//------------------------------// // Practice Range: Gibraltar Part 1 // Story: Heroines of Overwatch // by ThePegaKris //------------------------------// "Zzzz... Huh? Twilight? Where are you?" "Just take it easy, Spike. Twily will be back soon to look after you." "She better, or else I'm going to faint, Shining Armor!" "You're going to be fine. In case Twily or I don't come back later, Mom and Dad will be home to check up on you, too." "Where did she even go?" "Probably doing something very important. I guess that's why she called me to tell me that she was going somewhere far away. I hope she comes back safely." "I miss her already." Sunset. Our training was about to begin and Winston led us to a big hangar. This must be the place, judging by the test dummy robots and targets in line with each other. It would suck if we had to pay for any damages. "Are you sure we can shoot these robots?" "They can come back to life at anytime, even when badly damaged." Winston said. "It's all thanks to their self-reparation systems." "Okay, so who's up first?" "You, Sunset." Tracer said. "But first, Dr. Ziegler would like to give you something special." "Wear this, my dear. This is a Valkyrie suit, which allows you to fly to any of your allies and float down safely to earth. Only within a close range can make you fly like an angel." "Thanks, this fits perfectly!" "Allow me to demonstrate the one I'm wearing." After I equipped this white suit, I watched closely as Mercy took a step back and flew up to a training bot on a higher platform. She rose up slowly at a constant speed and I could see her waving up there. "That. Is. Awesome!" Rainbow Dash squealed. "Now it's your turn to try the Valkryie suit." as Mercy descended to the ground. "It's not that difficult to use. Just look up at the bot and fly to it." "Okay." I gulped. I was worried that if these wings failed on me, I could've died from fall damage, but here goes nothing. "Up, up, and away!" I had my eyes closed since I wanted to concentrate on my flight. I took a step back and jumped up, suddenly no longer feeling the ground beneath me, and I actually made it up here. It's pretty high up, but not to the point where my bones could break. "Woah!" The rest of my friends admired. Oddly enough, this training bot waved at me, and so did I. "How's the view up there, buddy?" Pinkie shouted. "Fine! You should see this for yourself!" "Alright then." as Winston fixed his glasses. "Now, it's onto target practice, so why don't you come on down from there?" "All you have to do is walk off and you will float down safely." Mercy explained. I closed my eyes again and proceeded to get down from this height. I was relieved to be on the ground again, but nonetheless, the flight was fun. "Athena will take it from here, Sunset Shimmer." Mercy said. "Please proceed to any shooting lane." She ordered. "Okay." "Your blaster has infinite ammunition, but it still needs to reload after each magazine. There are three targets in front of you. Take your time and proceed to kill them all when ready." "No pressure, Sunset!" Twilight said. Aim for their heads... I fired a couple of shots at the first training bot and took it down. The fire rate of my gun was pretty slow but effective at the same time. "One down, keep it up, love!" Tracer cheered. "How do I reload this?" "It will automatically reload once you've finished your magazine." Mercy replied. "You still have some shots left." "Shoot away, sugarcube!" A.J. howled. "Steady does it... Fire!" "Second target neutralized." Athena pointed out. "Note that all of your weapons have recoil and may not guarantee you a quick kill. You seven will surely need some more practice everyday." "Got it." as I reloaded. "Only one target left." It was getting kind of warm and I started to sweat a little bit, but that didn't stop me from completing my training. Without hesitation, I shot the last target in the head a couple more times and killed it. What was left in the firing range were a bunch of parts and components from the robots. My friends were watching right behind me and not surprisingly, they were happy to see me get past this first part of the training. If anything, I could've been a decent archer at the Friendship Games, but I left that up to Applejack and Fluttershy. "Way to go, darling!" Rarity idolized. "Awesome, Sunset, and you didn't even miss a single shot!" Rainbow indicated. "Perfect, and now, we shall move on to the actual healing element of your training." Athena said. "The training bots that you've just shot will now be revived and do some damage to some friendly bots now. Your job now is to heal them all with your staff." When she finished, more robots came out, this time with blue eyes, and walked right in front of the enemy bots. I had my staff ready and a finger waiting to press a button that had a yellow cross on it. "Damage has now been inflicted. Heal your allies at once." The button was held down and a yellow stream of energy started to affect the friendly bots. Their twitching began to fade away and it looked like they were obtaining health from my staff. I'll admit that this technology is pretty cool, though. "I think this'll do for healing." "Great job mate!" Tracer said. "Now, if you want your enemies to die quickly, you can engage a damage boost to your allies and they'll do the job for you." "The damage boost button on your staff is indicated by a blue arrow." Mercy alluded. "Found it!" "One by one, we want you to enhance your allies' damage so they can take out the bots." Athena explained. Once I pressed the blue button, a blue energy stream touched the first training bot. It fired at a target, which took less time to die than when I killed a target. Then, I helped the next two bots with their damage output, as I engaged the blue stream back and forth between the two. "Super!" Winston congratulated. "Your staff is now fully charged, meaning that you are able to resurrect any of your allies." Athena said. "Healing and boosting will charge it up all the way, so keep that in mind. Since your blaster is also linked to your staff, it can increase your charge as well. I shall terminate the allied bots in order to allow you to revive them." "I got it." Immediately, the friendly bots just crashed down on the floor and broke into multiple pieces. Whatever amount of money Overwatch was covering for all the damages would go through the roof. I would really feel bad if I broke something, though. "There's a big button underneath the yellow charge meter, so go ahead and press it whenever you're ready, Sunset." Mercy pointed out. "Mm-hmm. Woah, this really works!" "Ahh!" My friends spit out. "Well, I'll be impressed!" Tracer giggled. "You've made it past your training, Sunset!" "I'm glad to hear that, but this is it? My role is that quick and simple?" "Not simple, though." Athena responded. "You will definitely run into trouble and have to heal and revive your teammates, and even they will have to rely on protecting you." "We'd never let you down, Sunset!" Fluttershy said. "We'll always be kicking butt by your side!" Rainbow fist pumped. "After all, you shine the brightest out of all of us!" Rarity came in. "It's always a pleasure being with ya, Sunset!" A.J. tipped off her hat. "Best friends until the end!" Pinkie jumped up and down. "Together forever!" as Twilight stepped closer to me. Every time I've heard the same words from them, I've tended to get speechless and emotional inside. I can never help, but appreciate all that they've done for me. I felt my friends embracing me, not surprisingly, and I welcomed it. There was a halo over my head, which probably came with Mercy's Valkryie suit. I guess I'm supposed to be the angelic one. Weird... "Winston, why are your glasses wet?" Tracer asked. "N-no reason! I just found this to be...rather touching." "Right... Well, cheers to you, Sunset! You think you're ready to go out in the field?" "Yes, but I still need some more time getting used to all of this. Maybe, you can also fill in my friends about everything else." "Of course, but you don't mind if you can sit through their training first as well, do you?" "I can wait. Thanks Tracer!" "Let's see, uhh, we have Twilight Sparkle next!" Winston announced. "That's me!" "Where is your weapon, young lady?" Mercy scratched her head. "I dropped it on the floor. It was too cold for me to hold, but I would like to try it out!" "Now where did Mei leave her backup outfits?" Tracer whispered. "Ah, here they are! Twilight, I suggest you wear this and these gloves if you don't want to freeze up." "Brrr! Do you have somewhere that I can put this on?" "There's a locker room by the door when we first came in here, so I'll guide you to it." Mercy said. "Thank you!" Twilight replied. "I'll be back girls." When they both left, I turned around and couldn't help but notice the rest of my friends all looking at their new weapons and what not. Of course, Rarity examined hers like it was some sort of diamond or other kind of gem. "Hey Applejack, what time is it?" Pinkie asked. "Well, the moon's certainly drawing closer here, y'all, but back home, I'm guessing it's still high noon. Why do ya ask?" "I was thinking if we can all role play with these!" "Why? You know how real and dangerous these guns are! These were built by professionals!" "Aww, I wanted to be the good cop!" Rainbow sighed. "I guess I'm the bad cop." Fluttershy whispered. "How does it feel, Miss Sparkle?" "This is a little big on me, but it's about right. Thanks for bringing me here, Doctor!" "Hehe, you're welcome, and please, call me Mercy!" "Okay, Mercy!" "Umm, excuse my sudden urge, but is it okay if I ask you something? I hope it doesn't seem too personal." "I'm listening." "How violent do you tend to get?" "Huh, that's odd, but I'm not that kind of a person. Well, we just saved Camp Everfree a few weeks ago and..." "You fell in love with the director's brother for saving him and his camp, right?" "Wow, you folks here have REALLY been following us around all this time! But, I don't know necessarily if using magic to fight evil counts as violence." "Hmm, well, I guess you have to do what you got to do to keep everyone safe. I know what to use for a last resort." "Who exactly tags along in finding us?" "Tracer's the only one that teleports to your world and she reports everything back to us." "My friends and I are that important?" "Yes, but we identify you and your friends as no threat. You all are some of the best and brightest this organization has come across. We thought you'd all be perfect for our cause against Talon." "Oh. I heard from Sunset that there's a lot more heroes helping you. Where's the rest of them?" "If it wasn't for Winston, we wouldn't have been reunited in the first place. They're in different parts of the world, trying to exterminate the rest of Talon's forces." "Reunited?" "When Overwatch was first developed, we put an end to the Omnic Crisis that has struck the world and we became real heroes. However, the people eventually got tired of us saving their lives all the time and demanded us to stop all of our activities. They even called us criminals, and after all of that, it was the end of Overwatch." "I'm so sorry to hear that. Were Talon's forces responsible for this Omnic Crisis?" "No, the creators of the Omnics tried to improve humanity, but the machines themselves turned on their creators and started to raid the world, about 20-30 years ago. Again, it's all thanks to Winston's recall that brought us back together. Some of us, though, still have a personal vendetta against Talon's three assassins." "Who are they?" "The leader, Reaper, used to be our very first commander of Overwatch, named Gabriel Reyes. He was moved to the Blackwatch Division here after some time and had a nasty feud with our current commander, Jack Morrison, who still calls himself, Soldier: 76. They argued about who would be the best leader of Overwatch and the two eventually almost died in a fiery explosion in an old base of ours." "How did they survive?" "The whereabouts of Reyes were unknown, but he got back up and turned against Overwatch, specifically Morrison. He, on the other hand, was the first one to make it out of the explosion. I had to heal his wounds and they looked very painful." "How dangerous is Reaper, Mercy?" "Very. He looks like death himself and can raise hell whenever and wherever he wants. He can even come from the shadows and sneak attack." "Did you guys try and get him back on your side?" "It's no use. He's gone completely insane and will stop at nothing to take us down with his trusted henchmen. His hacker associate, Sombra, is a top-level expert that can patch into almost all of the technology known to man. Widowmaker is Reaper's number two, as her sniping skills and agility make her ferocious and poisonous like a spider." "They don't sound too friendly, now that I'm hearing this." "That's why we need your help, and I'm sure Sunset Shimmer has told you this already, but she came across Reaper upon first meeting Tracer. She probably told you everything, didn't she?" "Yes, but I needed to find out if Sunset was actually right. Well, we'll do whatever we can to help." "That would be very appreciated of you, Twilight! I think it's time to get back to your friends, so you can get ready to fight. Better finish suiting up!" "Sure thing." "Oh, and one other thing, Twilight!" "What is it?" "Is it okay if you can help me with something later on? You are known to be smart like Sunset. If not, I completely understand." "Whatever it is, you can count on me to get it done! But first, I need to get back to training." "Thank you!" "Oh my gosh, how long is she taking in there?" Rainbow grunted. "Patience, Miss Dash!" as Rarity wagged her index finger . "You can never rush fashion, even in combat." "Yeah, whatever." "There she is!" "I'm back!" Twilight said. Twilight was now wearing her battle outfit, which turned out to be clothes more suited for winter. She shivered a bit just holding her freeze ray and now she's starting to sweat a little bit, even in this hangar that has air conditioning. "Geez, you look more like an egghead with that!" as Rainbow bursted out laughing. "If you test her, then you're testing me as well. Knock it off." "Sorry Twilight." "...Bite me." She said under her voice. "What do you want me to do now?" "Resetting training range." Athena said. "Twilight, you may now step into any lane to begin your training." "Yes ma'am!" "Your Endothermic Blaster can spray ice, but not at a far range. Once you have frozen enemies in their tracks, you can finish them off with a deadly icicle. For example, I want you to freeze that test dummy right in front of your lane." "Umm, sure. Hey, this actually works! Aww, but this little guy unfroze immediately!" "If you push the trigger upwards, Twilight, the ice can be turned into a long range projectile. But, be careful about where you point your Endothermic Blaster, because you might accidentally impale one of your friends." "That almost happened with Mei sometime before." Tracer brought up. Surely and swiftly, Twilight shot an icicle out of her gun and it even knocked the training bot's head off. If she ever pointed that at me, which I highly doubt she will, then I would be dead. "Nice work, Twilight." Athena said. "Your weapon may be easy to use, but it will take some time getting used to." "No kidding." "I think I see a perfect streak of accuracy going on here!" Winston smiled. "Hehe, but I doubt any of our new rookies will be able to top Captain Amari!" Tracer whispered. "She's had good aim all these years, so there's no surprise that Commander Morrison trusts her with his heart!" "Finally, I want to go over your ultimate ability." Athena explained. "There is a robotic companion on the back of your ice pack that will stir up a blizzard, freezing multiple targets. It can charge up by detecting how many enemies you have frozen To demonstrate this, I will summon more training bots right now, Twilight." "Aww, this little guy looks so adorable!" Rarity gushed. "It, rather, looks adorable!" A.J. reaffirmed. "Twilight, uhh, I think your new friend is looking at you." "Hey there! What can I call you?" "You can name him after you throw him in the range." Athena reminded. "If necessary, you may wish to step back a bit, Twilight, because your companion's blizzard range is quite big." "Okay, here goes nothing! You all need to chill out!" "...Even I didn't find that to be funny." Pinkie whispered to me. "I...kind of did." "Brr, is it getting colder or is it just me?" Rainbow shivered. "Nah, I think Twilight's just nailing her training." as A.J. brushed off her shoulder. " Look how cold those vermin are!" "I should have brought one of my fancy silk scarves..." as Rarity tried to cover herself up.