Chapter 287. Friends and 486 Horses.
“He’s got that zoned out look again. I think Rico just got back from a summoning,” one of the privates in the group I had been training back home said as I found myself exactly where I had been when the summoning for the arena challenge had snatched me away.
“Yeah, sorry, I need a minute. That was a long one for me,” I replied.
“Take your time Rico. For us, it’s just been a few seconds, how long were you actually gone?” Major Finley asked.
“I can’t say for sure, probably over a month, it was an arena challenge,” I replied, trying to remember if we’d gone over those yet. None of these soldiers were going to be summoned beings, so my focus when talking about Somhagen was to go over things that would be applicable to the threats and opportunities that we’d face after integration.
“What kind of challenge was it?” one of the soldiers, a corporal named Ellis, asked.
“It was different, I was put in command of a small tribe of kobolds, and had to grow their empire before an apocalypse wiped us out. Everything was system generated, and the competitors were ranked on how long they survived. I ranked 96/2432,” I explained.
“Not bad, did you get any rewards?” Corporal Ellis asked.
“Oh yeah, some good stuff for my class, and 1,000 gold that I left behind to spend in the city,” I explained.
“Dude, a thousand gold, how much is that in dollars?” one of the privates asked excitedly.
“Depends on the weight of the coin and if they’re pure gold or some kind of alloy. Google the price per ounce and you’ll have an estimate,” Finley explained to the soldiers.
“Woah, over a million dollars, and you left it behind?” the private asked, looking at his phone. That earned him a death glare from the Major since there were supposed to be no phones during their training sessions. I was sure the private was going to be in for a bad time later after training was over.
“Yeah, I don’t need much in the way of funds here, and the stuff I can buy in Somhagen might save some lives when the integration happens,” I explained.
“Let’s break early for the day. Rico will have reports to write and I’m sure command will want to hear of his latest adventures,” Finley explained.
“Thanks, but as long as you have someplace for me to work, I can get on the reports here. I can summon some of my minions for your soldiers to train with if you like. I’d hate to see us lose half a day of training,” I offered.
“Perfect. Summon away, and we’ll do some room clearing in the hangar if you can order your minions to hide and pretend to strike if they get the drop on us,” Finley requested. It was a good plan, so I summoned the drone first. His stealth ability would raise the difficulty for the troops. I also called in Blieek to give them a more basic opponent. It was easy enough to order my minions to not cause any harm, which should keep this whole exercise a bloodless affair.
Finley found me a small, vacant office in the gym we were using. I’d already made a habit of bringing the laptop that Refuge had provided for me. Typing up my report, I made sure to mention a few things that I thought might be important. Mainly, I wanted to offer Fitzfazzle’s services to help them with any tech they wanted to experiment with. In return, he’d get a peek at what we’d managed to create without mana.
I also sent a text to Agent Lopez, because if they wanted to work with my gnomish friend, the sooner they did so, the better. It was unlikely that I’d be summoned for another series for a bit, since I’d just gotten back. If they dilly-dallied and I was summoned before they got all they wanted out of Fitzfazzle, it would be quite a while before I could call on him again.
Just as I was finishing up the report, my phone rang.
“Rico, it’s Lopez. I’ve checked with command, and they want you to summon the gnome for us. This Fitzfazzle could be key to several projects we're working on, and in return, I have authority to give him free reign to inspect our technology,” Lopez advised.
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“Great, I’ll summon him now. I promised to show him around a bit, so your folks can’t hog all his time here on Earth,” I replied.
“Don’t worry about it, we want to pick his brain, but we don’t want to burn any bridges for potential future visits. I’ve got a team boarding a flight now and should touch down at the base you’re on around 7pm. We’ll go over some preliminary information, then cut him loose for the night so you can show him the town.
I do need to let you know that Fitzfazzle will be given a rather large security detail. The minute he arrives, he’s a VIP for us, and I don’t want anything to happen to him,” Lopez explained.
“Got it, I’ll call him now, but you need to be flexible with his schedule. I’m not going to force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do,” I said.
“Don’t worry, we won’t burn any bridges with him,” Lopez tried to assure me. So far, he hadn’t steered me wrong, so I believed he’d do what he promised to do with Fitzfazzle. We ended the call, and Lopez said he’d try to make it to where I was in Los Alamitos before the team arrived.
“Major Finley, I just spoke with Agent Lopez, and he wants me to summon my friend Fitzfazzle,” I said after tracking the major down in the hangars they were using for their training exercise against my minions.
“No worries, Rico, I just got a call from my superiors, letting me know this guy you’re summoning is to have a protection detail while on post. The platoon we’re training with are hitting the armory to get live ammo issued. I doubt we’ll have any issues, but I’m not going to risk it and have my boys unarmed if some system shenanigans start up,” Finley said.
With that, I pulled out the figurine for Fitzfazzle and summoned my friend. Nothing happened at first and Finley asked if it was a dud. I explained to him that Fitzfazzle would have a bit of time to respond to the summoning and was likely gathering up some gear in case I was bringing him in to help with a threat.
“Rico, what’s going on?” Fitzfazzle said as he stepped out of the swirling blue summoning portal that opened inside the hangar. He was armored in chain and leather, with an oversized pack on his back. He was also lugging around two heavy duffel bags in each hand. Fitzfazzle might be short, but his system enhanced stats, and countless hours working on his contraptions had made him strong.
“No threats this time, buddy. I’ve brought you to my world. I thought you might want to check out how we live with no mana, and I was hoping that some of our scientists and techs can work with you on a few projects we’re experimenting with. The integration of my world into the system is happening soon, and I want to make sure we’re ready for the chaos,” I explained.
“Oh, excellent, I’ve been curious about your world, ever since you explained what you’ve accomplished without any mana,” Fitzfazzle said, dropping his duffel bags down before clapping me on the back as I introduced him to Major Finley and the soldiers I was working with.
At that moment, one of the reserve pilots getting some hours in on a Blackhawk, flew past the open hangar door. Fitzfazzle’s jaw dropped, and he ran to the doorway to watch the chopper hover, then land at the other end of the runway.
“How do you keep that in the air without mana? It was hovering, not gliding, and that noise it made was intriguing,” Fitzfazzle asked.
“Hold up, Mr. Fitzfazzle, we can’t have you go out there just yet. I don’t know if Rico explained it to you, but humans are the only intelligent species on the planet, and a gnome is someone from our myth and folklore. Even though these are military personnel, we can’t risk news of you getting out just yet,” Finley explained, waving for Fitzfazzle to get back inside the hangar where he would be out of view of the flightline.
“Don’t worry, Fitzfazzle, I’ll see that we arrange a trip on one of the helicopters as well as some of our other aircraft while you’re here,” I added.
“Fine, but I want more than a ride, I want to be able to take one apart and see how it works,” Fitzfazzle said, his hands absently drifting toward the various tools he had stashed away on his person.
“Sir, I think I may have something for Mr. Fitzfazzle to do while we wait. He might like to check out my Mustang,” Corporal Ellis said with a car enthusiast’s pride.
“Horses aren’t really my thing, but I can appreciate a good steed as much as the next gnome. Also, no need to be formal with me lad, just Fitzfazzle is fine, we’re not real big on titles where I’m from,” Fitzfazzle said.
“Go ahead and fetch the Mustang, Corporal,” Finely said, sending Ellis running to wherever they had their personal vehicles parked.
“I think you’re going to find that this kind of mustang is something you’d be very interested in, Fitzfazzle,” I said as we waited.
Less than a minute later, Major Finley received a call from one of the MPs. Apparently, Ellis driving his personal vehicle onto the airfield was a big no-no, but a short conversation with Finley put a stop to any delays.
We heard the growl of the Mustang’s V8 engine before we saw it appear in the hangar opening. Ellis pulled the car inside and revved the engine loudly to Fitzfazzle’s delight. I thought I saw the gnome wipe a bit of drool off his beard as he approached the vehicle.
“This is like no horse I’ve ever seen,” Fitzfazzle said absently as he ran his hand over the still warm hood of the sleek car.
“No, Fitzfazzle, that’s not like any horse, but it does have the power of 486 horses under the hood. Good old American muscle right there,” Ellis said with pride as he popped the hood and showed Fitzfazzle how to raise it.
My gnomish friend immediately lost interest in me and anything else, leaning over the engine compartment as he shot forth a steady stream of questions at Corporal Ellis, who, to his credit, was able to answer most of. I no longer had any concerns that we could keep Fitzfazzle occupied until the rest of the team arrived.