It had been the day after Marlo completed the mission given to him and he was in Budokan Village where he saved those people from the corrupt marines extorting them. He was helping them hunt and farm as he noticed a squad of 5 marines were peaking around the forest. “Why the hell are they here? I would take them out here and now, but I don’t think that is the best course of action. I didn’t hear any canons coming from the ship so they must have entered from another side. Hmmm, I must go check on the village.” Marlo began to run through the forest at top speeds until he got to the cusp of getting out, he stopped and hid behind a tree as he seen marines lining the people of the village up. There were at least 15 people in line already, some kids and women while others were men. The kids were shedding tears and crying, the only way the marines sought to calm them down was hitting them in the back of the head with the stock of their bolt rifle. Marlo began to go for his katana, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to take them all out at once so, he knew he had to get help for these people.

His eyes grew wide when he seen the Marine Lieutenant that he plunged his sword in with crutches and talking to two other marines, they must have been discussing them because it seems they had been interrogating some men and women of the village. “O-oh no, what have I done. I must go tell the captain, this is the only way I can aid these people and get them out of the position that they are in now.” Marlo backed away from the village feeling as though he was running away from those helpless villagers, he had to swallow his pride for him and the villagers would probably die had he jumped in with his emotions and sense of reason indirectly correlated. He began to trek back to the captain’s ship when he seen that there were some marines pretty close to the ship. If that ship was discovered that would be the end of everything so he had to find a way to take them out. There was four marines positioned so they were facing towards his direction while the direction of the ship was behind them, they looked to be manhandling something, but Marlo could not see very clearly until he got closer in vicinity. “Is that a woman! Don’t tell me they plan to…” Marlo could no longer take this. They were as good as dead in Marlo’s eyes, as the woman was getting beat Marlo was climbing the tree to gain the surprise on all of them. He knew he could at least take out two of them so he waited. The woman who was getting beat got knocked on her back and she was able to see Marlo, he would hold his finger out in front of him in a shushing motion and point towards his blades. The woman gave a slight nod to her head so that it wasn’t noticeable to marines.

The marines were now in a bird's eye view of Marlo, as he could see it there were two marines lined up in front of the woman and the other ones were talking to each other and joking about the situation. Marlo knew he would be able to get the lady by killing those two marines due to the other marines having their guns around their shoulder. Analyzing all of this Marlo jumped from the tree while unsheathing his katanas at the same time, as he did this he would hold both of his blades in a parallel motion swinging for both of the marines necks. He was able to cut into the skin, but couldn’t fully go through the cartilage the neck had to offer, he then pulled the swords out and grabbed the woman as the marines gained visual on Marlo. They stumbled a little while grabbing their rifles giving Marlo a little time for her and the woman to take cover behind a tree. They marines were facing that tree shooting aimlessly due to them panicking, “These guys are all the same. I guess I just have to wait till they have to reload one more time.” Marlo was waiting there until he heard. “We only got two more bullets in this clip, let’s go up for an up close shot taking their cover.” It seemed these marines weren’t as stupid as the last ones, well Marlo knew they would try to come from both sides as that is what any logical duo would do to try to smother the opponent. Marlo would whisper to the woman to get down, this was because while they came around the tree Marlo would make a swift swing to their arms. The marines finally jumped from their positions, but they were farther than he had originally thought they would be, the bullets began to move in slow motion for Marlo, but he could not dodge them. One bullet grazed his calf muscle while the other pierced through his right forearm, Marlo was in extreme pain, but it quickly began to dull as his adrenaline set in. With no sense of pain Marlo threw one of his swords directly at the marine in front of him, as the marine was loading the katana was getting closer and closer, but then the marine shot. Marlo thought it was all over for them, he closed his eyes, but he heard no more shots.

“Huh?” What he did not know was that when the marine shot the bullet causing the katana to slice open the bullet and enter his partner on the opposite side of them. For that marine himself the katana entered his neck killing him on impact with the sword. “Holy shit! Come on, we gotta head to the ship.” The woman nodded her head as she was to frightened to speak, they began to walk through the forest with Marlo heavily injured, when they finally got to the ship Marlo doubled over on the warm sand of the shore. He blinked his eyes and seen the captain looking very angry although he could tell the anger wasn't towards him. Before passing out Marlo heard “Don’t worry, you did good to make it here, we will take the rest.” Next thing Marlo knew all he seen was black.

[Captain’s Perspective]

With his extremely angered face he and two other squad members walked throughout the forest until they got to Budokan village, not much had changed since Marlo left, but that did not change the fact that these people were being treated poorly. The captain and his small squad walked  out of the forest in field of view of the three marines with one being wounded. “So, you guys are the head of this ‘operation’ I am assuming.” The marines looked at each other and laughed. “You would be correct, do you have any problems with what is going on?” The marine asked not knowing those would be his last words. The captain and his squad had no other words for them, they had all the information they needed, with this information the captain and the squad wrecked havoc on the marines making sure none were to leave this island with their life. After finishing up with the trash they began to help the people of the village by untying them and fixing anything that was damaged by the marines while offering their condolences that they had not been able to arrive sooner.

When they arrived back to the ship the captain immediately headed to the dorm of Marlo where he was laid up. He put his hand on the boy’s forehead to check if he had a fever or anything of the nature and never left his side.

[Marlo’s Perspective]

Finally waking up he was met with an embrace, “Ouuuch!” Marlo yelped as he was hugged by the captain. “I thought you were heavily injured, shit you could have died back their. It seems we need to train you a bit more before you go on your final mission, but as of now we are going to need you to rest up your body. The training won’t be easy so, enjoy this time best you can.” The captain left the room and Marlo laid his head back on the pillow signalling a tiresome day. Marlo grabbed his book “ELBIB” to take his mind off of the pain which was pretty effective. And so Marlo made it through another day although barely, it seems he would gain experience in the ways of fighting ranged fighters.