Chapter 28: Welcome to the Military :– 3
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Location: Camp Lehigh.
Omni POV.
After the introductions were finished, the group quickly split off toward their respective residences.
The boys headed into the left building while the girls disappeared into the one opposite them.
None of them wasted much time. They had already spent most of the day being dragged around Camp Lehigh hence they were exhausted and hungry where if given the choice, most of them would have gladly collapsed onto their beds and slept until morning unfortunately their hunger had won out.
Inside their assigned rooms, each of the children found three neatly folded uniforms waiting on their beds.
The clothing was unlike anything most of them had ever worn before.
-The upperwear consisted of a black tactical combat shirt made from lightweight moisture-wicking fabric designed for long hours of training.
-Embroidered onto both the chest and sleeves was the insignia of the Howling Commandos, a wolf's head surrounded by a laurel wreath with a sword driven vertically through its center.
-A pair of military dog tags accompanied the uniform.
-Heavy-duty combat harnesses and suspenders were integrated into the design while reinforced tactical belts equipped with quick-release buckles completed the equipment.
-Fingerless tactical gloves provided protection without sacrificing dexterity.
-The lower half consisted of black combat trousers reinforced at the knees and stitched heavily enough to survive abuse. Most ordinary clothing never could with dark grey camouflage patterns blended seamlessly into the black fabric.
-Finally came the boots.
-High-laced military combat boots built for running, climbing, marching, and fighting.
These uniforms, when compared to the flashy uniforms worn by many noble houses, had nothing decorative about them.
Everything about them served a purpose while yet they somehow still looked good.
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"These uniforms are actually pretty cool," Leon admitted as the group made their way toward the mess hall.
Daniel nodded enthusiastically. "I know, right?" The large blonde said as he tugged at his shirt. "Though it could stand to be a little less tight."
Leon looked Daniel up and down. "I think that's less the uniform's fault and more the fact that you're built like a small bear." And remembering because they had just met what he could have taken as an offence, "Sorry I meant no offence."
Daniel blinked, then looked down at himself with a grin spread across his face and said, "No offense taken. I'm proud of my body." while flexing his arm.
Seeing the sleeve tightened noticeably, Leon stared. "I can see why." He spoke with a bit of envy in his voice.
Daniel only laughed.
Beside them, Martha quietly smoothed out the wrinkles on her shirt. "I... think they could have been a little cuter." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Cuter?" Erica asked, The blonde girl tilted her head. "I like them this way."
Martha's shoulders drooped slightly. "Oh."
Leon immediately noticed and while glancing at Erica he spoke up, " Hey, don't take what she said the wrong way, I'm sure she meant no harm " Then he looked directly at Erica. "Right?"
Erica stared back at him, then turned toward Martha. "He is right." Her tone remained as blunt as ever. "I wasn't criticizing you. I just think cute is overrated."
Martha looked up hopefully."...Oh."
"I'd rather wear something practical." Then Erica added, "If we're going to spend years wearing the same clothes, I'd rather they be more comfortable than cute."
Martha considered that. "...That actually makes sense."
Leon couldn't help smiling, then noticing that there was someone with them who had yet to speak, he turned to Raymond.
"What about you, Raymond?"
"Hm?" The blue-haired boy looked up. "Did you say something?"
"We were just wondering what you thought about the uniform," Leon said. "But honestly, that's not important. You've barely said a word since we left the barracks. You've been staring at those dog tags the whole time. What's wrong?"
"Oh." Raymond glanced down. "I didn't realize."
"So?" Leon asked. "What's up?"
Raymond adjusted his glasses. "It's nothing."
He looked back down at the dog tags hanging around his neck, his expression turning thoughtful. "Actually..."
The others turned toward him. "I was thinking about tomorrow."
The mood shifted slightly. "What about it?" Leon asked.
Raymond hesitated before sighing. "Sergeant Barnes."
He pushed his glasses higher up his nose. "As you may have noticed..." He gestured vaguely toward himself. "I'm not exactly the strongest person here."
Daniel opened his mouth, but Raymond continued before he could interrupt. "And Sergeant Barnes practically said he expects most of us to fail." His grip tightened around the dog tags. "What if he's right?"
Silence followed as Leon, Erica, and Martha all seemed unsure how to respond while Raymond looked genuinely worried.
Then Daniel suddenly slapped him on the back, hard to the point Raymond nearly stumbled forward. "Wha—?!"
"You're thinking too much." Daniel grinned. "All you need is a strong heart. The body will follow."
"I don't think that's how it works," Raymond replied.
"Sounds right to me," Leon interjected.
"Not to me!" Raymond answered.
"It's okay," Daniel said with a laugh. "When and if you fall, I'll be there to pick you back up." The larger boy smiled warmly. "we're brothers now, aren't we?"
Raymond froze as the simple statement seemed to catch him completely off guard.
Then Leon stepped forward. "You can count on me too."
Daniel nodded. "Just say yes, and we'll look after each other, the three of us here"
For a moment, Raymond didn't know what to say but eventually, a small smile appeared on his face. "Thank you."
Off to the side, Martha timidly raised a hand. "What about me?"
The boys blinked, caught off guard but before any of them could answer, Erica spoke. "Let them have their moment."
Martha pouted slightly until Erica looked at her. A tiny smile appeared on her face, barely noticeable. "Don't worry. You can count on me."
Martha blinked. "Huh?"
Erica shrugged. "Us girls should look out for each other, right?"
For a second, Martha simply stared then with a bright smile spread across her face. "Okay."
And just like that, the distance between the five recruits became a little smaller.
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Location: The Mess Hall.
Omni POV (Leon Based).
The mess hall was a sea of noise conversations overlapped with one another, metal utensils struck plates, chairs scraped against the floor while laughter and complaints mixed together beneath the high ceiling as a dozen of the new recruits filled the room, enjoying what little free time they had left before their hell began tomorrow.
Then the doors opened as Leon and the other Naturals stepped inside, to which it had an immediate effect, the noise didn't gradually fade, instead it stopped completely with every head in the room turned toward the five newcomers.
For several seconds the hall remained completely silent before the whispers started. "Hey, look. It's the Naturals."
"So those are the ones picked by the Gods."
"Don't stare too long. They might kill you."
"Hmph. They don't look that impressive."
"The girls are kinda cute."
"That blond one looks scary."
"That giant could probably break me in half."
"Why were they chosen and not me? I'm the son of Count Arib."
"I heard Naturals can level buildings."
"That's obviously not true."
"How would you know?"
Back among the group, Martha shrank slightly under the attention. "They're staring."
But Leon just sighed. "Just ignore them." He pointed toward the serving line. "Let's get food. I'm starving."
Daniel nodded immediately. "Best idea I've heard all day."
As they moved through the hall, dozens of eyes followed them to the point the attention was beginning to feel uncomfortable, well at least to most of them:
-Erica didn't seem to care.
-Raymond looked like he wanted to disappear.
-Daniel looked completely oblivious.
-Martha meanwhile was trying very hard not to make eye contact with anyone.
Hence after collecting their meals, they continued deeper into the hall. Daniel glanced around. "Why is it so empty here?"
Leon looked around. 'Now that he mentions it, he has a point.' There were far fewer people than expected.
Raymond adjusted his glasses. "I think it has something to do with the time."
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.
"The rest of the other trainees are supposed to still be in training, our year is only here because we just got here." Raymond gestured toward the hall. "This meal was probably arranged specifically for us because we spent the afternoon doing orientation."
"Oh."
"Tomorrow will probably be different."
Daniel nodded. "That makes sense."
A voice suddenly drifted over from another table. "Hey, that blond girl is cute."
Several nearby recruits immediately turned toward Erica. "Don't stare."
"Why?"
"Because she might notice."
"No she won't." But at that exact moment Erica slowly turned her head, her icy blue eyes locking directly onto the unfortunate recruit.
The temperature around the table seemed to drop by ten degrees, such that the recruit froze and immediately looked away. "See?" his friend said. "I told you not to stare."
Satisfied, Erica returned her attention to her food as if nothing had happened.
Leon couldn't help shaking his head. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."
"When you get to know me, you won't need that reminder."
"...Fair."
Eventually they found an empty table near the back of the hall and sat down far away from everyone else or at least as far away as possible but even then they could still feel the occasional glance.
Erica stabbed a piece of meat with her fork. "If this keeps up, I might kill someone."
"Don't say things like that," Martha immediately protested. "It's not nice."
Erica shrugged. "I said might."
"That's not helping."
Leon decided to change the subject before Martha suffered a heart attack. "Just ignore them." He took a bite of food. "It won't last forever."
"What I'm more interested in is this unit."
Daniel looked up. "What about it?"
Leon leaned back slightly. "Everything about this place feels peculiar."
"The separate barracks."
"The private facilities."
"The way Captain Rogers personally trains Naturals."
"It feels less like a military unit and more like something…something... It's just seems weird."
Before anyone could answer, a familiar voice spoke from beside him. "I believe I've found out why this unit is so different from the rest of the military." The group nearly jumped as Luxion had appeared beside Leon without warning, floating silently like a ghost.
"Oh." Leon looked at him. "You're back."
"Where was he?" Raymond asked.
"I was conducting an extensive analysis of the island."
The table went silent. "You were doing what?" Raymond asked.
Daniel nearly choked on his food.
Martha blinked.
Even Erica looked mildly surprised.
Leon sighed. "Yeah, he does stuff like that. I've tried correcting him but at this point I give up."
"Wise decision," Luxion replied.
Leon just ignored him. "So." He pointed his fork at the floating orb. "What did you find?"
Luxion's red eye flickered. "Among other things, I discovered information regarding the formation of this unit."
That immediately got everyone's attention.
"Yeah?" Leon asked. "How much do you know about them?"
"This unit was originally founded approximately seventy years ago during the height of the Holfort-Fanoss War."
The table fell silent. "It began as a special operations team consisting of only five individuals." Luxion paused. "One of those individuals was Captain Steve Rogers, the other was Sergeant Major James Buchanan Barnes."
Daniel nearly dropped his fork. "Wait what?."
Raymond adjusted his glasses. "Did you say seventy years ago?"
"Correct."
The table went silent again. Leon blinked. "You're telling me the Captain is over seventy years old?"
"According to military records, yes."
Leon immediately pointed toward the front of the mess hall. "The man looks like he's barely thirty."
"Indeed." Luxion's eye glowed slightly brighter. "The same applies to Sergeant Major Barnes."
This time even Erica looked interested. "The Winter Soldier."
Leon turned toward her. "What?"
Erica looked surprised he didn't know. "The Winter Soldier."
"The nickname soldiers gave Sergeant Major Barnes during the war."
Leon blinked. "That's a terrifying nickname."
"It is."
"Why did they call him that?" Daniel asked.
Luxion was silent for a moment. "Unknown."
"What?"
"I was unable to locate the relevant records."
Leon frowned. "You couldn't find them?"
"No.Most military documents from that period are incomplete or heavily reducted, my current scanners can't see through them, if you want I can bring in a more advanced remote unit but it would increase the chances of being discovred."
"You don't need to go that far, I'm not that curious."
A brief silence followed. "So what else did you find?" Daniel asked.
Everyone looked at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "I'm curious."
Leon laughed. "Fair enough."
Luxion continued. "Over the course of their service, the unit expanded from five members into a full military company."
Raymond frowned. "A company?"
"They now contain 250 personnel."
Daniel nearly choked. "Two hundred and fifty?!"
"Correct."
Leon leaned back in his chair. "That actually explains a lot." And when the others looked toward him he added. "Think about it." He gestured around the mess hall. "They only accepted a handful of recruits this year. All of us needed recommendations."
"The training facilities are isolated."
"The Naturals have their own barracks."
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "This isn't a normal military unit."
"No," Luxion agreed. "It is not."
"Then why are they still so small?" Martha asked quietly. "If they were a company fifty years ago, shouldn't they be much bigger by now?"
"An excellent question." Luxion rotated slowly in the air. "My current theory is that they are receiving special privileges directly from the Crown and being allowed to run on their own authority"
"Why?" Raymond asked.
Luxion's eye glowed red. "Because Captain Rogers is most likely an S-Rank Blessed."
The table froze, even the sounds of the mess hall seemed distant for a moment.
-An S-Rank. That wasn't merely powerful, that was the kind of strength capable of changing the outcome of wars.
Leon's expression became serious. "What makes you think that?"
Luxion answered immediately."Because individuals who reach S-Rank experience an extreme slowing or complete cessation of physical aging."
His eye shifted toward the direction Rogers had gone earlier. "The Captain appears to be the most obvious example."
"And Barnes?" Erica asked.
"Possibly as well."
Raymond swallowed. "How strong is an S-Rank exactly?"
Luxion paused, then answered. "Those of S-Rank, are no-longer at the level of people but at the level of war-detorants," The table became silent once more.
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I am writing my A Levels this year so I'm already stumped and if you add the time I use writing I think I'm entitled to POWER STONES sooooooo give them to me, I mean by 6 I'm going to school, 1300hrs I'm going to extra lessons and I only get to come back home at 1900hrs, and after that I still need to study on my own, so help me stay motivated.
P.S
Let it be known that the Story is undergoing a Rewrite, hence if you read the unedited chapters its on you, they are no longer part of the story.