel. Ezekiel realized that she was sort of like Leonardo was, but less sophisticated than Leonardo. Tokuda then stepped forward, turned towards the group, and said, "Well, you all know me by now, I guess. I'm Tokuda, the 'Armless Ghost' as many of you know me by. I'm the acting commander of the scouts and vice-commander in battle alongside Lionel. I usually operate alone when scouting or gathering information, but I make sure that the scouts are doing their jobs, and I help out in the attacks that Lionel does." Tokuda took a step back and said, "Alright, now it's your turn, Nation of Science."
Now it was the party's turn. Ezekiel stepped forward, introducing himself. "My name is Ezekiel Clark, and I'm the head and representative of the nation of science." Bear then stepped forward and said, "I'm Manukena Kuma, son of the Red Bear. Just call me Bear." The commanders' eyes went wide, seemingly shocked but joyed at this news, but they didn't say anything. Suko then stepped forward and said, "I'm Suko Ryuu! I have dragon-like abilities and love my women! HOWEVER, I do have a preference, so if you're willing to listen to me talk about it-" Suko was quickly cut short by a fist flying into him, and it was none other than Kairi. Suko went flying, and the commanders seemed shocked at what had just occurred, but the party remained unfazed. Kairi then stepped forward, saying, "Sorry, Suko is just stupid and has perverted tendencies. I'm Kairi Zessid, a magic-user who can use wind magic, but I'm more well known as the famous food taster. Perhaps you've heard of me?" Leonardo seemed to, as he had a smile on his face and said, "I do!" Kairi smiled at Leonardo, nodding her head in reply. Aqua then stepped forward and shyly said, "U-Um, m-my name is Aqua. I-I'm a magic user, w-w-who can use water and h-healing spells." Thelisia then exclaimed, "So shy, but so cute! I love it!" This only made Aqua blush extremely hard, as she nervously stepped back while looking at the ground. Next was Rina, who stepped forward and said, "My name is Rina Magmoria, a Wood Elf who came from the Wooden Elf village." Lionel then said, "Ah, elves are exceptional with bows. We've been needing more archers in our ranks!" Last but not least, Mia stepped forward, saying, "Bow before the Fallen Goddess Mia, you mortals! Or else I'll use my dark magic on you all!" Thelisia exclaimed, "CUTE! I LOVE IT!" Mia blushed a little bit since she didn't get the reaction she wanted. She then stepped back and exclaiming, "S-Shut up, or I'll get my skeleton warriors on you!"
Lionel looked at everyone one last time, then said, "Nice to meet you all. I would like to get to know you all a bit better, but unfortunately, we commanders have business to attend to. Feel free to get familiar with this place in the meantime." The party bowed, then they left the room. Ezekiel, however, didn't leave the room. Lionel looked curiously over at Ezekiel and asked, "What is it, my friend?" Ezekiel cleared his throat, a little intimidated by Lionel, and said, "I wanna see what you have in terms of information. Maybe I can contribute something important to your strategies." Lionel looked over at Tokuda, who said, "He can be trusted, Lionel. I vouch for all of the people I brought with me today." Lionel looked back at Ezekiel, then said, "Take a seat," as he motioned to the seat next to Leonardo. Ezekiel took a seat, and Leonardo smiled genuinely at Ezekiel.
Lionel then spread out some papers that had writing and drawings on them. One piece of paper appeared to be a map of some sort, with a bunch of scribbles on it, titled "Enemy Camp #4" at the top of the map. Ezekiel then asked, "What kind of tactics have you been using? How have you been fighting this war?" Lionel responded, "Head-on warfare, as it always has been. The most honorable way to fight a war." Ezekiel then asked, "How's that been working for you, commander?" Lionel then looked over at Ezekiel and said, "Not very well, and don't get smug with me, boy. Remember that I'm the one in charge here." Ezekiel grinned, saying, "Maybe, but I've got thousands of years of combat knowledge that'll knock your mane right off." Lionel then said, "Impossible. You're just a kid. There's no way that you'd ever know more than me in combat." Ezekiel then said, "Maybe not combat itself, like sword fighting and such, but combat strategies are a different story entirely."
Ezekiel studied the map labeled "Enemy Camp #4" for a bit, then said, "Have you ever heard of guerilla warfare?" All three commanders shook their heads, and Ezekiel explained, saying, "It's a tactic that uses irregular techniques to fight a larger army. It's perfect in our case since our force and arsenal is much smaller than the human army." Ezekiel grinned, saying, "Sabotage, ambushing, hit-and-run, it can be done with the Freedom Legion." Lionel then said, "You say we fight like cowards? Nonsense!" Ezekiel then said, "War evolves over time, commander. War never changes, but the tactics to fight it do. I'm offering you knowledge that might turn the war in your favor. We can have fewer casualties this way as well." Leonardo spoke up, saying, "I agree with the boy. I want this war over quick, with minimal casualties. Head-on warfare seems to only prolong this war." Thelisia then said, "I like the sound of it! Gorilla warfare!" Ezekiel scratched his head, saying, "It's actually 'guerilla' warfare..." Lionel then looked over at Tokuda, who was thinking. Tokuda then said, "It doesn't sound like a bad idea. Seems like it's similar to what I used to do by myself." Lionel sighed, saying, "Looks like I'm outvoted. Fine, my friend. I'll listen to what you have to say."
Ezekiel picked up the sheet of paper labeled "Enemy Camp #4" and looked over it one more time. There appeared to be tents on the far left side of the camp, a big training area in the middle of the camp, and then some storage areas for food, weapons, and armor off to the right. Along the right border of the map, there were drawings of trees, and Ezekiel assumed that it was a tree line. Ezekiel noticed a small road leading into the camp towards the bottom of the map and then noticed that at each of the four corners of the camp, there were dots labeled as guards. Ezekiel looked up from the map and asked, "How were you planning to attack originally?" Lionel responded, "A full-frontal attack during the night. We'd charge the road into the camp and overwhelm them before they knew what hit them." Ezekiel immediately said, "You're only half right with that plan, commander. Attacking at night, at least." Lionel looked at Ezekiel with a questioning look, but Ezekiel didn't notice it. Ezekiel then said, "My plan involves a bit more stealth."
Ezekiel placed the map on the table, pointed at the tree line and said, "We can place archers inside of these trees here. They should be good enough to hit a target from there like Rina can." Ezekiel then pointed at the two dots resembling guards and said, "We'll have the archers take out these two guards, leaving us an opening from the side of the camp that isn't heavily monitored." Ezekiel then pointed at the wall, asking, "Do we know what material the walls are made of?" Tokuda stepped forward, responding, "Just wood." Ezekiel then said, "Easy enough. We can make a small hole in the wall, big enough for some of the forces to get into the camp, either by burning a small hole in the wall or actually cutting into the wood to make a hole. The archers can keep a lookout and take out any enemies they spot coming near the hole in the wall." Lionel looked like he was thinking about this plan of Ezekiel's rather hard as if trying to make sense of all of this. Ezekiel continued, saying, "There's one main thing we can do while inside of the camp, and that would be to sabotage their storage units. Getting rid of their weapons, armor, and food would render them much more vulnerable than if they had the storage units to go to." Tokuda then said, "That makes sense, but why only their supplies? We could set fire to their tents or something." Ezekiel then said, "We could, but that poses a greater risk. Plus, we could greatly weaken them if we take our time with it. The human army probably doesn't have great supply lines, and if we attack now, destroy their supplies then retreat, they'll be worried about the next attack. Sleep deprivation and starvation are a thing, and that would be a crippling blow to them with minimal effort from our end. They think we're playing team deathmatch, but really, it's a game of domination." Tokuda said, "I see. Then we could easily take them out, right?" Ezekiel shrugged, saying, "Yeah, a full-frontal assault might work at that point, but for guerilla warfare, it might be better to implement hit-and-run tactics. Keep them on their toes, you know?" Lionel then said, "You've given me much to think about. I'll take this into consideration when I begin truly planning for the attack on enemy base number 4." Ezekiel felt a slight annoyance coming from Lionel as if he had enough of Ezekiel displaying his knowledge of war.
Ezekiel then said, "Well, that's all I've really got. I'm more of a scientist than I am a battle tactician, and even science can be a formidable opponent in war." Lionel then asked, "I've never heard this term you speak of, 'science.' What is it?" Ezekiel grinned, saying, "To someone like you, think of it as witchcraft, but science can explain why the witchcraft happens." Lionel then said, "I see. Well, if this 'science' you speak of is so important, surely there can be a use for it in battle." Ezekiel only grinned wider, saying, "My world has had a lot of scientific innovation that even I can't keep track of it all. We've even got to the stage of nuclear weapons that haven't been used since World War 2 because of how devastating it was. Scientific innovation has made war more brutal than you can imagine, so to answer your question, yes, science can help in battle." Lionel stroked his mane, then said, "Very well. I'll trust you and say that your knowledge of this 'science' will benefit us." Ezekiel responded, "Of course. We're allies now, are we not?" Lionel nodded, then said, "It's good to have you on our side. However, I'll need to see your science in action before I can really say how useful you truly are." Ezekiel then said, "That won't be a problem. In fact, I've got something in the works that your normal troops could use. No magic needed, and it'll do massive damage." Lionel then said, "Then please, get to work on that. Us commanders have business to discuss." Ezekiel nodded, then left the meeting room.
Once outside of the meeting room, it suddenly hit Ezekiel: he was really going to fight in a war. Ezekiel had never experienced war firsthand, and he was fairly nervous about how it would go. Besides, he was only a high school kid. He felt that he should be worrying about assignments due tomorrow, not worrying about his life when the time came to fight in this war. Ezekiel knew that not everything would always go according to plan, and he wasn't sure how he would do when he suddenly found himself in the middle of a large battle one day. I should've thought more about what I was signing up for, thought Ezekiel.
Attempting to calm his nerves a little bit, Ezekiel wandered around for a bit, seeing what the Freedom Legion camp was about. After wandering around, he thought of what kind of innovation he could make that might help in the war efforts. The thought hit him, as he realized that it might just be possible to make it in this world. Ezekiel pulled a sheet of paper out of his back pocket, labeled with different ingredients and methods in order to make the item Ezekiel was thinking of back when he had free time to think up new items. Labeled at the top was a bit of text which read "Greek Fire Molotov," and Ezekiel grinned, feeling excited to try to unearth a long-lost recipe that could make a very dangerous substance. It might be lost to time, but I'm gonna try to bring it back to use in this war. If the Byzantine Empire made it back when science wasn't as advanced as now, then surely I can recreate it! This'll help us out so much, thought Ezekiel, grinning to himself. Ezekiel then headed back up the cave to retrieve some of his lab equipment so he could begin working on a new Greek fire molotov.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIUXY5suFg
