Field Training Part 2

1439 hours, 25 June 0145…

The groups were separated into a different path of the abandoned sugar factory for hunting their chosen Infectoid to hunt. This time, me and Joshua were inside this rusted machinery room, where most of these machineries and equipment in this factory are barely working currently.

Me and Joshua are standing and facing each other for a small chat, before doing the mission.

"So you already know the drill and you know what you're getting into," he said in a serious tone.

"Yes, Taken-Ki is a powerful Infectoid that can crush us easily with Greatsword, and his bulky steely body," I replied straightforwardly.

However, Joshua crossed his arms and shook his head in disappointment.

"That's not what I meant. What I mean is, you should never let your guard down when fighting against that Infectoid, or else you're dead meat," he replied.

"Don't you realize how many trainees you've been sacrificed previously during your year as a trainer?" I replied to him back.

Joshua was infuriated with my reply, drew his gun and pointed it in front of my face.

"What kind of place do you think this is? And didn't you realize you did the same thing as you've mentioned before?" he continued with a glare as he clenched his grip toward his gun.

I stood silent to prevent myself from angering any further. After a few seconds, Joshua's anger cooled down, and he's putting his gun back into his holster.

"Sorry that I'm easily irritated this time. But you gotta know the primary goal is to stay alive during this mission," he continued again.

"Moreover, is to never let your guard down and always helping each other during the mission," I added.

"Exactly. That's why you should know better when becoming the leader of your squadron," he replied straightforwardly.

"We don't have enough time to waste. Let's start the hunt!" he continued as he walked away from this place.

"Let's go!" I replied as I nodded and following his lead.

With no further ado, me and Joshua walk out of this machinery room and on our way to hunt Taken-Ki.

***

It's been 11 minutes since we've tried to find Taken-Ki through the radar that operator Vladimir given us before the mission. This time, both of us are walking through the large and dark corridor to find any sign of Taken-Ki's existence through Joshua's hologram watch that shows the map of this abandoned sugar factory. Unfortunately, Taken-Ki didn't even existed in front of our eyes. Right where we're standing.

"Wait, how the heck he didn't even in here? Isn't the radar supposed to show that he's right in here?" He asked when he's seeing his Hologram Watch that's showing the map of this abandoned sugar factory. And there's the dot that shows where Taken-Ki is. Unfortunately, he wasn't there when we're reaching that pinpoint. And then, I assumed.

"He must put some fake signal to bait us into his trap,"

"Yeah, it could be. Looks like we have to find him again in somewhere else," He replied while turning off his watch hologram and about to leave this place.

When I make a first step, I looked at the rusted floor and saw some footsteps that I alleged to be Taken-Ki's footstep.

"Wait, I saw his footsteps right on this floor," I said while crouching and inspecting Taken-Ki's footstep further.

"Where?" He asked while turning back.

"Right here," I replied while pointing the Taken-Ki's footsteps right at the rusty floors.

He approached my back, crouching, and turning on his flashlight through his hologram watch to inspect the footsteps of any further.

He squinted his eyes when he'd inspect at the footsteps that I alleged it were Taken-Ki's footstep. He's wiping his left fingers to inspect the dirt in Taken-Ki's footstep. And then, he asked me back.

"Are you sure this is really Taken-Ki's footsteps and not anyone else?"

"Well, it's obvious. Look at the size of it," I replied while pointing out the size of the footsteps we're inspecting. It was huge when it compared with my right foot.

"Oh, I see. This might be our perfect chance to find him," he said while standing up.

And then, I said to him, while pointing out where the footsteps were going through.

"It's keep going right through that large dark corridor. And by looking at the map, it's going through the northernmost of this map,"

"It seems like we have to spend another hour just to finding and hunting down that Infectoid. Let's follow in the footsteps instead," He said while walking through the large dark corridor to continue the journey.

I replied by nodding my head once and following his lead. Wasting no seconds, me and Joshua continued to find Taken-Ki, even though it meant crossing the limit of this map.

***

10 minutes later…

It's been 10 minutes since we're walking in the wide, long, and dark corridor where there're barely any lights to lighten up this place. Until both of us decided to use our high-tech flashlight that could lighten up the whole corridor in just one click. And this time, we're walking in the lightened-up corridor while having a chit-chat to reduce our boredom on this journey.

"By the way, Joshua. Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" He asked back.

"Do you know the person called Sergeant Adipati?" I asked again.

"Yes? What's wrong with that?" he responded.

"Wait, you know that guy?" I asked him back, slightly surprised. And then, he explained.

"Of course, I am. I'm his asset after all for finding a top secret information that the Government has guarded from being exposing of their corrupt practices,"

"Oh, I see," I nodded in understanding after hearing his explanation. Suddenly, he stopped for a second, looked back at me, and asked me.

"What's wrong with that?" And that causes me to stop for a second too, to respond to his question.

"I've met him in the next door infirmary room last week," I answered.

"What did he do to you?"

"Oh nothing. We're just have a chit-chat about shit tons of information that I'm not sure I can spit it out all of them. Considering all of his information is really hard to tell,"

"Then, spit it out.," After that, I explained what happened last week.

"Alright. He gave me his flash disk that's contain 'Truth' information,"

"A flash disk and truth information? Like, what is it?" He asked while raising his right eyebrow curiously.

"I find there're 3 'Truth' information that I found interesting," I answered straightforwardly. Joshua's curiosity about the 'Truth' information is increasing. And then, he asked me back.

"Like what is it?" After that, I answered.

"The truth and lies of Chan-Tzui massacre, Cleanser squadron's hidden motives, and Crescent Masterplan,"

"Oh, interesting..." Joshua nodded and raised his eyebrows in understanding.

"What do you find out about that?" He asked me back. And then, I did a long explanation.

"First of foremost, the Chan-Tzui massacre that's committed by the Imperial Daganese army was a lie. Although the Imperial Daganese Army committed tons of atrocity during the 3rd Galean Great War in before Humans arrived at this planet in the late Transgressian age. What they did comprises of: mass killing, genocide, dictatorship, forced labor, rapes, human trafficking, property vandalism, and so on. Yet, the 23rd Prime Minister Jin Kageyama shamelessly being honest that his regime and his country is a dictatorship regime that'll punish everyone heavily whenever his peoples or territories that are under his control, even if it's his underlings or his family. So, what's the deal with Chan-Tzui massacre that's alleged to be an utter lie? One of his spies called Sana Kugimiya reported that tons of Qinchaenese People Army disguising as Imperial Daganese Army and committing a genocide in their country before putting Dagan into a blame," After that, I continued while both of us walking through this dark corridor.

"As you already know, the history. Dagan lost the war because Qinchae created 3 ICBMs that launched into Dagan's industrial cities, called Togamichi, Kadamura, and Rokurama. And that's resulted Dagan's shameful defeat that they didn't dare to create any military powerhouse, or else Qinchae will destroy their country and did the same as what Dagan did to them previously,"

"However, this is not the first time Dagan did the atrocities toward Qinchae. It's been a historical battle since the 1st and 2nd Galean Great War where Dagan and Qinchae are battling each other for resources, territory, and military powerhouse. Despite that, both Daganese and Qinchaenese armies did tons of atrocity toward each of their country's citizens," I continued.

"Ok… interesting," he said while nodding. Furthermore, I continued.

"Second, the Cleanser Squadron committed a massive scam through charity. And they're using the charity moneys for their Authonoid development. And it's rumored that the Cleanser Squadron's Authonoids has a far superior performance than most of the Authonoid on this entire planet. Although Minerva's Authonoids still considered top of the notch, Cleanser Squadron's Authonoids performance could overthrow Minerva's Authonoids,"

"For what reason the Cleanser Squadron did this?" He asked.

"Money. Because without money, you barely get any recognition or some power to control something," I answered straightforwardly.

"Everything that Cleanser Squadron did nowadays is for money, their political playbook, and their territorial control. Even in San Martino's biggest city, like in Saint Rocano, Grande Maria, and Capriccio, had a strict surveillance system that'll punish you heavily whenever you're doing some wrong things. And even they're executing the person who refuses or doesn't give a charity toward Cleanser Squadron's charity boxes,"

"Ok, interesting… Then, what about the Crescent Masterplan?" He asked me back. And then, I answered.

"It's rumored that the founder of Crescent, Ivanov, had a hidden motif when founding Crescent. He's backed by the Dominator, the globalist organization in Galea. How does it work is like, Dominator told Ivanov to do what Dominator wanted to do. And then, Ivanov will tell the rest of the Crescent member to do what Ivanov told Dominator to do. And after that, Crescent will commit the action Ivanov told them to do, while Dominator is backing them up by giving them some supplies, and weaponry illegally.," Joshua just nodded in understanding when hearing my explanation about the 'Truth' information.

"So, let's just say. Dominator backed all Crescent agendas by doing some rioting, looting, vandalism, and even mass killing.," He stays silent when hearing my explanation and just nodded.

Joshua might be the dead-serious type of guy that won't dare to shoot your face whenever you're bugging him. However, he's not an entirely scary person when you're having a chit-chat or asking something of him. Every time you're talking about something, he's listening and paying attention.

Because he's a tech-engineer Authonoid, who's also responsible for developing Authonoid conversions, together with his younger brother, Jonah, the head of the tech-engineer at Minerva. And as a tech-engineer, he's always done tons of research to gain his knowledge even more by talking to each other.

Suddenly, a creepy roar is echoing through this dark corridor. And that gives me a chill, and is slightly startled.

*HRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH*

"Somebody had killed some monster right there, and it doesn't look like our friends doing,"

"Hmm, it must be Taken-Ki. It looks like we're getting closer to him," Said Joshua while squinting his eyes, looking at that corridor intersection.

"Yes, that's what I thought to myself," I said to him. Suddenly, Joshua dragged me into the wall gap to hide from something.

"Shhh, hide!" He whispers to me while turning off his flashlight.

"What's going on?" I asked while turning off my flashlight, too.

Suddenly, a giant iron feet stomping sound is echoing through this dark corridor. And then, Taken-Ki showing himself passing through the intersection of this corridor while carrying a Greatsword which is smeared with monster blood.

"That must be Taken-Ki, right?" I asked while peeking through this wall gap.

"Exactly!" He replied while nodding.

"Should we follow his lead?" I asked him back.

"Not yet. We have to wait until the perfect time to sneak behind from his tail,"

"Why would we just sit back in here, if we're ended up losing his sight in a second?" I complained to him.

"Ugh, fine! Your call, Black Vulture leader. Just make sure both of us don't get spotted!"

"Ok, let's go,"

When both of us sneaking and chasing down Taken-Ki in this dark corridor, we get a call in a sudden from our friends Scott and Axel through our comms channel.

"What the hell? Why do Scott and Axel call us in this situation?" Joshua asked.

"We have no other choice but to answer it," I replied while answering Scott and Axel's calls.

"What's wrong? We're sneaking behind Taken-Ki," Joshua asked through his comms channel, whispering.

"WHAT? YOU'RE IN HIS TAIL?! What is he doing in there?" Scott asked in surprise, and that makes both of us slightly startled at how loudmouthed Scott is.

"I swear to god that I'm going to pop your fucking head after that," He replied to him in frustration.

"By the way, did you guys spotted Kotaro yet?" I asked both of them. And then, Axel replied.

"Not yet. But, we're spotted some wall scars that's alleged to be Kotaro's doing. And it seems like we're closer to him,"

"Well, good luck with your hunt today, guys," I said to all of them. When I was about to close the comms channel, Scott said to me in a sudden.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't forget to give me Taken-Ki Greatsword shard, will you? Because I need to upgrade my weapon so badly.," I sighed in frustration, and then I replied to him.

"Whatever you want, Scott,"

"Thanks!" He said in excitement. After that, both of us closed our comms channel and continued tailing Taken-Ki by sneaking.

"You already know how pain in the ass is dealing with a guy like Scott, isn't it?" I asked Joshua.

"Yeah, sort of," he replied straightforwardly.

After that, both of us continued sneaking through this dark corridor, and tailing Taken-Ki to slay that Infectoid from behind.