At Magixor,
Once the remaining squadrons had arrived at the site of the plane crash, Captain West looked around.
"Where's the... Florida man?" He whispered to his lieutenant, trying not to let on to the others that they were in the presence of an alien wizard.
His lieutenant simply shrugged and pointed to the airplane.
"In there Sir. Said he wanted to examine the anatomy of metal birds for research purposes"
"Dear God" Captain West exhaled slowly and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Klein had climbed through the nozzle of the vehicle and was inspecting the cockpit with all its buttons and screens.
"So this must be something like the brain...? Hmm... Too bad I'm only at the third circle" Klein regretted his magical inadequacy. If he had been more competent, he would have been able to cast 'inspect' on the large vehicle, directly exposing its secrets.
The complexity though was too much for him. He was no Mr. Weathers, after all.
He exited the cockpit and made his way down the passenger aisles.
"How do they make them so well...? If they don't use magic as Dave said?" He ran his fingers down the fabric of a passenger seat, contemplating.
Lost in his thoughts, he only registered the alien warrior behind him when he entered his detection field.
West approached Klein who had been inspecting the metal bird for the past half-hour.
"Hey, you!" West attempted to assert dominance, fighting the twitches of his fingers, and a small bead of sweat trailing down his forehead.
Klein turned around, still with a somewhat absent look in his eyes as he continued inspecting the interior of the plane.
"Hey, I'm talking to you" West approached closer to the young man.
Klein snapped out of his reverie and quickly cast his soul link spell, smiling at the alien warrior in an attempt to defuse the man's frustrations.
He still couldn't understand English after all.
West saw the young man smile at him, and couldn't help but have slight goosebumps upon making eye contact.
After ten long and uncomfortable seconds, West heard the young man say.
"Yes, alien warrior? is it time to visit your base?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, exactly. Come with us, everyone is ready."
Some squads had managed to salvage operational transport in the form of APC's, but they were insufficient for the many people there. The civilians from the plane crash had to be escorted somewhere, after all.
Klein climbed down the airplane and as soon as he saw an APC, he glanced towards the warrior captain and cleared his throat.
"Do those things explode too?" His eyes nervously darted towards an APC and then around the area. He had realized that all the warriors in forest-themed overalls were carrying a more advanced version of the hollow-tipped stick weapon.
He gulped.
'Isn't this a bit too much?' He chuckled as sweat began forming around his brows.
"Explode...?" Captain West scratched his head, completely unaware of the thoughts forming in the young magician.
"Yes, I saw one of your carriages explode when I tried getting near it. Is that some sort of anti-theft function? But then why would it explode if there was someone inside it? I still haven't figured it out"
West sighed.
"They explode when they're damaged in a certain way..." He could only explain this much as the party had already made preparations to leave.
"You don't need to worry about those though" West continued as he gestured towards the APC's "Those are heavily fortified and won't explode easily"
At that moment, Klein somewhat understood.
'Was it something like an explosion spell backfiring when an enemy attacks while casting?'
"Aha... can I ride in one?" Klein looked at the warrior captain with sparkling eyes.
"No -" West started but then thought about it. His lieutenant also turned to him and nodded slowly.
'It'd probably be better if he stays inside one of those rather than causing trouble outside...'
"I can't...?" Klein shook his head in disappointment, trying to look for a pebble to kick.
"Ah, what I meant to say was no problem. Go ahead" West hurriedly said after making the appropriate calculations in his head.
"Also also, can I wear one of your warrior outfits? They look really cool in a forest" Klein smiled in excitement, trying to push his luck. He knew that warriors were quite particular about their gear, and would never allow anyone to lay hands on them, much less a mage.
But were aliens the same?
Captain West and Lieutenant Sid looked at each other, then started whispering.
"He'd look a lot less conspicuous, and people won't ask him too many questions..." Sid started to say.
Dave, who was lamenting his plight, sat by a nearby tree, had overheard the exchange between his new wizard friend and the army captain, and couldn't help but sigh. In truth, he was exhausted and now wanted nothing more than to sleep.
He got up and pat his hand on Klein's shoulder.
"You probably shouldn't, military regulations are quite -" Before he could even finish his sentence, He was interrupted by the military captain.
"There should be a spare in the APC" He said, gesturing for Klein to follow.
"Ah, really? Awesome!" Klein whistled as he eagerly followed the military captain, leaving Dave behind.
"..." Dave looked up at the sky, wondering why he had even followed the lunatic wizard if he was going to make friends with his captors so quickly.
'Not that the innocent and naïve wizard even knew he was a captive... right?'
"Here" Lieutenant Sid threw the uniform towards the robed young man, "Make sure to change before we leave"
Klein's eyes glowed as he fiddled with the beret he had been offered along with all the rest.
That was what he was really after.
Those hats were super cool.
Before he went back to the plane to change, he paused, eyeing the hollow stick weapon...
He gulped.
"Alien warrior sirs? Do you think I could get one of those too...?" Klein tentatively asked, gesturing towards the M16A4 rifle that the captain was holding.
The captain looked towards his rifle, then back at Klein, then back at his rifle.
"Are you insane?" not only Captain West, but also his lieutenant, and also Dave who had followed him from behind, all said in unison.
"Ah... Right? I thought so, it was just a joke hahaha" Klein laughed and sped away after placing the beret on his head.