//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Angels Among Us // by Dash32 //------------------------------// "Look, all I'm saying is that if I wanted to get bitched at every second of every day, I'd go back to school!" The training session had come to an end after countless hours of sniper training. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been found each and every time. With the death of Stone still heavy on everyone's mind, the mess hall was fairly silent, with the exception of a few chatters here and there. "Dash, it's his JOB ta get on ya about tiny details. They don't got no room fer screw ups or lazy people in the military. Ya oughtta already know that..." Rainbow Dash sighed and rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Yeah I guess you're right..." Rainbow Dash and Applejack get to the front of the line where they received their...ahem...lunch for the day. Rainbow Dash merely stared at the slop in disgust as she had done countless other times. Sighing in defeat, she and Applejack took their seats. "I swear it's like they're TRYING to kill us with this shit..." Rainbow said with contempt as she lifted her spoon, only for it to snap back to the tray into the slop. "It ain't that bad. They're jes' buildin' up our endurance ta worse conditions is all..." AJ said before digging into her own food. "You get no say on this. You grew up on a farm. You're used to eating shit..." Dash said with a grin, only to get a face full of slop that had been catapulted from AJ's spoon. "Oops...hand slipped..." AJ responded with a dry smirk before she continued eating. Rainbow Dash wiped the gunk out of her face before rolling her eyes and settling down to eat her food before it decides to crawl off her plate. After a few minutes of sitting in silence the two girls hear a commotion from outside. Their curiosity sparked, both girls leave their piles of mush on the table to go see what's happening. Exiting through the doors their vision is blocked by a large crowd of people cheering, yelling, and laughing at something. Pushing through the crowd, they finally get enough clearance to see the issue. Two recruits were on the floor just outside the mess hall. One of them had the other in a headlock while the other threw several elbows into his attackers ribcage. "KICK HIS ASS, JOHN!!" "C'MON TREY GET OUT OF THE HOLD!!" "C'MON FIGHT LIKE A REAL MAN!!" We're some of the comments the girls could make out through the noise. The man that was put into a headlock was starting to turn red in the face, so as a last resort he did what everyone else would have done in his situation. He lowered his head just enough to where he could see his attackers arm. And bit down hard. "AAAAAGH!!!" The other man yells as pain shot through his arm before letting his opponent out of the choke hold. Immediately taking the opportunity, both men scramble to their feet with fire in their eyes. Both men staring at each other with anger. Rainbow Dash and Applejack look at each other in confusion before looking back to read the names of the recruits. Langstrom and Hayes. Both men are Private First Class rank. "C'mon Trey! Take a swing! I fuckin' dare ya! Gimme an excuse, come on!" Private Hayes says with anger as he balled his fists, raising them up to his face. Private Langstrom takes a deep breath before taking a big step forward and swinging his left arm, catching his opponent in the jaw. "Oof!" Private Hayes grunts as he's nearly knocked to the floor, but manages to catch his footing at the last second before swinging a right, then a left, then a left again, then finally a right, catching Private Langstrom in the cheek, ribcage, cheek, cheek again, then the stomach, before Private Hayes falls to one knee, a line of blood trickling out of his nose. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" A voice yelled out. The crowd immediately goes silent and parts a bit, showing a very pissed off General Sentry. He takes three large steps forward and glares down at the two men. Without lifting his eyes away he mutters in a calm voice. "Every last one of you have three seconds to remove yourselves from my proximity before I haunt you all in your nightmares tonight..." Nothing else had to be said as everyone minus to two fighters scrambled away to get back to their barracks. Everyone but AJ and Rainbow Dash. Their curiosities peaked, they turn like they're heading to their barracks, only to stop and hide behind a nearby wall, listening in on the conversation about to be held. Crossing his arms, General Sentry stared down at the two men with a stone cold stoic expression, expecting an answer. "W-We can explain General..." Private Hayes starts to say before being cut off. "Did I ask you to speak, Private Hayes?" "N-No sir..." "Then shut the fuck up..." "S-Sir, yes, sir..." "Now...you have one minute to explain what the fuck I just walked up to...make it quick..." General Sentry says with a cold lifeless voice. "W-We were fighting, sir..." "No shit? Really? I thought ya'll was havin' a tickle fight or some shit. I'm not a fuckin' idiot Hayes. Now, what were you fighting about?" "H-He stole my deodorant..." Hayes says pointing at Private Langstrom. "You're such a fucking liar!" "I never said you could use my deodorant in the first place and you just up and-" "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" General Sentry yelled with fury laced into his voice. Both men immediately stopped talking, knowing when they're beaten. He stares down at the battered Langstrom before turning his attention back to Private Hayes. "Stand up, Private..." "S-Sir, yes, sir..." Without another word, Private Hayes stood up and stayed silent for his own sake. General Sentry helped Private Langstrom off the floor before inspecting his bruised face. "Hmm...not too shabby Hayes. You got him pretty good..." "Thank you, sir..." "What did you do to him to get him this way?" "I uh..." Hayes said before clearing his throat. "I-I um...I had him in a chokehold and I punched him a few times..." came the mans a response. "Well ya gave him a helluva beating..." "Thank you sir..." "That wasn't a compliment recruit. Despite you opening up a can of whoop ass on Private Langstrom. You failed to do one thing..." "What's that, General?" "You failed to knock out your opponent. You see...you landed a couple good hits. But none of them were correctly timed or coordinated. You see...if you want to make sure your opponent goes down..." General Sentry said before spinning on his heels and landing a haymaker across Hayes temple, knocking him out in a single punch. "AGH!" Hayes grunted as he fell to the floor before losing consciousness. "You go for the temple..." General Sentry said before turning back to the battered recruit. "Get out of my sight. Go get yourself cleaned up..." "S-Sir, yes, sir..." Langstrom said before quickly turning and walking away. As he watched the recruit leave he took a deep breath and looked down at the unconscious Hayes. "You alive down there?..." He asked with a cold expression as he gently kicked the Private in his ribs to make sure he didn't overdo it, receiving a pained groan in return. "Yeah you're fine, c'mon get up..." he said before lifting Hayes off the floor and slapping him across the face. "WAKE UP AND GET MOVIN', NOW!!" "S-Sir yes sir!!" A now awake and alert Hayes said before stumbling away while trying to keep from seeing two of everything. After a couple seconds of silence, General Sentry finally sighed. "Let today be a lesson to you two...don't, fuck with me... or your asses will be grass, and I'll be the lawnmower..." he said before walking away, leaving a wide-eyed and speechless rainbow Dash and Applejack motionless behind the wall. He knew they were there? How? "AJ?...I think I've finally found someone I'm afraid of..." "M-Me too, Dash...me too.." "I-I guess we'd better get moving before we end up like Hayes..." "Good idea..." With nothing else needing to be said, the two friends quickly made their way to the barracks where they would remain for the rest of the day.