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The surroundings were dim. He's floating through space. Unconscious. He was transported here by that mysterious white Wisdom Cube.
Then suddenly, the dim background... Started... Materializing...
What could it be?
=================
"Captain!" A voice called out to Caster. "Oh, no. Sergeant! He's not responding!"
"We need to take him to a paramedic, come on!"
After some more words being spoken in the desert battlefield, Caster finally gained consciousness and woke up. Surprising the 2 soldiers.
"Captain! You're okay!" The soldier said happily that he's back. But there's still gunshots being fired in his direction.
"W-where am I?" He asked confused. As he looked at his attire and he's not wearing his Commander's uniform. Instead, a camo green uniform.
"You're in Afghanistan, sir!" The soldier explained what's going on. "The operation named: "Purifier" is still ongoing!"
Caster remembered the moment he was here. But he was confused even more. How the hell did he get here? Is this a dream? Is it real life? Did that white Wisdom Cube contribute to the situation he was in? He wouldn't know just yet.
He pinched himself in the cheeks to make sure he wasn't dreaming. But he remembered something that made him uneasy. Operation: "Purifier"? We all know that Caster is a war veteran and a shrewd man. But as far as he knows, he doesn't remember an operation named "Purifier" in his short stint in Afghanistan.
But he was here. In his natural environment. This is the place where his wit and talent shines. And so, he went with the flow and not questioned more.
"Where are we going?" Caster asked the soldier and the Sergeant responded.
"We're going in the target building. It's a church. We're actually not far from here."
"Alright, let's do this!" Caster exclaimed. Being excited. But he knew he can't possibly be injured now. He was just released from the hospital 2 hours ago. He isn't gonna get himself injured anymore.
But he realized, he was bare. He didn't have any weapon on himself except the communicator that Akashi gave him and paid a high price for it... Fortunately, the soldier noticed Caster that he didn't have a weapon. So he gave him his M4A1 with Red Dot Sight attachment. His favorite sight in any weapon.
"You sure you don't need this?" Caster asked the soldier.
"You're better at using that weapon than me, sir. I'll stick to my shotgun." As he took out his secondary weapon. A shotgun. You're expecting a wimpy pistol huh?
"Anyway, thanks. I have only one round of ammunition?" Caster asked as he was inspecting the weapon. Looking at the sight, and checking the magazine. He felt nostalgic holding this weapon.
In turn, the soldier gave all his AR ammo to Caster and gave some of his grenades and one flashbang. He happily accepted the super nice gesture and he thanked the soldier before he stood up and tried to look behind the wall he was getting protected by.
"I need suppressive fire!" Caster shouted and the soldiers all followed him and they poured fire to keep the enemy at a defensive position.
He ran to the wall and he crouched beside it. He made a signal to his troops that they will charge in... 3... 2... 1...
BANG!
Caster threw a flashbang to the enemy lines and it blinded the enemies and gave time for Caster to shoot the enemies as fast as he could before his forces come in as back up. And the simple strategy worked! As they cleared the area and just 100 meters from the target building. The church.
He wasn't familiar with this certain situation yet. Since he didn't remember attacking a church when there could be innocent civilians inside that church and get caught in the crossfire. So he commanded his troops to be careful. And take a breach instead of kicking down the door.
They all started to walk towards the church doors and suddenly the doors kick open. Surprising all the soldiers and attack dogs came out and some enemies shooting. And unfortunately, he got tackled by an attack dog and he was on the ground. But he had some experience dealing with attack dogs. So he killed the dog that was almost biting him, he killed the enemies on the church with lethal precision and killed the other dogs.
And somehow, he was the only one alive. All of his soldier friends were dead. He felt a chill go down in his spine. He shuddered. But he walked into the church. But it was barren... Just some long chairs used for cover and that's basically it... But then his radio, that was supposed to be from the Azur Lane base, started ringing. He thought that was Hood trying to talk to Caster or Enterprise. So he took out his communicator and talked through it.
"Hello?" Caster said into the radio.
Then what he heard was chilling. A female voice spoke through. He thought it was them. Then the voice was turning distorted and it included some kind of autotune. It was creepy...
"So you're the otherworlder..."
He got confused, but as he looked up back to the church center, he saw a mysterious totem and the same white Wisdom Cube he was inspecting earlier there laying on top of the said totem. It wasn't there before. It just... Appeared there.
"You're not gonna live long... Your fate will be the same as the "other" one."
He knew what she was implying... The former Commander. But he wanted to know more.
"Who are you?" Caster's expression turned serious.
In nightmare-like fashion a person came out of the communicator, in fear, Caster threw the communicator away from his to get his distance from this "alien" as far away as possible.
"You're going to get purified. Don't you want that?" The mysterious girl that has the same yellow eyes that the former Commander of Azur Lane exhibited.
A-kun: I'm sorry. It's yellow. Not lime-colored. I'll change it later after this chapter. Back to the story.
Caster knows that this is probably an enemy. It was threatening-looking and looks like she could stir up trouble big time. His plan of action right now is getting that white Wisdom Cube and dipping the hell out of there. But he needs something.
A distraction.
But as he was thinking about what plan of action, the girl was getting impatient. So, in an attempt to anger Caster, the girl tried to taunt Caster.
"You're made of glass... And I'm gonna have fun ripping you to shreds..." The tone turned from mockingly to menacingly. And he isn't gonna have a fun time if he Caster keeps stalling.
"Okay... What about a deal?" He smirked. As he was getting his feet to run and get that Wisdom Cube from that totem.
"Hm... Okay." The girl said smirking devilishly.
"Actually, look behind you." Caster said and as the girl turned around, she saw nothing in infuriating fashion, she turned around to see no one. Caster disappeared and the Wisdom Cube was gone. The girl was tricked by a classic technique.
She got really angry and saw where Caster went out of. A hole in the wall that was conveniently sized of his body proportions. He got through it seamlessly and not made a sound. So in anger, the girls started to blast everything in the church and went after Caster who was running for his life.
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"Oh, no... Is it my fault? Everyone is gonna get really mad at him if I told them they disappeared." Hood said getting nervous. Not only was Caster was gone, but the Wisdom Cube was also gone too.
Then the door opened with Enterprise.
"Hood! There are some patrols outside threatening to attack the base." Enterprise explained the situation that the fleet was in without Caster in the mix. And she also noticed the lack of Caster in the room.
"Where did the Commander go?" Enterprise tilted her head. Making Hood nervous.
"He needed something done..." She lied, "Let's go meet them before anything happens!" Hood ran out of the room and she was followed by Enterprise.
They looked on the ocean, and it was covered by some kind of fog to hide their forces and make them think that the patrols had more ships than they really are... So not risking anything by getting in the mist, Hood, Enterprise, and now, Cleveland ran to the control room with California already in the room and took a look at one of the cameras and zoomed into the mist. Trying to make see someone that might look like a ship.
A-kun: That's uh... California. Back to the story.
"Cleveland, tell my sister to stay in the school along with the kids," Enterprise told Cleveland in which she nodded and she made a beeline to the school.
"We can't see them... Is there some ships on patrol?" Hood said. Knowing that somebody is gonna be on patrol as Caster gave that power to Enterprise. To make scheduled patrols around the perimeter of the base.
"I sent out Oklahoma and Brooklyn. I think they would have told me something by now." Enterprise said and before the others could respond, Brooklyn shouted through the communicator.
"I see Yuubari and Abukuma! I think they are the vanguard. should we engage?" Brooklyn asked Enterprise. A Sakura Empire patrol...
A-kun: Get ready to get introduced to more batches of girls... It's going a doozy.
"No. Let them get out of that fog and then we attack. Don't attack until we're there." As Enterprise put down her communicator and ran out of the control room. And summoned her bow and weapons. And followed by Hood and out of nowhere, Cleveland. As for California, she stayed back for any possible ambush.
'Out of all the times that they will attack,' Hood mentally facepalmed. 'You picked the worse time to be doing something crazy, Commander.' She added.
=================
Amongst the array of explosions in the distance, there was a solitary warehouse of Azur Lane used to store tech parts before getting scrapped or improved. It was mostly filled with stuff since Caster started to do some small missions and commissions.
Then a small pillar of light started to form inside the warehouse. Then a guy limped through the portal in exhaustion. It was Caster. And he is back to his Commander's uniform.
The portal immediately closed and culminates into the same white Wisdom Cube he was trying to retrieve earlier. In which he successfully did.
"This thing can teleport me?" He coughed violently. As he picked up the cube.
Looking at the Commander's condition, he wasn't injured at all at the chase of that "alien" and him. But he had a really bad stomachache and his legs were on the verge of giving upon him.
But he still has the strength to walk out of the warehouse. Or should I say, limped out of the warehouse...
As he looked outside, and on the sea, he saw some explosions in the distance the base is getting attacked! Caster was panicking and trying to get his communicator. But alas, he lost it with the encounter. But he wasn't stupid enough to try to get inside the submarine to get into the action. he knew what happened last time and he's not that stupid enough to do that.
But he still wanted a piece of that action. So he limped to the side of the building where his office resides. As he was limping, he encountered Oklahoma running and she got immediately helped Caster to a safe spot.
"Please, get to the hospital and patch yourself up before going in there!" She tried to convince Caster. But to no avail.
"I'm not injured at all. I'm just exhausted. Just... Get the radio from the radio tower and give them to me. There's no need to worry." Caster persuaded Oklahoma to make her finally believe he wasn't hurt.
Oklahoma finally relented and ran to get the radio. As Caster was just looking down on the ground, dripping with sweat, the kids of the school, looked outside the window and saw him just sitting there. Restless. The kids told Yorktown about it and she also looked outside to take a look at him also.
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It was not looking good. The girls on the Azur Lane side were abundant, but their firepower deficiencies were on full display. They didn't get a chance to push them back. Instead, they were getting pushed back to shore. Slowly but surely.
"Oh, no you aren't going anywhere with that jumping style," Cleveland said as she tries to shoot down the so-called "ninja" of the Sakura Empire named Akatsuki. Then the ninja retaliated by shooting some shots too and grazing Cleveland's sides.
Hornet and Enterprise, on the other hand, were holding off the powerful duo named the "crane" sisters. Shokaku and Zuikaku.
Then there was Belfast, Laffey, Brooklyn, Javelin, and Ayanami were also getting pushed back. By the likes of Kino, Fusou, Ryuuhou, and Kongou. Z23 got into the fight late, but she wasn't much of a difference as the Azur Lane fleet keeps moving back closer to closer to shore.
"Don't falter! Continue the relentless attacks!" declared Ryuuhou. And she fired a few shots of her cannons to the docks, making slight damage. "If we leave them alone now, they will be too much to handle later."
Hood though was being the back-up. If one side becomes too weak to fight, she will come in to boost the firepower and her survivability can help make the battle longer and maybe push them back a bit.
=================
As Caster was still waiting on the radio by Oklahoma. He's making her run a marathon by how far the radio tower is... But as he still was there waiting, his left pocket was emitting light. He took the object off of his left pocket and it's the white Wisdom Cube. He was confused by the thought that the cube might do some bad again so he put the cube on the ground and it floated into the air and Caster when into the building to try to not get teleported again.
But then, the light shined through and it was visible on the shore. Even some Sakura Empire members like Shokaku noticed the light. But she kept on firing the planes going towards Enterprise.
Then Enterprise winded up her arrows and it hit 3 airplanes rather than one. And she was surprised.
"W-what?" She said confused.
Then a pillar of light engulfed the Azur Lane girls one by one. And after the light was gone...
"I feel... Stronger..." Z23 looked on her hands and as the other girls did too.
One of the members of the Sakura Empire heard what Nimi said and they told Zuikaku.
Enterprise, however, was the most surprised of the Azur Lane bunch. She doesn't know what happened. Maybe Caster made a secret weapon that made them stronger all of the sudden? Or something else entirely.
But she left her thoughts on the back of her mind and kept fighting. And they were suddenly... Making good progress!
Then Akatsuki appeared next to Shokaku the news. "The suddenly got stronger, my lady."
Shokaku heard the news but she was busy holding off the empowered Enterprise and Illustrious.
"But how? Did they make a secret weapon? It's definitely something to do with that light we saw."
Then they were actually pushing the Sakura Empire's members back. As Hornet fired twice as more airplanes than before. Pursuing Shokaku. But the Sakura Empire was falling back fast. And they were too fast for any of the Azur Lane members to close any distance to.
Then they finally saw a green flare fly over them. Signaling that they should stop firing. Not knowing who it was, Enterprise and some other girls looked on the docks and saw Caster sitting on the edge of the docks lowering his hand holding the flare gun. And there was Oklahoma standing behind him.
"Commander, orders?" Cleveland said through her own communicator.
"Don't tire yourselves anymore. Let them go." Caster said and the fleet stopped their pursuit.
Hornet smiled, saying: "Wow... Back then we'd hide from their patrols and hope they don't notice and pursue us. But now... We're actually pushing them back!"
Enterprise was smiling too as they got their first win against the Sakura Empire. It was needed. For the morale boost, and confidence of the girls.
"This calls for a celebration." declared Cleveland. "This is the first big win against the Empire."
"That's cool and all guys, but you can go back to the docks now."
"Boo... No fun."
"Hold on, who said that?" Caster said in slight anger but a hint of laughter. He's prone to not take things to seriously when he achieved victory.
After the girls finally got back to the docks, the girls went into the Commander's Office and let's say they really crowded the room. And unsurprisingly, Caster was overwhelmed.
"Um... Are you planning to celebrate here?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." Illustrious smiled.
"Hell yeah!" Cleveland said.
But Caster was starting to tuck into his bed. He was... Very tired. And due to his recent hip injury, he was slightly more sluggish than usual. And the girls looked at him and collectively said in their minds: "That's adorable."
Caster raised his hand saying: "You guys... Can celebrate here in my office. You deserve it. But don't make too much of a mess when I wake up." As he wiggled his body to the left away from the girls. And he finally got some meaningful sleep in the afternoon.
The girls were celebrating inside the office and they did some games. And a lot of chit-chats. And even some gossips about the Commander. But the afternoon and evening went eventful for the girls inside the office as they had fun in the night.
This is only the beginning of their real work.
Word Count: 3075 Words.
11:48 PM
4/12/20