Today is your first day out there.

On the lifeless side of the moon that is, it took training after training personally overseen by the great Watatsuki no Yorihime before you were even deemed capable of guarding a large expanse of nothing but white rocks here, white rocks there, and would you know, even more white rocks.

And to be honest, you don’t get what’s so special about it. Sure, you technically are one of the very first frontiers any invader would have to get past in order to even have the opportunity to head further in. But any human or other force with such motives haven’t been seen since you were born and so you don’t really posses the general paranoia or outright eagerness most of your comrades have to risk your body and soul in rightful combat against the ‘filthy’ sinners bound on Earth.

Not that your opinion matters (nor did you lack the self awareness to actually share it) to anyone but your fellow moon rabbits that is. That was a mistake however when you found out the next day that you were now scheduled for extra history classes since clearly you’ve said that due to ignorance.

That aside, the real reason you’ve gone and joined the Lunar Defense Corps was because you can’t cook and you don’t want to sprain a muscle pounding mochi for the rest of your life either.

And you don’t have the guile and patience to kiss ass in the capital amongst the Nobles as a servant.

Hence the only option left was military and so here you are, now tasked with patrolling this empty landscape for a bit, all on your own fort the most part. With nothing but your trusty bayonet as your companion and no other fellow troops to notice or berate you for humming as you walk about.

After all, if anything remotely suspicious happened to come within your vision. You could simply send a psychic message to the mental network shared between all moon rabbits. The implication you’d still have to deal on your own with whatever was worthy of an alarm...is best left alone.

As in, you would have done that. Except you must have commited a crime in your past life.

For the moment you climb past another crater. You notice something brown colored in the distance.

You can’t really tell what it is, nor is it moving (Thank Chang’e) but even so.

It IS your job to investigate such things. And so with a heavy sigh, you decide on your next action.

On a closer look, what you noticed turns out to be an object. A square object made of cardboard that’s tightly packed with letters on the side that read. “Chocolate Milk Crunchy Choco Bars”.

Let’s say that again.

You’ve found a cardboard box, on the one part of the moon everyone is forbidden to go.

The word suspicious would be an understatement here. The mere sight of the thing makes you feel as if you saw someone doing the weirdest magic trick in front of you and you instinctively tighten your grip on your bayonet. Part of you wanting to just shoot the thing to see if it’s a trap or not.

Still, protocol and not wanting to end up being scolded for wasting a bullet for blasting someone’s secret chocolate stash makes you decide to instead contact command point for further instruction.

“Uhhh, CP? I found a cardboard box hidden amongst some of the craters, please advise.”
The response of your superior is as swift as it is filled with irritation, “This is CP, knock it off. Out.”

“But it’s the truth!” you insist, part of you now bothered for being seen as the type to commit something as stupid as a call prank. “There is a cardboard box sitting right in front of me.”

“….Copy that. Permission to investigate given, over.” Again, there’s disbelief in the voice.

Funny how just that gives you enough courageous spite to approach the box and carefully, always ready to jump back and blast the thing if it even slightly moves carefully, put your hand on the lid.

And open it, only to find nothing inside it. No chocolate, no person, just nothing but cardboard.

That’s genuinely an even stranger thing to you, but even so you contact command point again.

“CP. This is Delta 3, the cardboard box is empty.”

“CP copies, pick up the object and return to duty.”

“What, that’s it?” you can’t help but ask, “But who even put it there?”

“That is irrelevant, I repeat, return to duty. Out.”

...Ok. That genuinely sounds like a security risk, but you’re not paid to be thinking here.

So you return back to your patrol route, after picking up the box that is and-

“Kept you waiting, huh?” ?!

You immediately turn as fast you can towards the unknown voice, gun raised and ready. The first things you notice about the man who snuck up on you is the blue bandanna on their head, the eye-patch right underneath it and that their face is slightly shaven with one eye filled with-

With nothing? It’s only after you shout “Freeze!” that you realize that the person in front of you isn’t a person at all, but a balloon. A man shaped balloon with a snow white camo that repeats-

You didn’t hear the person come up behind you, hadn’t felt the hard grip on your right wrist, hadn’t felt the gun being plucked from your hands and it wasn’t until you smashed backfirst into the ground that you realized you were had. Before you can move further, a small fire arm is pressed against your temple, the balloon’s doppelganger now looming above you.

“Speak.” The human glared hard at you, the knife in their other hand dissuading any silence.

“W-what do you want to know?” you comply, your voice failing to sound stoic as fear spreads throughout your entire body. Suddenly all the gossips about man’s cruelty return to mind.

“Where is the entrance? Tell me.”

You want to say you glared at the question or even tried getting up in protest. That you tried to stall for time to contact the main network, but the intruder looked ready to kill you on a dime and so.

You choose self preservation, “I-it’s just up ahead, 300 feet to the left from the crater in the shape of a heart. You can’t miss it!”

“...IF you lie, I will come back for you.” The man snarled, and that was the last thing you heard.

Other than a pop before the world went black.

---

You watch the rabbit’s body go limp, taking a moment to wait for the signs that the trangs are working. After that you swiftly dispose of the box and decoy before putting a hand on your ear.

“Major, do you read?”

“Loud and clear, Snake.”

“I’ve found the location of the entrance, apparently it is nearby a crater shaped like a heart.”

“So you’ve managed to interrogate a moon rabbit without being seen or heard? Impressive.”

You sigh, “There was only one though, I tranquilized them and I don’t see anyone else.”

“I see.” There was a tinge of something in the major’s voice. “Well, it should be fine. The tranquilizer’s amnesiac effect on the short term memory should work even on aliens.”

“Anyway Snake, keep on moving now. And remember, do not be seen at any cost.”

“What if I am?”

“Then America and any ally we have on the Moon will deny any involvement with your infiltration. In simpler terms, if an alarm sounds and your presence is detected, then you are as good as dead.”

“Guess that’s as good a motive as any.”

“Things shouldn’t be that hard for you though, their security has been rendered as lax as can be and once you finally make contact with our allies, you should obtain more tools to aid in your mission.”

The connection ended, and you turn to the direction of your objective.

“Bring it on,” you grunt as you put yourself in a crouching position and move on.

To be continued on the next mission (Never).

---

AN: I had a random brain egg and just felt like sharing it. Nothing more, nothing less.