"I call the city council meeting to order. Council herald, report."

"I'm sorry to report a bit of a problem."

"Explain."

"After the resounding success of the "Fish and Ships" restaurant from the retired Kaiju, we've been receiving some rather odd requests."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like this one. It's a restaurant catering to Dark caster types. The gimmick is that it has "no atmosphere."

"That doesn't sound bad. I imagine they will cater to a younger clientele, dingy lights, muffled conversations, that sort of thing?"

"Ah no... by no atmosphere, it's literally referring to a lack of atmosphere. They're requesting to build a vacuum space in the city."

"That sounds like an implosion waiting to happen."

"That's why it's a bit of a problem sir."

--City Council Meeting, Incursion City. AC 1126.

----------------------------------------

Days begin to meld, and then pass in a blur. I have nightmares about a giant lobster with a stupid hat on. X's and O's crowd my brain, wedge formations, file formations, observation points, rally points, fields of fire, calling for fire, moving screens, operations orders, troop leading procedures, just more and more crowding into my brain.

I'm struggling to keep up, and it seems like I'm not the only one. One evening, a couple of days in, I lift my weary eyes from my field manual and look at Luna. She's lying on her back, holding the manual above her body. With an idle thought I realize that I don't think she's turned the page in ten minutes at least. I walk over to her and plop onto the floor.

My brain feels like mush, and I wave a weary claw and ask her,

"So... how do you think you're doing with all of this?"

Luna quietly responds, "I'm not sure if I'm studying or just staring blankly at the page."

I nod in commiseration. I seem to be having the same trouble.

She drops the book to her side, and it flops onto the floor as she says,

"I don't know Crabby. None of it's hard, but it's just so much information! And it's so fast! A couple of days ago we were talking about troop movements and then we were talking about order of battle and today? Today the Professor was talking about disembarkation!!"

She springs to her feet with a sudden lurch, grabbing my claws. She begins gently shaking me, growing a little manic as she says,

"I've never even heard of that word!"

The shaking slows as she seems to stare off into the distance muttering to herself,

"Disembarkation..."

I snip a claw to get her attention.

*snip*

"Hey! Hey! Stay with me Luna! We got this." I pick up the book she had dropped, flipping towards the end. As she seems to come back to awareness, I point a claw at what I had discovered earlier.

"See? There's a glossary here. Disembarkation... is the process of leaving or removing goods from a ship or aircraft."

She seems to get a little bit of life back in her limbs as I read before she throws her limbs up into the water.

"Aircraft? Aircraft!!! We're at the bottom of the ocean for Wisdom's sake! How does that even work?"

I shift awkwardly, not sure how to respond. I'm just glad that she seems to be a bit more motivated. As she calms down, her tone becomes thoughtful.

"I didn't even think about looking for a glossary."

At her speech, I look to the other team members. Mina is humming to herself off in a corner. Wilhelm is saying nonsense words in a random pattern and the two brothers appear to be playing some kind of card game.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It seems we're all struggling in our own way, and as I try to figure out a method to help, an image comes to mind. Earlier, when we first started running, all out of sync with the angry lobster yelling at us. And then, our success when we figured it out. There's only one thing I know for certain.

We're stronger together than when we're alone.

I grab Luna and pull her to the center of our sleeping area. I raise my claws and slam them against each other. The sharp *crack* brings everyone's attention to me.

I'm nervous but I manage to force it down as I raise my voice,

"Gather around everyone!"

The brothers Bill looks askance at each other before stashing their cards in a compartment that opens up in their shell. Mina stops humming and Wilhelm stops blurting nonsense words before I'm suddenly faced with the tired and bleary faces of my team members.

I didn't come into this with a good plan, but now I need to push through. You got this Crabby!

"Alright everyone. This past week has been rough on us, I think."

Billy mumbles out loud, "Has it been a week? I thought it was only a few days?"

Before conversation begins to break out, I raise my voice a little louder to interrupt him,

"I've struggled as well, in fact I..."

A snort interrupts me, Mina speaking out,

"You've struggled? You don't have to practice mana-ups on top of trying to learn all of this! I don't want to hear..."

Luna chimes in,

"Hey! That's not fair! He may have that part figured out, but he was hurt earlier as well! It hasn't been easy for any of us!"

Mina chokes off her words, spitting them out as she says,

"Oh yeah! Well maybe he wouldn't have been hurt if he wasn't trying to cheat at running!"

Luna raises her arms, and I can tell she's raring for a fight. This isn't how I planned this going at all. It seems the thin bonds we've formed are already beginning to fray. I struggle to figure out a way to defuse the two of them when Wilhelm yells,

"ENOUGH!"

His words break us from the tense situation, and I see a red color begin to fade from his skin. He almost went into a rage there. He grumbles,

"Let's hear what the crab has to say."

I clear my throat, and nod towards Wilhelm. No need to look a gift fish in the mouth.

"Like I was saying, it's been tough on everyone. This is a lot of information. When I was talking with Luna it seems she was unaware of the glossary in the back of the manual. I showed it to her, and I'd like to think it helped."

Luna nods an arm in acknowledgment.

"I think we all have ways of studying and memorizing information, I thought if we all worked together it could maybe help some of us."

Mina looks down, thoughtful at the idea. The brothers Bill glance at each other and Wilhelm stays stoic and silent.

My heart begins to fall in my shell as no one steps up to share. As the silence grows and it becomes more awkward Luna swims forward. If possible, she seems more nervous than I was. As she twists her arms in tension, she finally manages to find her voice,

She squeaks,

"Uhm... hi everyone! I'm Luna, and I'm a Cavalry Scout."

*silence*

Yep... this is even worse than before. Mina comes in with a save though, replying

"Hi Luna!"

Everyone's eyes turn to Mina. Before it gets weird again, I mirror her reply.

"Hi Luna!"

The brothers Bill and Wilhelm chime in,

"Hi Luna!"

Our responses seem to give her some confidence. She says,

"So, what's been helping me is I scan the text, looking for keywords and then marking them. See?"

She breaks out her book and shows the faint score marks she's made underneath the words. She continues,

"And then when I review or need to reference something, it helps me find it faster. Uhm... that's it I guess?"

She steps back and returns to my side. Mina swims forward. Her tone seems to have regained her prior cheer. I'm not too sure about everything bards can do but I suspect forced cheer might be a class option. She says,

"Hi everyone! I'm Mina and I'm a cavalry scout!"

Alright, I guess we're going with this format then? It's working, so I'm going to let it be for now. I think we all need some practice at this speaking and presenting thing. A chorus of,

"Hi Mina!" rings out amongst us.

Turns out, Mina's been making songs about the stuff she's trying to remember. Wilhelm is next, he simply says,

"PACE, SALUTE, RFI."

I'm the first to respond. "What?"

He says, "PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. SALUTE stands for Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment. RFI is Request For Information." He looks around at us before continuing, "I have a bunch of others I made too."

Finally, Bill and Billy step forth. Hatches and containers open up in their shells, and they start pulling what looks to be entire stacks of small cards. One of them steps forward.

"We created a game called, Army: The Assemblage. It's pretty easy. Each card has a specific cost represented on the top right that you're able to play on the field when you have the mana for it...."

They begin to ramble on for about the rules for about ten minutes before I finally wave a claw at them. "This is really great guys, but how is this helping you remember the material?"

One of them lifts a claw, "Oh! That's easy! See this card? It is called Medical Evacuation! The flavor text has the steps for it in real life. But you can only play it if you're down a third of your life points and are combat ineffective."

They both beam at us in pride and I examine the card he's holding. Its.... surprisingly well made. It has a picture on it and everything. I... don't know if I'm going to learn how to play, but I could see this helping everyone.

Billy keeps rambling on, "Yeah, and I was thinking of a Corrupted Expansion you know? We've only been able to make like two hundred cards so far and we're running out of things to use from the field manual."

I wave him off saying, "This is great, no really guys."

The others crowd around the brothers, taking a look at the bright cards they've made. As the excitement dies down, I look to my fellow soldiers. We’re all tired, and I think Mina snapping earlier was an expression of how weary we all are. This collaboration seems to have given everyone hope though and I say, "Well, I think we've all managed to learn new ways of figuring this out? Maybe this will help us memorize and learn this information faster?"

A small weight that I could hardly feel is lifted from my shell as I see the renewed enthusiasm from the group. They're nodding and breaking into teams and small groups to compare and contrast what everyone has made so far. As I shake myself from my thoughts and start planning my own study, a shiver races through my shell. The lights begin to dim, and I try to figure out the reason. I don’t think it’s time for sleep yet?

I realize everyone else is frozen and staring behind me. I turn, slowly and discover that I’m face to face with Drill Sergeant Lee. How did he sneak up like this? I shiver... has he been here the whole time? He slowly leans in even closer and whispers, at a volume only I can hear.

"Good Job Private Crabby."

Startling me, he jerks straight up and yells at everyone else.

"Alright Privates! I think the Professor has been too easy on you all! Since you think you've got it down, you have... two days of self-study! Then... well then, you'll get to test it in the field! There's a newbie mission that's just been posted and I've reserved it for you. Succeed and this will be your final training exercise!"

My heart pounds in my shell. Final training exercise? So soon?

He continues,

"I know this may seem soon but remember. This training lasts as long or as short as I say it does. And frankly... well, you all aren't complete wastes of space."

As I try to figure out if that was a complement or not, he yells,

"GOT IT!!"

My claw jerk response kicks in, "Yes Drill Sergeant!"

He nods and then turns to leave. As the door closes behind him, we all hear his last words ominously say,

"See you in two days Privates."

My stomach clenches as I turn to the others. I'm not sure if my face is mirroring the shock they're showing, but regardless...

We have a mission to get ready for.