by Adam Sampson
“Can we pick a different moment?” Peter asked.
“Nope,” Lola said with a smile.
The next morning, a young man in a red uniform showed up at their room just before they were to leave for morning exercises.
“Hello, is Peter Grey here?” he said with a heavy accent.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“I am to take you to the captain, stow your weapons and follow me,” he said and took off running when Peter was ready.
“Hey,” Peter called out, “What is this all about?”
The young man didn’t answer until they got to their destination. It was a small building not too far from the Armory.
“I don’t know what this is about, but it is never good.”
Inside was a collection of cubicles and full of people in red uniforms. Peter was led past them into a large office room in the back. The young man waved him in and stayed outside.
In the room was a large desk and a collection of chairs in front. Sitting behind the desk was a woman Peter recognized from the orientation, Captain Majors. Sitting in the chairs in front of her was Ensign Butters and the guard from the south gate.
The Captain looked up from her desk as Peter came in and said, “Ah, Cadet Grey, thank you for being prompt. Don’t bother sitting, you won’t be here long. I heard some troubling news about your conduct. We have had a rash of squads using our gates to do their hunting for them, luring in the monsters and letting the gates electrocute them.. The most recent incident was led by Cadet Johnson, the Flynn Johnson you share a Mage class with.
“He tells me that this whole thing wasn’t his idea. Do you know who gave him the idea to pull a train into the base’s very expensive walls?” Captain Majors said.
“No Ma’am,” Peter said, his hands behind his back.
“He said it was all your idea. He said you convinced him this was the best way to hunt, and he fell for it. Ensign Butters tells me you two had a disagreement a few days back and this was your way of getting back at him,” she said.
“What? No, I never said that, I didn’t talk to him about hunting at all,” Peter said, shocked.
“Denying it only makes the punishment worse. Look, I am busy, I don’t want to hear your excuses. Report to Ensign Simmons behind barracks fifteen. I expect you and Flynn to work out your differences as you dig latrines. Don’t end up in my office again Cadet Grey, I expect better of a squad leader.”
“But!”
Captain Majors just pointed out the door with an ice cold stare on her face.
“Yes ma’am,” Peter said and sulked out the door.
Peter swung by his barracks on the way out to punishment and explained what was going on. Everyone was just as confused as he was, why he would lie like that, and why the captain believed him.
A half a stan into the punishment, Ensign Simmons walked away and Peter got his chance to talk to Flynn. They were digging a new hole for the latrine, which needed to be 16 feet deep. With their enhanced speed and strength, it wouldn’t take too long with good tools. But the small trenching tool they were provided with meant that they would be at this all day. Digging in the same trench as Flynn just made it that much worse for Peter. He was seething and was glad for the chance to confront Flynn.
“Why?” Peter said.
“Why what?” Flynn said, his face blank.
Peter swore passionately and said, “You know what I am asking. Why did you lie and say this was my fault?”
“Because it was! You just had to butt in there at the gate. I would have been fine with Ensign Butters to cover for me, but no. You just had to get me in trouble. Where do you get off butting in where you don’t belong? This is all your fault! Neither of us would be here if you had just kept your trap shut!” Flynn said with passion.
“My fault? You break the rules, you get caught by the guard, you lie about it, and you say it is my fault? You are delusional.”
“Do you have brain damage, Peter? I had it under control, and you derailed it.”
“Under control? What makes you think you have the right to break the rules in the first place? And for that matter, why was Ensign Butters going to cover for you anyway? He is by the book in every way.”
Flynn turned away at this question and punched the dirt. “I just had it covered, ok? You keep attacking me, first at the Dojo when I pointed out your boyfriends were morons when they got themselves killed by...”
Flynn didn’t get to finish his sentence, Peter hit him with the flat of his shovel. Peter just couldn't control himself when he was making fun of Simon and Chris. The disrespect just made his blood boil.
Flynn fell to the dirt in the trench, just below ground level. Flynn swore and kicked out with his back foot. Peter easily dodged the kick. Flynn rolled over and kicked up from his back to stand at the ready. His shovel was at the ready, his eyes narrowed for a fight.
“Don’t talk about them. You don’t have the right,” Peter said, his voice breaking, “I don’t want to fight you, just don’t talk about them.”
They stood there staring at each other for a moment before Flynn said, “Ok.”
Cautiously they both got to work. Digging this latrine was not easy, the shovel head was only slightly bigger than their hands and they had a lot of dirt to move. Ensign Simmons came by to check on them every so often, berating them for how slow they were going.
Peter eventually got a rhythm going, a steady stream of dirt flowing from the bottom of the trench. Flynn was working on the other end of the trench, only working hard as the Ensign came by to check on them. Three stans went by, and they were digging deep, enough that their heads were below ground when they stood up. Neither of them spoke. Although Peter was frustrated with Flynn, he was still hopeful that they could be done in just over a stan from now. That would give them back several stans of the day. Perhaps he could still catch enough of the lesson with Lau Shi for him to approve an upgrade.
Flynn stopped working again and Peter was just about to turn around and ask him to get back to digging. They could be done so much sooner if Flynn would just help. Just then Peter felt a sharp searing pain in his left side, just below his ribcage. He looked down to see was bleeding from a deep wound and fell to his knees in pain and shock. His shovel fell to the ground as he pressed both hands on the cut.
Looking up, he saw Flynn swinging the camp shovel for another strike. Peter leaned back and tried to get out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough. A shallow wound appeared on his head, from his jaw to his eyebrow. Peter jumped back out of the way of the next swing. That put Peter up against the edge of the hole they dug. He glanced up, looking for escape but it was blocked by a blue magical shield.
Flynn stood there with his shovel and a slight smile on his face. Peter collected himself, and smiled back. With a flick of his foot, Peter collected his shovel. The two traded blows for a moment, then Peter took a step back. With a grin, Peter stepped forward again and attacked Flynn with a flurry of strikes. Five hits in less than two seconds.
Stumbling back, Flynn blocked most of the hits, only a few small scrapes got through his defenses. He jumped back and with a flick of his hand, a shimmering shield appeared in front of him.
No sooner was the shield fully formed but a fireball appeared to destroy it. Peter jumped through the disintegrating shield and struck down with both hands on his shovel. Flynn blocked it with the shaft of his shovel but was forced to his knees. With his left hand, Peter grabbed Flynn’s shovel and kicked his chest with his right foot, disarming him.
With a shovel in both hands, Peter stepped back. Flynn threw a fireball, but Peter crossed his hands caught it on the heads of the shovels.
“Give up Flynn, you are a predictable fighter,” Peter said.
Flynn roared and attempted to jump at him, but Peter swept his legs before he could get up fully. Flynn wouldn’t give up though, flailing his legs and shooting fireballs. Peter narrowed his eyes, deflected the fireballs and lunged in under his guard. With one quick st
rike, Peter stabbed Flynn in the side, in the same spot he had been stabbed at first.
This took the fight out of Flynn as he used both hands to cover his wound.
Peter leaned in and said, “Stay away from me and I will stay away from you. But if you ever attack me again, I will end it.” Peter threw the extra shovel to the ground and stepped back a bit. He was not sure if that last threat was a bluff or not.
Just then, he heard someone approaching the trench. Thinking quickly, Peter cast a few healing spells.
“What is going on here?” Ensign Simmons said. The Ensign was looking down at Flynn laying on the ground, completely healthy, and Peter standing a little ways away, wounded and bleeding.
“Sorry sir, I tripped and fell on my shovel. I was just taking a break to heal up,” Peter said and healed himself.
Flynn stared at Peter, furious. He had wanted to tell the Ensign he was attacked, but he obviously wouldn’t have been believable. Peter looked right back at Flynn impassively. Peter planned on staying as far away from Flynn as possible from here on out. But he would never back down.
Chapter 20
Jonas laughed as the rino-ape fell to the ground, dead. He had just used his new warrior skill, exploding strike, and it had exploded the rino-apes heart out its back. Seven orbs streamed out its corpse.
“Ooh that was a juicy one. Seven orbs is a lot for a rino-ape,” Jonas said.
“That exploding strike was awesome, I am kinda jealous,” Peter replied. He flipped up his screen to see how many orbs he had available. He also took the time to examine how far he had come in the last month.
Peter Grey
Level 5 Mage
Cuff age 3 1/2 months
21 Squad Orbs
11 Self Orbs
Previous page
Next page
Magic skills
Summon Shield level 2
Fireball level 3
Fire Wave level 3
Void Bolt Level 1
Weak Heal Level 2
Lightning Bolt level 1
Upgrade list here
Time
Map
Phone
Squad Locator
Previous page
Next page
Passive Skills
Strength level 3
Speed level 4
Constitution level 4
Premonition level 2
Upgrade list here
Active Skills
Sharpshooter level 1
Stone Skin level 2
Stealth level 1
Vision level 1
Upgrade list here
Utility Skills
Telekinesis level 5
Cleanliness level 1
Translation level 1
Upgrade list here
He decided he needed to keep saving up for the next upgrade for Telekinesis, which cost sixteen orbs. Lau Shi was upset enough that he wasn’t a fireball mage, he couldn't let the rest of the class get too far ahead. They were all level six by now. Mike was a shield mage, Flynn specialized in fireballs, and Sofia and Olivia both focused on healing. They benefited from increased levels and training, and Lau Shi helped them unlock stronger skills within their focus. The other four people in Lau Shi’s class were formidable mages now. Peter was struggling to show that he was too.
Even though Peter’s squad hunted more than the rest of the squads at their same level, he had a habit of trying out new skills all the time. Some he was glad he had spent the orbs on, like Stone Skin and Fire Wave. The last one was particularly useful against the hordes of spider-voles that liked to pop up around here.
But other skills were admittedly a waste of orbs. Cleanliness was supposed to help him avoid the sensitive noses of the hippo worms, but they smelled him anyway. Void bolt looked super cool, but it moved slow enough that almost all beasts could jump out of the way of the miniature black hole.
Peter was super glad he picked Telekinesis as his main skill though. The cuff may think that it was a utility skill, but he found endless ways to maim and kill monsters with it. The skill was now strong enough to injure monsters with an invisible spike. Shoving claws off course, keeping jaws shut, poking eyes out, he even stopped a heart once. But his favorite was taking their legs out from under them as they ran at his squad. It didn’t take much power, just a shove where their foot met the ground, and it always left the monsters sprawled and vulnerable at the feet of his squad. The stronger monsters were sometimes resistant to fire or had thick skin resistant to slashing, but none of them were resistant to telekinesis.
“Welp. Time to move on, the next one should be somewhere in that direction,” Lola said and waved her hand to the northwest. The rino-apes were solitary beasts, and they had to hunt them one at a time. This was to their advantage though, since the beasts were huge and regenerated health quickly, it took all six of them to take one down. Lola turned to Peter and said, somewhat embarrassed, “But first could you, please grab the horn? Thanks.”
Rangers had an added responsibility, harvesting some of the useful animal parts that they came across. Rino-ape horns were used as an ingredient in healing serums that the Trolls gave to humans back on Earth. So when they killed a rino-ape, Lola was supposed to remove its horn and the gland below it. But she was squeamish and hated doing it.
Peter was squeamish too. But because he was a dutiful boyfriend and could use telekinetic blades, Peter usually did the butchering. A few moments later, Peter gave her the horn and a kiss. Their relationship had progressed over the last several weeks, to the point that they had shoved their beds together in a corner and set up privacy screens. Peter was pretty sure that wouldn’t fly in a real army. He was glad for the quasi-freedom they had, he felt like he was getting some of his life back.
Walking back after their hunt, they saw Rex leading a group out of the gate.
“Howdy Rex, is this your new class?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, this is their first hunting trip. This is actually my last class, they are sending me back to work after this. Thor just told me today. They are sending us back to Beta to get up to snuff and off to the theater.” Rex said.
“I never asked, how did you guys get training jobs in the first place? You guys aren’t exactly model soldiers,” Peter said.
“Ahh, you know, just rewards for bad behavior. The trolls think training is a punishment since we don’t advance as quickly. They don’t like that Thor is a Lightning mage and I definitely shouldn’t have magic. One of the troll inspections caught us and sent us here,” Rex said with a shrug.
Peter twirled his warhammer in the air without hands, “Huh, maybe I will let myself get caught. Training doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
Rex rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Yeah maybe not though. Training wasn’t the only punishment they handed out. They broke every bone in our bodies and gave us just enough healing to stay alive. Left us like that for three hours before they healed us. I don’t recommend it.”
Quickly reaching out and grabbing his warhammer out of the air, Peter said, “Yeah maybe not.”
...
Peter was excited to get out and hunt, it was the first hunting trip after he had reached level seven. They were going to try Lurkers for the first time, and he had purchased a new skill just for the trip.
Peter Grey
Level 7 Mage
Cuff age 4 months
0 Squad Orbs
9 Self Orbs
Previous page
Next page
Magic skills
Summon Shield level 2
Fireball level 3
Fire wave level 4
Void bolt Level 1
Weak Heal Level 2
Lightning Bolt level 1
Frost level 1
Upgrade list here
Time
Map
Phone
Squad Locator
Previous page
Next page
Passive Skills
Strength l
evel 4
Speed level 5
Constitution level 5
Dexterity Level 2
Premonition level 3
Upgrade list here
Active Skills
Sharpshooter level 1
Stone Skin level 3
Stealth level 2
Vision level 1
Sense level 1
Upgrade list here
Utility Skills
Telekinesis level 7
Cleanliness level 1
Time level 1
Explosives level 1
Translation level 1
Upgrade list here
Lurkers were ambush predators, they were able to bury themselves in the ground and spring a trap on the unawares. The six tentacles that would pop up would drag the victim into its stationary mouth. They are the most deadly of the monsters near base Alpha have killed more than one unaware cadet. Once they were exposed, they were vulnerable, and the rest of the squad could attack and kill it fairly quickly. Once a soldier was swallowed, it was just a race to see who could win, the monster or the teammates.
But Peter had bought Sense, hoping that they could hunt the lurkers without sacrificing a team member to spring the trap.
Sense
Sense everything within a five meter distance of the user. Sends out a pulse in a globe surrounding the user that scans and penetrates any non-advanced materials. Level one is one pulse per five seconds while activated. Next level reduces time to 4.5 seconds. (Next level costs 8 orbs)
With this skill, Peter could sense everything around him with a sixth sense that operated kind of like radar. It gave him a vague sense of what was around him, kind of what he imagined Daredevil’s power worked like. It even worked through walls and underground. He hoped that this skill would let him detect hidden lurkers before they sprung the trap so they could attack at a distance. Hopefully the distance was far enough out. Sixteen feet should be far enough out, but with five seconds between pulses, it would not be something he could run around with. They would have to find a good spot and walk slowly to search.
