In all my years of doing this, I've learned that if you absolutely must have an enemy, you need to do it out of your own choice. Not because someone else tells you they are your enemy. Through your own experiences you need to grow as a person and meet new people.

Celtic's eyes widened as the shot fired. Time seemed to slow down just enough for him to see the bullet being fired towards the elongated blue and white object poking out of the corner. Celtic's mind reached for the bullet but his body was slower and was only able to make his arm reach after the bullet, and only after the bullet had already made impact.

The bullet made contact with the tip of the blubbery surface and knocked the object coming down with a twirl. Celtic rushed forward to attempt to help whatever he had just shot down.

"WHALE!" A voice came from the direction of where this "Whale" had come from, the other footsteps Celtic must've heard. In one swift, fluid motion he swerved on the tip of his foot to stand behind the body on the floor and pointed his gun at the incoming voice.

Celtic came face to face with a man in a pilot's suit with long, black hair. The man, noting that the gun was pointed at him, put his hands in the air revealing a gun of his own. One of odd design, sure, but a gun nonetheless.

"Son of a-" Celtic lowered the gun. "What do you want Strike? Your girlfriend need more target practice?" Celtic sarcastically asked and turned around. "Carl, don't call Inferno!"

And dislike them because of your own reasons.

"Hey! You just shot my friend!" The pilot, Strike, pocketed the gun.

"And I'm sorry, but I think that now we're equal! Your girlfriend shoots me in the head, I shoot your friend in the…What the fuck even is he?"

"A Blue Whale!" the body spoke, causing Celtic to recoil back in surprise. The Whale-humanoid rose up. "The King of Blue Whales to be precise!" Whale said proudly as he placed the crown that had been knocked off in his flip, on top of his head and began smacking the dust off of his uniform.

"…what…" Celtic could feel his eye twitch as he looked the uniformed Whale-humanoid up and down. Dressed in a fancy white uniform, donning a regal purple cape, and proudly pushing his chest up to show the gleaming Arkosian emblem on his uniform. He looked at the spot where he should've been shot at only to find the left side of his snout completely unfazed save for a slightly darker blue bruise on one area. "How…"

The Whale smiled. "Ah! Are you perhaps interested in how my fair Whale complexion has left me ungrazed to your puny gun!"

Celtic looked, still in wonder at the aquatic mammal in front of him. "A little bit, yeah."

"Well!-"

"We don't have time for this!" Strike cut in.

"Hey!"

Celtic smiled, seeing the Oligarch of Arkos slightly miffed. "Oh, I think we have time." Strike deadpanned and took a seat on some nearby grass.

"Great! Now, there are two things you need to know about my compact humanoid form!" Whale began as Celtic took a seat on the floor and Strike found a comfortable place on the ground.

Take two sworn enemies for example. Rivals to the bitter end. Arkos and Lancaster! Because it actually fits! The people of each nation don't dislike each other or consider the other enemies because they've met them, they do it because their Governments tell them they are supposed to be enemies!

That's no way to live!

Could you imagine disliking someone, whom you've never met, never even seen their face! And you only dislike them because their way of life is slightly different than yours! That's just ridiculous to me! Still, if things weren't like this, I wouldn't have much of a job.

And maybe that's a good thing.

40 minutes later…

"-and when the tissue compresses into a compact form so too does the space in between the molecules, making my skin tougher than Iron!" Whale proudly said as he noticed Celtic writing notes on a notepad.

"Wow, that is just, astonishing! Really. I mean, when you go into the in-depth history of the super-secret Whale Society, that was just awe-inspiring!" Celtic sarcastically said and finished jotting down something. "Well, thank you so much for the lesson in Man-whale biology," he stands up and reaches into his pocket. "But I really must get going!"

Strike realizes what he's about to do and stands up too. "Stop!"

"Goodbye!" Celtic laughs as he throws something at Strike's feet.

Strike's charge is stopped abruptly as his feet get tied up and two round rocks hit his ankles simultaneously. "Hrk!" He hits the floor as he sees Celtic's retreating form. "Suck my Bolas, Strike!" He hears as Celtic makes a mad dash for the side door.

Whale bends down to untie his friend's feet. "Stupid ropes!" He begins tugging at it to little avail.

"Whale! There's not enough time! Javelin Strike! GO!" Strike commands. Whale nods and picks up the pilot with ease, grabbing him with two hands and like the name suggests, aims him like a javelin. "Ready…fire!" Whale finishes aiming and with his proportionate whale strength, flings Strike high into the air.

Celtic rushed as fast as he could without looking back. "Carl! Unlock the back door!" he yelled into his wrist. (! 0 !)/. The little program warned. Celtic looked behind to find nothing…and then looked up. "!" Celtic braced for impact as Strike crashed into him. After collision the two rolled into the nearby grass patch.

"Gert orf me!" Celtic says as his face is muffled by the grass.

"Not until you hear us out!" Strike wiggled to try to remain on top of him. He held one of Celtic's arms down with one hand and used the other to push his face into the grass.

"I cafn't hear ou ouff iff ou're on op od me!" Celtic tried to wiggle Strike off. Whale approached the two grown men wiggling on top each other. He smiled and pulled out his Net-Comm pad to snap a picture.

"Hehe, and that's going in my album."

"WHALE! Restrain him!" Strike pointed with his head to the side-pocket on his uniform.

*Click* "Alright." Whale reached into the pocket to pull out some high-tech looking rings and put them on Celtic's thrashing feet.

With one final push, Celtic wiggled off the man on top of him and made a break for it. "Haha! So long suckers!" he only got about a foot or two before his feet seemed to rush to stick to each other. "Oomph!" Celtic fell back to the ground. He looked up to see Whale untying Strike's bindings as the pilot held a remote in his hand with a smug grin on his face. Celtic still struggled and attempted to crawl away as Strike and Whale approached from behind.

"And you suck my magnetic cuffs, Celtic!" Strike smiled until he looked at Whale's expression. "What? Not work?" Whale shook his head.

"Look!" Celtic turned over to a sitting position. "If you hurt a Diplomat before the tournament begins your Nation can face a serious penalty during Ship Wars and I'm a representative of Renora and Emberald so that's two penalties right there!" Celtic put up his hands to set up some sort of defensive barrier between him and the two Oligarchs. As he did, he saw his Net-Comm Watch containing Carl. He immediately began fiddling with it.

"We're not here to hurt you!" Whale reached into his pocket and pulled out a sack. "We're here to offer you a job."

Celtic stopped pressing buttons on his watch. "Huh?" Whale tossed him the bag and Celtic caught it with ease. He opened up the bag and pulled out the thin sheets of paper. "Karma…" He began counting it. "25?! This is too little!" regardless of his complaint, Celtic still put the sack into one of his pockets. "I don't do jobs for less than 50, you're 25 Karma short!"

Strike pushes himself forward. "Celtic please," He flinched back as Celtic glared at him.

"I'll listen to the Whale. You! You, I'm still pissed with…" Celtic turned to face Whale. Strike sighed but backed down.

Whale cleared his throat. "Listen, Celtic, we mean you no harm-"

He simply scoffed as he pointed to the magnetic cuffs.

"Right!" Whale swiped the remote from Strike's hands.

"Hey!" Strike protested as Whale pressed the release button. The cuffs undid themselves and Celtic reached to his ankles to massage them.

"Thanks…"

"Alright, look, the 25 Karma is an initial payment. We'll pay you the other 25 upon completion."

Celtic weighed the options in his mind. "What's with the petty cash? Couldn't the Oligarchy of Arkos pay up more?" He grinned mischievously.

Strike stepped forward. "The Oligarchy of Arkos can't pay for this transaction because it's off the books, alright? What we're about to ask of you might hurt all parties involved." Strike pleaded.

"All parties? Wh...What are you two planning?" Celtic looked suspiciously between the two.

Strike looked around as if he was about to say something that was highly confidential. "I can't give out too many details but," He looked around again. "We have a plan to change the way the game is played."

Celtic froze up at the words. "Change…fuck..."

But if you were to meet this "enemy" you'd find maybe you're not all that different from them. In fact, you might even consider this "enemy" your friend? And if not? Then at least you've confirmed they are truly bad people!

Generic tried to get comfortable in the box compartment. It had been about 40 minutes since he heard footsteps begin to board his ship. The smuggling compartment wasn't really meant to smuggle people, but now it held one strategist. He shifted his body to the left but hit his face on the left wall of the compact space. "Oph!" He covered his mouth as he heard footsteps.

"What was that?" a voice said.

"Must be the pipes, this ship is old and busted. Thing must break down if you so much as breath on it the wrong way." Another voice responded with a laugh.

Generic felt slightly irritated. Sure, it was a hunk of junk, but it was his government issued hunk of junk!

"Hey, I found some files! Now we can report back whose ship this is!" the first voice said.

Generic's eyes widened.

"Hey!" a familiar voice called out.

'Whale! I'm saved!'

"Are you snooping around an Arkos guarded information ship?!" Whale asked the two workers.

"N-no sir! We're supposed to check all personal ships to make sure they are on the registry and aren't carrying any contraband!" One voice responded. Generic could practically hear the two workers tense up. "This personal ship wasn't registered so-so we thought it to be an intruder ship!"

Another voice joined into the conversation, Strike's. "Whale, these men were just doing their job!" Strike scolds and then turns to the two workers. "I'm so sorry but yes, we still need to register this information ship under Arkos. It is full of sensitive information so If you two could please leave?"

Generic didn't hear anything else except sounds of agreement and marching away. After a pause or two the lid of the compartment opened up and Generic poked his head out of the smuggling spot. "Whale! Strike! Oh, I'm so glad you two showed up!" He turned his head away from the two and sneezed. "Ah…I've been holding that for like 40 minutes!"

"Well no need to worry anymore!" Whale spoke up first. "We got who we were looking for! Celtic?" Whale and Strike moved a bit to let Generic see the cloaked man enter the ship.

"Wow, what a hunk of junk!" Celtic still hadn't noticed him. "I mean, my Grandma's toaster is in better shape than this thing!" Strike clears his throat, and Celtic finally notices the three of them. "B-but it has a nice, cozy feel to it y'know?"

"We didn't pay you to criticize a personal vessel, now close that door so we can talk about what we need you to do!" Strike scolded him.

"Meemee meemee mee mee!" Celtic childishly mocked Strike and slammed the button to close the side door. Whale walked towards the cockpit.

"Mr. Crown! I've heard many things about you!" Generic offered his hand.

Celtic bent down and shook it. "All good things I hope." He smiled.

"…I've heard many things about you!" Generic repeated as he shook the hand again.

Celtic deadpanned. "Right…"

Whale came back holding a folder in his hands. "Alright Celtic, here's your job," He tossed the file to the hacker, much to Generic's dismay. "We need you to program our friend here into the system as a representative. We need him to be able to get in and out without issue so it needs to be a permanent file in the system. Got that?"

Celtic looked the file up and down. "Hmm…A Lancastrian, huh? I thought the High Council of Lancaster decided not to ever send any representatives to a Ship Contest?" He turned to face the young man in the smuggling compartment, only to find the strategist looking away. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Generic looked at the wall. "Well…they haven't exactly changed their minds…"

Celtic laughed. "I guessed as much, or else I wouldn't be here to hack you in. I'm asking; Why are you participating in a Ship Contest despite your Nation's wishes?"

Generic gulped nervously. Whale was about to step in but was stopped by Strike's arm. "I…I'm a man of logic." Generic started, slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. "I took an accelerated course of study the High Council was offering to train a Strategist for the War Branch. It was only until recently did I learn that Lancaster has vowed to never send out representatives for any Ship Contests, which are the only Wars we have nowadays. They just send foot soldiers with a simple battle plan and hope for the best…" He clenched his fists and stepped out of the hole.

"I was going to accept this," He shook his head and rose up. "But Whale and Strike here convinced me on something I was doubting for the longest time." He turned to face Celtic with a new look of resolve. "If a true Strategist would be on the field, adapting the fight as it goes along, Lancaster's chances might fare better! It's my duty as a Strategist to be there, for my Nation! The High Council gives up, thinking the Contests are a waste of resources and a losing fight…I don't think so. I think they are a necessity if we are ever to be accepted in the community on the day we become canon! I want to change their way of thinking!"

Celtic turns back to Whale and Strike and then back to Generic and sighs. "Alright, I get the gist of it…no need to get all motivational speech on me. I'll just send a mock-signal similar to the High Council's and unlock the Representative option. From there I can create a file for you, and we can just edit his flair to be whatever."

"F-flair?"

Celtic face palmed and turned to the Oligarchs. "I'm gonna need a little more than the promised amount too, what with how risky this job is. How does, 1 more Karma for every word he says to me, sound?" Celtic walks off with a smile and makes his way to the door.

"W-wait! What's a flair?!" Generic yelled after him .

Celtic yelled back from the outside. "5 Karma!"

Whale and Strike turned to the Strategist. "Whale! Tape tactics!" Strike tackled the strategist as Whale pulled a roll of tape out.

"Oph!"

That being said…If you weren't originally on the same side, then that means there is a very clear dividing difference between you. Just be careful not to prod at that difference and you should be fine! What's the worst that could happen?

Celtic peeked out of the corner and saw the registrars' booths set up and still accepting applications. The Hacker looked at the line and eventually made brief eye contact with the blue-haired Strategist, he also made eye contact and waved hello at him. Celtic face palmed.

The Strategist had changed out of his old, tattered clothes and was wearing a uniform lent to him by Blue Whale King. Instead of his dark green pants and cloak, he wore white pants and a yellow cape. Instead of a black shirt he wore a white uniform suit with black shoulder pads. His usually messy hair was combed a bit, though that was beginning to undo itself. He tugged at the suit's collar.

"So this guy has some master plan to help Arkos win Ship Wars?" Celtic turned back to his laptop connected to the building's security system through a mess of wires detached and reattached to an outlet on the side of the building. He opened up a program or two, and began working away at the system's security defense.

Strike sighed. "Sorta…Trust us, his plan actually seems doable. It will take a lot of certain things happening but it does seem like it might guarantee victory for Arkos." Strike looked at his Net-Comm watch. "Whale, how's everything on your end?"

Blue Whale King peered behind a large tree in the Gardens area. "Everything's fine so far, the Security Guards aren't the wiser of our plans!"

Celtic rolls his eyes. "Because we've yet to do anything and most of this is happening on a computer."

"Hey! Team ears only!" Strike turns away from him and whispers into his watch. "Good job Whale, keep me updated on any and all suspicious activit-Gah! Carl! What the hell?!" (° U °) b

Celtic laughed as he typed away on his keyboard. "Alright, I was able to make a mock signal resembling that of the High Council's, makes it a lot easier to do so with the fact they haven't upgraded their systems in like 4 years!" Celtic typed away. "Now I just need to disable their block and upload Generic's file."

"I can help the next person in line!" A worker waved Generic over with a smile. Generic smiled nervously and gulped. "Guys, are you done?" He said through his gritted teeth to his Net-Comm watch. He walked over, with the smile still on his face.

"Strike! Generic's being registered early!" Whale spoke into his watch.

"Tell him to stall! Celtic's uploading the file but it's taking longer than expected!" Strike shot back.

Whale looked around nervously, after seeing absolutely no other way he opened his mouth and hid behind the tree. "WOOoaaaooouuuu!" He cried out a mighty Whale call, that being the signal for Generic to stall. The signal was never meant to be used and was in fact, a joke at first but quickly dismissed by Celtic because he was, quote, "Just that good".

Generic recognized the signal and began thinking of ways he could stall. Starting with walking slowly up to the booth. After a minute he reached the booth.

"Name and Identification please!" The receptionist warmly asked.

"Of course!" Generic reached into the pocket in his borrowed pants and pulled out his ID, but it got stuck in the inside of the pocket. "What the?" he tugged at it but it stood stuck by the corner.

"Are you…okay, sir?" The registrar asked.

"Peachy!" Generic quickly spoke up and turned back to pulling at the ID card.

"Strike, he's stalling perfectly! He's a natural!" Whale spoke into his Net-Comm with a smile.

Strike peered out the corner to see Generic still struggling with the ID. "…uhm Whale, I believe he's being genuine…"

Celtic made a noise to acknowledge the two but typed away at his laptop. "…Whatever he's doing, tell him to keep it up, something seems to be fighting off my program! Carl," (° u °)7 "Can you get in there and set up a decoy signal to have our annoying friend over here follow it? I need to throw them off my trail for a bit so I'll wait." (° v °) b. The strange program disappeared and reappeared on Celtic's computer screen before disappearing once more.

Generic tugged at the ID. A security guard notices his struggle and approaches with a hand on their taser. With a renewed sense of survival, Generic pulls at the card and it launches up into the air a bit. He attempts to grab it in the air but his swipes are too slow and it falls to the ground. The security guard backs off, seeing that he's clearly not a threat.

"Hehe…I dropped my ID…" Generic looked at the registrar with a nervous smile and bent down to pick up the ID. On his way he accidentally bumped his head into the table causing him to fall back and wince at the pain.

"Celtic, how's the file going?!" Strike turned to the hacker.

"Hey, you try invading a highly guarded security system invented by the woman who developed a machine able to track natural anomalies into different worlds and then tell me how fast that goes for you, Pilot boy!"

Strike huffed and turned back to his watch. "Whale, prepare a distraction if all else fails!"

"Already on it!" Whale pulled out a lighter and grabbed his cape. "C'mon Celtic…." He flicked the lighter on, held it up, and prepared to burn his cape in case Celtic needed more time.

Generic rose with the ID in hand. "So sorry about that…" He handed the ID and placed a hand on his forehead.

"N-no problem!" The man responded worriedly. "A-are you sure we don't need medics here? You still seem…disorientated…" Generic realized he was swaying slightly and tried hard to stand still. He smiled. The receptionist smiled too but less genuinely. "..Riiight…"He swiped the card through a device on his desk and a disrupting beeping sound was heard from the holo-screen. Generic froze up. The Security Guard glances Generic's way.

"Whale! Distraction time, go!" Strike yelled into his watch.

Whale brought the cape closer to the flame.

"Got it!" Celtic smiled as he pressed a key on his laptop with a dramatic flair

"Oops, had it upside down!" The receptionist laughed and then flipped the card over to swipe it again.

"Whale, wait!" Strike called out to his fellow Oligarch. He observed from the distance to see Whale putting the cape down. Since it did not seem on fire, he sighed in relief.

"Here you are Mr. User…nay…m?" The registrar looked at the file in confusion on how to pronounce the Strategist's name.

"Ah, just Generic works!" Generic finally unfroze from the earlier shock. "Yeah, my last name is kinda…odd…"

The receptionist nodded and handed over a sheet on a clipboard. "Please fill that out, here. It's your name, Net-Comm ID, and other stuff but we can add most of it from your profile or you can fill it out a later date! Just your position in this Ship Wars and where you hail from are most important!" The man nodded and awaited any questions Generic might have.

Generic nodded and inwardly sighed in relief that the plan worked and there were no complications whatsoever!

"AAAAHH!" A voice yells behind him. He turns to see Blue Whale King run around in circles with Celtic and Strike chasing after him.

Okay...one complication.

"Duck and roll!" Celtic calls out.

"No, stand still so we can take off the cape!" Strike counters.

The three of them continued chasing each other as Generic tried to finish his form and attempting to ignore the situation as best he could. The receptionist takes the completed form and looks it over. "Wait, Lancaster?" He looks from the sheet to the young man in front of him. "I thought Lancaster didn't want to fully participate in Ship Contests?" the man looks at the holo screen and now notices the affiliation tab to indeed say Lancaster. "And they're sending over a Strategist too, according to your flair."

Generic nervously rubs the back of his head. "Yeah…I'm kind of a trial run, if you will? A test to see if Lancaster wants to participate in future contests!" Generic explains.

The man smiles. "Well! I'll make sure to keep an eye on you and Lancaster this year! Who knows? Might even help my bracket predictions? Please make your way to customs to declare any and all contraband you may or may not hold. Thank you for your participation, have a wonderful Ship War!" The receptionist points to the customs line.

"I'd hurry too, A small Bumblebee platoon already sent over their files and were pre-approved," A loud, humming buzzing was heard. "Aaand by the sound of that, they're here and ready to go through Customs!" he smiled.

Generic looked at the big, Yellow and Black ship land. As Generic ran in the direction of Customs to make it before the swarm, he noted that the ship was big and bulky, yet was flying by flapping two very thin wings in the middle of the Ship. 'What the? But according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way that Bee ship should be able to fly? Its wings are far too small to get even a few feet off the ground!' Generic, distracted at the sight of the ship, bumped into something lumpy "Oof!"

The object he bumped into didn't have much mass but was still enough to stop him in his tracks. Generic watched as the tall person he bumped into disassimilates and collapses into separate bumps as different voices all shout. The group of objects make soft thuds all except for stilts and some sort of robotic endoskeleton.

Generic stares as the person he just accidentally pushed over now seems to be separated pieces on the floor. 'Oh my Gods, I killed someone!'

Actually, a lot of things...

Whale, in a panicked haze, goes off in a random direction. That random direction being the way to the Community Garden.

"Oh fuck!" Strike picks up his speed.

"I'll kill the security cameras, just in case we burn this thing down…" Celtic began fiddling with his watch.

"Hey, while you're at it, mind turning on the sprinkler systems or something?!" Strike called back. Celtic nodded and did so. The sprinklers all at once popped up and took aim at the fiery Whale, and unleashed all 17 ounces of their fury.

Whale stood still and opened his arms as if to embrace the waters. The fire extinguished as Strike caught up with him.

"Whale! Are you alright!?" Strike circled around him, looking for any fires. Most of his cape was singed off but that was it. Because of Whale's constant movement the cape never touched his uniform and thus never touched him.

"I've been through worse.." Whale sighed, unhooked his cape, and began folding it up. "That was a close one!"

Celtic rolled his eyes as he finally arrived. "Are you kidding me?" He got the attention of Strike and Whale. "I'm to believe you two and your kid are gonna bring change upon this sub?!" Celtic snapped. He pointed to Strike. "You have a Pilot who's too afraid to act." He moves his finger over to Whale. "A buffoon who's just begging to be shot down." He goes to point to Generic but he's nowhere to be found. "And a no show from a Nation that doesn't even care enough to fight!"

Strike's fist clenched. "Why you!-" he was stopped by Whale's arm.

Blue Whale King stepped up, his usual happy aura was gone. His eyes had determination glossed all over. "I would appreciate it if you stopped saying such rude things about my companions." His voice was serious, missing his usual happy and prideful tone. "Strike did what was necessary to carry Arkos to the end and rebuild it during Ship Survivor, even if he hesitated and made a few mistakes, he tried his best." Strike lowered his fist. "And Generic just wants what we all want, to help our Nation! Sure, he's slightly inexperienced in actual combat but I've experienced firsthand what his strategies are capable of."

Celtic scowls.

"And I might act silly sometimes but when it comes to my Nation, MY people, I am never more serious. I am willing to lay down my life if the need be." Whale stood proudly while glaring Celtic down.

Celtic sighed. "Fine. Let's go find the kid so I can get paid as soon as possible and you two can hurry up and return to being horrible babysitters." Celtic walked off. His cloak having a mysterious singe mark on it.

Strike passed Whale as he stood in place. "Whale...thanks…"

Whale just nodded. "Of course, I know you would do the same for your friends." Whale smiled.

Strike smirked. "Right, but you do know that no one ever dies in Ship Wars? It says so in all the pamphlets."

Whale froze. "O-of course! I-I just meant that I would, lay down my life...metaphorically! Yes! Metaphorically, I'd lay down my life this Ship Wars!" Whale laughed nervously as Strike pats him on the shoulder.

"Alright buddy, but you can still be hurt pretty badly so try not to go too crazy. For my sake, at least?" Strike passed Whale and soon, Whale followed.

Back with Generic as the long, grey trench coat's bumps begin moving around. Generic blew a sigh of relief on the fact he may not have killed someone.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't see where I was going and then the Bee ship and then boomph and the bamph! I'm sooo sorry!" The trench coat flattens out as small bodies exit out of the tarp like object. "What the?" Generic is shocked as from the coat emerges various…rodents…what? No, I know what the script says…You want me to believe that several small critters bypassed all security protocol by just Muppet-manning it?...No, I guess if a Whale-humanoid leader can exist and a blue-blob turns into a human…Fine!...you know, nearly no one will understand the reason for this little skit in an already long chapter!

"A Porcupine?" Generic looked at the critters as they exited and named them, as if it were a test. "A Squirrel? A Mouse? A Beaver? A Chipmunk?" As he finished naming all the animals his collar was snatched by the Porcupine atop the Beaver's shoulders and he was brought down to their level.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! You could've crushed some of the smaller ones of us!" The porcupine glared him down.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" Generic tried to steer clear of the mammal's quills. "I-it was an accident!" He was released.

The mammal's features softened "Well, if it wasn't on purpose, I suppose there's no harm." Generic sighed in relief. "Just watch where you're going next time, kid! If not for you," He pointed to the Field Mouse who was trying to upright the stilts with the aid of the Chipmunk and the Squirrel. "Then at least for the little ones."

Generic felt embarrassed, and guilty. "I-I'm sorry…" He trailed off. He heard marching behind him. He turned around, and saw dozens of armored units all with insect like helmets covering their faces and with a completely slated covering over their mouth area. Generic only thought of one word. Hive.

He felt something begin weighing his shoulder down. He turned and got poked in the cheek lightly by a quill, and stopped as he noticed the de facto leader of the various rodents atop his shoulder.

"So brave…" The Porcupine said despondently.

"Brave?!" Generic turned, forgetting the quills. "Ow! They're not brave! They're one of the Big Four! To be brave you need to be afraid of something! What can you possibly be afraid of when your power is that big?" he naively said.

The porcupine tsk-ed. "Listen kid, just because they don't look afraid, doesn't mean they aren't afraid. Look over there…" The mammal points a little ways off from the Bee-line. A group of representatives, whispering. "I've seen this before, because a Ship gets too close to the sun, it gets burned by everyone else." He shakes his head. "Because of something out of their control that brings them joy and happiness, they are now going to be targeted…shame too, I think Bumblebee isn't half-bad."

Generic looks at the Bees, all of them have their helmets forward, all organized and robotic even. Save for the one in the front who's helmet is off and giving marching orders to the Bees. He notices the leader's eyes go to the left to glance quickly at the group of representatives whispering. She frowns and then returns to directing the Bees to Customs. After the Bees have all formed a line and begun placing their items in bins she puts the helmet back on, taking care her purple hair is inside all the way.

Whale looked around. "Where is he?!" He looked to customs only to find a line of Bee soldiers all blocking his view of the other side. "Oh no, the BEES!"

Celtic walked up with an annoyed look on his face. "Will you chill out beluga boy?"

"Beluga?!"

"The kid should be fine, as long as he doesn't insult them or look in their general direction, he'll come back to you mostly unstung!" Celtic laughed.

The Beaver secured the legs back on, and soon ushered the other smaller mammals up the robotic disguise. The porcupine hopped off of Generic's shoulder.

"Kid, let me let you in on some secret knowledge of mine; There are no such things as "Enemies" in a Ship War." He began walking towards the reconstructed disguise. "There's just…just…uh…"

"Just…friends we haven't made yet?" Generic asks.

"Well I didn't say that..." The porcupine was helped to the top of the mammal tower and reached a platform.

"People we don't understand?"

"I didn't say that either." He sits in a small chair set up in the top. "Just people we haven't learned to stand yet!" He grabs the controls and makes the robots arms wave goodbye. As he's walking away, Generic notices something.

"Your hat!" He rushed to pick up the collective's fedora they were using to top off their disguise and placed it on their "head", which was just the collar of the coat. "Thank you, friend." A small high-pitched voice came from deep in the coat. The Bee-Line had cleared by now and the various rodents had made their way to customs.

"Generic!" He turned around to see Whale running towards him, soaking wet, cape missing. "We thought we lost you! I caught on fire!"

"I-I saw!" Generic laughed.

Celtic and Strike walked up, behind Whale. There was a slight burn mark on Celtic's cloak. "Look, there he is, he made it through all right! My job's completed, can I get my Karma now?!" Celtic held his hand out. Generic began talking with Whale.

Strike sighed, reached into his suit's side pocket and pulled out the second bag. "Here, 30 Karma, it covers your stupid additional fee." Strike tosses it to Celtic who catches it with ease. "Hm! Well, Ladies and Gentlewhale, it's been fun but I'm afraid babysitting doesn't necessarily fall into my area of expertise."

"Babysitting?!" Generic stops talking to Whale long enough to hear that.

"That's one more!" Celtic smiles as he takes the extra Karma from Strike's hand. "I don't feel that I have to mention that the Nation of Renora will of course support our sister ship Arkos," his smile goes away and he lowers his voice so only Strike can hear. "Even if they don't always have our back."

Strike's eye twitches. "What's your deal, Celtic?! Arkos didn't do anything to Renora!"

"Heh, that's right, you didn't do anything to Renora but you certainly didn't do anything for Renora either. You just sat there and watched as White Rose and Pollination planned our destruction. You waited for it all to pass over so Arkos didn't have to get caught in the cross fire, even if your force was what we needed to take White Rose down once and for all! But no, you ignored my pleas for help, covered your ears, and waited for it all to be over with! And when it did, Renora suffered." Celtic turned around, venom dripping in his words. "I hope you enjoyed being White Rose's lap puppy, it won't last long. Not if you're teaming up with a Lancastrian of all people." He began walking off.

Strike watched Celtic walk off. "Lap Puppy…" How he hated that term. People thought the only reason Arkos was this supported was because it doesn't interfere with any of their Ships. This was simply not true! It couldn't be! Strike fought hard to restore Arkos to its former glory after…the fall. All of that hard work couldn't just be because people didn't want one God to mess with their Ship's chances! "That's just bitter words from a bitter man…" Strike turned back to his friends. "C'mon Generic, let's get you fully set up and arrange a conference room for everyone to meet in."

Strike walked past Blue Whale King and Generic. "And…try not to lose sight of us. For Whale's sake. Don't you know he nearly had a heart attack.?"

Whale laughed. "It was 70% because of the fire on my tail." He began walking off.

Generic's head turned. "He has a tail?!"

So throw all reasoning to the wind! Go out and make friends!

The door opened as two more Whale-humanoid people walked into the conference room. "Is that everybody?" Generic asked as he stood behind a podium.

"Not everybody!" A confident man walked in with another man behind him.

"Jannis…" Generic recognized the Champion of White Rose as soon as he walked through the door. "and Mr. McDouggal." He also recognized the Ambassador of Milk and Cereal, hesitantly entering the room behind Jannis. There was a long and awkward silence before Generic spoke up. "Good to see you've accepted our invitation!" Generic smiled.

Jannis reciprocated the smile. "Of course! This sounds like an interesting opportunity!"

McDouggal takes a seat at the conference table. "What can I say?" he fiddles with something in his pocket. "It was a hard offer to pass up." He grimaces.

"Well, now that everyone is here! We can begin the meeting! Ladies and Gentlewhales, it is my pleasure to introduce Blue Whale King, the Whale who, let's face it, without him this group wouldn't even exist!" Generic joked, causing a laugh from a few members of the table.

Whale stepped up to the Podium with a smile. "Welcome friends, allies, former enemies, to the first meeting of our new Alliance! The Arc Appreciation Alliance!" Whale proudly states as the screen behind him turns on to a banner.

"Let's make history." Strike smiles confidently and leans back in his chair.

Who knows what this new friendship might bring?