ABOUT ONE YEAR LATER: The following takes place a few days before the events of "Tales of a Gunslinger Part 27". It's about four or five days BEFORE the final performance in "Class Musical". Therefore, the brawl between Oddish and Zavala, and Peter's unexpected promotion to kinderguardian, have yet to occur. More important, Oddish's 2A status (excused from fighting due to essential non-combat role) is still in effect. THE NEW TOWER - Kinderguardian Training Facility. 1437 hrs. School gets out at 1430, but Mr. Oddish's day is far from over. There are innumerable tasks that he has to get done before he heads for home. On a normal day, he's ready to leave at 1600, and some days he's there even later. As Malex and Ajax the dog enter the room, he is hard at work tinkering with a sleek SUROS pulse rifle. MALEX: "Hello, Oddish." ODDISH: "Hi, Malex. Can I get you to secure your weapon on the rack back there?" He grins. Adult Guardians have always been permitted to retain their weapons. Oddish only hangs up his minigun because it gets in his way when he's teaching. MALEX (sighs): "Oddish, that wasn't even funny the first time you said that. It's like a dad joke or something." ODDISH: "Well I [i]am [/i]a dad, in case you forgot. What's on your mind?" MALEX: "I heard you'd canceled tonight's rehearsal. Is it true?" ODDISH: "Unfortunately, yes. What with their studies, some of our principals are a little rusty on their music, so Ikora's going to have them run through their songs a few times. The rest of us have the night off." (indicates the dog) "I'm glad you brought Ajax. I haven't seen him in awhile, and I was wondering what happened to him." He goes around the desk and kneels next to the dog and begins scratching him behind his furry ears. Thanks to his long association with Growler and Saladin's wolves before, he knows just how dogs really love to be scratched. MALEX: "The Praxic scholars have been studying him very closely. I guess he's the one living thing who was given the Traveler's power by a Guardian." ODDISH: "Yes, Ikora's completely stymied about how you were able to do that. She's long held that only the Traveler can grant the light to another being. Not even Asher could do it, and he's spent centuries trying to find a way." MALEX: "I wish I could explain how I did it, but I can't." (nods to the weapon in the desk) "Got a new toy?" ODDISH: "Not exactly. This is a training rifle, I dug it out of my vault for Stephanie." MALEX: "A training rifle." ODDISH: "Yup. Back when I took over this job, kinderguardian doctrine was that kids weren't taught marksmanship until they were eight or nine, since even scouts and pulses kicked a little too hard for younger ones. But, that only gave me two or three years to teach them combat marksmanship." MALEX: "Couldn't their intermediate teachers work on that?" ODDISH: "They were usually assigned to teaching duty as punishment, so they often either weren't any good or just didn't care. You know about BraveCole and his antics, right?" MALEX: "I heard about his Guardian Jackass games." ODDISH: "Yeah, he almost shattered the whole space-time continuum. And he was actually one of the better ones I've seen." (he considers) "Maybe [i]you [/i]should apply for the job. I know Lillie and Ricardo like you." MALEX: "Not happening. Anyway, you were telling me about training rifles." ODDISH: "Right." (he hands Malex the gun) "So, about eighty-five years ago, Banshee and I developed this little guy: a pulse rifle modded to fire semiautomatic, with low-recoil ammunition. That way, kids can start learning how to shoot as soon as I've taught them range safety." MALEX (examines the gun, then returns it): "Cool." ODDISH (sets the gun aside and wipes oil from his hands): "So, since you know rehearsal's been called off, what brings you here?" MALEX: "Saladin asked me to come. You know that things are heating up, back on the war front. Hostilities could erupt again. And he says that you have unique sources of intel, and he would like you to check with them as soon as possible." ODDISH: "All right... then I should go immediately." MALEX: "Immediately?" ODDISH (heads toward the exit): "I was going to grade math papers, but that just got bumped down a spot on my priority list." (nods to Malex) "I know you have the night off, but you'd be welcome to tag along." MALEX: "Where are you headed?" ODDISH: "First, my quarters. I need to get something out of there. Next, the Tangled Shore." MALEX: "Sounds like fun, but can it wait a few hours? My jumpship's in the maintainence queue." ODDISH: "No need. We'll just take the [i]Blue Bird."[/i] They proceed in silence to the elevator, and ride it down to the 80th floor, where Oddish's quarters are still located (they are in a part of the Tower that survived the Cabal attack). ODDISH: "Oh, just so you know. I have a pet of sorts in my quarters. [i]Do not[/i] shoot my pet." (opens the door) MALEX: "What kind of pet do you ha... WHAT THE @#%$*?!" This exclamation is brought out of him by the sight of the basketball-sized robotic sphere that he sees floating around the room. He's killed hundreds of them in the field, in an effort to ensure that the Fallen enemy are as hungry as possible. MALEX: "That's a Fallen servitor." ODDISH: "Yes, I know. Now, it's [i]my [/i]Fallen servitor. Hello, Pipsqueak." (The servitor says something to him in response) "Yeah, this is Malex. He's a friend." MALEX: "When did you learn to understand Servitor?" ODDISH: "Well, you know that back when Osiris was Vanguard, we had a little... misunderstanding, and he packed me off to Oberon." PEACEMAKER: "From what I heard, it wasn't just a misunderstanding." SIGMUND: "You heard right." ODDISH: "Oh, eat light, you two. Anyway, I was there for a very long time. Not sure exactly how long." (sees Malex's look of surprise) "Day and night have little meaning when you're three billion klicks from the sun. Sigmund, how long was it again?" SIGMUND: "It was exactly 479 earth-days. I counted." MALEX: "You would." ODDISH: "So, almost sixteen months, alone. I had a lumpy bed, a food dispenser that put out nothing but combat rations, and only Sigmund for company. And he was pissed off at me." SIGMUND: "Well, I TOLD you not to take Kiara on that raid with you." ODDISH: "Since there was nothing left to salvage and nothing there to kill, I needed to do something to pass the time. So, I called up the linguistics database for our enemies. I learned standard Cabalese, several dialects of Eliksni, and at least some of the binary codes used by Vex." MALEX: "So that's how you learned to speak Cabal?" ODDISH: "Yup. That was the easiest thing to learn, since as a people they're about as subtle as an avalanche." SIGMUND: "Rather less." MALEX: "So... why keep a dangerous Fallen automaton as a pet?" Oddish responds by picking up a tank the size of a two-liter bottle, one of a dozen he has piled up. ODDISH: "Because I've found that Fallen are way more forthcoming when you offer them a little bonus to their ether ration." MALEX: "And how much do you have here?" ODDISH: "Each tank is enough to turn a Dreg into a Vandal, including full arm regrowth." (indicates Pipsqueak) "Besides, once you reprogram them, they're just as loyal to you as they are to their Fallen masters." He hands Malex a satchel with three of the tanks in it, then stuffs four more in his backpack. He then grabs a paper sack from the counter and offers it to Malex. ODDISH: "Gjallardoodle?" MALEX (takes several): "Thanks. Just so you know, I'm going to win that oven from you, next time we play cards." ODDISH: "Good luck getting me to wager it." (to his Ghost) "Sigmund, bring the Blue Bird II in for transmat." SIGMUND: "It's on its way." That's all for now... PART 2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/252807770 ODDISH'S INDEX PAGE: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/228589572

Nice bro. Very well done. Just sayin Pipsqueak almost got shot

Oddish You make some valid points and i agree that eververse must be removed from this game but, Whether we wanted it or not, we've stepped into a war with the Cabal on Mars. So let's get to taking out their command, one by one. Valus Ta'aurc. From what I can gather, he commands the Siege Dancers from an Imperial Land Tank just outside of Rubicon. He's well protected, but with the right team, we can punch through those defenses, take this beast out, and break their grip on Freehold

You never cease to amaze. Should you ever need a warlock character feel free to ask about mine.