Defenders Assemble

by Maxis122

Chapter Five : Training For Action

Another arrow hit its target as Derpy fired it. She spent a second to relax before grabbing another arrow from her quiver and firing it too at the target. Every time she was trying to get further and further into the center. Whooves, who had been supervising, walked over to the control panel next to the range and pressed a few buttons.

“How about some wind to make it more realistic” Whooves suggested as he turned the wind turbines on. Derpy smirked and drew another arrow, adjusting her aim as she felt the wind. When she let go of the arrow it shot through the air and curved with the wind. Then it landed in the middle of the target, as the others had.

“No problem” Derpy said as she smirked at the result. Lyra then walked over to the two, watching the impressive archery abilities of Derpy.

“I can see why they gave you that nick name” Lyra exclaimed as she stood beside her, looking down the range at the perfect streak.

“Thanks” Derpy responded as she set her bow back on the stand.

“How’s your combat training going?” Whooves asked Lyra.

“Same as ever” Lyra answered as she walked back over to the training bot. It was a podium with sticks that could fly out. Made for quick attacks in rapid succession.

“Want to try something more challenging?” Derpy asked as she looked rather unimpressed at the piece of equipment.

“Have something better in mind?” Lyra questioned, receiving a nod from Derpy.

“Yeah, over here” She said as she lead Lyra over to a circle. Inside was another smaller circle, presumably where the pony training should stand. Just outside of the circle was a control panel. “Stand in the circle”

“The smaller one?” Lyra asked as she walked inside the bigger circle.

“Yeah” Derpy replied as she pressed a couple of buttons.

“What’s this going to do?” Lyra asked as she stood uneasily in the middle of the circle.

“Targets are going to pop up and charge at you” Derpy explained calmly, “You’ve just got to hit them once to set them back down”

“Sound’s easy” Lyra remarked.

“You say that now” Whooves smirked as he knew what was coming, “But it is very hard”

“I like a challenge” Lyra chuckled as she got herself ready.

“Ready?” Derpy asked, with her hoof on the start button. Lyra licked her lips and nodded. “Good luck” Derpy then pressed the button and the equipment came alive. Within a second a dummy popped up and charged at Lyra. Noticing its appearance, Lyra turned to face it and she punched it. And as they said, it went down and fell back. As soon as that one had been downed another from behind her popped up and charged. Being a little surprised by it, Lyra didn’t have the time to turn around, so she bucked it back.

In the next second, two popped up from opposite sides. And at the same time they charged at Lyra. Knowing what she had to do, she jumped up and did a splits kick. After hitting both of the dummies in the head, they fell down and then another came. And another, and another. In a short period of time, she was really feeling the burn. The thought of knowing that the next one could come from anywhere at anytime.

After a minute, three came up at the same time and charged. Not knowing how she could tackle this problem, she had a quick combat think. After remembering a move that she learned, she slid down and slide kicked the three across their chests. When the fell down, another dummy charged from behind her. She tried to get up to intercept it, but when she was on her hooves, the dummy was face to face with her. After hearing a loud low toned bleep, the exercise was over.

“Not bad” Whooves said with an impressed tone in his voice.

“Best time we have” Derpy announced as she pressed a few buttons to record the new high score. “Looks like Storm was a bit too slow”

“How long was I in for?” Lyra asked as she breathed heavily.

“About a minute and fifty seconds” Derpy read from the screen. “Which is exceptional. As this is a continuous exercise”

“What’s the average then?” Lyra asked, being a little intrigued at her success.

“About thirty seconds tops” Derpy said.

“Awesome” Lyra squealed happily as she felt the joy of being the best. That was in the section of close combat. After the moment had passed Whooves turned his attention to another section of the training room.

“Lyra” Whooves called, getting her attention, “How would you feel about trying knife throwing?”

“Knife throwing?” Lyra questioned as she walked over to the station in question. Arranged neatly was a row of small throwing knives. There was also a belt that had some other ones attached to it. Picking up one of them, Lyra felt the weight of the blade. It was light, but sharp. The grip was made in such a way so that it was easy to throw.

“Do you know how to throw one of these?” Derpy asked as she picked one up too.

“I guess...” Lyra mumbled as she held the blade in one hoof.

“Well, give it a try then” Derpy said as she pressed a button on the control panel, causing a target to come up. Lyra centered herself to the target and gripped the knife. Then, in one swift motion, she lifted her hoof and threw the knife and the target. The knife indented itself at a couple of rings from the center.

“Not bad for a first try” Whooves admitted.

“Could be better though” Derpy added as she then aggressively threw her knife at the target, hitting it dead in the middle.

“Wow...” Lyra gasped as she looked at the target, seeing that it had developed a little crack in it, from the force of the throwing knife. “How did you do that?”

“Give the throw some aggression and keep looking at the target” Derpy explained, “That, and plenty of practice” Lyra grabbed another one of the knives and tried using Derpy’s advice. After she threw the knife it landed a little closer to the center, but it was still a little bit off.

“Soon...” Lyra mumbled as she looked at her attempts.

“Don’t worry about it Lyra” Whooves said as he walked along side her, “It takes awhile for anypony to get a perfect throw”

“Yeah” Lyra mumbled again, “I guess”

They were all suddenly disrupted by the sound of the doors flying open and a cart getting wheeled in. Another agent was pushing this cart towards the trio.

“Agent Lucky, what’s in the cart?” Asked Whooves as he walked over to intercept the earth pony.

“Oh, it’s a package for Agent Deadeye” Lucky said as he stopped and walked to the side of the cart. He then pressed the keypad on the side of the packaging a couple of times and pulled it open.

“What is it?” Lyra asked as she and Derpy approached the package. Derpy looked inside the package, the object inside of it. She grabbed it and pulled it out, showing it in the light.

“This is the bow that has been developed for me” She said as she stretched the string out a little, and looked through the scope.

“The MX16 Combat Bow” Lucky said professionally, “With the MX16 Combat Quiver” Lucky then pulled the quiver out of the package as well and handed it over to Derpy.

“Awesome” Derpy said as she examined the bow and the quiver.

“Is it ready for use?” Whooves asked Lucky.

“Yeah, finished it off a few days ago” Lucky replied as he closed the package and turned the cart around. “Should be ready for combat use”

“Thanks” Derpy said as she place the quiver on her back and dashed over to the training range. Lucky nodded and pushed the cart back to where he had come from. Derpy stood in front of the target range and held the bow up, feeling its weight and balance. She seemed to be rather excited about it, but Lyra couldn’t really see what was so special about it. Sure, it looked slightly different, but what else made it better than another bow.

“Derpy” Lyra began as she stood along side her, looking at the bow, “What’s so special about this bow?” Derpy frowned at her as she thought “How isn’t it special?”. She then thought that the only way to prove it was to show her.

“Well, there are many things” Derpy then pressed a button on the bow, which then caused the bottom part of the quiver to rotate. “Like there are adjustable heads for the arrows” she said as she drew one of the arrows and fired it. When this arrow hit, the target burst into flames and burned to ash.

“That’s pretty cool...” Lyra gasped, seeing that the bow was indeed very advanced. “What else does it do?”

“This” Derpy then pressed the button again and pulled another arrow out. When she fired this one it stuck to the target like a normal arrow. She then pulled out her earpiece and held it near Lyra’s ear.

“I don’t get it” Lyra said as she listened to the sounds, which then began to echo.

“It’s a audio transmission device” Derpy said, which was then repeated through the earpiece.

“That’s pretty cool” Lyra commented, listening to her own voice get repeated. Derpy then pressed another button and the arrow exploded with a small puff. She then replaced the ear piece in her ear and pressed another button on her bow, which caused another arrow to be formed.

“Better stand back for this one” Derpy said as she glanced over the other two. Whooves, knowing what was coming next, had already taken a few steps back. Lyra joined him and watched, not knowing what was going to happen next. Derpy drew the arrow and fired it at the target. It hit and then... nothing. Turning around she walked over to the duo who were waiting for something to happen.

“Just a normal arrow?” Lyra questioned under her breath.

“Nope, just taking a step back myself” Derpy admitted as she then stood beside the other two. The arrow then opened and the target was engulfed in a explosion. A shock wave passed over the group as they watched the target disappear. For a second Lyra was frozen in shock, one moment a tiny arrow had been fired. The next moment that tiny arrow had destroyed an entire target.

“Wow” Lyra breathed out at the sight left behind. This group wasn’t messing around when it came to protection. They had the best tech and the best ponies on the team. And furthermore, she was one of them now.

One of the best in the world.