Friday Fan-Work

Heya, happy Friday everyone. It’s ya boy Choujin.
Today’s friday and now we’re entering Chapter Four from our Slayer of Foultongues story. If you need a recap, you can read the last chapter here or start from the beginning if you want.

Last time on Slayer of Foultongues

After securing themselves in Smuggler’s Gorge, Bit and the townsfolk prepare a plan in taking over New Austin. The group decided in a stealthy approach in entering the place. The Acheronites see them and with a quick thinking, they managed to sneak past an Acheronite recon team. Though of course..they found themselves with an extra piece of cargo….

and now, the conclusion….

Slayer of Foultongues: Chapter 4

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Maria?! What in the ever-living hell are you doing here?!” Finley said in shock.

“I wanted to help out, but the old fart wouldn’t let me join,” argued Maria “I helped out when they attacked the town.”
“That’s was defense, not a sneak attack,” Bit said, “What you’re doing is stupid.”
“Hey, that’s Terran spirit right there. Bindi X is my home, and I’m not letting those Acheronites occupy it,” said Maria
The group looked at the situation before one of them asked: “So..as much as I’d like to chew the little lady for her stupid decision, might I remind us that we’re about to arrive in New Austin with an Acheronite convoy that will be inspecting us and will blow the lid of our operation.”
 Finley cursed, “shit your right, son. We need a new plan. My guess is the Acheronites didn’t see our weapons; otherwise, we’d be dead.”
Maria said as she tapped one of the crates, “Well, these things are heavily lined, if the Acheronites were using scanners, they’d have a hell of a time finding out what’s in the crates.”
Bit heard those words Maria just said, and like a spark of influence, an idea just arrived in his head.

“Wait..did you say those things can’t be scanned?” He asked
“Well yeah,” Maria replied “They’re heavily lined if they couldn’t pick up weapons-” Maria then realized what Bit was hinting “…then they wouldn’t be able to pick up people! That’s it!”

Finley gave a chuckle as he turned to the group, “Well, what do you expect?! Let’s get into hiding.” He then got on the private convoy channel. “Hey! You’re not going to believe this, but I think we got an idea…”

******************************************************************************
 The two semi-convoys pulled up toward the city-ship of New Austin. Cityship-wise, it was more or less just a more advanced colony area that served as a major shipping hub between ports and other living areas on Bindi X. Though now, most of the city was occupied by Acheronite forces and their convoys that were more or less using the supplies in New Austin. Once the group was in the city, the remaining air group pulled away now that the convoys were in New Austin.

The two convoy drivers drove the large convoys toward a loading dock. One of the drivers got on the radar and told the group, “I hope you know what you’re doing….”


The convoys arrived onto a large platform designed for loading and unloading land-based convoys. The only thing there was two heavily armored Acheronite soldiers that looked like they were built for combat than security detail. The other was a two-person group of inspectors as they were carrying some scanners.

“we’ll start with this convoy vehicle,” One of the armored acheronites told the group, “If the scanners pick up anything, report us immediately.”
 The two Acheronite civilians nodded as they entered the convoy first. Nothing out of the ordinary attracted save for something thudding noises of cargo falling and hitting the convoy trailer floor.

“Hey!” a female voice stated from inside the convoy’s trailer. One of the soldiers turned toward the noise.

“Something wrong?” One of the armored soldiers asked

“You might wanna take a look at this.” The voice said.
The armored Acheronite looked at her partner and beckoned her. The two entered the cargo trailer, a sound of a struggle, and some weapon fire is heard for a brief moment before everything grows silent. Once the ordeal was over, Bit radioed the convoy.
“I’m surprised that worked,” Bit said as the group began stuffing the bodies into the cargo boxes. Usually, they wouldn’t have this weak of security in New Austin, though not many would expect a trojan horse tactic either. Finley dusted his hands as he then asked: “So that we’re in the hornet’s nest, what’s next?”
Bit looked at the discarded armor and said: “We got these..so we can use them as disguises.”
Maria looked at the armor, giving a short whistle at the design and intricacy, “Damn…those Acheronites know how to design armor that’s functional. I wish I could have this.” She looked at Finley with a chuckle, “Sadly, I don’t think they have them in your size..not in this.”

“You wouldn’t catch me wearing that armor…I ain’t no crossdresser.” The large man said in disgust.

“Quit being a baby, Finley. I was just saying it wouldn’t fit your ass anyway. Though I think it would fit another..”

Maria then turned her attention toward Bit, the Kiralin was inspecting his magnum before he noticed he was getting some looks from both Finley and Maria.
Bit then looked at the two and asked, “what?”

******************************************************************************
 Meanwhile, in a law precinct building, the Acheronites were monitoring radio chatter. The building was a bit ramshackle but mostly converted to serve as an Ops area for the Acheronites in the area. Several radiomen and chatter can be heard as the sound of fingers tapping on terminal buttons, and diagnostic monitors show areas on the map.
Orda walked into the room, which was announced by an Acheronite soldier.

“Report,” she asked sternly.
“Shadow Wings are still on recon searching for the attackers from the last area. So far, no radio chatter from any resistance in the area” One of the Acheronites stated, “The only thing we got is a convoy from some defunct mining area requesting a deposit of supplies and cargo.”
 Orda then headed toward one of the terminals and began to check all shipping logs of miners and routes, It did check out, but it was odd that a defunct mining zone would request supplies, which feels odd if not out of place.

“What’s the status of the convoys?” Orda asked

“They’re being inspected as we speak,” the Acheronite soldier said, “Its nothing our skeleton crew can handle.”

Orda nods at the news, “Very well, soldier. Report anything strange to me if it shows up.”

The Acheronite replies with a “yes ma’am” before getting back to work. Orda at least felt that at least it wasn’t bad news to report to the Priestess. Though she couldn’t wrap her head around how a human convoy could give a squad the slip, especially when it’s the 25th Shadow Squadron, one of the elite recon groups. However, she tempered her doubts and went back to filing her report to the Priestess.

**********************************************************************

Back at the convoy loading pad, the two groups of ten soldiers were suited up and ready as Finley was ready to get the weapons locked and loaded. Meanwhile, Bit and Maria walked out, donning full Acheronite battle armor. Though Bit could pass himself off as an Acheronite in the armor (save for the tail part of the armor looking deflated (thus had to be removed to not give away that a Kiralin was in the armor. Maria didn’t have this problem with her armor; however, she did come off as a young Acheronte wearing armor that’s too big for her (though not that obvious.)

“This feels awkward..” Bit said through the helmet’s microphone. “having to pull the tail part of the armor inside in order to mask it. Hopefully, they won’t ask any questions.”

“You can always say you lost it in a battle?” Maria suggested, “Though it feels like it’s a little too big around me..”

“I don’t think the armor was tailored for kids,” Bit rebutted.
 Finley interrupted the two’s banter before saying, “Alright ladies, the tea party’s over. Now, I need you two ladies to scout ahead and find a security checkpoint.”

“Security checkpoint?” Bit asked

“There should be some security hub nearby. Usually, all cargo stations like this have a hub somewhere.” Finley explained
“Okay, so what about you two?” Bit asked Finley, “Highly doubt, they’ll be welcoming once they start searching for the missing groups.”

One of the drivers reassured Bit and Maria, “We’re going to be hiding low and away until you give us a signal.”
Maria looked at the group before she asked, “Signal? How would you want us to know that?”
 “hmm…that’s something you’ll have to find out yourself.” The driver said. Once that conversation was made, the two groups left theirs toward their own ways and destinations. Maria and Bit walk through a few streets of New Austin on their way to what their armor HUD reported was the destination of the closest security checkpoint. Bit was experiencing some discomfort as he was walking.

“Something wrong?” Maria asked

“The tail part of the armor is rubbing my inner leg,” Bit replied, his tone was hinted as he was trying to not let it bother him. “Just have to pretend it’s not going to be a problem.”

The female augment couldn’t help but chuckle as they walked toward the building. It looked like it was a moderately sized rectangular building with the words “New Austin Colonial Enforcement” on a metal sign near the entrance. Some pockmarks indicating some battle just happened not too long ago.  The two walked in and saw the main room was had several Acheronites walking about and filing reports. One of the commanding officers walked up to Maria and Bit, her armor was similar to theirs, but it had some emblem adornments on the armor’s chest plate indicated she was some high-ranking officer.

“Londors 9 and 15, why are you here? I thought you were sent to loading station four?” The officer asked
Maria, knowing Bit’s masculine voice, would give away their cover, spoke to the officer with a quick lie.”uh…we finished up the scan, and the cargo’s being moved.” Maria said, “We’re just reporting back here.”

“Why didn’t you just communicate via the commlink?” The officer asked

“Londors 15 here has a bad transmitter, so I had to get it repaired.” Maria lied again.

The officer looked at the two with disappointment, “fine..take 15 with you to the armory and get her transmitter fixed. I don’t know what you two did..but I’m disappointed in this malfunction.”

Maria and Bit began walking past the group of Acheronites and down a few halls until they were out of earshot and eyesight. Maria looked at Bit, “what a hardass.”

“What do you expect? Acheronite military isn’t really lax when it comes to some orders. Anyway..now that we’re in the den, where do we go?”

Maria looked at Bit, “What do you expect me to do?”

“Maybe find a place..if this is a security hub, what would be a better spot to go for?” Bit said
Maria began to think for a moment, “hmm…usually, these places would have a surveillance room.”

“They have all of New Austin surveilled?” Bit said

“Not all of the place, security hubs have certain areas surveilled. This station should be near our starting area. We need to find the room and send a signal to our guys that we got in.”
Bit assessed Maria’s plan, and he nodded in agreement, “Mmm..yes, that should work. Just lead the way, and we’ll take care of stuff once we’re done.”
 Maria nods, and the two depart their little hiding spot. They passed a few Acheronites as they looked for the surveillance center. Bit and Maria could hear some chatter from the soldiers either giving orders, chatting about current gossip and even complaining about the amenities in the annexed security center like the bathrooms. Eventually, the two made it toward the surveillance room. They saw four unarmored Acheronites in civilian clothing sitting at monitors and scanning the cameras. One of them turned away from the monitor to notice Bit and Maria in the room.
“Hey! Did Zeltla sent you to take over our shift?” she asked, “Our group was just finishing up our routine report.”
“Yeah..that’s what we were going to tell you. We’re taking over your shift,” Maria said, “Go get yourself some coffee or something.”

One of the Acheronites looked at Maria with confusion, “Coffee? What’s that?”
“it’s that bitter blackwater that tastes repugnant,” another Acheronite said

“oh..well, I might try that stuff while we’re on break.”

The group got up as the Acheronite said to the two, “Report any abnormalities to Zeltla.”
Bit and Maria quietly nodded at the Acheronite. Once she left the room, Maria turned to Bit as she clapped her hands, “That worked out in a way I wasn’t expecting!”

“For now, let’s hope our luck continues.” He looked at the terminals and monitors. “Hmm..so how do these work?”

Maria got to a terminal and began to look through the diagnostics, “Well, the Acheronites barely know how to work these things. A lot of security is set to default.”

Bit stared at the terminal as Maria did her magic, “So it’s that simple to work?”
“Unless it’s set to specific parameters, otherwise even someone like me who has no experience working this could crack the network like nothing,” Maria said. The augment continued her work until she had access to New Austin’s security network.

“And…bingo!” Maria smirked, “I’ve got access to the whole security network. Now we need to find Finley.”

******************************************************************************

Finley and the group moved through the alleyways of New Austin while keeping an eye out on any patrols. It was odd how the Acheronites could have the entire city locked down.

“So..what now?” One of the volunteers asked Finley

“We need to hope they know how to signal.” The African American replied, “I don’t want to be stuck in an area being outgunned…”

As he looked around, they didn’t know that there was a hidden camera in the area that spied on them. They heard a “psst” noise, a noise that nearly made the group jump as they turned around to notice the said camera. It looked like a camera covered by a dome.
“Hey, dumbass,” the voice said

Finley looked around in surprise, not by the voice but by its sound. He knew who said that and he also knew there was only one person who would call him that.
“Maria? Is that your voice, you little brat?” Finley asked sarcastically

“Does a salt wolf crap in the desert?” Maria replied back

He chuckled quietly, “So you and the Kiralin managed to get into the security hub, huh?”
“That’s right. Stupid Acheronites simply just reset a lot of the security to factory default,” Maria said, “Anyway, we got the security hub..so now what’s next?”

“Here’s the next part of the plan, and how you do it…” Finley began discussing the plan with Maria and Bit.

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Thursday Media Review: Animal Crossing the Movie

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: this review may contain spoilers to the movie.
Also, though I do link a fandub of the movie, I do strongly suggest ya support the franchise through buying their games. Pirates may be free, but creators and devs need that cash.

Happy Thursday, everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here.
A few weeks ago, ya boy here got his copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and has been playing it for a pretty long while (especially with the Stay at Home order). However, we’re not going to be talking about the game..yet. That’ll be for another time, for now, I got a question for you. Did you know that Animal Crossing had a movie released in 2006? Betcha you didn’t see that coming? Yes, it’s true the franchise had its first movie, made by Nintendo, OLM Inc, VAP, and distributed by Toho on December 6th, 2006. Animal Crossing the Movie (or by its movie title Dobutsu No Mori) is something not many people expected. So how is the movie? Well, let’s dive into this movie together. Lucky for us, I’ve watched a fandub version made by SillhouettedProductions, who put his heart and soul into this.

Our movie starts out inside of a Taxicab driven by Kappin’ as we’re introduced to our protagonist named Ai. She’s moving to the town of Animal Village and is all excited to live on her own. At Town Hall, she is introduced to Pelly and Mayor Tortmire (who is so worried about his upcoming election), Pelly informs Ai to meet Tom Nook, the shopkeep (and her landlord). Upon arriving at Nook’s Cranny, Tom Nook already puts her to work as “The quickest way to getting used to your life in Animal Village is working.”. Nook’s advice pays off as she meets Rosie, a blue cat, and Alfonzo, a sandy brown alligator who follows a ninja. She also meets Whitney, a snowy white wolf who seems calm but with a sharp tongue. She then stops by the Abel Sisters, and this is where we meet Ai’s BFF, Margie. She’s got a dream of wanting to be a fashion designer. Ai finishes her job and heads home, only to run into the ninja boy again. This time, he introduces himself as Yu, the neighboring boy from the other village who visits Animal Village to play with Alfonzo. Throughout the few days, she helps Tom Nook and starts to shape her house out nicely.

Though one day, she’s about to do a delivery for Apollo, an eagle villager. Yu comes out of nowhere and knocks her into the blue rose garden. This suddenly brings the attention of Mr. Resetti, the “Enforcer of Justice,” who enforces the rules in Animal Village. He takes it easy on Ai as they deduced that she didn’t do it on purpose. Ai wants to apologize to him, so Resetti points her to a place called the Roost. Ai heads there, only to get lost in the Animal Village Museum. Her screams attract the attention of the owl Blathers and his sister Celeste, who calm her down. Blathers starts blabbing about the fossils, to which Ai explains she was here to look for the Roost, to which Celeste points to her the way. Though she spots an empty Diplodocus display. Blathers explains that he hopes to one day find and display the fossil (all while blathering about the Diplodocus). Ai enters the Roost and accidentally mistakes Cesar(a Gorilla) and Cyrano (anteater) for Apollo. It was until the real Apollo (an eagle) walks into the Roost and calmly laments at someone destroying his rose garden. Ai delivers her package and admits that she was the one who did it. Apollo simply leaves, leaving Ai worried if Apollo hates her now.

While delivering supplies, she meets Margie again (who helps her) while the two discuss, Margie, makes a comment about she dreams of wanting people to wear her original inspired clothing designs, comparing it to her “cherry pie.” One night, after writing a letter to her mother, Ai spots a note in a bottle on the beach. Ai opens and reads the note, telling her that “Above the Pine forest, On the Eve of the Winter Festival, a miracle will occur.” Ai is so puzzled about it until she sees a strange object streaking across the sky.

We’re given a time skip to the Summer, everyone is enjoying their fun under the sun as Ai, Margie and Rosie watch Whitney walking down the beach. Rosie mentions that Whitney and Apollo were rumored to be dating a long time ago. Margie chastises her for spreading rumors while mentioning that Mabel would help find a store that would sell one of her best designs, though she feels she’s not that good. Ai reassures Margie that she needs to keep at it, and sooner or later, she’ll be enjoying her Cherry Pie in no time. A few minutes later, we see Yu and Alfonzo digging holes in the hunt for fossils. Leaving tons of holes and angering Mr. Resetti in the process. The two managed to evade Mr. Resetti’s tongue lashing. Ai finds another letter on the beach telling her to plant pine trees marked on a map. The next day, everyone is having a nice day as Pelly tells Ai and the girls that the town’s preparing for the fireworks festival and that K.K. Slider will be arriving. The trio spots Yu and Alfonzo digging for fossils, and they successfully fond an ammonite fossil. Rosie replied that she found a ton of those fossils in a cave. Yu, so eager to find the fossils, drags the girls along the journey (to the three’s annoyance). While their makeshift pirate ship nearly got battered, they found the cave and the ammonite fossils inside.

Yu and Alfonzo cheered at their bounty until Ai notices that the cave also has the fossilized remnants of a Diplodocus. Yu suddenly sees this and tries to get to the fossil, only for the group to escape a near cave in. Ai and Rosie hold a now distraught Yu from running back into the cave for the fossils with Margie telling Yu to listen to them.  After that adventure, the town is now prepped for the Fireworks Festival. Rosie is nervous that K.K. Slider hasn’t shown up yet while Ai notices Margie drawing a new design inspired by their fossil fun. K.K. Slider shows up, and as he asks the crowd for a request, Margie asks for him to play K.K. Bossa (a song from the A.C. game). While he sings, Ai has memories of what Margie told her. Once K.K. Finishes singing, everyone enjoys the festivities. Yu and Alfonso buy a “very rare” (though revealed not) Golden Slingshot from the shyster Crazy Redd. Ai, talking with Rosie and Margie, states she wants her own cherry pie (oh and Tortimire has a firework off his face while feeling reassured that his election is secured).After the festival, Ai writes to her mom and explains that she felt a bit jealous that Margie has a dream she can chase. She finishes writing her note as she reads the four letters she got, all related to the winter festival and miracle. She goes back to writing her letter, telling her mom that she doesn’t know what her cherry pie will be, but she can smell it in the oven.

. We’re given another time skip, this time in the cold autumn. Ai is seen running, as we’re given a brief flashback. Rosie asked Ai why she wasn’t at Margie’s going away party, to which Ai had no clue she was leaving. Rosie explained that Margie moved away in order to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. A distraught Ai cannot find Margie anywhere and is left distraught. Meanwhile, Yu and Alfonzo plan a pitfall prank on the town, trapping Cyrano and Cesar. However, their traps fail on Champ, the athletic monkey. Ai falls into one of these traps but is so saddened that she doesn’t seem to respond or anything. She heads to the Roost Café as it starts to rain, asking Brewster for a cup of coffee. Whitney notices Ai, then the song K.K. Bossa plays on the speakers. Ai gets a memory of her best friend as she starts to cry when Brewster asks if Margie is listening to this song. Whitney angrily argues that Ai shouldn’t cry that her friend moved and that a proper lady should be happy that her friend moved on. Ai states she wasn’t upset about her dream but was upset that Margie didn’t tell her she was moving. Whitney laughed and explains to our protagonist, telling them that she needed to believe in herself and that Margie and Ai’s friendship was already set and not shattered. Ai leaves the Roost with Whitney’s advice, all while Whitney talks to Brewster about how the bond between women are strong as they can be separated but their friendship will last, but a bond between a man and a woman is different as even when it’s a short time, it won’t be mended so easily.

Ai, feeling better, returns home and notices a famished walrus named Wendell. She invites him to his house so he can eat some food. Wendell discussed that when he gets hungry, he gets depressed, and thus when he’s depressed, he gets hungry. Ai then gets a letter from Pete, the pelican mailman, and is ecstatic that it’s from Margie. Wendell left while she got the letter, so Ai reads the letter. Margie wrote that she is sorry that she never told Ai as she didn’t want her to be upset. She leaves Ai a picture of herself with a note telling her its time to eat her Cherry Pie. Rosie arrives to check up on Ai, and she reads Margie’s letter all while a meteor shower is happening. Ai feels better and happy that Margie is happy with her dream, and that she’s got confidence. Our next time skip puts Animal Village in the powdery white winter. Everyone’s getting ready for the Winter Festival and preparing for the contest as Ai heads to the museum to study with Celeste. Resetti is puzzled over all these pine trees that showed up, while everyone is doing their best. Yu and Alfonso now hopping about in bunny outfits. Ai, while on her way to the museum, wonders if the miracle will happen as the winter festival lights turn on. Once at the museum, Celeste and Ai discuss the possibility of UFOs and which Ai wondered if the notes she found were a prank. Celeste reassures Ai that the thought of UFOs is becoming popular, which makes her excited.

Ai looks through a telescope and notices a UFO plummeting down and into Animal Village. Everyone in the village heads toward the crash site, all scared to get close to the UFO. Ai suggests they help it, while Yu and Alfonzo warn she might get zapped or chipped. The UFO opens up, and we are greeted by Gulliver, the pilot of the UFO. He explains that he needs his five spaceship parts in order to get back home. Everyone heads out to find the missing parts as Champ states he saw apart. Yu states he saw another part as well, so Ai follows behind him as their chase takes them back to the cave that caved in. Just as it was futile to moving the large boulder, the group is reunited with Margie, who is visiting the town on holiday. The rest enter the cave as they find the UFO part resting on top of the Diplodocus skeleton. Yu climbs the fossil (easier as winter hardened the rock) and is able to get the spaceship part though falls and is rescued by his friends (Rosie humorously leaves Alfonzo holding the bag as Yu falls on him). Yu is alright, though is disguise is knocked off as he compliments her for catching the spaceship part.

They return back to Gulliver with their part, and it’s revealed that Champ found the same one as well. It’s then revealed the part Ai found is an actual alien. Gulliver wondered if the object he bumped into was this creature. Ai helps the little guy get back to which the alien is healed and thanks Ai. Ai thanks Yu for his help as the UFOs ldepart, Whitney wonders if the aliens have their own village. The UFOs thank Ai by creating a constellation for her, everyone is at awe. Afterward, Ai meets Apollo, and he explains that he wasn’t mad over it while glad that the miracle happened. Ai wins the competition for her constellation, and Tortimer wins the election by voting for himself. Gulliver leaves and thanks to the villagers, all while wondering why he left. As Gulliver left, he lamented his plan in creating a large landing pad was for bust as it attracted real aliens.

Ai writes to her mom about how she feels she’s an honorary member of Animal Village…
 During the Credits, we get to see what happens after the Winter Festival. Tom Nook opens up his new shop Nook N’ Go, Blathers with the help of Mr. Resetti is able to secure the Diplodocus skeleton and now displays it in the town museum, Rosie is ecstatic over a new outfit as Ai and Apollo now are good friends. Whitney finds a bouquet of blue roses and Margie is inspired from what happened at the Winter Festival and Ai is happy, wondering what life will bring her. With that, our movie is officially over

What made the movie shine

The anime has a pretty cute slice of life basis, a good change of pace if you want an anime that’s got some heartwarming stuff that isn’t something made by Disney (not knocking on them). The main characters that are shown have some personality that gives them something unique than their video game counterparts. For example, Margie’s character mentions her dream of being a fashion designer or how Tortimire obsesses over his mayoral election. For an animated movie, it went out of their way for their characters. Another thing that’s likable is the music, which is actually redone for the movie, especially with K.K. Bossa (which actually has lyrics for something that in-game is just musical furniture for your virtual house). Lastly, this is just a nod to the fandubbers, but they did a pretty good job with the work and doing their best to capture the personality of the characters from the game. Also, the series is based on Wild World, the D.S. Animal Crossing game. Most game-based things would try and be more original, but making a nod of a game that was released not too long ago

What the movie pitfalls in

Though the movie itself is awesome, it does have some issues. One such is the main focus on just a few characters, Ai, Yu, Alfonso, Rosie, and Margie. There was something interesting about characters like Whitney, Cyrano, Cesar, and Apollo. They didn’t get much screentime, heck Hopper, the penguin in the movie who existed as a gag for fishing, seemed to have more screentime than most of the cast. Some are just passing by or just a one-time view that’s a “blink, and you’ll miss it” for characters like Dr. Shrunk or even Katie. Lastly, the fandub may have been a great attempt, but there are moments the audio buzzes, and some parts may not feel as professional, but it’s good.

Conclusion

 In short, the anime (including the fandub) is a nice adaptation of the Animal Crossing series. It’s a shame the series was never released to the U.S., nor was any plans of a sequel being made in the future. If you’re a fan of Animal Crossing, I would suggest you watch this movie either from the Veoh links here or somewhere easier. Other than that, I enjoy this movie.

References

No Mumbles Today

Heya, it’s ya boy, Choujin

No mumble’s today, since everybody’s already having to swallow enough negativity with Covid-19, but the good news is that Thursday and Friday will have some special things to perk up some special fun things for you all.

Until then, keep yourself safe and don’t forget to wash your hands

Sunday(was suppose to be Friday) Fan-Work

Note:Again, I apologize for the very late posting

Evening and Happy Sunday. It’s your boy, Choujin here.

Guess what? Another Chapter of Slayer of Foultongues! So If you want to catch up, you can either catch up from last week’s story or you can start all the way from the beginning.

Last time on Slayer of Foultongues….

An Acheronite recon team arrived at the small outpost Bit was in, investigating the cause of the missing patrol that our Kiralin killed. Finley and a small band of Terrans led a surprise attack on the Acheronite patrol with Bit killing the captain. Knowing that more will come, the town decided to pack up and flee to an abandoned mining station known as Smuggler’s Gorge. Meanwhile, the Achronite Priestess grew distressed and angered over news that a small group of humans caused enough issues with their forces. She ordered her commander, the Amazon named Orda, to squelch this resistance. After an ambush from the Acheronite air squadron while in Satan’s Badlands, the group managed to evade the group through a sandstorm. Though they suffered losses, the Terrans made it to Smuggler’s Gorge.

And now the Conclusion….

Slayer of Foultongues: Chapter 3

Written by TheChoujinVirus

The night on Bindi X brought out some much-needed peace and quiet for the time being. Bit volunteered for the night shift. The sounds of the wind blowing through the gorge calmly while there’s the sound of some people chattering and moving about. It wasn’t like the bar back at the small town the Kiralin first arrived to. He then blinked before turning toward the sound of someone walking toward him.

“Doin’ the night shift hm?” Said Finley “the night’s pretty quiet.”

Bit nods “It is..though I’ve seen some critters moving about here. I never expected Bindi X to have life.”

Finn laughed at Bit’s statement. It was a surprise to see an alien confused at the fauna of a world, especially on mining worlds.

“Oh then you’ve never seen a desert wolf or plague doctor.” Finley said “those things can surprise any tourist here. Especially plague doctors.”

The kiralin looked puzzled at Finley, “plague doctor? You mean like those old terran doctors during your dark age?”

“I wish,” Finley said “plague doctors are eight legged crustaceans that behave like parasites. They feed on electricity, and latch themselves to some critters here in order to feed off their ‘biolectricity’ or something. Hell, them eggheads say strange stuff. All I know is that these little bastards like to get themselves into machinery.”

“Thanks for the tip..I’ll have to watch for those ‘plague doctors’ “ Bit said.

Finley nodded quietly before offering his flask of alcohol for Bit. The Kiralin quietly turned down the offer, Finley simply just scoffed and replied “I thought you wouldn’t mind human drinks.”

Finley then walked away from Bit, finding the Kiralin wasn’t in the mood to drink. Bit simply went back his watch, staring out onto the sky to ensure no Acheronite ships were about. The night sky billowed like a blanket of twinkling stars, distant nebulas and everything that makes the boring night watch into a canvas. For Bit, it was something that made him feel a tad twang of homesickness.

Morning arrived, the stars in the sky vanishing as the sun rose. The liveliness of the convoy camp bustled to life as people gathered to pick up their morning rations, water and preparing what would be their everyday lives in a state of probable war. The Kiralin was taking some much-needed sleep after his night shift. However, he would be woken up by Maria as she tosses him his breakfast, which was a rectangle shaped bar of grain and powdered protein.

“Thanks,” He said to Maria

“No problem, the stuff’s not breakfast but it can hit the spot when needed,” Maria said

She sat adjacent to Bit, her lizard tail wagged like a puppy while she eating her breakfast. The Kiralin chuckled at the sight.

“Do you always wag when you’re happy like some terran canine?” He asked

An embarrassing blush crept on her face as her tail stopped wagging followed by her face turning into a scowl.

“No! And if you bring that up with Finley, I’ll shove a plague doctor down your pants,” replied Maria indignantly.

Bit simply cocked his right eyebrow in confusion, “Hey settle down, I wasn’t trying to be rude. I just never seen a lizard wag their tail.”

“Well I don’t and I only do that when I’m happy or nervous.”

The Kiralin just took a bite out of the breakfast bar as his eyes gaze over at Finley and two other terran townsfolk heading over toward a large congregation of other townsfolk. Whatever they were doing it attracted Bit’s curiosity. He got up from his spot and headed toward the group as Maria watched him.

“hey, where are you going?” she asked

Bit didn’t give a reply as he was more interested in what was going on than Maria’s question. She huffed angrily as she yelled back “If you tell Finley, your ass is plaster!”


The large congregation of people were made up of some of townsfolk that were discussing strategies on fighting the Acheronite occupation in New Austin.

“-around several of them,” One townsfolk said, “Unlike the recon group that attacked the town and our convoy, it seems to be where most of their forces are amassed besides the Mother Lode.”

The barkeep nods as he asks the person, “What about the rail network? Can’t we use them?”

The townsperson shook his head, “The main one is held at New Austin and it’s the only network that’s tied between there and Alamo base”

Bit arrived just when he heard the name of the base.
“Alamo base? What’s that place?”

“It’s the federation’s outpost that oversees law enforcement and security for Bindi X,” said the barkeep “When the Acheronites arrived, they ambushed the base after securing the Mother Lode.”

Finley, who was standing to the right of bit, looked at the barkeep upon hearing that news, “Goes to show how well the Federation really cares about their colonies.”

Finley’s statement was mixed as some agreed with his statement while others just looked at him angrily like he just said something sour to their ears.

“Either way we need to retake New Austin from those she-devils, Finley,” said the barkeep.

one of the female townsfolk spoke up, “How can we fight against them? We didn’t bring any weapons with us save for pistols and rifles, not enough to retake a town.”

“There’s a weapon locker we found that had some weapons in excellent condition.” Finley said

“Well Finley, that’s the first good news I’ve heard,” Said the barkeep. He then turned to the group, “Alright, we’ll need some volunteers for this plan to work.”

Finley rose his hand, “I’m in.”

Several others nodded and announced they wanted to be part of this attack. The rest turned toward Bit, wondering what their alien hero will say.

Bit stared at the group then said, “I’m already marked by the Acheronites for death and you guys might need someone to ensure you come back alive. I’m in as well.”


“Alright, now that we have the volunteers, we need to discuss the plan and what to do next…” The barkeep and the volunteers got together and began to discuss the next part of their plan. It would involve placing the volunteers into one of the convoy transports and take them into New Austin for a surprise attack on the Acheronites occupying the area. Bit brought up a good question, “So how do we get close? We got hit by the Acheronites the last time.”

“I know,” Finley replied “Those acheronites have air superiority, we’ll have to improvise our way against those fighters.”

“With what?” Bit asked

Finley showed two large shoulder mountable weapons, “why these of course.”

Bit looked at the weapons and asked Finley “What are these?”

“Pegasus Anti-Fighter rocket launchers”, Finley said “Only found two of these with limited rounds. I thought that pistol of yours could hit them like the APC.”

“I never could hit fast moving targets like a fighters,” Bit said.

Bit heard Finley laughing hard after he made that statement.

“hoo boy..you can’t hit a fighter?”

Bit remained quiet before the Barkeep yelled out, “Finley! Stop standing there! Get the weapons loaded on the convoys”.

Finley got to work before muttering about how it wasn’t allowed to poke fun at their Kiralin companion. He then turned to Bit and said “Don’t take that personal, Finley can be a bit of an ass when he finds someone’s flaws.”

Bit shrugged “He never had to shoot at something moving faster than he can track. Though I’m glad about the rocket launchers he found. They’ll come in handy against them.”

Bit then looked at the barkeep and realized he never asked his name, “Oh..I never got your name.”

“You can call me Murphy,” the barkeep said “It’s alright, usually wasn’t expecting us to go to war anyway.”

Bit chuckled at that statement, since the both of them had to agree on that statement. He then headed toward the convoys, lending his aid loading up supplies and weapons for the convoy. While he did that, Murphy began gathering more volunteers for their attack. Out the whole camp, a group of twenty were selected. One of the twenty people chosen happened to be Maria, as she didn’t want to sit at the camp with the rest of the town. Once the essentials were loaded, the twenty volunteers split up into two groups of ten and placed into each convoy, they departed Smuggler’s Gorge.

******************************************************************************

The 25th Acheronite Air Division were on a routine patrol of Satan’s Pass as they continue to look for the resistance that fled. They had no clue about Smuggler’s Gorge let alone their plan to take out New Austin.

One of the pilots requested a private channel with the squad leader,

“Shadow Two to Shadow Leader, Private channel set.”

“Private channel go ahead.”

“Are you sure we’ll find them here? We’ve checked for several hours and we found nothing of their base or where they’re rallying,” The pilot said

“Shadow Two, they could be hiding in some cave or desert hole. Terrans or not, they’re not much of a threat- Hold it.” She looked at her radar as she saw two blips on the radar.

“Shadow Leader to all members, seems we got movement on the pass. Remember to not engage the enemy until they fire back or if given the order.”

The first three fighters moved into formation as they began to get in closer. One of the convoy drivers notified the group via a commlink.

“heads up, the bugs are buzzing us.” One of the drivers said.

“Guess they’re scouting us.” Bit replied.

Then the radio sprung to life as they could hear the voice of the Acheronite squad leader, she sounded like someone who had some authority but also some veteran combat to it.

“Unknown convoy, this is Ulanja of the Shadow Wings, Identify yourselves.”

The convoy driver replied with a quick lie, “uh..Shadow Wing, this is Convoy Zero-Two-Two-Niner, we’re just transporting miners from Mining region Zero One to New Austin.”

Ulanja’s tone shifed to a puzzled look, “Uh… Convoy 0229, where were you taking the group to?”

“New Austin, for maintenance and supplies” repeated the Convoy driver.

One of the pilots began to active her fighter’s scanners in order to verify the claim of the pilot. They could detect people in the two convoys, but when it came to supplies, they only saw the crates holding up weapons. The radio silence was making some of the guys unnerved.

“This isn’t going to work…they’ll figure it out.” Finley stated to Bit

“It may be, Finley but the chance is worth it. If we can sneak right through them,” Bit said “Killing them in the open will just alert their friends that we’re coming.”

Eventually, the radio silence was broken by the Shadow Wing leader.

“Convoy 0229, you’re cleared for your transport, we’ll escort you to the designated loading and unloading. Deviation from this course will be met with force.”

Bit looked relieved as he turned to Finley, “see? It worked.”

“Though now we got them following us to New Austin. That’s not a good thing to have either way,” Finley rebutted.

Bit remained quiet while the convoy drivers did their job and drove, being led by one of the Acheronite fighters flying overhead to ensure there was no deviation.

       One of the pilots informed Ulanja via a private channel, informing the leader on something odd that she noticed.

“Shadow Five to Shadow Leader, remember that scan we did on them?” the pilot asked

“Yeah?” Udanja said

“well..besides the twenty workers, I’ve picked up some anomalies with the cargo.”

Ulanja looked puzzled, “Shadow Five, that’s the supply crates. They stated their purpose, and the scanners would have picked up anything off like weapons.”

The pilot then stated, “True, but the scanners stated no conclusive anything. No weapons, no cargo..it’s like they’re there but we cannot pick up what’s inside the crates.”

“sounds alarming,” Ulanja said “send request from New Austin for a scanning team, we’ll double check to make sure our radar isn’t being jammed or something in the air.”

“Our scanners have been having trouble with this planet for a while,” the pilot said. “The last squad accidentally hit a convoy that fled into a sandstorm..”

“I’ll inform our engineers about the issue, but it shouldn’t be a problem in the future,” Ulanja said.


Back down on the ground, One of the convoy pilots on a private channel began chatting with the group on their second part of the plan.

“Well theres some good news and bad. The good news is that our lie worked and they’re not shooting at us, the bad news is that they’ll find out about our attack unless we do something.”

“So what now? Comply and let them blow the surprise?” said Finley sarcastically.

Bit remained quiet as he noticed one of the weapon cache lids popped open, everyone turned around to notice what just happened. Maria, the lizard augment, managed to stow herself in the crate. Once she realized she was out of the box, she turned toward the group in the transport and replied sheepishly.

“uh..hey guys?”

slayer-of-foultongues-ch.-3Download

Thursday Media Review: Cells at Work!

written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: This review may contain spoilers to the series, do not read if you don’t want to be spoiled. Also sorry for the late release of this review
Introduction of Cells At Work! (English Dub)

Happy Thursday, it’s ya boy, Choujin here.

Well, with all this talk about Covid-19 and how everyone’s worried has gotten me watching an anime-themed around the human body. I’m sure everyone’s heard of shows, TVs, movies that tell this story in animated form. Though we’re not talking about Osmosis Jones (or its Tv spin-off Ozzy and Drix), we’re talking about a series that started out as a manga in 2015 and was made into an anime on July 2018 (and released on Netflix and Crunchyroll by Animeplex) known as Hataraku Saibō or by its English translation Cells at Work! So what is this anime about? Let’s dive into this exciting piece of infotainment.

Characters+Story

Cells at Work! It takes place inside an unnamed human body and that every cell in the human body has a job to do in it. The entire focus of the series focuses on two characters: A Red Blood cell named AE3803 and a White Blood cell named U-1146 as they do their everyday job. AE3803’s job as a red blood cell is to deliver nutrients and oxygen to cells while moving Carbon Dioxide out of it. U-1146’s job is simply killing filthy germs and viruses that threaten the body. Throughout the episodes, these two run into each other during some moments, such as when bacteria invade through a scrape wound, the body suffering dehydration and sometimes random occurrences. Throughout the story, they are greeted by a cast of various other cells such as the Gung-Ho and militaristic T Cells, the maternal maid Macrophage, and the oh so adorable hard-working Platelets. Though as the cells work each other, they have to deal with dangerous invading bacteria such as the evil Staphylococcus, Pneumococcus, and sometimes the harmless Cedar Pollen Allergens. However, they may have to deal with something far worse than those such as a dreaded Cancer Cell. Sounds pretty dangerous, but it’s more or less the everyday life of Cells at Work and that they’re only doing their job by working hard to keeping you healthy from filthy germs and viruses all while ensuring every cell inside gets their fresh supply of oxygen.

Cellular Greatness: What made the Anime good?

One thing I liked about the anime is how the show is more than just an anime, but what some call “infotainment,” which means the show entertains and informs. Though you do get to see the misadventures of cells, there are parts of the anime to explain certain things. In one example, the 2nd episode titled “Scrape Wound,” we are introduced to the Platelets and explained (in a humorous way) in how they help mend wounds (while also being briefed by the villains) or having brief explanations of the cells that make up the Human body. I never knew that Macrophages are cleaner cells or that there’s a cell known as a Mast Cell that produces histamine or that there is a white blood cell that specialized in killing parasites called an Eosinophil. Another thing that makes the series likable is how the anime portrays cells with specific jobs and appearances. Red Blood Cells are portrayed as delivery people who carry boxes of O2 or nutrients ala house delivery to cells. White Blood Cells like the T Cell division are militaristic police who go in and fight cells or bacteria. The Macrophages (and their monocyte counterparts) are viewed as the cleanup crew (Monocytes viewed as hazmat cleaners and Macrophages as maids with huge weapons), the platelets are viewed as children with a knack for repair and construction while regular cells are viewed as just normal people. Bacteria and viruses are also portrayed in this series as invasive viral monsters that don’t look human. Some like Pneumococcus and Staphylococcus are human enough but alien enough to be viewed as your typical anime villains, and others like Bacteria are viewed as monstrous abominations. Interestingly, the only ones not portrayed as anime villains would-be parasites, as they’re true to their real-world counterpart. Lastly, some of the stories are pretty heartwarming, and some occurrences can be dark. Two examples of this are episodes 6 and 7, which introduce us to our main villain, the Cancer Cell. Usually, we all know cancer is bad, but in this two-part episode, he is portrayed as a victim of being a “copy error” while angered that he knows his fate is to die or kill the body. Very unusual to portray a dangerous issue as a sympathetic villain. The next one is the final episode, “Hemorrhagic Shock.” Just as our main rookie blood cell is now a veteran teaching a new red blood cell, the body suffers a fatal head injury. Both cells try their best as more of their brethren disappear as the body starts to die out. The new rookie blood cell starts to break down as they feel that it’s impossible, to which our now veteran cell tries to deliver all by herself and nearly fails until the body gets a blood transfusion and is able to recover. The anime has some impressive details, but we’ll get to some issues.

Cystic Failure: What the series falters in.

Though the anime does have some good portrayals of characters, some characters seem to be pushed on the wayside and not mentioned much. Though we get to see the Killer T Cells (alongside Helper T and Regulatory T), we rarely get to see the NK Cell (Natural Killer Cell), who only appeared in 2 episodes involving cancer, and that’s it. No mention of her or anything. Others like Basilophil are seen once and never mentioned while Eosinophil is mentioned a few times and never seen at work. There are also some cells in the body that I feel are ignored (like nerve cells, brain cells, and even fat cells) as well as other things in the body that happen. Some are mentioned in the manga, but in the anime not mentioned at all. Another gripe is that the season is pretty short, only up to 13 episodes. That’s pretty short for some seasons of anime and, to me, makes the series pretty short with only a few threatening episodes (Dehydration, Cancer, and Hemorrhagic Shock). Otherwise, most of it involves either just bacterial invasions or just a routine day. I mean, the stuff our bodies go through, I’m surprised they don’t mention other problems. One annoyance I also find is that with the English Dub of the series (not knocking on the voice talent thank you very much) but on how most of the series doesn’t bother translating the information boxes (small segments that explain either what causes the cell or describes the cell) while relying on solely on just the person telling you instead of telling and describing. It just feels a bit lazy if you still have Japanese words or no English subs for some segments.

Conclusion

In an age of cell themed cartoons, Cells at Work entertains while informs people with tidbits of facts. It may take liberty on how they portray cells and how the body works, but that’s what makes the series pretty impressive. Though I did criticize the series of being short with only 13 episodes, it’s been confirmed that the anime is getting renewed for a 2nd season coming this summer. If this is the case, I can’t wait to see more of what will happen to our body and other things. If you’re locked in due to Covid-19 and want to watch or imagine what your body does during this thing. Cells At Work is something that helps you pass the time. So look on Netflix or Crunchyroll if you’re interested for watching the series, and keep an eye out in the summer for that 2nd season.

References

Tuesday Mumble Special: Sudden Changes and Isolation

Written by TheChoujinVirus
Note: This is based on my own opinion. So don’t take this too personal if it hits too hard at home.

Hello, it’s ya boy, Choujin here.

Today’s one hell of a change, isn’t it? Classes are cancelled, some stores are closed, events are ground to a halt and some people are now either massively distanced or even locked in because of COVID-19.
It’s a pain in the ass for your boy, and for some people out there like in San Francisco where they’re all locked in. What can someone do with sudden changes? What can one do? Well, let ya boy give you some tips and advice.

First off, when it comes to life changes, sometimes its stuff that’s beyond one’s control. COVID-19 and the shutdowns its causing is something one can’t stop. However, there is ways youc an plan around this and thus minimize the outcome. For example, your boy’s college classes have been cancelled and moved online so i’m doing that online as well as my blog stuff. It’s a bit more flexible and thus easier to do my studying and work. For entertainment, that can be no problem as you have things like Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ or other streaming services to keep you entertained (Lucky for your boy he has some stuff to keep him entertained.) that stuff isn’t much of a worry but i’m sure there’s more things that can cause problems.

The more severe things are tied to work and school. With some schools closed, parents have to take care of their children. Some have to make some adjustments as their kids stay home while they have to go to work. Speaking of work, some places have shut down to avoid spreading the virus such as either total shutdown or working with a small crew. Ya boy’s grandmother told him that a local McDonald’s had a long drive-thru line as they closed their kitchen (and some places have done changes too). Best to avoid going out often and stock up on essentials (and not hoard like that one jerk who hoarded sanitizes).

The last thing that people may feel with this is hopelessness, but people need to know that this isn’t the end of the world and that by a few months, we’ll be back to normal. We’re not going to enter a societal collapse, but best listen to your medical experts and state government to know what’s going on. Other than that, all the best one can do is try and adjust with what you got.

So when it comes to what’s going on, it’s best to just try your best and not let the negativity get to you.
With that, ya boy wishes you all stay safe.
and don’t worry, this Corona Virus wont’ affect me posting my blogs, so stay tuned as we’ll ride this out together.

Friday Fan-Work

Happy Friday, it’s ya boy Choujin, the guy who writes, writes and never lets up.
Today’s another fan-work friday and now we’re sharing Chapter 2 of my Slayer of Foultongues story.
If you want to see the story, click here to see the last chapter .

Last time on Slayer of Foultongues…
Bit, A Kiralin wanderer, found himself on Bindi X due to an Acheronite Blockade. He intervenes to save Maria, a Lizard Augment from a band of Acheronites that were after her. However, the Acheronites sent small group of their troops to find out what happened to the group. Suddenly Finely and a group of terrans took this as a chance to attack the Acheronite group, leading Bit into a current situation.

And Now the Conclusion

Slayer of Foultongues: Chapter 2

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Bit ran to cover as the town erupted into chaos with Acheronites and townsfolk in an all-out war. The Kiralin firing shots at the acheronites from his cover, felling two attackers but missing the others as they took cover too. Maria was taking shots from the same shelter Bit was at as she fires with a rifle she picked up from one of the townsfolk killed in battle. Finley, still on the upper floor of a nearby building, used one of his grenades and threw it at a group of Acheronites hiding in an alleyway. Finley’s smirks as he watches that group flee the projectile all while getting picked off by Maria and her cohorts. Maria notices that Bit has stopped firing his gun.

 “Why did you stop firing now?” the lizard augment yelled, weapon fire making it hard for her to speak.

Bit replied back, yelling like Maria “I need to reload my gun and I’m looking for their leader.” He scanned the battlefield from behind his cover as he noticed the APC in the area. Positioned to where it was serving as a makeshift barrier for some of the soldiers while blocking off the road out of town.

Inside, the leader of the attack group was furious at the degrading situation as she told the soldiers “Gah! These blasted humans! How can one Kiralin embolden them so easily?!”
“We need to call for reinforcements,” one of the soldiers informed.
“Better yet, use this vehicle’s main weapon,” the leader stated.
They obeyed their order as they activated the APC’s cannon.

Meanwhile, back outside, Bit noticed the APC and asked Maria “What is that vehicle?”

“It’s a Terran Federation Armored Personnel Carrier, Bulldog class,” a townsperson said from an adjacent cover near Bit, “It’s armored to repel small arms fire and armed with a Gorgon class anti-barricade cannon.”

 “Armored huh?” Bit stated but was forced from his cover by Maria as the Acheronites fired the cannon. Their cover reduced to blown pieces of metal and stone, surprising the Kiralin gunman of what power that cannon has. He quickly ran for new cover as he turned to his gun.

“Piercing shot.”
 

The gun began to make some clicking noises as Bit started opening fire on the vehicle. Maria and another townsfolk saw the bullets punch a hole through the interior of the occupied APC. One of them felled, struck her in the head while the other crippled by a shot in the shoulder. The Leader quickly took control of the APC’s cannon as Bit aimed again. He fired again as the bullet left his gun in a brilliant flash, flying through the air like a silent angel of death and entering below the hinge of the Gorgon cannon before striking the leader through her neck. Her panicked motions caused one of her arms to brush up against the vehicle’s controls. The Acheronites using the vehicle as cover found that their cover was moving away from then then crashing into one of the buildings.

The remaining Acheronites were either routed or retreated to safety; Bit sighed as Maria looked at him with surprise and amusement.
“Damn, you took down an APC. Those things are heavily armored to hell, how did you make short work of it.”
“I’m just as surprised myself,” Bit explained “It shouldn’t have happened, but…even a cockroach can still die.
Finley, who was behind Bit and Maria, said to the two, “There’s no way that gun of yours could have done that…”

“It can,” Bit said

“Well, do you think they’ll learn of our uprising??” Maria asked.

“Probably,” Finley replied “Acheronites aren’t the kind to fold upon one fight”

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

News of this sudden uprising spread to the orbiting Acheronite Cruiser, the Vigilance. Orda, a tall and powerful class of Acheronite known as an Amazon, was on her way toward the quarters of their leader, the one overseeing the occupation of Bindi X. Her silver and bronze armor served as much as a badge of honor among the Acheronite Soldiers as they saluted or moved out of her way. She arrived at her destination: which was a large room resembling an exotic zen garden. An acheronite with large dragon-like wings, two sets of arms and dressed in a billowing robe would be meditating in this sanctuary.

“What do you have to report, Orda?” the robed acheronite looked at the Amazon at the entrance
 “Our troops retreated out of sector Ortega nine.” Orda reported.
“Is that possible? I thought we had control of the planet? How can we be having trouble?”
 “We’re enduring small pockets of resistance, but it shouldn’t be any-,” Orda said. The robed Acheronite then interrupts her.

“Small pockets?” the robed Acheronite said. “Orda, I gave specific orders for you to ensure the troops kept this planet under control.”

“Yes, Priestess, but-“
Orda saw the robed Acheronite stand up and heading toward her with fury and anger.

“How can we save them if we can’t control these…jii’alks!” The priestess fumed.

“We’re on it..but we believe they’ve been motivated…by a Kiralin” the Amazon explained, “They reported he took down three soldiers and was able to defeat Field Captain Esvesta….”

The Priestess looked at Orda with concern, “A Kiralin? Here? I thought they were staying out of our war with the Terrans?”

“It seems so, but…” Orda looked down.

“But what?”

“one of the soldiers reported that he had some unique firearm on him,” Orda stated.

“a gun?” The Priestess’s face grew confused “just one weapon?”

“yes, Priestess,” Orda stated.

She looked at her Amazon companion then headed toward the door out of the Zen Garden, “Inform my mother that we need more reinforcements, and call an old friend of mine…”
 “Yes, Priestess,” Orda said.

The amazon politely bowed before leaving the priestess alone. Said priestess began to rest her fingers under her jaw, pondering about as she wondered about the firearm. She only heard rumors, but this may confirm something her people wanted.

——————————————————————————————————————————————
 Night crept upon the now battered town as the townsfolk began to rally at the sizeable local building most refer to the “Community Center.” The Center was filled to the brim as everyone started to contemplate about the inevitable.
“…you know they’ll be coming down here with greater numbers.”

“What do we do?”

“Should we run or fight?”
Bit quietly watched the whole ordeal unfold as the barkeep yelled: “SHUT UP!” Like obedient dogs, everyone turned and quietly listened to the barkeep.

“Now, I know what happened was something of a surprise. We managed to chase those Acheronites out of the area. However, we know that they won’t be beaten that easily. They will be back, with greater numbers. They’ll keep coming here until we’re overrun should we stay and fight”

“So what do we do?” Maria asked, “Where do we run or flee to?”

“We’ll head to Neo Austin,” Finley said. On cue, the group looked at the African American like he was crazy as hell.

“are you nuts?! That place is under total control by the Acheronites!” one person stated.

“You’re proposing we go marching into enemy lines and expect them to give mercy?”, a female townsperson yelled at Finn.

“It’s better than heading to the Mother Lode Quarry, where they have their best troops there. Also, we got our savior over there.”
Finley motioned to Bit, who remained quiet but stoic as he felt dragged into this conflict.

“Hey now! I’m no soldier,” Bit stated to the group “I was dragged into this conflict, alright! I’m not here for your rebellion or such.”

“What!? You’re going to leave us here!” Maria said shocked.

Finley looked at Bit and replied “You might not have been, but you killed their squad leader and pushed back their attackers. They won’t tolerate this little turn of events and will go out of their way to kill you.”

“and getting off-world is impossible thanks to their ships in orbit,” The barkeep said.

Bit hated to admit this, but Finley was right. He did kill three soldiers and took out their squad leader. He was more or less a dead man, but he would ask Finley a question “So what is your plan? It seems everyone’s terrified of Neo Austin.”

 “The Acheronites occupy it, but most of them are soldiers and their wet nurses. Nothing out of the ordinary in that area”, Finley stated.

“but what about the people? What are you going to do?” Bit asked.

“We’ll start a caravan,” Finley stated.

“A convoy?! We’ll be sitting ducks!” one villager said in fear.

“They’re right” Bit agreed “These people aren’t soldiers.”

The barkeep stepped up, “Why not Smuggler’s Gorge?”

“Smuggler’s Gorge?” Bit asked.

“It’s an area out of the way. Small enough that most people don’t know exists. It’ll be a perfect place for the civilians to hide.”

Bit was amazed that the people knew their planet, as he was just an alien (no pun intended) to this world.

“Smart girl,” Finley complimented “and I know some of the guys here who are willing to fight.”
 The group agreed as they looked at Finley then back at Bit over the situation on what to do next.

“So when do we move?” Bit asked Finley.

Finley cracked a smile at the Kiralin, “We started yesterday.”
 

Everyone began to start packing essentials aboard large vehicles resembling hover freight trucks. Civilians were quickly gathering their belongings, weapons, and essentials from whatever they can as several volunteers armed with firearms keep an eye out for the group to ensure the Acheronites weren’t arriving.

Bit watched, studying how these humans, despite all their odds, are helping each other. He heard stories as a child about the tale of early humans and how their “warlike nature.” To him, he was surprised about their communal nature in helping their own.
If it weren’t for the current situation, he would have asked Finley more about humanity more academically and casually. However, he turned toward Maria, who was getting her hover bike revved and ready with a question on his mind.

“Care to explain more about Smuggler’s Gorge?”, Bit asked.

“Just an old mining area,” Maria said, “when the mining colony was in the initial phases of setting up, Smuggler’s Gorge was the first mining area. Then when we discovered the Mother Lode, the place more or less became a place teens and the degenerate hang out.”
 

Bit listened and nodded quietly to Maria’s story; he never knew that a human teenager’s hangout spot would be survival for these people. Once the last of the supplies were packed, and the last person got on, the convoy left their small town. Should the Acheronites arrive at this area, they would only find a deserted ghost town devoid of life. By the next day, the convoy stopped in an arid cracked desert-like badlands nicknamed Satan’s Nook due to the harshness of the area. The drivers needed a break as well as the townsfolk, as they need to stretch, eat and tend other needs. Bit was with the heavily built African-American human on lookout duty. Both kept an eye out to ensure no Acheronite patrols found the convoy. As Bit was cleaning his weapon, Finley started a conversation with the Kiralin.

“In all my years here on Bindi X, I’ve never seen a weapon like yours,” Finley said, admiring Bit’s weapon, “What company manufactured it? Razzo Arms? Hugo? Kami-Tek?”

The Kiralin replied back, “It’s neither Rissan, Human or third party made. Manufactured back on the homeworld.” Bit then continued to show off his gun to Finley but keeping the gun safely in his hand as he continued to explain the gun.

“She’s a Mjolnir Magnum, a Class VI weapon by Division 9 standards. Multiple firing capabilities, the perfect all-around handgun for your Kiralin soldier. Also comes with a built-in security system that will burn a thief’s hand off should they steal it. Durable enough to withstand any abuse thrown at it.”

Finley looked dumbfounded at Bit’s description of his gun, “Shoot, what can’t that thing do? Make French fries?”
 “It can’t create complex explosives like bombs or grenades,” Bit stated, “but I heard that some third-party manufacturer had modified some makeshift mine dispenser for the gun.”
“Interesting,” Finley said. Their conversation had to end as the human noticed something on the horizon.
“Aw, crap!” Finley cursed, “looks like they’re on the move.”

Bit noticed as well, “We best get the caravan moving then.”

With that, the two of headed back to the caravan and notified the group. Some protested as they didn’t get the chance to relax enough.
“We have to go? But my kid needs to use the bathroom!”
“Some of us are still hungry!”

“Listen! Finley stated that the Acheronites are patrolling so we need to get moving!” the barkeep stated. He was more or less the head of the private caravan for the time being. With enough prodding, the convoy continued on its way to Smuggler’s Gorge.

The small Acheronite scouting force was scouting about the area, providing the recon against any resistance. One of them spotted the convoy on the horizon and reported to her superiors via commlink.

“Recon to 25th, enemy convoy detected,” she said.
 On cue, a group of 3 alien fighters with insect-like wings began flying over the recon squad and headed toward the convoy.
“Be advised, current status on enemy is unknown. Do not open fire unless needed”, said another pilot.

Bit, riding backseat on the hovercycle Maria was riding as one of the Acheronite fighters buzzed the convoy . Maria nearly caused the bike to tumble due to the shock while one of the drivers of the convoy also panicked.

“Shit! They found us!” he yelled on the radio. Bit looked up as the fighters turning back toward the convoy.

“25th to recon, confirm enemy convoy may have armed escorts.” The pilot said on the radio, “proceeding with attack run.”

 The fighters opened fire and took out one of the convoy vehicles, flying debris smashing into another one as Finley’s voice is heard on the raido.
“Damnit! We don’t have any means of killing their air superiority! Bit, find a way of fixing the issue.”
 
“Can’t do that” The Kiralin replied, “The Magnum’s not equipped to deal with moving armored targets.”

“Great, we’re sitting ducks out here!”

The lizard augment noticed a raging sandstorm in the distance, “Hey! Let’s head in there.”

“Are you crazy? That sandstorm will flay us alive,” Bit said in concern.
 
“That’s the point,” Maria reassured, “Those Acheronites would be crazy enough to try it.”

The convoy made a B-line right into the sandstorm, all while the three fighters picked off another convoy transport. Once they got inside, the fighters had no choice but to back out and retreat. Inside the sandstorm, Bit felt the sheer winds whipping his face hard. He has never had to deal with sandstorms, especially ones on Bindi X.

“Any convoys lost?” Finley asked on the radio.

“we lost three to them..” The Barkeep said, “One of the convoys had children.”

“Damnit! Are we near Smuggler’s Gorge?” Finley asked.

“Should be a good mile and a half until we get there,” said the barkeep, “Once there, we shouldn’t have any problems whatsoever.”
Bit overheard the conversation the best he could and realized that they were not expecting that level of an ambush.

 Eventually, they would arrive at an old, abandoned mining quarry. Bit looked around as the convoys began to unload the survivors and supplies. Everyone was doing a headcount of who was here, and some were giving condolences to those lost. Bit was curious at what was going on as he asked Maria.
“You humans are an odd lot. I’ve never understood why you would risk everything to resettle here, especially after what just happened.”

“We have something aliens like the Acheronites don’t have or understand: The Human Will to fight,” Maria boasted before snorting in laughter, “That’s what Finley would say, but I’m as clueless as you are.”

Bit remained quiet as Maria headed out to help unload the supplies. All he did was look up to the sky, ensuring the Acheronites didn’t follow them.
“Air Support….shit.,” he said to himself “It’ll be difficult to deal with them

**************************

Back at Satan’s Nook, the scout force that intercepted the area began to inspect the wreckage of the convoy. The lot of them mortified at their discovery.

“Children?! There were Children here?!” an Acheronite scout growled.

“The reports claimed the same forces from quadrant Ortega. The Pilots reported that this was a military convoy before they retreated into the sandstorm,” the second scout explained.

“Orda’s getting blind if we’re shooting children,” The first scout angrily stated “I want to know who ordered the attack?!”

“I agree, but I feel that our priestess is becoming weird and obsessed as of late. As though she’s becoming mad,” The other scout spoke, “Her madness is not going well with troop morale or order-“

Her partner hushed her “shhh! What would Orda or our superiors hear you?! They won’t tolerate this.”

The second scout sighed as she started to feel this was becoming more than just an occupation.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

Nighttime crept up to Smuggler’s Gorge, as the remaining survivors managed to set up for the time being. The Civilians were either doing some basic drills or chatting with each other. Finley headed to Maria with a flask of alcohol.

“Here,” he offered Maria, “I’m sure you need it.”
Maria, too young to drink alcohol, decided it was the only time she could get the chance. Taking a quick swig, she nearly spat out the alcohol.

“Gah! This drink tastes like piss!” she complained to Finley
“Welcome to the world of alcohol, missy,” Finley replied, “Though I thought you augments had a stronger taste.”

“I’m part lizard you black douchebag! My taste buds are much more sensitive than others,” Maria replied, “It’s like snorting beer up your nows.”

“Well then, sorry princess,” Finley apologized before heading back toward a different group. Bit was watching the whole thing as he asked Maria.

“Not a beer drinker?”

“I don’t mind beer, just Finley’s shit tastes like piss,” Maria replied

“I see…” Bit stated.
“Why? Do they have beer in your world?” Maria asked

“on Alderyr? Never really did drink the stuff, I assumed all earthborn love to drink it,” Bit explained
“Hey! I’m no earthborn augment, got it?” Maria scolded Bit “I’m a Frontier born girl, not a Federation one.”
Bit only smirked, “I can see why the barkeep keeps your attitude in check.”

“Yeah well…sometimes I got a mouth, and the old guys gotta keep me from snapping off at people. We’re at war with the Acheronites; we got a Kiralin who happens to arrive on Bindi X while the Federation fleet is probably fighting near the border of Federation Space. Of course, I have to have that stubborn attitude. ”

“Sounds harsh,” Bit interjected
“Hey, we’re on our own here. Until we can retake our home, we’re stuck with what we got,” Maria replied back. “That’s what we have.”

“we?” Bit looked puzzled
“us! Humanity! We have a never give up attitude that got us out of 3 world wars, several conflicts, colonization and outright survival. We never say die, and we never stop,” Maria continued.

Bit nodded as he then began to ask several questions about humans as a whole and what they did. Not all Kiralins learned about human history and how it led to the rise of the Terran Federation. It was a respite for the time being for another event to happen.

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