//------------------------------// // 05- Training Into Practice // Story: Tales of Equestrian City- the Back Roads // by Alden MacManx //------------------------------// About two weeks after the two men found about each other’s Talents, Blaise Arrow and Rip Current were in a ‘secure location’ outside of town, practicing with their Talents, the location being Blaise’s cabin and forge. Blaise was improving not only his marksmanship, but the speed in which he could change arrows in his crossbow, switching between stun, penetration, heat and shock. He was also trying to develop a fifth variety, that being explosive, but he could not quite get the hang of that. Rip Current was practicing, on this day, to ‘reverse the polarity of the neutron flow’ as he referred to it, on small powered items within the range of his Talent. Rip found that by tossing a small laser pointer, he could detonate it at any range, provided he held it first and tossed it. Just doing it at a distance he was limited to line-of-sight, for the small powered items. The explosion from a laser pointer would leave a mark on a nearby surface. Exploding a watch on someone’s wrist, according to the tests they could rig up, could conceivably blow someone’s wrist off. After a half-hour of drilling, Blaise called a halt, to reset with fresh targets. They had an ample supply of target materials in the old barn they were using, and Rip had brought along a large box of small and medium powered items, to detonate. “We stop now, for ration bar and water,” Blaise droned. “Just ONE ration bar.” Rip looked heartbroken. “But I’m hungry, Blaise! One won’t be enough!” he complained. Blaise turned quickly and jammed a stiff finger into Rip’s soft stomach, making him grunt. “Nein. ONE is all you get now. Waiting we are still for test results. With all we do, five kilos you have gained in two week past.” “I know, Blaise,” Rip said, sounding upset and sad, which he was. “Appetite suppressors are not working on me, and I’m doing everything I can to not stuff myself until I feel pain. I just can’t help being hungry all the time.” Rip sat down on a box, which promptly collapsed under his nearly three hundred twenty-pound weight. “Shit.” Blaise helped Rip stand up. “Try I know you do. Easy I know it is not. Have a bar and water while I set up for next round of training.” “Even when I was in the Navy, drilling was not anywhere near this hard on me,” Rip complained as he got back to his feet. “I do not know how you can still do it.” Blaise gave his friend the promised ration and water. “Army life very tough. Harder than on ship. You pack thirty kilos one hundred kilometers through rough terrain to get to remote missile battery. Easy it is not. Practice I have kept up.” “Life on a carrier is not easy, especially when you are sailing through a revolving storm doing flight ops. Hard to do soldering when the ship is pitching ten degrees and rolling fifteen. That stuff, I can endure. Walking a hundred kilometers in the rough, no way!” Rip said as he tore the wrapper off the ration bar. “While seasick I get watching waves. You tough different than I am. Faith in you I have, and so does Doctor Sparkle and Miss Rarity,” Blaise said in his monotone as he cleared out the damaged targets. Rip buzzed through the ration bar and drank half a liter of water before replying. “Thank you for saying so, Blaise. I know I complain a lot, but it is my way of coping with what’s going on. I’ve counted you as a friend for years now, and I have no plans to stop being so now. If I upset you, I apologize.” Blaise paused in his target building to look at Rip, the scarring on the side of his head plainly visible. Rip was long since immune to the sight of the scars. “Feelings I not have, so hurt them you cannot. Apology accepted, because you need to. Set up your next phase of target making, the car batteries and lanterns.” “Okay, Blaise. This is where I’m trying to put out the light without causing the battery to explode, right?” Rip said as he put the half-empty bottle down and walked to where the wagon was set up, with a car battery, jumper cables, and several lanterns hooked up to a remote control, allowing each lamp to be lit by Blaise while Rip tried to put it out. “Ja, Rip. That is plan,” Blaise said as he set up his own row of targets. That was the plan, but that is not what happened. Rip, in the setup they had rigged, could not target the lights, just the battery. Car batteries, especially the lead-acid ones, tend to explode violently when the current flow is forcibly reversed. Fortunately, their injuries were minor, and the fire was quickly put out. “I think we should call our training for today, Blaise,” Rip said after the fire was out and the area policed. “Ja, Rip, I agree.” On their way back home in Equestrian City, the two men decided to stop at a drive-up fast food place. Blaise placed the order and paid for it, since he was driving. He pulled over into a nearby parking lot to have the evening meal, not wanting to eat and drive, because that was not the right thing to do. Rip was glad that Blaise bought dinner, but not glad he was limited to one burger, one pack of fries and a soft drink. A DIET soft drink. Rip did not give voice to his unhappiness. Blaise had a deluxe chicken sandwich, because there is one thing he refused to eat, and that is any sort of beef product. Pork, chicken, fish, all were okay, but beef was RIGHT OUT, in his mind. Rip, who did enjoy a good beefsteak and thick juicy burgers, was thankful that Blaise did not mind if anyone nearby had beef, just he himself would not partake of it. As the two men finished, they became aware of a van pulling into the lot where they were parked at a high rate of speed, said van coming to a screeching halt in front of a jewelry store. Rip and Blaise did not see the front window shattering, but they did hear it. They looked at each other. “Good thing it is getting dark, isn’t it?” Rip said quietly. “Ja. Idea I have. You touch van, you affect at distance, ja?” Blaise said. Rip nodded. “Right. I need to touch it, to ensure I get just that one and not miss, potentially blacking out half the city.” “I drive up past van, like looking for trash can. Drive by, you touch van, we go to far side. They come out, you blow van motor, I pick off perpetrators. Do?” “We can do that. Pull around the corner of the building there,” Rip said, pointing. “You get the car out of sight; we get out and cover behind planter. You pick off perpetrators, I will blow that van motor to kingdom come.” “We do it,” Blaise said, putting his car in gear. He drove past the parked van, Rip rolling down the window and lightly touching the van body. The car’s approach was covered by the sound of the burglar alarm wailing, as was its higher speed departure. Blaise whipped his car around the corner and stopped when he was far enough in to put his car out of sight. Both men exited the car, Rip going to the building corner while Blaise crawled rapidly to the planter, lying flat. They watched as three people came out of the building, two carrying some sort of bag, the third a stick. They could not tell for sure, because of the low light around the van. As the first of the people got into the van, the van driver started the motor. Once he was sure the motor was running, Rip did his thing. He forcibly reversed the current flow in the van. The lights went out and the battery exploded with a loud bang, smoke coming from under the hood. The van did not move as a little fire started showing from under it. The four people inside started exiting rapidly, through the side doors. Blaise proved his marksmanship badges were well-earned, each one getting a stun bolt, dropping them all before the last one got ten feet away. “Think we should get out of here?” Rip asked as Blaise scrambled back to the car. “Nein. You call police and tell them what you heard and saw, because parked here having food we were doing, ja?” Blaise said as firmly as he could. “Good idea. Glad you thought of it,” Rip said, reaching for his phone. “It is right thing to do, ja?” “Yes, it is the right thing to do. I already did.” said a voice from the rooftop. Rip looked up in total surprise, while Blaise was a bit calmer. They saw a young lady standing there, her ponytail blowing lightly in the breeze. “I’ve been tracking them for days. Thanks for the help!” The young lady leaped off the roof, doing a double flip before landing gracefully on the sidewalk next to the two men. “My card,” she said, giving them both a card. “You have a good idea, calling the police. I already did, and they will be here soon. Give Captain Nightwatch my regards,” she said before taking her leave gracefully. Rip glanced at the card, then the departing figure. “Shadowstrike. She’s awesome…” he breathed. “Impressive would say I,” Blaise said as the first police car pulled up, lights flashing. The fire under the van was getting more intense. “Unit Two-Seven to dispatch! Send fire department here, vehicle fire. Need backup as well, have four unconscious perpetrators here along with spilled loot,” the two men could hear. “Sending fire and backup, Unit Two-Seven,” Dispatch said over the radio. Blaise and Rip sat down on the planter and watched as Equestrian City’s Finest and Bravest came out to clean up the mess. It was about ten minutes later when they were approached by someone in civilian clothes. “Evening, gentlemen. I’m Captain Nightwatch, Equestrian City Police Department. Thank you for waiting. Can you tell me what happened here?” he asked politely. Blaise and Rip told their stories, as much as they were going to tell, anyway. When they were done, Rip added on, “We waited for you because Shadowstrike said we should. She gives you her regards, too.” Blaise just nodded in agreement. “Shadowstrike, eh? Interesting. Since I have all your information, you two are free to go. If we need anything more, we will call you. Thank you for your cooperation, gentlemen,” Nightwatch told them. “Happy we are to help police here keep city safe. Live here too we do. Fight I can do, friend here not so much,” Blaise said in his expressionless monotone. “Yeah. What can I do, sit on them?” Rip added. Nightwatch just looked at Rip’s obese frame. “That can hurt. Thank you, gentlemen, and have a good evening,” he told them. “You too, Captain,” Rip said as Nightwatch headed back to the scene of the crime. “Time it is to home I take you. Want another pit stop?” Blaise offered as they walked to the car. “Blaise, if you offer, then I will accept. I will buy this time.” “Ja. It is right thing to do.”