Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

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The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 

Chapter 48: Teamwork

I WOKE UP like usual in my crib in the castle, but no one was around. Not wanting to waste any time making preparations, I let loose the best baby cry I’d made yet! Caireen was soon there picking me up, changing me, feeding me, and getting me dressed to return to work. Before we left the castle, though, she said, “We need to go see General Slane first.”

I nodded.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness,” her head general greeted us with a bow as we approached.

“General Slane, you said you had a report from our spies?”

He nodded and looked up, “They report that the army has regrouped and is marching towards us from the south. They report that even though a suggestion was made to come from the north as well, they decided to just take the one direct southern route.”

“That will help,” I said. “Only one major front to defend.”

He nodded at me and shook his head, “The problem is the numbers are way more numerous than we expected!”

“How bad?” Caireen asked.

“We expected a worst-case scenario of thirty-thousand… Instead, Camulus has nearly double that.”

“And we only have ten, right?” I asked him.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he told me.

I could tell he looked scared as Caireen looked thoughtful. I decided to ask, “Where did these troops come from?”

“Conscripts along the way,” he replied.

“So, most of them don’t want to serve him?”

He shook his head, “No, they fear for their lives and their family’s lives.”

“That’s something we can work with… Mommy, do we have to fight this war conventionally?”

She looked at me oddly, “What do you mean?”

“Do we have to wait for him to get to our wall?”

“Not necessarily, but marching our troops towards him would be suicide,” she told me.

“I wasn’t thinking that.” I put my thoughts together, “When America fought for our freedom, the British pretty much insisted on fighting regular battles with lines of men against each other. There’s an old movie that’s loosely based on some truth that a smaller force worked to cut off supplies and performed sneak attacks.”

Caireen nodded, “I remember that part of your history. I thought they were quite the ragtag group.”

I closed my mouth after gaping it open, ‘Sometimes I forget just how old she is!’

“So, what’s your suggestion, Your Highness?” the general asked me.

“We make your own special forces group, basically?” I explained the concept of making ten teams of ten members go behind enemy lines and make as much of their lives miserable as they could. Caireen added some thoughts, and we provided each man with special crossbows. These would only fire for our men and would fire a limitless supply of bolts. We magically improved them to make them repeat their shots like automatic rifles – I even created scopes for them. The men who volunteered were in love with them and, by nightfall, departed to begin their mission.

When we were done, I made the next citadel on the opposite side of the valley from the first. It still wasn’t easy, but I felt slightly less exhausted afterward. Caireen carried me to the top, and I looked down over the whole valley. I could see past the wall and a few more miles until the valley reached a bend and, from what I had been told, began flattening into a plain beyond. Three more trebuchets were set up on top of the structure. I watched as the men started practicing and sighting in with some fruit to mimic their actual rounds of clay pots and metal balls. Watching the sling chunk the items forward was impressive, and they were successfully nailing the middle of the road in no time. I watched through squinted eyes at animals who began coming out of the woods to feed on an unexpected snack!

I was taken back to the castle for more sword fighting lessons for a couple hours after we were done there, not quite as drained as the day before. As she carried me to the nursery that night, I felt like we had begun to be prepared. “Sofia, you truly are a force to be reckoned with,” she told me as she pulled her blouse down.

I shrugged, “I’m stealing ideas here, pretty much.”

“If they work, there’s nothing wrong with that!” she smiled at me.

I nursed myself to sleep and hoped we could defend her world so I would eventually have a peaceful place to come to each night.

 
 

SUNDAY MORNING, I sat in my crib with Hannah, nowhere in sight. Her shower caddy was missing, so I guessed she was showering. I looked at Emie lying next to me and began playing with her and two stuffed bears. I was enthralled enough in my play that I didn’t notice Hannah until she picked me up.

“Well, look at you! Being a good baby and playing with your toys!”

I turned and smiled at her, “What else was I supposed to do since you weren’t here?”

She touched my nose, “Sorry, Princess, but I needed to shower.” Then, she squeezed my diaper, “Think you can hold out until after your first breakfast?”

I shrugged, “I dunno.”

She laughed, just sat down, and began the day with my nursing from her again. It was apparent that we had both missed each other, but I couldn’t help but feel better with every suckle I made of milk! Once burped, she changed me into a pink one-piece jumpsuit with long sleeves. There was some lace on either side of the middle of the front panel, and little flowers covered the design to make it a very girly and babyish outfit.

“I don’t know about this,” I whined to her.

“You just agreed to model diapers,” she reminded me, “There’s no doubt you’re a baby, and on your days off, it makes sense for you to dress like this. It’s comfy, right?”

I shrugged, “I guess…?”

“And it’s easy for me to change you with the snaps!” She said with a smile.

I groaned, “Let’s just go get breakfast already!”

She put a coat on me but didn’t bother herself as she grabbed her bag and carried me off. No one commented on the outfit, and I sighed as I accepted that she was probably right - I just needed to let her dress me in baby clothes. Caireen seemed to like that thought and gave me a mental hug, ‘Good girl,’ she said to me.

Hannah and I spent the day working on homework until close to dinnertime. Then there was a knock on the door, and Beth came in holding something that looked like a weird coffee maker. “You two want to see what I came up with?”

“You’re already done making something?” I said in shock.

She shrugged, “I couldn’t stop thinking last night and worked through the night to make it. I documented it, which will let it count as a project for a homework assignment this week.”

She placed it on my desk and knelt to my level while Hannah sat next to us. “You just have to plug it in,” she said as she found a free outlet, “and then put whatever food you want to adjust inside here. Hannah, can I see your phone for a moment? I’ll get the app on there really quickly!”

I watched as an app was soon installed on Hannah’s phone. I could see options to set the calories the food would be adjusted to. Other options included adding salt, sugar, pre-set flavors, and even raising the temperature if you wanted to just heat up the meal inside the device.

“I don’t have any baby food to try it out on, but it worked well on a little apple sauce I had in my room. Lightly couldn’t believe the calories she got out of it. She said I should market them for Mergents as ‘Paradigm Food!’”

I laughed, “I guess we’ll have to buy some baby food to try out in it?” I felt my stomach churning with that, “I’m not really looking forward to that.”

Hannah said, “Give me a second; I think there was some in the kit the FBI sent.” I watched her go to a set of boxes on the counter, and she pulled out a few pouches, “Beef Stew, Chicken and Vegetables, or Turkey and Vegetables?”

I wrinkled my nose at all of them, “Beef…?”

She smiled, “Let’s see how this works!”

I watched as they played around on the app, bringing the calories up to the eight thousand we estimated I ate at dinner each day. There was an option for it to taste like a prime-rib dinner with mashed potatoes that was selected, along with a good amount of salt added! Hannah placed the pouch in the small chamber at Beth’s direction before pressing go on the app. There was a brief flash and then nothing.

“Did it work?” I asked.

Beth nodded, “Sorry, I didn’t add any cool effects to make it seem like it worked. I thought the flash alone was a better idea, just so you don’t draw attention to it. I tried to make it look like a coffee maker for that reason too.”

Hannah nodded, “I guess there’s only one way to test this. Let me throw it in the bag, and we’ll go to dinner.”

“Wait… you’re not saying…”

“We need to try it sometime, don’t we? Might as well try it for din-din tonight!”

“But I’m…?”

“Sofia…” She said warningly.

I sighed, “Yes Mommy… I hope it worked though, I’m really hungry!”

“If you’re still hungry afterward, I’ll let you go get a plate of grown-up food then.”

I sighed, “Let’s get this over with!”

Hannah carried me and did whatever trick she had tried before to make things warmer. All the way to the Friar Hall, it felt like I was within the spread of one of those outdoor propane heaters. She sat me at our usual table next to Beth and said, “I’ll be right back.”

“You’re not getting food?” Lizi asked.

I sighed and put up a privacy ward before answering, “We’re trying out Volango’s new device to alter baby food… I’m having a pureed dinner tonight to see if it can work while we’re undercover.”

“Undercover?”

“Didn’t we tell you I’m working for the FBI sort of as an intern until I graduate?”

“No…? That’s kind of cool. But you’re older than a baby that eats baby food?” she replied.

I did some magic and made myself appear younger for a moment before returning to normal. “I’m going to alter myself like that,” I told her.

She smiled, “You were much cuter that way!”

“You need to make your hair shorter, though,” Camille added as she looked at me.

I sighed and soon had Hannah back, who whispered to Camille quickly. She smiled, and a moment later, my tall stool chair turned into a mahogany wooden highchair with a plush purple covering. A tray sat in front of me, while a harness suddenly formed and held me tightly inside…

“Really?!?” I looked at Camille, “You’re ganging up on me now?”

She giggled, “Don’t worry, no one will care.”

Hannah pulled out a bib that she velcroed on my neck before putting an empty bowl from the serving line on the tray. She held the package for a moment and warned, “I’m warming this up for you, but be warned, the daycare may not.”

I made a face, but that didn’t stop her from twisting the plastic cap of the pouch off and squeezing the gooey mush into the bowl. It did not look appetizing at all! Finally, she grabbed a baby spoon from her bag and scooped up a spoon, “Open wide for the airplane!” She giggled.

I wrinkled my nose and wanted to refuse, but I opened my mouth and let it inside my mouth.

The texture was still kind of gross, but the flavor of it was delicious! I looked over at Beth, “That worked really well!”

Before I knew it, I took in spoonful after spoonful of the mush. It wasn’t how I would usually want to eat my food, but it tasted pleasant once you got over the texture! When she scooped the last small spoonful up and placed it in my mouth, I was surprised that I felt full. “All gone! Good girl!” She cooed at me and wiped a few stray spoonfuls from my cheeks with my bib. I sat back in the comfortable highchair then. “Are you still hungry?” She asked me curiously.

I shook my head, “No… actually, I had trouble swallowing the last few bites.”

“Thanks, Beth,” Hannah told her, “This will probably help us a lot moving forward!”

She smiled, “Any time!”

I felt like everything wasn’t too bad when Streaked walked by and commented, “Glad to see the baby sitting in her proper chair finally. Looked like she liked her nummy baby food too!”

I wanted to do something, but Hannah put her hand on my shoulder, “Don’t!”

I sighed, “I hoped she’d stop after Tilling read us the riot act?”

I was embarrassed to the point of being in tears then, but I managed not to cry. Hannah pulled me from the high chair and cuddled me while she finished her own meal. On our way back to the dorm, many girls asked if I was okay… “See, you’re so popular! Who cares about that bimbo?” Hannah told me as she walked in the doors of Trident.

I shrugged and soon distracted myself with some other reading I needed to do. I nursed from Hannah before bed and hoped that my life could evolve from being one humiliating experience after another!

 
 

THE NEXT DAYS were refreshingly normal for the most part in my world! I was feeling a lot more at ease in my classes. Using my paradigm memory and fast reading ability, I thought I was only slightly behind now in most of my classes. Hannah struggled more to get caught up, but we worked together on the coursework we shared, and Beth and others helped her in the other courses. My only gripe was that she had insisted on feeding me several other meals of baby food throughout the week to ‘prepare me.’ I didn’t bother fighting it. Caireen seemed happy with that, and in exchange, I hoped she might come through with her promise of the illusion to make me seem like a teenager again sooner than later.

Meanwhile, my nights in Caireen’s world were spent doing everything we could to fortify our position. I devised a plan to put some punji-style pits beside the road coming up the valley one of the nights. By Thursday, I was running out of more ideas for preparing for the upcoming siege. Each day we were getting some good reports from the ten units of troops we had sent out to harass King Camulus’s forces. Apparently, they had managed to knock off about half of the ranking officers at a meeting one day. Another day they managed to kill off a number of the horses that were pulling some siege engines and ladders they were bringing. Then, after a few more attacks, some troops fled and deserted his forces.

Camulus and his forces had never been attacked that way, and it seemed to be as effective as we had hoped!

Thursday came quickly, and I found myself in my costume with my fellow teammates looking around a room with a large screen up front. “Take your seat!” a scary-looking woman in one of the security uniforms said to us. I fiddled with the small earpiece that Volango had given me a little while before the meeting. It acted as a receiver and transmitter for us to talk over a radio… that wasn’t a radio. My brain hurt as the technomage had explained the principles!

“This is team… Babysitter’s Club…?” She looked bewildered until she saw me. “Hazing the new kid?” She asked them.

Camille shook her head, “Honestly, most of the good team names have been taken. We thought it was a cute name, and our opponents will probably underestimate us?”

“There’s some truth to that… Of course, just having a baby on your team will do that. Now, just to verify for our records, your team is Sora, Volango, Knag, Zing, Emped, and Emerald, correct?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I found myself saying along with the others. I had to remind myself of everyone’s code names since I never thought of Camille as Sora, Esmie as Zing, or Hannah as Emped!

“Okay then, this is going to be a simple capture the flag style simulation…” she began briefing us on the city we were entering. Apparently, a flag was hidden somewhere in a supervillain’s lair across town. It was our job to collect it without all dying.”

“Questions?” She asked us.

Several were asked before we were told, “Okay then, saddle up; let’s get you in the Cube!”

From what I had heard, it wasn’t easy to get Cube time this close to finals, but somehow Camille had pulled in a few favors to get us in. When we entered, I was truly blown away by how realistic our environment was. ‘It reminds me of the Star Trek Holodeck!’ I thought to myself. Oddly Caireen seemed almost equally impressed!

While we were staring at the space, Volango pulled out some crazy-looking machine gun. Zing used that time to pull out what looked like a boomerang in her hand, and Knag was suddenly nearly invisible. Camille wore a costume that made her look like the evil sorceress from a Disney movie. Hannah’s outfit was like a slutty Halloween version of my own costume. Among the differences was that the skirt barely covered the panties. She wore flesh-colored pantyhose and a matching domino mask. She didn’t have the diaper, of course! All of it was made of Zexlar and bullet and slash resistant. Due to the rules of the Cube, everyone’s faces were obscured with masks of some sort as we entered and began looking around.

“Where do you think we need to go?” Zing asked Sora.

Camille pointed up at a tall building in the distance where a flag waved. “It can’t be that easy…?” I asked.

She shook her head, “I doubt it. Zing, can you fly top cover for us?”

“Will do!” She used her speedster ability to launch herself and a small hang glider into the air.

“Knag, go ahead and scout ahead?”

“Done!”

We began getting reports of it being clear, with only NPC civilians around and began moving out slowly. We were about a block from the tall building when Zing cried, “I’m under attack!” I watched something shoot at her before clipping her, sending her tail spinning down to the ground.

On instinct, I performed a spell to slow her descent to where when she hit, it wasn’t any worse than jumping off the back of a pickup truck. “Thanks, Sora,” she said.

“Not me, that was Emerald,” she replied, just as we began taking fire from automatic weapons!

I put up my shield and surrounded my teammates with one too. Hannah fired her green bursts at several, and I took aim at a group of about ten enemies firing at us from the other side of a brick wall. I pulled in a relatively controlled burst of magic and shot it out with my hand at them. The explosion rocked the ground, and all were out of commission.

“Holy shit, remind me not to piss off the baby!” Volango said.

I wondered where Knag was for a while until I saw some explosions inside the building. Then, over the radio, she cried, “Umm… I could use some help here!”

The five of us worked pretty well to protect and attack hundreds of enemies firing at us with small arms weapons. We eventually caught up with Knag, who was not doing well, versus a simulated classmate. I was soon embroiled in a hand-to-hand battle with the large boy who appeared to be a speeder. I used the tricks that Sensei had been trying to teach me and managed to hold my own long enough for Hannah to shoot him with her blast.

“Come on, let’s get upstairs!” Sora ordered.

Climbing steps was never my favorite thing, but now that I was a baby, it really sucked!!! The fact that we had to run up twenty flights of them made me damn cranky by the time we got to the top! Everyone else beat me up there, and I found they were in a battle with two other simulated Mergents, one of which seemed to be the person who had attacked Zing, to begin with. The stairs had me tired but also really pissed off. I just took in energy and shot it straight at each of them. The constructs disintegrated, and we finished the run when Volango grabbed the flag.

A loud buzzer alerted us the simulation had ended. I reached my hands up to Hannah, “I don’t want to walk down those!”

She laughed at me, and we soon found ourselves in a debriefing with the same stern woman. I thought we had plenty to be proud of, but she proceeded to tear us all a new hole for the ‘mistakes’ we made. About the only thing that she begrudgingly complimented us on was our teamwork...

 
 

Thank you for reading! Please press the ‘Like’ Button if you’ve enjoyed it! I would really really really appreciate it you would leave one! I do really appreciate the Kudos button, but please consider leaving a comment if you’re reading? Some of you are doing a fine job of commenting, and I really do appreciate it! Please keep up the good work! New commentators are always loved too!!!! I will fully admit to feeling neglected when there’s none…? (Pretty Please? With a cherry on top?!?)

I posted this chapter early due to not having time tomorrow. I will resume my normal schedule on Sunday!

If you're someone who must finish a good story 'now,' consider purchasing the full book on Amazon Kindle! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTBTTGX1 I will be posting a chapter about every other day until the complete 62 Chapters and the Epilogue are reposted.